Soviet Union 1991

The scope of the Southern Machinery Manufacturing Plant incident continued to expand, and gradually the entire Soviet Union was publicizing the general strike that took place in Ukraine. The strike of the working class in a socialist country simply went straight to the core of the Soviet dream.

Moscow could no longer sit still and needed to send personnel immediately to solve this problem. Moreover, the negotiator must be a heavyweight to show Moscow's sincerity.

So the central government decided that Vladimir would serve as the negotiator.

The documents for the visit to Ukraine continued to be distributed. This time, through Comrade Vladimir's vigorous publicity, almost Ukrainian officials knew that the Chairman of the Council of Ministers would personally be there to resolve the strike of workers in the southern machinery factory.

To this end, the First Secretary of Ukraine Secherbytsky went to Kiev Airport to welcome the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Before Comrade Vladimir set off from Moscow, he had a secret conversation with Organization Minister Lukyanov, who fully supported him. Vladimir visited Ukraine this time and proposed some insidious methods to Shecherbytsky.

"Comrade Stalin created a large and stable bureaucracy to manage this country. This is the cornerstone of this country. If General Secretary Yanayev thinks that he can smash it with his own power, and in ruins It would be a big mistake to establish a new system. Over the past decades, we have built a system that is large enough. He will never be able to shake it. Even if he can impact the entire structure, he will not be able to change it. The fact is that we are the vested interest group.”

Lukyanov comforted Secherbytsky and vowed to him, "Comrade Vladimir's trip to Ukraine will achieve nothing. Because we are the actual controller of this situation. The workers' movement will not because of Vladimir Kimil's arrival and pressure will change. If he tries pressure on us, If Comrade Vladimir cannot resolve the crisis, the Politburo will put pressure on the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. This is an opportunity for us to remove Vladimir from the Politburo. Being removed from the list is equivalent to losing Yanayev’s right-hand man.”

"As for how to amplify the conflict, I don't think you need me to teach you specifically?"

"No, I know how to do it."

Secherbitsky has been involved in Soviet politics for long enough and knows what to do so as not to leave any traces behind.

Lukyanov planned to use the relocation of the factory to amplify the situation to the point where Comrade Vladimir could not stop. He wanted to oust Yanayev from the position of general secretary. Their first target was Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Originally, Lukyanov thought that the Ukrainian incident could attract the attention of the General Secretary, but he did not expect that it would directly attract the attention of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He also wanted to take this opportunity to expand the incident and strive to become a trump card in the hands of the conservatives.

Ukraine has entered the rainy season in spring, and it started to rain on the tarmac. Shecherbytsky could only sit in the car and stare at the empty tarmac. In order to show his sincerity, he waited at the airport a few minutes early. It was raining outside, and he could only sit in the car and wait for the other party's arrival.

"Are you coming?"

"Not yet."

Shecherbicki was a little anxious and asked about the status of the flight every ten minutes.

He stared at the rain curtain, and the whole world was wrapped in it. He had an ominous premonition that Vladimir's trip to Ukraine was not as simple as he imagined.

There may be other conspiracies hidden behind it.

"Why did Vladimir openly announce his arrival in Ukraine today? Could it be that Moscow really cannot see through what we are thinking? Even if the chairman of the Council of Ministers is inexperienced, the wily Yanayev will not be able to see through this conspiracy ? Impossible, there must be something wrong, this is completely unreasonable, otherwise the experienced Yanayev should be sent to deal with it.”

He said to himself, "Or is it that the Political Bureau is hiding something else from me, and what it says is not the truth?"

After much deliberation, this was the most likely scenario. He could not confront Lukyanov directly and could only learn about the opponent's situation by making insinuations.

The anxious Secherbitsky dialed Lukyanov's phone again and asked him about Vladimir's visit.

"I think the Chairman of the Council of Ministers may have other purposes for going to Ukraine. With Yanayev's eyesight, I'm afraid he saw through early on that we were behind the strike at the Southern Machinery Manufacturing Plant. But he still had no hesitation in taking Vlad Kimil sent us here, why? Isn’t this suspicious? We have already set up a trap, and then the other party jumped into it obediently. This is not scientific.”

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded a little impatient, as if Shecherbytsky had interrupted something important.

"There is nothing unscientific. Vladimir's special plane has already taken off. Now that Kiev cannot arrive on time due to the weather, you can receive him with peace of mind!"

He felt very uneasy about Lukyanov's impatience.

"I know how to do it, but what should we do if the other party sets up a trap in turn? I don't think Yanayev will be stupid enough to be led by our nose. Hello, minister Lukyanov?"

Before he finished speaking, Lukyanov hung up the phone. He had more important things to do and no time to chat with Shecherbitsky.

As Shecherbitsky expressed his views, he kept looking at the rain curtain outside the car window. The metal skin and frame wrapped him in this small space, isolating him from the outside world. Fear was spreading and slowly seeping into every corner.

The first secretary of Ukraine smoked a cigarette. The longer he waited, the faster his anxiety spread. He always felt that the other party was still calculating other conspiracies. Before the member states were changed to autonomous states, he still had the power to participate in the decision-making of the Moscow Politburo, but after the constitutional amendment, he had no chance at all. The Soviet Union fundamentally blocked the power of the member states to try to be on an equal footing with Russia.

"The plane has landed and is heading to the apron. Shecherbitsky is ready to welcome the Chairman of the Council of Ministers."

The person sitting inside opened the window a little, glanced at the other person, and whispered, "Well, I know. Tell others to get ready to welcome the Chairman of the Council of Ministers."

The car door was opened, and the cold and wet water vapor rushed to Shecherbitsky's face, and the rapid raindrops scratched his face and it was painful. The bad rainy season makes people feel bad, especially welcoming a political opponent that you dislike, which is simply a self-torture.

A black umbrella was opened in front of the car, and the assistant who followed him held an umbrella behind him, waiting for the huge figure of the plane to approach him.

The maintenance personnel waved the baton on the ground, guiding the government's transfer to the parking position. Shecherbitsky saw a behemoth in the rain and fog constantly approaching him, and finally stopped in front of the motorcade.

It's finally here.

Shecherbitsky took a deep breath and tried to force a smile.

The cabin door of the business jet was opened, and officials from Moscow came down one after another. Until the last person walked out of the cabin door, Comrade Vladimir was not seen.

Slowly, he could not laugh anymore.

Shecherbitsky suddenly realized that something was wrong. He hurriedly walked up to greet the secretary of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and asked kindly, "Where is Comrade Vladimir? Didn't he come today? Why didn't I see the Chairman of the Council of Ministers appear?"

Others were also curious about this question.

The secretary pushed his glasses and answered him seriously, "Comrade Vladimir did not come on this trip. He arrived in Ukraine on another flight the day before yesterday. He may be negotiating with the striking workers of the Southern Machinery Manufacturing Plant now. What? Didn't anyone notify you that the time was changed temporarily?"

Shecherbitsky widened his eyes and couldn't believe what the secretary of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers said.

"What did you say?"

"He has arrived in Ukraine a long time ago?"

"And he arrived the day before yesterday?"

At this moment, he finally figured out what the other party was planning.

This is a trap! (To be continued.)

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