President Kournikov Resigns Following Months of Protest
St. Petersburg - After increasing pressure from within his Cabinet and months of protests, President Kournikov has formally resigned as President of the West Russian Federation. Despite many efforts to prevent a collapse of the democratic order, experts predicted the government would fall to the rise of the White Party. With the atrocities suffered under the Soviet occupation and the Great War combined with the dreaded plague, many Russians have started to believe the faith that befell them was a punishment from God for killing his representative on Earth. Following the White Party securing an supermajority in both legislative chambers it was expected the collapse of the government would only be a matter of time.
White Party Votes to Dissolve Constitution, Appoints Romanov Empress
St. Petersburg - Rather than honouring the request of President Kournikov to hold new elections, the White Party has used its supermajority to dissolve the constitution of the West Russian Federation and appoint Anastasiya Romanova as Empress and Autocrat of All Russia to guide the new Russian Empire on its long path to restore all that has been taken from it. Despite efforts from the other parties to delay voting, they did not succeed and the measures have become law. Empress Anastasiya is a niece of the late Emperor Nicholas II whose parents fled to the United Kingdom in 1918. In 1934 when she was five years old both her parents died in what was believed to be a Soviet assassination. She returned following the Great War and the collapse of the Soviet Union and has rapidly become the public face of the White Party.
Empress Anastasiya Vows to Destroy Revolutionaries and Foreign Agents
St. Petersburg - With the Russian Empire now restored, Empress Anastasiya has used her first radio address to the nation to promise that the revolutionary remnants as well as foreign influence in Russian affairs will come to an end. The Empress specifically called out the Moscow Administration as a vital source of continued revolutionary activity within the borders of the Russian Empire and has said that she will not rest until the threat is eliminated.
Following the announcement reports have reached this newspaper that members of the Communist Party have been arrested by the Imperial Army and taken to internment camps south of Murmansk where they will join a rehabilitation program. Additionally witnesses have reported the movement of soldiers and tanks to the eastern border.
St. Petersburg - To repay those who have suffered losses under the revolutionary government, the Empress has signed the Imperial Return Act. The Act allows for all those who have been deprived of their estates by the Bolsheviks or the descendants of these persons to return and regain ownership of those holdings. The Act also nullifies all transfers of property agreed to by the revolutionary government. To protect the interests of commoners as well as Imperial security, exceptions exist in the forms that the Act may not deprive any household of the means to guarantee their own living, property currently held by state companies important for security of the Empire and property within highly urbanized areas. Financial compensation will be provided for land that cannot be returned under these exceptions using the 1917 value corrected for inflation.
It is expected that the new Act will encourage émigrées to return home and fill the growing noble ranks. Property not currently under the control of the Imperial government is also included in the act and will be returned once it falls under Imperial control.
Honouring Earlier Declaration, Empress Anastasiya Authorizes Military Action
St. Petersburg - Less than a year after committing to use Russian military power to eliminate all threats to the Empire, Empress Anastasiya has ordered the Imperial Army and Imperial Air Force to engage in military action to bring about the fall of the Moscow Administration and liberate Imperial subjects from Bolshevik occupation. General David Ivanov, a hero of the Restoration War, has been placed in command of all ground and air forces committed to the cause and has been ordered by the Empress and General Staff to eliminate all resistance while taking care to avoid avoidable damage to the civilian population. "I do not seek further harm against my innocent people, however only through military force can we free them from occupation and enable their return to freedom" Empress Anastasiya said to a reporter of this newspaper, clarifying the rules of engagement. Sources have revealed that orders also include granting all Bolshevik forces the ability to surrender and be transported to a temporary camp in the north of the Empire until their exact involvement in revolutionary activity can be determined and those found innocent returned to their people after the end of hostilities.
