#Yuri Chuiko

[chuiko]

I know I've made a post like this before but now that I'm seriously revisiting the series (with the specific intent of figuring out a timeline) this is how I'd plot things out.

This is gonna be long, I'm not sure how to best organize it. Some important stuff is in later points.

• First, s03 is getting sent to 2015-2016, not 2019. It's impossible for Obama to have been president during s01 if s03 was three years later. I completely understand the real-world decision (it was released in 2018, likely as a lead-in to the 2019 presidential campaign), but it just isn't going to work here.

• A Hillary Clinton-like figure is seen at the G7 meeting, so I'm going to have Vasya's reinstatement (in order to unify Ukraine) happen in (early?) 2017.

• The initial election of Goloborodko is in the pre-Maidan election year of 2015, March 29th if we're going to be specific. This is because Yanukovych wasn't ousted—in fact, he wasn't even President. And Vasya's predecessor clearly didn't run away, likely because Chuiko convinced him not to.

• Speaking of: Chuiko's existence is a HUGE difference between SotP and OTL (our timeline). He's been an institution of power for 25 years (in 2015) with an amazing eye for keeping things stable. The Orange Revolution obviously still happened, and so did the Euromaidan, but in this tl I'm going to have him be instrumental in smoothing over Russia's geopolitical anxieties. Just imagine Yuri's smooth assurances to a frenzied Kremlin official that no, there was no CIA coup, he's even still the Prime Minister, everything is still in place, it's fine.

🇷🇺 Russia stuff:

• s03 references Russian occupation, but it wasn't referenced in previous seasons (to my knowledge). I'm going to say the Crimea gambit happened after Yuri and Vasya were both out; it was being planned since Yuri's arrest, but it was Vasya leaving that really sealed the deal. Luhansk and Donetsk weren't little-green-men'd until Ukraine balkanized in s03. Why not right away, like IRL? Well...

• I'm going to make Surkov the Russian president. IRL, rumor has it he was behind the Crimea thing (which was almost entirely bloodless) but had conflict with the L/DPR leadership (specifically Girkin). After Ukraine balkanizes, though, they become Russian protectorates.

• Prior to becoming president (at the end of s01, the phone call), he was the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine (hence why Vasya knows him). This is because without the Orange Revolution freaking out the Kremlin in 2004, his responsibilities were different than OTL and overall he wasn't targeted by as much Kremlin insecurity. AFAIK the Russian MFA strongly prefers career diplomats to political appointees, and this is seen by some as a move by the Kremlin to keep an eye on the MFA, or at least keep its neighbor under a tight watch by giving the position to a Kremlin loyalist.

• Khodorkovsky returns to Russia when Surkov becomes president. He's a minor character, a former-oligarch with some of Vasya's ideals (and stubbornness)

• He's VERY different from Surikov, but for that window where Surikov's president (and when he was PM) if someone says one name people will often be like "which one?!"

• Also, Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov and Sergei Viktorovich Mukhin. This causes some amusement among diplomats who've naturalized to the patrynomic system. Speaking of diplomats...

🇺🇸 US Diplomacy

• The US is studiously not mentioned. This means I can get away with lots :3

• The US is generally treated as a partner more powerful but also much more distant than the EU. Nonetheless, I'm going to have its diplomats behave a bit better and more interestingly than how the EU is portrayed.

• Quick timeline stuff: in 2015-2016, the US is mainly dealing with the Middle East (ISIS, the Iran Deal, Israel diplomacy). It was also investing a lot of effort in fighting international money laundering/corruption. For this reason, the FBI (through the Kyiv Embassy) is going to be working with Mika. I genuinely don't know if the SBU has the ability to access the info to implicate Surikov in freezing Yuri's bank accounts, but I'll have US intel give Mika a hand, or at least corroborate info.

• Bill Burns will be appointed US Ambassador to Ukraine a week or so (bc of Congressional authorization) after Goloborodko is elected. [He served as Ambassador to Russia from 2005-2008, and then as the Under Secretary for Eastern Europe, and then as Deputy Secretary, working on the Iran Deal.] Slightly awkwardly, he retired in Nov. 2014... so he would have come out of retirement in March/April 2015 to be appointed (does that make him a political appointee?). It's clear this wasn't a routine promotion but a specific choice.

• He's chosen to keep an eye on the situation and report back. Both on the internal situation in Ukrainian politics, and also what the Russians are saying/doing. In my timeline 2014 didn't boil over, but it's tense and making watchers in the US nervous.

• US diplomacy remains publicly very distant—no high profile visits during Vasya's brief tenure. This is to everyone's benefit. Obama does like Vasya and empathizes with having a shit congress. Perhaps once Vasya deals with enough of the Horrors he'll meet Barack on equal(ly fucking exhausted) terms and they'll hit it off.

• Burns, however, listens very intently to what the Gang of Five (Oksana, Sergei, Olga, Mika, Ivan) tells him.

• Burns is dismissed as Ambassador by President Surikov, who doesn't trust him getting along well with Vasya + crew. Publicly, to avoid drama, he resigns his post "of his own free will." The Embassy, however, will work just fine without him :)

• Burns recognizes the character flaws of Vasya and his cabinet but still highly recommends them. He's a reason Pres. Clinton works w/ the G7 to reinstate him. Russia (still under Surkov) is also supportive of his reinstatement because the whole thing's an absolute clusterfuck. However, everyone agrees that Yuri is also necessary; he and Vasya are both missing something vitally important by themselves. China, working on its Belt and Road Initiative, also wants the country to not be in pieces.

• Every time Vasya or someone in his cabinet (probably Sergei) stand up for themselves, US diplomats are more comfortable with them. Sycophants are deeply untrustworthy. It's easy to predict what someone will do if they genuinely want the best for their country; purely selfish motives are much less easy to negotiate with.

💸The Oligarchs💸

• Nemchuk kicks off everything with his suggestion the oligarchs stay out of the remaining 2015 campaign. He's also the least contentious of the three. If anyone is going to see the utility of addressing corruption in order to have more stability & contact with Western corporations, it's going to be him. He's also the most like Khodorkovsky's businessman past-self and will get along with him (and thus Russian Pres. Surkov) the best.

• 50/50 chance Burns (maybe along with the Russians) is part of an Iran Deal backchannel. Not only would this piss off some government officials, but Roizman and Mamatov would probably get in another hissy fit, unless Crimea Tatars are Sunni factionalists enough to be on generally bad terms with Iran (the main Shia superpower). Although I wouldn't put it past either Roizman to say something generalizing and Mamatov to get heated. Nemchuk is just done with everyone's shit.

• Nemchuk saw the Khodorkovsky arrest back in 2003 and went "abso-fucking-lutely not."

One last thing:

• After Goloborodko's IMF speech, John Oliver made a video about the IMF's predatory policies.

[giallos]

Servant of the People 2 | Слуга Народу 2 (Dir. Олексій Кирющенко, 2017)

[yurivanovich]

Euripides, from “Orestes”, An Oresteia (trans. Anne Carson)

[hellotoltecs]

went on ao3 to see if they had any servant of the people stuff and im literally DYING at this tag

[ougonnotaiyou]

Hahaha, this scene was great! :D Vasya like a mafioso! When i have some time, I will upload a video cut!

one gifset per episode servant of the people | sluha narodu s2e10

[blue-cherry-dust]

Servant of the People - S02E13

[megaladyrocker]

Art imitates life.

[fuckyeahsluhanarodu]

Servant of the People + Tumblr text posts (1/?)

(apologies for terrible screenshot quality, my phone is shit lol)

[yuriivanovich]

the AI said it, not me

[my-whortleberry-friend]

Yuri Ivanovich Chuyko

a seasoned man of wealth and taste, with a firm belief in himself, his fate and fortune perfectly undisturbed

thinking he's got the boy all figured out, spread out like a well-known map before him

smiling patiently, with this slightly exasperated endearment, gently tugging the leash, enjoying the feeling of total control

i love it how defenceless and innocent Goloborodko is against him, against the sly silver fox

until he isn't

and i'm living for it

[giallos]

Yuri Ivanovich's disguises in Servant of the People 2

[yurivanovich]

“Truth has many different forms. We discuss this truth, we fear another. What do you think of this truth? Why did Vasily Petrovich do that [refuse the IMF loan]? Why did he go against his principles and choose to lie? Is this for someone or something? For his own interests? No. He did it for the people.

"What happened? The people turned around and crucified him. That’s the cruel truth. For the first time in 25 years, maybe even since the birth of this nation, such a righteous man appeared. Such a righteous governor, is that not the truth? That’s the truth.

"What a country filled with masochists, stepping on the same rake every time, hitting their own stubborn head with it. That’s also the truth. If you still can’t believe it, let me tell you, a dead man who crawled out of hell, Yuri Ivanovich Chuyko. Seeing what’s happening here, I really want to die again. I’m leaving.”

(thanks to @chuiko for the translation!)

[hellotoltecs]

"this looks like something i used to feel.."

wanted to try drawing fire (i havent drawn it in years) so i decided to include vasya and yuri in this

[blue-cherry-dust]

Bonus:

Servant of the People - S03E01

[giallos]

— it matters where you are

[yurivanovich]

#tfw you’re trying to really, really help the man who put you in prison in the first place

Bonus: #tfw when - you introduce him to mom