Vanuku

[Kubrick]

Jelbic Empire enacts sanctions against Zardugal
6 October 5583, Wiel, Kingdom of Wrnuke, Empire of the Jelbic Peoples


Grzkai Krlmékez, currently both the Prefect of Wrnuke and the 'acting' Prime Minister of Beiteynu, pushed for the sanctions.

After a secret closed session of the Great Council of the Empire the word is out: the Jelbic Empire will enact severe sanctions against Zardugal. After diplomatic incidents kept stacking up and all talks failed it seems that escalation is the only thing that can still happen between Wrnuke and Zardugal. Two years ago the Kingdom of Wrnuke declared the treaty between the two states as null and void. The split between the two was a long time coming, but for Wrnuke the final straw was Zardugal deploying paid volunteers during the conflict in Istalia. The current Director of Zardugal, Mario Gropo, is known as a staunch anti-Jelbic. Under his leadership Zardugal has split from Diarmaido's more moderate course seeking to co-exist and cooperate to an aggressive anti-Jelbic policy. According to Director Gropo the existence of the Jelbic Empire is a direct threat to Zardugal, under his tenure re-armament has taken new heights. This in turn was considered a severe hostile move by Wiel, which at the time was still bound by the non-aggression pact between the nations. The Jelbic labour fund was even paying for investments in Zardugal, that same money was then used to purchase military equipment to aim at Wrnuke. After that volunteers were, on Zardugal's payroll, deployed in Istalia. This prompted the Prefect of Wrnuke, Grzkai Krlmékez, to pursue a new course of action in regards to Zardugal.

The Prefect has long been cited as a careful diplomat and a man best described as 'everyone's friend'. Leaked documents show that upon his ascensions as Prefect he informed the Xsampan intelligence chief that his agents were about to be compromised within Jelbic nations. This act of mercy gave Xsampa time to extract their field agents, the move at the time was criticised by allies of Wrnuke but was seen as a way to preserve friendship with Xsampa. In the end Xsampa took a harder course in regards to Wrnuke as well, which may have had an influence on Krlmékez turn in regards to geopolitics. The friendly diplomat has now become a fierce anti-communist statesman. Since 5581 he has been pushing for sanctions on all socialist states, going as far to announce that they must be brought to their knees: "It is our duty to protect our interests, to protect the sovereignty of others, to make sure no person on this planet is oppressed by totalitarian autocrats like the communists and socialists, we must cripple their regimes by all imaginable peaceful means." The exact details of the sanctions are not published but under the guidance of Prefect Krlmékez a special committee within the Great Council has been working on it for the last two years. Known details are that all member states of the Jelbic Empire will cut all trade and economical ties with Zardugal, the Empire will freeze all Zardic assets on accounts controlled by companies within the Jelbic Empire, other Majatran nations are encouraged, through financial means, to cease or decrease their interactions with Zardugal and there have been rumours of a special program to extract Zardic dissidents. For example the recently wanted Desiderio Sepstono has been offered full asylum, but it is not yet known if he is actually within the borders of the Jelbic Empire. Many expect the sanctions to be only the first step of further escalations against Zardugal, though only time will tell what will happen next.

Krsyiji Sagmot'l (United Media) is the national news agency of Wrnuke, it is decidedly pro-government but can at times be critical of it.