In contrast to the exaggerated showmanship of the German troops, the Soviet army's almost secret lightning action, the large-scale cluster armored forces rushed into Estonia without warning, and even panicked the East German border troops separated by Poland and Belarus. Deep in their memory, they still retained the most primitive fear of the Soviet army shouting "Ura" in unison and conquering the Reichstag. Those West German troops began to hesitate at the border, while the former East German People's Army soldiers applauded the Soviet Union's tough attitude.
Yanayev also named this military operation Operation Thunderstorm, which has the same name as the Soviet World War II plan that was never implemented in history, except that the target of the attack was not Berlin, but Tallinn.
In Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, President Arnold, who had not given up the last resistance, and Yanayev were in a final stalemate and confrontation at the negotiation table. Although people kept declaring the fall of the garrison troops in various parts of Estonia, Arnold never moved his feet and left here.
"Congratulations, Yanaev, you won. What a brilliant attack plan, with civilian airliners loaded with soldiers attacking the airport and disguised cruise ships loaded with armored vehicles seizing the docks, it is simply a replica of the Prague Operation. The only difference is that you are much braver than Khrushchev, you are sitting at the negotiating table and pressing forward step by step, while watching your opponent lose his soul and throw away his weapons, are you satisfied? Are you happy? Congratulations on destroying another country that could have escaped the clutches of the evil empire." Estonian President Arnold was the only one who had not left the negotiating table. Vytautas and Anatoly had been sent out of Tallinn when the Soviet Union began its attack. Arnold was one of the politicians who should have left, but he firmly refused the request.
"The people who support me are still here. If I leave, how will they view me? I would rather be a victim of tyranny and awaken more people than be a coward who runs away." Arnold's resolute attitude to fight to the end this time was much more courageous than his last plan to establish a government in exile. Perhaps he knew that even if he established a government in exile, it would be too late to save the situation, because the Soviets had absolute control over this land.
So when the Soviet airborne troops that occupied Tallinn International Airport surrounded the conference room, Arnold asked the people around him to lay down their weapons and surrender, while Yanaev waved his hand to signal the airborne troops not to embarrass Estonian President Arnold. Yanaev had not left the conference room for more than 13 hours. He looked at the Estonian national emblem of three blue lions surrounded by Nordic oak branches and slowly said, "In fact, I have given you a chance before, but you trusted NATO too much. That led to the current situation. It is a very stupid thing to entrust your fate to others without your own strength. Unfortunately, NATO seems to treat you as abandoned pawns. The fleet that entered the Baltic Sea and wandered around has withdrawn, and the German armored forces are scared out of their wits. Now your only hope is NATO's mediation. But don't hold too much hope."
If Yanayev can force those old foxes in NATO to come to the negotiation table with him, then he can say that he has won half of the Baltic crisis. The other half is NATO's attitude towards other Eastern European countries in the future.
"What good is there in continuing to be a member of your evil empire, the great dictatorial president?" Arnold was already in prison anyway, so he didn't mind throwing the can down the drain and directly rebuked, "Look at how much our people suffered when you invaders ruled Estonia. We were successively occupied and ruled by Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany and other countries. Since 1710, Estonia has been ruled by Tsarist Russia for more than 200 years. It was not until February 24, 1918 that it declared independence and established the Republic of Estonia. Only one day later, the German army occupied Tallinn, and then in November, you Soviet Russia declared sovereignty over Estonia."
"Under your terrible rule, Tallinn has no future. Those people who died in the Great Purge, the Great Famine, and the Soviet tyranny will never get the justice and trial they deserve. Kremlin thugs! One day you will be nailed to the shame of history and you will never be able to turn over!"
Arnold almost roared the last sentence, but Yanayev thought these accusations were just like a crying child complaining to an adult. Why do you go to Stalin, Khrushchev, or even Lenin to vent your grievances and guilt? The only thing I can do is to send you to see them.
"I am not interested in Estonia's past fate." Yanayev threw a document in front of Arnold, "But you should read this document before talking to me about independence at the negotiation table."
Arnold took the document with a puzzled look and opened the cover. The content inside made him more and more excited. He read the document in detail in front of Yanayev without caring about his own danger. After a long time, he raised his head and sighed, "A country has two different systems at the same time? Why didn't you throw out such a good plan as a bargaining chip before the negotiation started?"
"You didn't give me a chance at the beginning. In fact, this is the best choice for you, the member state. In addition to not being able to enjoy external sovereignty in diplomacy and not having the right to maintain your own army, you must have Moscow station troops. You cannot arbitrarily sign treaties involving sovereignty with sovereign states, except for other economic treaties. You enjoy great autonomy in the economy, and can even reform political parties, change your own political system, and democratically elect the chief executive of the member state. However, you must be responsible to the Moscow Central Committee on the issue of territorial unification. The Moscow Central Committee has the right to abolish any chief executive with independence tendencies, and then the people will elect a new chief executive. Oh, there is another problem, which is to pay taxes on time, and industries that control the lifeline of the national economy, such as electricity and heavy industrial manufacturing, cannot be contracted to private individuals, especially foreign businessmen, and the Communist Party cannot be declared an illegal political party in the country."
This is Yanayev's policy of stick and sweet dates, first using military strength to deter the ambitions of Eastern European countries, and then using economic benefits to make them compromise. In fact, the Moscow authorities have also made considerable sacrifices and compromises. If they continue to adopt a high-pressure policy, even if they use military means to temporarily restore peace between the member states, it will only be a time to brew the next storm.
And the counterattack at that time will grow from a spark into a raging fire.
Yanayev copied the political system of other countries to a large extent, but he was very strict on some political sovereignty issues, while he was relatively loose on economic issues. Isn't it because of poverty that the people of the three Baltic countries want independence? Okay, I will give you a chance to develop yourself, but in terms of sovereignty, you are still the inalienable and inherent territory of the Soviet Union since ancient times.
To sum up, this document is a radical version of the "Czechoslovak Communist Party's Action Program". As long as the member states have sovereignty and pay taxes on time, the so-called development of a multi-ownership economy will be turned a blind eye by the red polar bear. The document was also the result of repeated discussions between Yanayev and Ryzhkov for many days.
"It seems that God has not abandoned Estonia!" President Arnold shed tears of excitement. What he had been fighting for for many years was not the fact that the country could develop on its own one day. Although he had not yet won the sovereignty that the country deserved, compared with the previous control, the Soviet Union was already a great favor.
But then Yanayev told Arnold the bad news, "Of course, I'm afraid you won't be able to participate in Estonia's democratic elections, Arnold. Since you incited Estonian citizens to oppose Soviet rule, it can basically be regarded as treason. You will spend the next few weeks in court, and the next few years will be bored in a prison in Siberia, which is covered in ice and snow for eight months a year."