thetalonscompendium

[thetalonscompendium]

“To the memory of my Forefathers who fought for my freedom, who ploughed the fields to sate my hunger, who stood watch on our borders and defended our values, who proved their strength on the field of war, and who fought in the favour of God almighty, I make this Oath. I will, with all my worldly strength, and with the blessing of God on high, guard the Republic of Plenty. I will protect my faith from the forces of evil, and preserve the American spirit. Indomitable, faithful and free. Now and forever, so help me God.”

The Oath to the Forefathers, written 2042.

[thetalonscompendium]

Extract from interview with 'Artyom', an anonymous member of the Gazpromvintovki, about the 2031 annexation of Serayarossiya (2035)

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I: Were you briefed on your objectives in Serayarossiya before being deployed?

A: We were… they told us vaguely. They didn’t line us up, you know, in front of a whiteboard and say ‘shoot these people specifically’, they gave us the general idea of who were looking for and then–

I: Who were you looking for?

A: Um, what they labelled as ‘terrorists’. These could be… well it was up to each company’s C.O. as to what that actually meant. So there was some consistency in terms of, you know, don’t shoot Russians, don’t shoot Kazakhs, don’t shoot the Orthodox. But different companies had very, very different ideas of what actually constituted ‘terrorists’. My company was relatively tame, we went mainly after the Poles, the Germans, the Tatars. We didn’t shoot any– well, we shot one Tatar. But we kept the Europeans safe, they just got deported. Some companies just went in and uh, shot Tatars and Azeris and imams on sight. My C.O. saw what was happening with that, and we- we did have to deal with the imams, they fit the description as ‘terrorists’.

I: So the operation targeted Muslims, would you say?

A: Well, yes - more than other faiths. My company gave the Muslims a chance to comply, but I saw other companies didn’t. I mean, it wasn’t solely focused on them though. Ukrainians, myatezhniks, they were most of the uh- oh, and there was a list that went up on day… three? I think. That was a list of important people to get. Not to arrest but to… on sight, you know.

I: Were the operations in Serayarossiya routine for you, or did they stand out in your eyes as… ?

A: They weren't dissimilar to what we saw really in Ossetia or, you know, recently in Congo-Zaire. Standard protocol in terms of surgical airstrikes and trying to deport, uhm, uncooperative locals without too much blood. I mean, there was less resistance where I was in Kostanay than there has been in, say, Mariupol. There were enough myatezhniks causing trouble that some C.O.s called riot control protocols, but mine didn't until day twenty-....six, roughly.

The main sort of… episode that I remember from Kostanay was on day twenty-nine. My company and three others, about a-hundred -and-fifteen guys, we were sent to a mosque in Rudny to round up Salafists. And we got there, every Muslim in the surrounding… four or five blocks, they were there because we turned up during a service. A band of maybe seven myatezhniks, all Orthodox Kazakhs, tried to block the door until the service ended - another C.O. had them shot for disruption, and about twenty [soldiers] went inside. I stayed at the door, I heard a lot of shouting. Then there was a… shot that came from inside, not from a Russian gun. There was quite a long firefight that, uh… after about ten minutes they came back out, one guy in a stretcher…

[Artyom starters to choke up slightly]

I: I understand if this is upsetting for you to—

A: No, no. I- I’m alright.

[Artyom collects himself after a moment]

A: The… the other companies locked up the doors of the mosque, with the Muslims inside. We were told to evacuate down the road by Okrug Command, and we got in the trucks. And, as we left… there was this almighty noise from behind me. And I turned around and they had set off grenades, you see, in the mosque. With the people inside. I- terrorist or not, or Kazakh or Russian or whatever… you just, you can’t just do that. There were people in there, who hadn’t done anything wrong.

I: So you regret your involvement in Serayarossiya?

A: Why do you think I’m not giving my name?

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