Pepsi sends fleet to Black Sea, joins Russia-Ukraine war
BLACK SEA — The Pepsi company has de-mothballed its naval fleet and deployed it to the Black Sea in order to help provide security to cargo ships attempting to export grain from Ukraine and has discussed the possibility of providing offensive capabilities against Russian warships in the region.
“After withdrawing from the grain agreement in July 2023, Russia is purposefully destroying Ukrainian ports,” according to a report by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “It damaged or destroyed 69.7 thousand m² of warehouses with grain. It attacked 34 administrative buildings and 62.000 tonnes of grain cargo.”
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest suppliers of wheat, corn, and barley. If these ports are shut down or exportation has to stop, there would be critical food shortages around the globe and any the price of products made from these grains would skyrocket.
Russia and Ukraine had struck an agreement on July 18, 2022, to reopen the country’s ports and resume the flow of grains. Vladamir Putin backed out of the deal in Oct. 2023 after it was alleged that Ukrainian forces had attacked Russian ships in the Black Sea with drones. Ukraine denied any involvement in the attacks, blaming Russia for staging them as a possible excuse to back out of the deal. Although the trade routes through the Black Sea are still open, concerns for the safety of the ships remain.
Multiple NATO countries have contributed to the war effort, backing up Ukraine with money, equipment, and weapons, but have been forced to hold back on taking aggressive, direct action against Russia in fear it would escalate the confrontation into a new world war. Because of this, the use of the private Pepsi navy was seen as the perfect solution.
The cola company maintains a fleet of 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer which it obtained from the Soviet Union in exchange for its bubbly beverage in 1989.
“When the war started nearly two years ago, we had no intention of getting involved,” said Mac Romes, a spokesman for Pepsi. “However, with the turmoil in the U.S. government regarding the continued support for Ukraine, our board of directors unanimously agreed we couldn’t sit on the sideline any longer.”
According to public record, Pepsi’s fleet was sold for scrap in 1990. However, off the record, the refreshment company partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to retrofit and modernize the fleet with experimental equipment to test their capabilities before implementing them across the U.S. military’s fleet of ships.
“We’re really excited to see these ships in action,” said Albert McDonald, lead researcher at DARPA. “Some of this tech we’ve been working on since the dawn of the Cold War and incorporate some really fascinating things from the Roswell crash. The theoretical and lab tests have shown promising results, but these real-world tests will give us the best feedback on their effectiveness.”
Pepsi first came in possession of its fleet ( once the 6th largest in the world) as a form of payment after the United States began boycotting Soviet products after it invaded Afghanistan in 1980. Originally, the soda company struck an exclusive deal to sell their product in the former Eurasian empire in exchange for vodka, which it would resell in the U.S. However, after the boycott, the alcohol became practically worthless. But the Soviets were hooked on that bubbly and weren’t going to allow something like a lack of money from keeping their shelves stocked-so, they gave up a few vessels of war to keep the syrup flowing.
And Pepsi almost acquired additional vessels when it was time to strike a new deal with the nation, but sadly the radical reforms imposed by then-president Mikhail Gorbachev caused the USSR to fracture, and with it, the Pepsi deal.
“Could you imagine the position of power we’d be in if we sold our products wholesale for military equipment?” asked Romes. “We could topple nations, re-draw borders, or finally be rid of those pesky soda jerks over at Coke.”
Sign up for the Alpine 6 Action News newsletter or subscribe to our Patreon and never miss another article!
Originally published at http://alpine6.com on January 17, 2024.
