Chapter 140: The Dictator’s Legacy
The intelligence agencies of various countries already knew that President Putin’s health was not good.
He was a person who valued showmanship and liked to show off his vitality, but his face became pale and he rarely left the Kremlin.
There was only one reason for that.
In fact, President Putin was in his eighties and often complained of fatigue from his intense work.
He used to take vacations to relieve his stress, but this time he seemed to have reached his limit.
He originally planned to have a candid conversation with Yu Ji-ha about the current situation and the future of both countries after the East Asian War, but he couldn’t do that.
The funeral at St. Basil’s Cathedral was over, and Yu Ji-ha offered his condolences to the bereaved family.
He also met with Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov, who was in charge of the economy.
“I have something to tell you. I would like to see you at the villa for a moment.”
It was probably about Putin’s will.
The Russian media had already judged that Putin’s will would determine the future of Russian politics.
Normally, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov would act as the authority and hold an election following the formal procedure, but Russia was currently in a state where Putin had established a solid dictatorship.
The Federal Assembly was a puppet, and other parties besides the United Russia Party were insignificant.
That was what 30 years of dictatorship had created.
It was good to have power concentrated in one person when quick decision-making was needed, but it caused a big problem when the power holder was absent.
As soon as Putin died, Borchenko, a member of the United Russia Party and its leader, demanded succession, claiming that he understood Putinism best.
“I have had many conversations with President Putin during his lifetime… I am the person who understands his ideas and dreams best.”
It was unclear whether that was true or not, but it was certain that he had played a close aide role to Putin as a secretary of the National Security Council.
He also acted as Putin’s money source as the owner of Russia’s largest petrochemical company.
However, he was not without competitors. It was Dmitri, the Minister of Defense.
They were both Putin’s closest aides, but they had not heard anything about posthumous power.
So they immediately surrounded the Kremlin after the funeral.
It was to search for Putin’s legacy.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov led Yu Ji-ha to a villa near Moscow.
It was too modest to be called Putin’s villa. It was a small country house.
“This is called dacha. The president often spent his vacation here in his later years.”
“He must have had other villas. Why did he come here?”
“Because he missed the old Soviet Union. This dacha is from that era. That’s why it’s very small, as you can see.”
Dacha was a Soviet-style villa, and old Soviets used to supplement their scarce food by cultivating dacha gardens.
It might be unfamiliar to modern Russians, but it must have been a special place for President Putin, who wanted to revive the Soviet Union.
Of course, Putin was a dictator and amassed a lot of wealth in an illegitimate way.
But he seemed to miss the simple life of the Soviet era in a corner of his heart.
Was it because they were similar?
Yu Ji-ha also hoped to live with nature as his friend someday when everything was over.
It seemed unlikely that the United Human Federation would let him go easily and he also had to go to the Prophet’s homeland, but it was not realistic.
“Here it is.”
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov opened the basement door of the villa and brought out a small safe.
There was only one letter in the safe.
It was Putin’s will for Yu Ji-ha.
The deputy prime minister turned on the fireplace in the villa and Yu Ji-ha sat nearby and read the letter.
“The president wanted to make Russia prosperous until the end.”
“Like Korea. Russia has a lot of resources and a large population, but it did not achieve balanced development like Korea. The president always worried about that.”
He had recently brought two psychers from Russia who proved that.
The hopeless prices and stagnant income, and the deteriorating infrastructure in the former Soviet Union.
Modern Russia had accumulated considerable wealth from natural resources such as black metal, but it was not distributed to the people.
The responsibility lay entirely with President Putin.
He should have invested in Russia’s infrastructure instead of sharing his wealth with his cronies.
The letter said that he tried to reform after meeting Yu Ji-ha, but it didn’t work well.
―I realized that the walls I built were too high and strong. Siloviki and oligarchs are definitely obstacles to Russia’s future. I wanted to destroy what I made.
Giving Siberia to Yu Ji-ha was also part of that plan.
At that time, President Putin had a fierce argument with his cronies.
It was mainly a fight with cronies who owned oil or gas-related companies.
Dmitri, Borchenko.
They owned some of the best resource companies in Russia and exerted a great influence on politics.
Dmitri was even the Minister of Defense of Russia.
President Putin criticized them harshly.
―Don’t trust them. They are incompetent and full of greed. I tried to exclude them, but I realized it was too late.
“Hmm… Why did he tell me not to trust them? I have no right to interfere in Russia’s power structure.”
When Yu Ji-ha said that, Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov smiled.
“I guess there was such a content. The president said this about you, President Yu. I would be relieved if someone like him took over after me.”
“Did he think of me as his successor?”
“You are a Korean, but you are also a citizen of Moscow. Of course, I think the Russian president should be a Russian, but…”
Yu Ji-ha was an honorary citizen of Moscow.
It was given to him by President Putin himself when he visited Russia sometime ago.
He didn’t get Russian citizenship, but he had at least some justification.
He was so familiar to the Russians that if he decided to take power, there would be no shortage of supporters.
But it was difficult to move right away.
He had to digest the swallowed Manchuria and the islands first.
He looked carefully at the will and saw information about the ether research institute directly under the president.
This is probably something that Dmitri or Borchenko wouldn’t know.
Yu Ji-ha took the will and got up.
“I understand the deceased’s intentions. What is your opinion, Deputy Prime Minister? Do you think I should intervene in Russian politics?”
“As I said before, it would be nice if you acquired Russian citizenship if you do.”
“Rule Korea and Russia at the same time? Anyone who hears that would laugh at me for having an unrealistic dream. I doubt that the Russian people would support me.”
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov smiled calmly.
“The Russians will support you. Dmitri and Borchenko do not have the ability and charisma of the former president. If one of them becomes president, Russia’s glorious name will become a thing of the past.”
Although the economy had improved a bit by selling resources recently, it was only the state and a few companies that had fattened their bellies.
It did not trickle down to the private sector, so the living standards of the Russians did not improve much.
When Putin was alive, he at least suppressed the protests and pretended to distribute, but they wouldn’t.
It was doubtful whether the Russian people could tolerate them.
The sound of a private jet landing outside the dacha was heard.
Yu Ji-ha said to Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov.
“It’s hard to move right away. It will be hard to get in between them, but please bear with me.”
“I don’t think I can hold on for long. They are causing trouble right now.”
“How about giving them a little push? If you accomplish what President Putin couldn’t, your popularity might increase.”
Putin had planned the Estonian War and died.
If Dmitri annexes Estonia, he can prove his succession.
At the same time, it would be a red line that would invite US intervention.
The US was superficially isolationist, but it was not enough to watch Eastern Europe fall to Russia.
There would definitely be a clash, and that would be another opportunity for Yu Ji-ha.
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailov didn’t know that much, but he could sense that something was going to explode.
It probably had something to do with what Yu Ji-ha had planned.
‘He works too much like him…’
There was no one else who could succeed Putin and take over the presidency of Russia.
The fact that he was not born in Russia was not a big problem.
He bowed his upper body slowly in front of Yu Ji-ha.
“Then, I’ll wait.”
“Don’t expect too much. I have a lot of things to do…”
Yu Ji-ha got on the private jet.
“Go to Putingrad.”
It was a secret city near Moscow.
It was small to be called a city, but it had an ether research institute and a psycher facility, so it was very important.
Putin did not tell his cronies about the existence of this city.
He left it to Yu Ji-ha because he didn’t want to ruin it.
Dmitri or Borchenko would only waste it if they took it.
‘I have no choice but to take it.’
The private jet carrying Yu Ji-ha crossed the sky of Moscow.
Special forces armed around the Kremlin were on guard.
***
The psychers of Putingrad did not willingly follow Yu Ji-ha.
It started with Yuri, the director of the research institute, who was the strongest psycher in Russia.
He was on Arma’s checklist and his ether responsiveness exploded while he was at the institute.
His current measured level was gamma, similar to Fatima when she was first discovered.
He became alert as soon as he saw Yu Ji-ha.
“Why should I give you my friends?”
“You’re destined to follow me anyway.”
“Prove it here.”
Yu Ji-ha spread out his psychokinesis field in the research institute.
His whole body emitted an idea that matched Plague Leviathan’s.
Yuri felt a tremendous shock and knelt down on the spot.
It felt like he was thrown into space alone.
“Uh… what is this?”
“The strongest psycher in Russia? Sorry, but there are plenty of psychers who surpass you. I’ll let you meet them if you follow me.”
“…”
Yuri got up with a face full of pride and most of the psychers followed him.
There were some who tried to escape, but they were caught by androids who seemed to be watching from Sibiri satellite.
Yu Ji-ha ordered Arma.
“Don’t report it and take them out to Terra Island. They’re probably deregistered anyway.”
There was only one ether core left in the research institute where the psychers left.
Looking at the experiment log, one could see that Russia had come close to the Aether field.
“They figured out how to control gravity. It doesn’t seem to work well though.”
To control gravity properly, one needs to make an ether circuit with mithril.
Trying to control gravity without such preparation would cause a disaster.
The log said it was a minor accident, but at least a few people must have died.
Arma asked him.
「We need to present the results of our research on ether fields before we can introduce hyperloop trains. Should we use Russia’s results for our presentation?」
“We should introduce them soon since we have more land now. What about the researchers here?”
「They were moved to another research institute near St. Petersburg by order of former President Putin.」
“There must have been some problems. Contact Deputy Prime Minister and tell him we’re taking them. They won’t care much.”
Dmitri and Borchenko, who were competing for the presidency after Putin, were busy securing his legacy.
The size of the legacy was huge, as befitting a dictator. He easily exceeded 30 billion rubles in cash alone.
If you add the rumored villas, gold bars, luxury goods and artworks, it might exceed 600 billion rubles (10 trillion won) as exposed by the Russian media.
The Russian people were interested in Putin’s legacy, but they were greatly disappointed by the actions of the two who claimed to be his successors.
―Do they only see money in their eyes? Dmitri and Borchenko are idiots.
―Russia needs a leader who can draw a bigger picture. Not the parliament that fights every day or the two jerks.
Maybe because they had experienced dictatorship for almost 30 years, they didn’t have much desire to form a proper parliament and establish democracy.
In fact, until a few years ago, there were many people who exposed Putin’s corruption, but they were all eliminated.
Now the Russians didn’t care much about Putin’s dictatorship.
He was very enthusiastic about the quantitative growth that he proposed.
His actual life did not change, but he enjoyed having a great influence on Europe with black metal and unobtanium.
He also took pride in the fact that Yu Ji-ha, who caused it, was generous to Russia.
―We are a tier one country. We are treated differently from other countries.
―When the deputy minister of energy visits Europe, he receives a state visit treatment. Europe is nothing without Russia.
It was possible because Yu Ji-ha turned a blind eye to Russia’s exports.
The EU had been holding on so far, partly because of its pride, but also because it satisfied the minimum supply through Russia.
Anyway, the two jerks did not appeal to the current Russian people.
Nor was there another successor.
The parliament was in chaos and the two jerks fought with their forces, not satisfied with searching the Kremlin.
At a glance, Dmitri seemed to have an advantage with his military power, but Borchenko was also the head of several special forces and intelligence agencies.
It was said that Borchenko had a slight edge over Dmitri, who could not deploy tanks in Moscow without using special forces.
As the Russian political situation fell into confusion, new news came out.
A Russian army infantry unit training near Estonia had invaded Estonian territory.
The Ministry of Defense immediately announced that it was a mistake, but there was no apology and this provoked Estonia’s backlash.
―How is that a mistake? Do they plan to make more mistakes next time?
―They are following the same actions that Korea did in East Asia. After fighter jets, infantry, and then tank units.
―Russia is swallowing up Eastern Europe!
Russia’s expansion was not a matter of yesterday or today, and the Eastern European countries had made considerable preparations for it, but they were not enough to confront it.
Germany, Romania, Poland and others also increased their military spending, but it would take a considerable amount of time for the effects to show up.
Above all, the Russian army had achieved significant modernization with Korean-made weapons.
The only country in Europe that could face the Russian army was France.
When Russia’s invasion of Estonia became visible, Western European countries pressured NATO.
―We can’t ignore the possibility of military action by Russia in its confusion. The US military must move now.
―Dmitri is an impulsive and destructive person. He is likely to show his external military action because he has little influence in parliament.
―Most importantly, Estonia is a NATO member. NATO itself will lose credibility if the US does not intervene.
The US had been accused of being indifferent to Russia’s expansion until then.
Belarus was fine, but they did nothing but criticize when Russia invaded Ukraine. That was the evidence.
But this time they couldn’t sit still.
They argued that the US should intervene.
There was serious consideration of deploying ground troops, but there were no units available to pull out.
It was because the situation in each country was chaotic due to the war that Yu Ji-ha had started.
They could pull out the US-Japan forces in Okinawa, but both President Baldwin and the Senate objected.
“How can we withdraw without getting anything in return?”
“But Mr. President, there are 10,000 US troops idle. They can’t train without Korea’s permission since Okinawa has been transferred to them.”
That was the problem.
Yu Ji-ha swallowed Okinawa and invested a lot of effort to quickly establish administrative power.
He created an organization as a special autonomous island by deploying a few bureaucrats and many androids, as well as unmanned surface ships and navy.
As a result, he reached a point where he couldn’t even conduct minor training without consulting Korea.
Korea said they couldn’t allow large-scale training when the war hadn’t been over for long.
“Okinawa is an island of peace that has not been stained by war. We can’t cause tension on that island.”
It felt bitter to hear that from President Yu Ji-ha himself.
Anyway, Korea did not allow most of the training and as a result, tens of thousands of troops were idle.
They literally had nothing to do and played games in their barracks.
President Baldwin lost his words when he received a report on the daily activities of the US forces stationed in Okinawa.
“Is walking part of an operation these days?”
“They’re patrolling the coastline. There are unmanned surface ships everywhere.”
“…”
He’s a terrible person.
He created an environment where he had no choice but to leave because he didn’t think the US-Japan forces would leave on their own.
Normally they would have endured it, but the US had to increase its NATO forces at the moment and couldn’t afford it.
They needed at least 10,000 troops to be deployed in Europe right away.
It didn’t make sense to keep them idle here.
President Baldwin reluctantly ordered with Congress’s approval.
“Only withdraw combat troops. Leave at least some administrative power.”
Thousands of US troops left Okinawa and were deployed in Europe.
Now all that was left were a few US troops for administration, and most of the bases and training grounds were empty.
Yu Ji-ha took advantage of this and announced the nuclear fusion plant.
“I promised a nuclear fusion plant for Okinawa Special Autonomous Island. I’m going to keep that promise now.”
The site was designated as Kadena Base.
It was the largest airfield of the US Pacific Air Force, located in the middle of the city.
Most of the troops and equipment had left and it was poorly managed, so he wanted to push it away and build a nuclear fusion plant.
The US naturally resisted, but the Okinawan people welcomed it with placards.
“A nuclear fusion plant is much better than a base that doesn’t help the economy!”
“Please keep your promise of free electricity!”
As public opinion was like this, the White House couldn’t help but worry.
The lease period of Kadena Base was long, but wouldn’t it be better to hand it over to Korea and get something?
Yu Ji-ha said this through the media.
“Isn’t it strange that there are US-Japan forces on Korean soil? It would be better to withdraw voluntarily when you have a chance.”
The US was in a position where they couldn’t do anything.
They couldn’t keep their troops there because they were useless, and they couldn’t withdraw because of their pride.
Meanwhile, Korea showed its unique drive and started building a nuclear fusion plant.
At this rate, the plant would be built in a year, not a few years.
President Baldwin couldn’t stand it anymore and called back his troops to the mainland with Congress’s approval.
That’s how the US-Japan forces completely withdrew from Okinawa.
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