August Destroyer Incident

The August Destroyer Incident took place in August 2017 after a Russian Destroyer. Tension between Velden and Russian fleets have not been particularly important in the past and have been widely seen as fairly routine. The Green Solidarity which had only just gotten into government declared a State of Emergency that was widely ridiculed across Veldenland as a Gross Overreaction to the incident.

Incident
In August 2017, a Russian Udaloy class destroyer suddenly changed course from going up between Veldenland and Norway in the North Sea to moving closer to Veldenland waters. The act was seen as threatening Veldenland's waters and created a tense stand off between the Russian vessel and Veldenland's naval forces as communications were never made with the Russian Vessel. Members of the Russian ministry of defence released a statement assuring that they are working to communicate with the Russian vessel and organized its safe change in course away from Veldenland waters soon.

Following the Russian Statement, the Government announced that "We have our best people working to assure safety in our waters and sort out this circumstance with the Russian vessel and Russian officials in Moscow." The Government claimed that the Russian Ambassador refused to answer our questions on the current status of relations between Russia and Veldenland and if this action will go without retaliation or repercussions. Many situations such as this had occurred between Russia and Veldenland before including the blockage of a Veldenland cargo ship by a Russian vessel in 2012 and the collision between a Russian oil tanker and fishing boat in Veldenland's waters in 2014.

Political Ramifications
The State of Emergency led to a debate in Parliament in which the Government was ridiculed. Conservative Leader Brownie said accusing government of a breach of the State of Emergency procedures, whilst DNP leader Kyrsten Sinema called the government "pathetically weak" over the incident. The NDP also weighed in and accused the Government of already taking the country to the gutter.

As a first test for the incumbent government, the response was seen as weak and poor and led to the Government facing a lot of flack early on. Myles Gelvis defended the decision arguing that this Government would not bow down to the Russians. A poll in VNN later said that 66% of the public thought Green Solidarity had overreacted.