The government of Xiomera has reportedly ordered its intervention forces to withdraw from the capital of Roucourt and move south, seizing control of the bulk of the platinum mines controlled by the Roucourtian government. Xiomera has also ceased any offensive action against the PNDS and has ceased its air support for government forces, in preparation for what appears to be a planned withdrawal from the country as a whole.
Xiomeran officials have refused to speak with the media at all about their current actions in Roucourt. But the moves are believed to be retaliation for the new leader of Roucourt, Volodin Maximovich, choosing to accept support from Doatia. While no Xiomeran officers in Roucourt would comment on the record, a high-ranking officer speaking on condition of anonymity stated that “Maximovich must have been on some really good – or really bad – drugs to ever think we would cooperate with a democratic nation.” The officer went on further to add that the move to accept Doatian support was widely seen as a betrayal of the alliance between the two countries, and that many Xiomeran soldiers resented the move after placing themselves in harm’s way for Roucourt.
Xiomera has also reportedly moved to impound the Northern Fleet of Roucourt’s navy, which had fled to Xiomera at the outset of the civil war. The Northern Fleet consists mostly of ships donated to Roucourt by Xiomera as part of a “resources for guns” trade last year; Xiomera apparently intends to retake ownership of the vessels and has begun detaining Roucourtian crews of the vessels for deportation back to Roucourt without their ships.
The seizure of the fleet, and the platinum mines, is widely being seen as part of a Xiomeran pattern that was apparent to much larger degree during the end of their occupation of Huenya after the Xiomeran civil war three years ago. “If the Xiomerans feel they are on the losing end of a scenario, their response often seems to be to end a situation that is no longer profitable, as quickly and painlessly as possible. They also seem to like to take as much as they can with them on their way out the door,” Marcus Finch, a foreign affairs expert with DTNS, said. “They did it during the Great War, and in Huenya, and now in Roucourt. The Xiomerans seem to justify such behavior by claiming they have been betrayed, or that it is the fault of the other party. But it is a questionable response at best, and it does make one wonder what their plan is concerning the platinum mines, which are one of Roucourt’s most important economic assets.”
