Republic of Ashukovo

Republic of Ashukovo Республика Ашуково (Russian)
Flag Coat of Arms
Location of Ashukovo's claims
National Anthem: God Save The House
Motto: Deus Vult (Latin) God wills it
Capital	Mladorossija
Official languages	English, Russian
Religion	Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Denomyn	Ashukov
Government	Federal Constitutional Republic
– Stadtholder	Edward I
– Grand Chancellor	Manolis Afentoulis
– Federal Commissioner	Noelle Sallier
Established
– First Ashukov Federation	25 May 2013
– Tsardom of Ashukovo	11 October 2014
– Second Ashukov Federation	29 January 2017
– Republic of Ashukovo	5 April 2020
Area claimed	1,200 m2
Population	15
Currency	Ashukov denar (Ѣ)
Patron Saint	St. Constantine
Time zone	UTC+2
Drives on the	Right
Date formats	Gregorian calendar dd/mm/yyyyy
Official Website

Ashukovo, officially the Republic of Ashukovo (Russian: Respublika Ashukovo; Республика Ашуково) is a self-declared independent nation-state, commonly referred to as a micronation by external observers, with multiple claims across Europe and America. It is governed as a federal state composed of three autonomous states: Isara, Saint Constantine and Vredeswyk, and one federal city: Mladorossija.

Ashukovo is a federal constitutional republic, administered by Stadholder Edward I. It is regarded as a major inter-micronational diplomatic power and a leading cultural and political power in Europe and America.

Ashukovo, with a mixed market capitalist economy, ranks as having a high level of income equality. It is frequently perceived as a happy and lowly corrupt nation. The national language, Ashukov, is closely related to Old Church Slavonic, Old Eastern Slavonic, Russian, and Serbian, due to Ashukovo's predominantly Slavic culture. Ashukovo is a founder of the Amatine League and the Saint Josephsburg Economic Pact, and an observing member of the Grand Unified Micronational and the League of Hellenistic Micronations. Ashukovo is the only surviving successor to the now-defunct Confederation of Amager, of which many prominent Ashukovs were dedicated citizens. As such, Ashukov politics were highly Amatine-inspired in the early years.

The Republic of Ashukovo is a "Fifth World" micronation with the score of 10 under the Boodlesmythe-Tallini System and scores 4.4 on the Categoric-Gradial/Linden's (Revised) System.

Etymology

The name Ashukovo comes from a town in Ryazanskaya Oblast, Russia.

History

Establishment of the First Federation

Talks regarding the formation of a Federation were held between Edward Jacobs and Vera Hewitt soon after the dissolution of the Confederation of Amager. It was decided that the culture of the future state should be based around the Slavic cultures of Europe, which both Jacobs and Hewitt admired. Soon after Ashukovo was announced, Dradelia and Dorién stated their intentions to join. The Ashukov Federation was formed on 25 May 2013, after the Dradelian Parliament became the last of the legislatures of the four aspiring member States to approve the constitution. Vera Hewitt was later elected the first President of the Federation. Her term was marked by Ashukovo's rapid diplomatic expansion, including its accession to the GUM, the incorporation of Aetos, and the signing of numerous treaties.

Flag of the First Ashukov Federation (2013-2014)

On 1 July, Rilgar Ompastre resigned as Prime Minister. President Hewitt called an extraordinary session of the Federal Assembly together, where Hewitt appointed Edward Jacobs as the new Prime Minister on the advice of the Assembly, following which Jacobs resigned from his office as Supreme Judge. The Jacobs Cabinet was soon appointed. On 28 August, the Republic of Cvetosadovo joined the Federation and the Republic of Akebar, former Dradelia seceded.

Jacobs' First Term

On 3 November 2013, the Ashukov government granted independence to the people of Cvetosadovo, per their request.

On 25 October, Prime Minister Vera Hewitt went on political leave for personal reasons; Deputy Prime Minister Richard Cunningham fulfilled his duties in his absence. Finally, on 13 November, Hewitt resigned as Prime Minister.

Following brief consultation with the Federal Assembly, President Jacobs appointed Sebastian Schriber of the People's Minarchist Front to the office of Prime Minister, making him the first non-Orthodox or Labour to hold the office. The early days of his term were marked with controversy after he attempted to ban Scientology. The bill was shot down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, citing Article 104 of the Constitution.

In December 2013, Montania became an Ashukov Federal Territory after Vera Hewitt announced her temporary leave from micronationalism. As a result, the Labour Party was dissolved.

That same month, President Jacobs and the leaders of Carpathia and Mouzilo negotiated their integration into the Federation on special terms. An agreement has been reached and Carpathia was admitted into the Federation and was granted Special Cultural Status on December 14, 2013, followed by the Mouzilo, which joined the Federation on the next day.

On January 3, 2014, Montania was readmitted as a state and Vera Hewitt returned to Ashukov politics, upon which Hewitt joined Richard Cunningham in establishing the National Party of Ashukovo, which joined a coalition with the Orthodox Party and Green Party known as United Ashukovo.

Schriber's Term

On 24 January 2014, Prime Minister Sebastian Schriber led the United Ashukovo coalition to electoral victory, with Schriber becoming third President of the Federation. A new government was formed, with Nathan Ford at the helm as fifth Prime Minister. Schriber's term was marked by the most active Federal Assembly, with nearly twenty acts being passed in just four months. These acts included the Federal Holidays Act 2014, which established national holidays, the Presidential Act 2014, which established the Council of State and created the Presidential Standard, and the Constitutional Amendment XIV, which expanded the Presidential term from four months to six months. One act, in particular, the Political Parties Act 2014, resulted in the Green Party merging with the Orthodox Party and the Honor Party merging with the National Party.

Another characteristic of Scriber's term was a cultural renaissance, with the complete reformation of the Ashukov language. This renaissance can be attributed to Manolis Afentoulis, the new Minister of Culture, Minister of Sports and Recreation, and head of the Ashukov Language Institute at the University of Ashukovo.

Yet another feature of Schriber's term was a boom in Ashukov diplomatic influence. Vera Hewitt was elected Chairman of the GUM, while Edward Jacobs became the GUM Secretary of the Advancement Council, and numerous treaties and other forms of recognition were signed with significant nations such as Austenasia and St. Charlie.

Huff's Term

On 1 May 2014, President Schriber dissolved the House of Territories to prepare for elections. The United Ashukovo coalition maintained its parliamentary majority, beating out the Social Patriotic Party and independents. Then, on 5 May, the fourth Ashukov Presidential Elections took place. Noelle Sallier of the United Ashukovo coalition beat Manolis Afentoulis of the Social Patriots and was inaugurated on 18 May. She soon appointed Vera Hewitt his Prime Minister, making her the first person to hold the office twice (albeit non-consecutively). Hewitt's Second Cabinet's effort in further increasing Ashukovo's influence had a lot of success, thanks to Defense Minister Jacobs's military reforms and Aerospace Minister Ford's development of a satellite.

On 5 June 2014, the District of Laru was absorbed by the Ashukov Federal Territory of Dradelia and was thereby revoked of its Capital City status. The District of Mladorossija, formerly an Akharnian city, was chosen to be the new Federal District.

On 4 August 2014, the Federal Assembly Act 2014 was passed, establishing the office of Speaker of the House of Delegates and revoking the Prime Minister of his presiding duties in the Federal Assembly.

The Tsardom

After a brief period of inactivity, Ashukovo abandoned its federal system and moved on to being a constitutional monarchy.

On 11 October 2014, the most politically active citizen at that time Manolis Afentoulis was crowned Tsar under the name of Emmanuel I. On the same day, Akharnes and Somster merged to establish the Grand Duchy of Saint Konstantin. The Kosnickij Cabinet was later formed.

However, these changes did not improve the overall situation, as Prime Minister Kosnickij and his team failed to demonstrate any significance both in and out of the country. Shortly after, the Tsardom fell into inactivity.

The Second Federation

On 29 January 2017, former President Edward Jacobs issued a proclamation of Ashukov statehood and unilaterally took the office of President. A temporary government was formed, consisting of the newly-created office of Vice President (which came to replace the Prime Minister) and a Federal Council (later renamed back to the Federal Assembly). Several former Ashukovs, as well as new micronationalists took part in the revival of the nation. On the same day, the Grandy Duchy of St. Konstantin became the District of Saint Constantine.

Edward Jacobs' term was marked by several events, including major reforms in the political system, creation of a two-chamber legislature, re-accession to the GUM, signature of over a dozen of treaties, the annexation of Akebar, among others. The specificity of this government was a fundamentally new, bipartisan approach to internal politics and a more efficient task implementation within the executive and legislative bodies.

On May 19, 2017, Jacobs announced, that albeit not elected, he will respect the Presidential term duration of six months, and would not seek re-election, as his "job of reviving the Federation was successfully completed".

On June 18, 2017 Jacob Huff of the National Liberty Party won the Presidential election, however after a few weeks in office, the government's activity declined. As a result, on January 12, 2018, Edward Jacobs announced that he was taking over the office of President, citing Huff's inaptitude to serve the nation.

On December 24, 2017, Mouzilo unilaterally declared independence and on February 14, 2019 it was incorporated into the Empire of Austenasia.

On March 30, 2020, President Jacobs announced that major reforms were being conducted in Ashukovo, later revealed to be a transition to a republican form of government.

Establishment of the Republic

On April 5, 2020, President Edward Jacobs dissolved the Ashukov Federation and established the Republic of Ashukovo.

On May 1, 2020 a landmark constitution was adopted by the Ashukov legislators, as a result of which the offices of Stadtholder, Grand Chancellor and Federal Commissioner were established, replacing the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency, and the Senate was created in lieu of the National Assembly.

Politics and government

Government structure

Edward I Stadtholder since 2018	Manolis Afentoulis Grand Chancellor since 2020	Noelle Sallier Federal Commissioner since 2020

Ashukovo is a federal constitutional republic. Ashukovo's constitution, adopted in 2020, is the legal framework that governs the head of state, government, legislature and judiciary. The Stadtholder retains wide executive and legislative powers over the government. The Stadtholder exercises his powers through the government that he appoints for an undetermined term, known as the Council of Minister, and which is responsible before him. The Stadtholder may appoint a Federal Commissioner to oversee the Council of Ministers in his absence, or perform government tasks as assigned within the Council's framework. The Stadtholder shares the legislative power with the Grand Chancellor, who is elected among the Senators, and formally appointed by the Stadtholder. The Grand Chancellor maintains order in the senate and oversees the voting process. As such, he hold a veto power in that he may refuse to hold a vote. The judiciary is integrated into the legislature.

The Stadtholder is the head of state and government, and commander-in-chief of the army. He can declare war and peace, ratify laws and treaties, convene and close legislative sessions, call and postpone elections, dismiss the government and dissolve the senate. After a bill is proposed by a senator, it must be approved by the Grand Chancellor, and becomes law after being ratified by the Stadtholder. This gives the Stadtholder also a veto power, as a bill is deemed to have failed if the Stadtholder does not sign it into law within 7 days of the Senate's vote.

Political parties

Ashukov politics have been historically very right-leaning. In spite of that, the First President of Ashukovo was a representative of the Labour Party. All the subsequent Heads of State were members of centrist or center-right wing parties. The most influential party of Ashukovo is the National Liberty Party and its predecessor, the Orthodox Party, whose members served a total of 5 Presidential terms.

Currently there are two registered parties in Ashukovo: the National Liberty and the Conservative parties, who also form a voluntary coalition.

Party Name	Logo	Short name		Leader	Ideologies	Position	Colors	Seats in the RA
								CM	S
National Liberty Party		National Liberty	NLP	Edward Jacobs	List Liberal conservatism Ashukov nationalism Bonapartism	center-right	blue	4 / 5	3 / 4
Conservative Party		Conservatives	CP	Manolis Afentoulis	List National conservatism Traditionalism Ashukov nationalism Greek interests Independentism	right	gold	1 / 5	1 / 4

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of the Republic of Ashukovo

The Republic of Ashukovo implements foreign relations and defines foreign policy through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry is responsible for signing treaties which are later approved by the Council of Ministers and ratified by the Stadtholder.

Throughout its history, Ashukovo enjoyed full diplomatic relations with over 40 states, in addition to recognizing all members of the United Nations and many member states of the GUM. Ashukovo is also a founding member of the Amatine League and the Saint Josephsburg Economic Pact and enjoys perfect relations with all of their members. Since 5 May 2020, Ashukovo is an observing member of the League of Hellenic Micronations.

Economy

Logo of Ashunomics Enterprise.

Ashukovo has a mixed-market capitalist economy. Most, if not all, Ashukovs are lower-middle class to upper-middle class. There is very little income inequality. Major private Ashukov businesses include the Ashukov Technological Company (commonly referred to as AshuTech), the Ashukov Broadcasting Corporation and Ashunomics Enterprise.

The de jure currency of Ashukovo is the Denar, which is regulated by the Ashukov Central Bank, while de facto the Euro and the US Dollar are oftentimes used by the population.

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
2013	48	—
2014	65	+35.4%
2016	40	−38.5%
2017	14	−65.0%
2018	25	+78.6%
2019	14	−44.0%
2020	15	+7.1%
Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions.

Geography

As Ashukovo is a transcontinental nation, its climate varies depending on the location. The District of Mladorossija is considered the political and cultural center of the Republic, and serves as its capital city. It has a humid continental climate.

Climate data for Mladorossija, Ashukovo
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	8.6 (47.5)	8.3 (46.9)	19.7 (67.5)	28.9 (84)	33.2 (91.8)	34.9 (94.8)	38.2 (100.8)	37.3 (99.1)	32.3 (90.1)	24.0 (75.2)	16.2 (61.2)	9.6 (49.3)	38.2 (100.8)
Average high °C (°F)	−4.0 (25)	−3.7 (25.3)	2.6 (36.7)	11.3 (52.3)	18.6 (65.5)	22.0 (71.6)	24.3 (75.7)	21.9 (71.4)	15.7 (60.3)	8.7 (47.7)	0.9 (33.6)	−3.0 (27)	9.6 (49.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−6.5 (20.3)	−6.7 (19.9)	−1.0 (30)	6.7 (44.1)	13.2 (55.8)	17.0 (62.6)	19.2 (66.6)	17.0 (62.6)	11.3 (52.3)	5.6 (42.1)	−1.2 (29.8)	−5.2 (22.6)	5.8 (42.4)
Average low °C (°F)	−9.1 (15.6)	−9.8 (14.4)	−4.4 (24.1)	2.2 (36)	7.7 (45.9)	12.1 (53.8)	14.4 (57.9)	12.5 (54.5)	7.4 (45.3)	2.7 (36.9)	−3.3 (26.1)	−7.6 (18.3)	2.1 (35.8)
Record low °C (°F)	−42.2 (-44)	−38.2 (-36.8)	−32.4 (-26.3)	−21.0 (-6)	−7.5 (18.5)	−2.3 (27.9)	1.3 (34.3)	−1.2 (29.8)	−8.5 (16.7)	−16.1 (3)	−32.8 (-27)	−38.8 (-37.8)	−42.2 (−44)
Average Precipitation mm (inches)	52 (2.05)	41 (1.61)	35 (1.38)	37 (1.46)	49 (1.93)	80 (3.15)	85 (3.35)	82 (3.23)	68 (2.68)	71 (2.8)	55 (2.17)	52 (2.05)	707 (27.83)
Average relative humidity (%)	83	80	74	67	64	70	74	77	81	81	84	85	76.7
Average rainy days	0.8	0.7	3	9	13	14	15	15	15	12	6	2	105.5
Average snowy days	18	15	9	1	0.1	0	0	0	0.1	2	10	17	72.2
Sunshine hours	33	72	128	170	265	279	271	238	147	78	32	18	1,731
Source:

Autonomous States and Federal Lands

Ashukovo consists of three autonomous states and one federal city, who are guaranteed numerous rights outlined in the Constitution. States are given a high degree of autonomy, namely, the local executive and legislative branches of power are independent from the federal government. States may determine the nature of their local governance, provided that it does not violate the Constitution.

Federal Lands, on the contrary, have fewer freedom. They are directly subordinate to the Senate of the Republic of Ashukovo, which appoints a Lord Governor, the senior executive official of the Land.

List of cities

Flag	Emblem	Name	Population	Area (km²)	Lord Governor
		Mladorossija	4	~0.1	Prince George
		Saint Constantine	3	~0.1	Prince Edward

Culture

Ashukov culture is considered a branch of the Slavic cultures of Europe. However, since 2014 Ashukov culture began to incorporate numerous elements of Latin and Roman culture. In recent years, Ashukovo's culture has been heavily based on Eastern Orthodoxy (especially that of Greek and Russian influences).

Between 2014 and 2020 the Ashukov language was being developed by the Ministry of Culture.

Media

Freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Republic. As such, Ashukovs enjoy a high level of transparency in national media outlets. Currently, there are two major newspapers – the "Ašukovski Vesti" and the "Mirolian Times".

External links

• Official government website
• Ašukovski Vesti – Ашуковски Вэсти