Struggle in Soviet Russia - Chapter 628 Ukraine

At the beginning of the night, the lights on the Red Square just turned on, and the headlights on the ceiling of GUM Mall also lit up, reflecting a brightly lit night scene.

The black Volga sedan turned into Red Square, and in the solemn salute of the Kremlin guards, slowly drove into the palace gate, and then drove slowly northwestward along the Yong Road in the palace.

Inside the car, Victor sat in the back seat with his eyes slightly closed, and he didn't know if he was dozing off or was really asleep.

The morning before yesterday, Victor took a plane to Karelia. Yesterday, he went to Petrozavodsk, White Sea City, and Olonets, and gave three speeches in a row.

Recently, the Union is conducting the second election of representatives of the Supreme Soviet. As the former first secretary of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic, Viktor is the candidate for the Petrozavodsk constituency, and he is in Kare The speeches given by the three cities in Lia were also for the purpose of canvassing votes for themselves.

Of course, this kind of canvassing activity is actually a process. Victor himself does not pay much attention to the results of the election. He is not even interested in the identity of the representative of the Supreme Soviet. If he is not tasked, he is too lazy to go. .

Now, after two days of running around, this matter is finally settled, and the first thing he did after returning to Moscow was not to go home and have a good rest, but to rush to the Kremlin for the first time without stopping. You need to report to Comrade Stalin first, and then you can think about going home and resting.

For today's Victor, one of his primary concerns is the increasingly intensified conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States on the Korean Peninsula, as well as a series of negotiations around the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Of course, for the entire league, this is also a crucial thing.

On the day that Viktor went to Karelia, representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States started the third round of consultations in Liang Wenli on the Korean Peninsula. The representative is Lieutenant General John Hodge, commander of the 24th U.S. Army and commander of the U.S. Army in South Korea.

This meeting is already the third meeting between representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States. In the previous two meetings, no consensus of any kind was reached. On the contrary, Moscow and Washington were far apart on the North Korean issue. In Victor's view, even in the third meeting, there is no possibility of a consensus between the two sides. In other words, the wrangling at the negotiating table between the two sides will continue.

Outside the negotiating table, both the alliance side and the US side have made a gesture of actively preparing for war on the Korean peninsula. On the side of the alliance, with the approval of Moscow, Comrade Meretskov moved the headquarters of the Primorye Naval District to Pyongyang. At the same time, the main force of the military district was also transferred to the Korean Peninsula. In addition, the Soviet army was still on the border between China and North Korea. Three forward airfields have been established in the region.

The Americans are naturally not to be outdone. After obtaining permission from Washington, the U.S. military moved the Eighth Army, originally stationed in Japan, to North Korea, and some of its troops have entered the southern part of North Korea.

In addition to this mutual threat of troop deployment, the Soviet Union and the United States also instigated a series of riots in each other's trust zones. Under the instigation of the United States, the People's Political Committee of South Pyongan Province, which was originally controlled by Korean nationalists, instigated a riot against the Soviet mandate in the area under its jurisdiction. In addition to the nationalists, there were also some people participating in the riot. A member of the South Heian-do Police Force. They clashed with the local garrison and the Soviet garrison, resulting in the tragic death of more than 40 people.

In the southern part of North Korea controlled by the Americans, one after another riots and demonstrations are more serious than in the northern part of North Korea. This situation lasted from the end of last year to the beginning of this summer, and showed an intensifying trend.

The reason for this is not only because of the instigation of the Soviet Red Army and the intelligence services, but also because of the serious problems with the American trusteeship in the southern region of Korea. For example, in order to maintain their rule in southern Korea, the Americans directly used a large number of Japanese, thus placing their position on the opposite side of the Korean nationalists.

In addition, Lieutenant General John Hodge, the commander of the U.S. military stationed in South Korea, made a fundamental mistake on North Korea. One of his enemies, and his policy of governing North Korea is also very ruthless and brutal.

For some reason, Lieutenant General Hodge was even more hostile to the Koreans than the Japanese. After he took over the post of commander of the US military stationed in the DPRK, he not only continued to appoint the Japanese to control the south Korean area, but also refused to go south. North Korea provided basic aid, including food, and as a result, there was widespread famine in southern North Korea.

Since the end of last year, there has been a shortage of food in the South Korean region. So far, the price of rice in this region has been nearly ten times higher than that during the Japanese occupation period. Countless people. This is not the most serious. What is even more serious is that because too many people died of starvation and no one collected the corpses, the North Gyeongsang area began to have a large-scale cholera infection since the beginning of summer. In just one month Thousands of people died from cholera infection.

It is this situation that has led to the violent turmoil in the South Korean region, and the American rule in the region is very unstable.

However, as far as Victor knows, the Americans are obviously aware of the problems in the South Korea region. According to intelligence, Washington has a plan to replace Hodge. At the same time, their basic assistance to the South Korea region has also been provided. With a clear plan, I believe that if the Americans can implement these policies, the situation in South Korea will stabilize in a short period of time, which is very unfavorable for the alliance.

The second issue that Viktor is most concerned about right now is the widespread drought in Ukraine.

As the so-called "broken house happens to rain overnight", the drought problem in Ukraine actually appeared last winter, and the meteorological department also made relevant predictions. In order to deal with the possible drought, the Ukrainian side Some responses have also been made.

But unfortunately, no one had thought that the drought in Ukraine would be so severe this year. In the whole winter of last year, from Odessa to Kharkov, from Donets to Lviv, there was a light snow in the whole Ukraine. It was still in the early twelfth of last year, and since then, Until April of this year, almost all of Ukraine has not had a drop of rain.

The worst thing is that during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the agricultural irrigation facilities in Ukraine were completely destroyed, and during the post-war reconstruction work in just a few months last year, Ukraine did not restore agriculture. The whole Ukrainian team led by Comrade Khrushchev put enough energy on the issue of irrigation facilities to put urban reconstruction and factory restoration ahead of the restoration of irrigation facilities. In response to the large-scale drought, agricultural irrigation facilities did not play much role, and the rolling Dnieper River could not relieve the pressure of drought in Ukraine's grain-producing areas.

According to the forecast of the relevant departments, this year Ukraine's agriculture is destined to face another full-scale poor harvest, at least in the summer harvest. As for the autumn harvest, it depends on how long this **** drought will last.

For the alliance, the status of Ukraine, a major grain-producing region, is too important. Its harvest situation is directly related to the food security of the alliance. The impact of its two consecutive years of grain failure on the alliance is inestimable. , Therefore, Comrade Stalin, no, not only Comrade Stalin, but the entire Moscow Central Committee, has a strong dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian leadership, and the voice about the removal of Comrade Khrushchev from the post of first secretary of Ukraine is also now getting bigger.

From Victor's point of view, Comrade Khrushchev's position as the first secretary of Ukraine is probably not going to work. The only question now is when and who will replace him. Taking into account the seriousness of the current situation in Ukraine, Viktor believes that the replacement of Comrade Khrushchev will probably be a comrade in the Politburo, and it must be a comrade of sufficient weight.

But it is foreseeable that no matter who succeeds Comrade Khrushchev, he will not be under any less pressure, because the problems in Ukraine cannot be solved in a day or two, a month or two. Post-reconstruction work will take at least two to three years to see results, and it may take longer for Ukraine's grain production to return to pre-war levels.

Victor made a private speculation that he thought the most likely replacement for Comrade Khrushchev should be Comrade Andreyev. After all, he had enough experience in agricultural work. As for the Ukrainian issue, The top priority now is the agricultural issue, so Comrade Andreyev is the best candidate. But the question is, once Comrade Andreyev is transferred to Ukraine, who will be responsible for the agricultural coordination work of the Union Central Committee?

Well, Victor has to admit that he thinks a bit too much, because with his current status and status, no matter who goes to Ukraine, I am afraid it has nothing to do with him directly.

The Volga car slowly parked in front of Comrade Stalin's office building. Victor pulled his thoughts back from somewhere out of bounds, opened his eyes lazily, then pushed the door and got out of the car, and walked straight to the top of the steps in front of the building. .