Soviet Union

"To Europeans, Russia has always been the great bear to the east"

- Eurosource Plus The Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics is an energy and military superpower in the 21st century, and an ally of the European Community.

Background
In the last decade of the Old Soviet Union, the reformist Premier Gorbachev let Eastern Europe go to weaken the conservative military which was resisting his reforms. He then transformed the Soviet Union into the Soviet Federation, in which all of its members were granted the status of sovereign countries.

His successor Gorborev continued with the reforms but had to confront the growing problem of secessionist movements within the sovereign republics. He then created the improved new Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics, a free trade zone that united the sovereign republics which was similar to the European Community except that it also had its own army and foreign policy.

KGB remnants and communist hard-liners attempted a coup which was quickly crushed due to the rebels having overstretched themselves, but it was done at great cost in both men and material. SovOil requested the authorization to establish its own security force, arguing that the Soviet Army did not have the resources to defend all of its facilities.

The state gave SovOil the authorization requested. Which backfired spectacularly on Moscow, as it led to the Soviet Corporate Rebellion of 2002, in which SovOil declared itself an independnet entity. The state took military action to prevent this but its forces were outmatched by the better equipped and motivated SovOil troops. The state was forced to admit defeat and accept the independence of SovOil.

SovOil became the most powerful faction within the Neo-Sov. New secessionist movements then threatened to break up the various sovereign republics but via covert action and diplomacy, SovOil prevented this from happening. SovOil had a vested interest in keeping the USSR intact and stable, and therefore uses its political power, troops, and resources to make it so.

Current Situation
SovOil owns much of the countryside, in the rural areas (especially in Siberia), they are the only real power. It's moles work in both the syndicates and government. The reality is if SovOil wanted to take full control it could do so easily but has chosen not to do so.

In the cities, there are three powers; SovOil, the Russian Mafia (the Organitskaya), and the State. Since the 1990s, because of the emergency decrees passed and still in effect, the president is able to make his own laws without the approval of the parliament if he desires. Bolstering his power is the Russian military service (GRU) which has become the KGB's successor. Many of the old KGB agents were reinstated into the GRU (or the Interior Ministry). The GRU is an organization that is as brutal as the KGB had been.