Eastern Slav Republic

Prime universe
(Capcom's primary storyline)

Eastern Slav Republic
Location:	Eastern Europe
Establishment:	Unknown
Population:	N/A
Notable events:	East Slavic Civil War
Current status:	Extant

The Eastern Slav Republic also known as BCP (SK: Východoslovanská republika, UK: Східнослов'янська республіка, RU: Восточно-Славянская Республика) is a country in Eastern Europe that formed after the fall of the Soviet Union (USSR).

The capital of the Eastern Slav Republic is Holigrad, which was also home to the Presidential Palace. Several different languages were spoken and utilized in the country, including Russian, Ukrainian, English, and potentially Rusyn.

History

At the start of the Second World War, the country that would become the Eastern Slav Republic had the misfortune of being on the front-lines of the conflict. It was quickly occupied and assimilated into the Soviet Union's eastern bloc, during which it suffered rampant bloodshed as the country fractured between two competing factions: the Nazi-backed nationalists and the Soviet-backed partisans. The partisans are known to have relied upon a system of underground tunnels that they used to move troops and supplies in waging guerrilla attacks. These tunnels outlasted the conflict and continued to survive underneath the city into the next century.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern Slav Republic gained independence from the Soviet Union becoming a sovereign state for the first time in fifty years. Although the new government seemed, on paper, to embrace free market economics, international trade and presidential democracy, they were condemned by the citizenry as being power-hungry oligarchs and ceding to business interests and the image and reputation of the republic, rather than the needs and well-being of the people living therein.

Civil War

A clash between protesters and government police in riot gear. One of the protestors holds a sign reading "Imprison oligarchs".

By the 21st century, the president's parliamentary cabinet had become a small and tight-nit class of elite billionaires who succeeded in privatizing all land and industry within the state, thus centralizing production and resources once more. Eventually, the working class rose up in an attempted revolution, calling for direct democracy either through the succession and independence of Cossack lands, or the arrest of corrupt government officials. While many supported the independence movement, few took up arms as many were impoverished farmers, miners or factory workers.

The ongoing clashes between the government and the proletariat continued for several years with heightening intensity, what began as simple protests turned into riots and eventually the governments further attempts at crackdowns led to resistance and further violence, sparking a bloody, several-year-long civil war that saw the death of many on both sides, as well as innocents caught in the crossfire.

A makeshift graveyard of those killed in the ensuing conflict.

After several years, the republic's new president, Svetlana Belikova, became more lenient on the rebels in the hopes of limiting the damages and causalities sustained by both sides, as well as building a stable and attractive repertoire with the European Union in an attempt to gain membership and earn the perceived legitimacy of the Eastern Slav Republic as a sovereign nation. A ceasefire was ordered but the peace would be unfortunately short-lived. In 2010, it was discovered that the land occupied by the rebels had contained a wealth of natural oil. Svetlana had the military resume their offensive in what was declared an "anti-terrorism strategy". This sudden increase in state violence led the rebel fighters to become more radical and tactically organized under the leadership of elder Ivan Judanovich.

The instability and eventual use of bio-organic weapons within the Eastern Slav Republic also lead to the destabilization of a similar situation in the nearby Edonia Republic, leading to the Edonian Civil War.

Bioterror incident

For more information, see East Slavic Civil War.

Unable to fight the oligarch-funded military forces, rebels turned to the usage of bio-organic weapons provided by the honey-based snack company Med Yuriy to turn the tides of the conflict. However, Med Yuriy was actually a shell company owned by Belikova's family and the plaga and bioweapons provided to the rebels had been secretly modified from the TRICELL-developed mass market variants by a team of Belikova's own scientists, including Mikhail Zilka (who was later executed after leaking information about the country's bioweapons program to Dr. William Gibson). Belikova's gambit was to intentionally engineer and provide faulty dominant-strain plaga to make the rebels think they had gained a significant strategic advantage against the oligarchs, thus becoming more aggressive and brazen in their attacks. All the while, the use of the plaga would both dwindle the rebel numbers internally and influence public opinion against the insurgents, painting them as mere bioterrorists and securing the aid and intervention of both the United Nations and the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance.

By February 2011, President Belikova had offered a secret compromise with the Council of Elders, promising them a share in the oil profits in exchange for them ending the rebellion. Surprisingly, the majority of the council agreed in confidence, bar the idealistic Judanovich, who continued the rebellion. This was ultimately part of a plan to destroy the council; having offered the compromise after the supplying of the Plaga, the leaders were expected to inevitably succumb to the parasites and perish, destroying the entire rebel leadership and ending the war with a decisive government victory. It was planned to be disclosed after the war's ending that the rebel leadership was executed by its own army before the war's end, a means of explaining their total disappearance.

By this time, both the United States of America and the Russian Federation had became aware of the use of bio-weapons being used in the war, and DSO agent Leon S. Kennedy was among a number of non-military forces that had been dispatched to the war-torn country, arriving on the ground just as the United States ordered an immediate evacuation of the country while new diplomatic policy was being discussed. Kennedy chose to ignore the order and continued with his initial mission of meeting up with the local informant, "Scarecrow". Upon meeting up with the Kennedy, "Scarecrow" had discovered Belikova's involvement, however was too critically wounded to speak, only managing to speak the words "beekeeper" and suggestively point towards a nearby Med Yuriy van before being killed by a Licker, which was controlled by none other than Judanovich himself.

After being knocked unconscious, Kennedy was restrained and interrogated for information by two of Judanovich's men: Alexander Kozachenko and "JD", where he learned the rebel forces were planning to use the bioweapons in an attempted coup 'd'état, targeting the Presidential Palace located at the heart of the city. After retreating from government forces through the underground tunnels, Kennedy witnessed as Judanovich's condition worsened to the point of being executed by Kozachenko, and both himself and JD were attacked by several zombie-like Ganado. Kennedy managed to free himself from his restraints and aided JD in escaping the tunnels.

During this time, Derek C. Simmons had hired Ada Wong, to acquire a sample of the Plaga for his own research. As the two had a complicated personal relationship, Simmons kept his identity secret from Wong throughout the mission. Ada entered the country under the guise of being a BSAA representative, allowing her to get close to Belikova and the country's oligarchs.

Upon reaching the streets, Kennedy witnessed as the outbreak had begun to spread out of control, with dozens of Ganado roaming the street and attacking and infecting both unfortunate civilians and soldiers on both sides of the conflict. He joined the remaining rebels at a nearby church, where he learned that Kozachenko, now the new leader of the few remaining rebels, had sought to obtain the last remaining dominant Plaga, as it would be required to control the Lickers and carry through with the attack. After leaving the church, Kennedy followed Kozachenko in an attempt to convince him against using the parasite, during which time, the remaining rebel forces, including JD, were either infected or killed.

Belikova, suspicious of Wong's true identity and motive, made inquiries to the BSAA after it was discovered she had left her quarters in the middle of the night, the BSAA denied the existence of any adviser of that name. Meanwhile, Wong had attempted and failed to secure Kozachenko's sample before he could use it. There, she would coincidentally cross paths with Kennedy once more and warn him of the plans to bomb the portion of the city that had fallen to the Ganado by sunrise.

The following morning, Wong was arrested on the grounds of being a suspected Russian spy, whilst Kozachenko successfully reached the outer perimeter of the palace, unbothered by the inevitable deteriorating effects the parasite would have on his mind and body. He dispatched an army of Lickers, which had been stored in the Med Yuriy trucks, to eliminate the soldiers guarding the palace. Allowing Kennedy to sneak in and make his way down to an underground facility, Leon and an escaped Ada confirmed that Belikova was behind the terrorist attacks in her own country. At this point, Kozachenko and his Licker army attacked the facility, with only Belikova and her personal secretary surviving, having retreated behind bulletproof glass. President Belikova activated two Tyrants in order to take out Leon; Kozachenko and the Lickers. A third Tyrant attacked them when they reached the surface, finally being defeated by a tank commandeered by the two. After which, first two Tyrants succeeded in reaching the ground floor, only to be destroyed by American fighter jets, allowing agent Kennedy and Kozachenko to successfully depart from the palace.

Joint USA/Russian Intervention

As President Belikova changed into a formal purple suit and prepared to address the public with a televised speech on the eradication of the rebels and her plans to see the country to a new, bright future in the European Union, she was informed that an occupation of the country had begun.

Having retrieved intelligence that it was her regime that was developing and amassing B.O.W.s, both President Adam Benford and the Russian Prime Minister had putting aside their tense rivalry and agreed to a historic diplomatic joint-intervention of the Eastern Slav Republic.

As the country's armed forces surrendered and the oligarchs were arrested, Belikova's regime collapsed and she was forced to vacate the presidency. The joint-operation saw the eradication of the Ganado, the provision of food and services and the end of fighting, thus allowing the citizens of the Eastern Slav Republic to rebuild and hold the first democratic election in the country's history.

Geography

A map pinpointing the capital of Holigrad, as seen in Las Plagas: Organisms of War

According to maps displayed throughout the film, the Eastern Slav Republic's borders encompass the same geographical region as the real world country of Slovakia, bordered by Hungary to the south, Ukraine to the east and Poland to the north.

The exact location of Holigrad is disputable, as it is pinned as being located in the eastern Volovec Mountains, while coordinates place it in the west near the real world village of Valaská. Holigrad's architecture is a blend of 13-14th century Czech Gothic and 15-17th century Renaissance architecture seen in places like Prague, while the presidential palace and the surrounding architecture mirrors Ukrainian Orthodox architecture seen in places such as Kyiv.

The region, like many other parts of Eastern Europe, is dominated by chernozem, a very fertile soil. Due to this, the Eastern Slav Republic was known for its agriculture and beekeeping. In the early 21st century, these regions were subject to the unearthing of natural resources.

Economy and Government

Like all countries that were part of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Slav Republic ran on an authoritarian, centralized, one-party Marxist–Leninist state as an official "Soviet Socialist Republic" (SSR). Towards the end of the Cold War, the country slowly transitioned into a more democratic market-socialist federal republic with the election of it's first president.

The oligarchs prosper in luxury following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After the collapse of the USSR, the government of the Eastern Slav Republic fully-embraced state capitalism. The country entered a transitional period that saw the complete privatization of land and industry by the country's cabinet, as well as the abolition of social programs and welfare, this resulted in a massive gap in wealth, opportunity and prosperity between the aristocratic owner class and the proletariat worker class, functionally transforming the state into an oligarchic dictatorship.

From 2011 onwards, Belikova's government and cabinet were dismantled and a temporary government was installed through a joint venture between the United States and the Russian Federation to maintain social and economic stability until such time that the first democratic election could be held.

Further notes

• The name "Eastern Slav Republic" is a reference to both it's native Cossacks, also known as East Slavic Orthodox Christians, and the former Soviet state of Czechoslovakia, which split into two successor states: Czechia (formally known as the Czech Republic) in the west, and Slovakia in the east, the latter of which shares the same geographical location.
• The Eastern Slav Republic is heavily based on Ukraine, which Capcom visited for inspiration in the production of the film. As such, both Russian and Ukrainian are spoken in the film and the visual setting of Holigrad is heavily inspired by Kyiv, which was openly bilingual at the time of their visit.
  • The conflict of the Eastern Slav Republic between the serfdom and the oligarchy was loosely based on the Orange Revolution, which began in 2004 as protests against the corrupt government of President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Like the film, there was a movement pushing for autonomy, but unlike the film's rebels, this was instead a failed attempt by pro-Yanukovych supporters to establish a "South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic" in the Donbas.
    • Coincidentally, the film would predate the larger and more similar Euromaidan Uprising by several months. However, contrary to the film's events, this conflict was ignited by Yanukovych's controversial decision not to join the European Union, thus opposite Belikova's goal.
• The large enthic Cossack presence and general Ukranian influence in Eastern Slav Republic may be a result of the many real-world émigré communities that sprung up around Prague in the early-1920s as a result of the Russian Civil War. In many ways, the East Slavic Republic mirrors the proposed nation-state of Cossackia.