Chapter 363: The Ambitious (End)

Moscow, the former Senate building of the Kremlin, now the Presidential Palace of the Russian Federation.

After finishing the complex administrative work of the morning and having a simple lunch, President Vladimir took off his formal suit, changed into casual clothes, and summoned his aide: "Nolin, I need an hour of private time."

"Very well, Mr. President!"

The aide knew that President Vladimir had no other arrangements before four in the afternoon, so he immediately bowed and replied, "I will notify everyone; unless it is an emergency, no one will disturb you during this time!"

"Hmm!"

Vladimir nodded with satisfaction and walked unhurriedly to the door of his private office in the corner of the Presidential Palace. The aide immediately helped him push the door open, waited for him to enter before closing it again, and then took out a walkie-talkie to give a few brief instructions before standing guard quietly outside the office door.

He did not know that after the office door closed, Vladimir walked leisurely to a corner of the room, fiddled with an old antique phonograph for a while, and then placed a vinyl record featuring many classic songs from the former Soviet Union era onto it; beautiful red melodies soon began to play in the office.

Humming along with the melody, Vladimir brewed himself a cup of Darjeeling tea gifted to him by the Prime Minister of India during a visit to Russia, and sat down at his desk with it.

He actually did not like drinking tea; in fact, Vladimir was a very self-disciplined politician. Coffee and spirits rarely appeared on his dining table, and since Western meals were mostly greasy meat, drinking tea to cleanse the digestive tract was a fairly good choice.

Carrying the teacup to his desk and sitting down, he tapped his finger lightly on a spot on the surface of the brand-new desk he had recently replaced. Soon, the desktop in front of Vladimir began to rise slowly, revealing a nine-inch keyboard underneath, filled with various control buttons in Russian.

Vladimir skillfully pressed a button on it, and a huge LCD monitor of at least a hundred inches descended from above the front of the desk, landing just right in front of him.

As another key was pressed, the LCD monitor lit up immediately. After a burst of static-like flickering, several split screens soon began to appear on the screen one after another. The figures of several high-ranking Russian military and political officials, including the Chairman of the State Duma, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Government, the Defense Minister, the Security Bureau Director, the Commander of the Moscow Military District, the Commander of the Northern Fleet, and the Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, appeared in the frame one by one.

"Since everyone has arrived, I now declare the fourth official meeting of the 【Great Russian Revival Committee】 to be in session!"

【Great Russian Revival Committee】—the name alone made it clear that this was an internal group of a special nature, and in fact, it was indeed so.

Long ago, Vladimir had single-handedly facilitated the establishment of the 'United Russia Party', attempting to use the power of a political party to extend his political life as much as possible to ensure his control over Russia.

However, last year, when he attempted to extend his presidential term by amending the constitution, he encountered strong opposition from within the 'United Russia Party'. Vladimir then realized that what he needed was not the support of a group of politicians with their own agendas, but a powerful force completely under his own control. Afterwards, he began to selectively win over certain people into his inner circle.

Finally, after the brief turmoil caused by Frenzy's visit to Moscow last time, the 【Great Russian Revival Committee】 was born.

This was a secret society completely controlled by Vladimir. By mastering it, Vladimir could finally ensure that even if he were to temporarily leave the political stage, he could continue to maintain control over Russia.

After scanning everyone on the screen in turn and seeing that they were all waiting for him to speak, Vladimir nodded with satisfaction.

Pushing the black tea toward the corner of the desk, he picked up a document on his left and waved it. "This is the cooperation proposal put forward by that alien creature called Frenzy after I made contact with those Cybertronians in Severodvinsk yesterday. You should all have received the copies. Let's talk about your thoughts now..."

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri had basically confirmed that he would receive Vladimir's support to run for president in this year's election, so he was the first to speak: "President, I have read the document. Although I still have doubts about why those alien creatures would choose to cooperate with us in Russia, the cooperation over the past period has been very beneficial and significant to us. I believe that except for the nuclear warheads the other party wishes to purchase from us, which should not be approved, other things including large-scale procurement of our missiles and military equipment are acceptable."

Although he had only stayed in Severodvinsk for a short day before, he had still had an exchange with Frenzy.

Although Vladimir had certain doubts about what he mentioned regarding Megatron and his Decepticon army potentially arriving on Earth soon, and that Earth would once again become a new battlefield for Decepticons and Autobots with Megatron's arrival, it was an indisputable fact that Russia's northernmost military port—Severodvinsk—had nearly been destroyed. Just four invading Decepticon Warriors had caused the Russian Army great trouble. After his military advisory group evaluated the combat power of the Decepticons, the conclusion had made this political strongman, who had always been known worldwide for his tough and iron-willed image, unable to help but feel a chill throughout his body.

"... If a Decepticon squad with more than ten members were to launch a surprise attack on Moscow, the consequences would be unimaginable... Without using nuclear weapons, Russia's conventional military forces would likely be completely destroyed by a thousand Decepticon Warriors..."

Vladimir gave a non-committal "hmm." He was still waiting for others' opinions.

The benefits of cooperating with Frenzy were now felt by the Russian leadership. As everyone knew, NATO members led by the United States had once created a 'Paris Coordinating Committee' to control the export of advanced technology and equipment to socialist countries, and the former Soviet Union and the current Russia had always been the main targets of the Paris Coordinating Committee.

The Red Empire that once made all of Europe and America tremble still had a significant gap with Europe and America in many technologies and industries, not to mention the now-hollowed-out Russia.

And the large amount of cutting-edge equipment that Frenzy provided openly was now serving many pillar industries in Russia, such as military industry, heavy industry, and even nuclear energy. The evaluation data from various departments and expert groups all revealed the same message.

Very good, excellent, very advanced; we need more!

These evaluation materials were no secret among the Russian leadership, especially within the 【Great Russian Revival Committee】, so basically everyone was supportive of continuing cooperation with the alien mechanical lifeforms, although most people also had concerns.

Several military generals, such as the Commander of the Moscow Military District, the Commander of the Northern Fleet, and the Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, knew their status, so they were very cautious about expressing opinions.

Military interference in politics was not only a taboo in East Asia, but it was also a sensitive issue even in Europe and America. Their presence here was more symbolic, and everyone knew this in their hearts.

However, Defense Minister Konashenkov clearly had the qualifications to speak on behalf of the military. He quickly waved the document and said: "I also support further cooperation with those Mechanical Lifeforms, but the other party is asking for too much. From the most basic rifles to tanks, from anti-tank weapons to anti-aircraft missiles, they even want our Su-35 series fighter jets and nuclear weapons that are still in the verification stage. The weapons and equipment they are purchasing from us cover all aspects of the army and air force. The Ministry of National Defense has made a statistical list; conservatively estimated, the total value exceeds eight trillion rubles (about 110 billion US dollars), which is enough to arm the military of a medium-sized country. The only thing I am curious about is, with the technology and manufacturing capabilities of those Mechanical Lifeforms, why don't they manufacture them themselves? What are they going to do with so many weapons?"

As soon as the words fell, the office fell silent immediately.

After a while, Security Bureau Director Poladanovich slowly spoke: "Mr. Minister, I might be able to answer your question."

On the screen, Poladanovich looked ahead expressionlessly: "Our intelligence personnel tracked the previously traded materials and traced them all the way to South America. Although we lost the trail afterwards, it is currently certain that those Mechanical Lifeforms that contacted us are likely hiding in South America. It is very chaotic there!"

He emphasized the last few words, and the meaning of his words made everyone understand immediately.

"Do you mean that the other party is likely preparing to support a puppet regime in South America?" Vladimir asked with a slight frown.

"Yes, Mr. President. This possibility cannot be ruled out!"

Poladanovich nodded slowly in response.

The office fell into a brief silence again. After a long while, Vladimir spoke again, "If this is the case, we have to re-evaluate their intelligence and their purpose for coming to Earth. Mr. Director, this requires more intelligence!"

"Yes, I have already arranged for intelligence personnel to go to South America for further investigation. However, the Security Bureau needs an additional special budget. You know, the United States has sent many more intelligence personnel into our country recently, which has already taken up too many of the Security Bureau's resources!"

"I understand. Dmitri, you need to talk to Mikhail (Prime Minister) about this!"

"Very well!"

In the office, everyone spoke one after another, and soon the entire group passed the motion to continue cooperation with the Mechanical Lifeforms.

Afterwards, they finalized the list of weapons and equipment that could be sold, and this secret meeting via video finally drew to a close.

After the meeting ended, the LCD screen in front of him was raised again.

Vladimir picked up the cup of black tea that had gone somewhat cold, took a light sip, and let the tea bring a chill to his brain as it went down his throat.

He sat quietly in his office, but his mind could not help but think of many things.

"... Is the huge arms order thrown out really just to support a puppet force in South America? And that reappearing Frenzy, why did his transformation form change into the Su-30 series that we export to China..."