Free Republic

Kremlin-owned gas giant Gazprom said on Thursday it plunged to a net loss of 629 billion rubles ($6.9 billion) in 2023, its first annual loss in more than 20 years, amid dwindling gas trade with Europe, once its main sales market. The results highlight the dramatic decline of Gazprom, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been one of Russia’s most powerful companies, often used as a leverage to solve disputes with its neighbors, such as Ukraine and Moldova. Analysts had expected net income of 447 billion rubles, according to Interfax news agency. According to Reuters analysis, it...

The missing American who’d traveled to Ukraine years ago to aid Russian separatists in Donbas was found dead in the country’s war-torn eastern region. The body of Russell Bentley, a 64-year-old U.S. Army vet, was recovered in the Russian-controlled region of Donetsk Oblast, Reuters reported. -snip- The former pothead, who used “Texas” as his military call-sign, left behind a yoga instructor girlfriend to travel to Ukraine. He utilized crowdfunding sites to finance his trip, and had since become a Russian citizen. He also got married after moving to Ukraine, where he began working as a reporter for the state-owned Sputnik...

The Kremlin said on Thursday that any new U.S. military aid for Ukraine would not change the situation at the front where Kyiv's forces were in a poor position and cast such aid as part of a "colonial" policy which enriched the United States. -snip- "Ukraine has to not only fight to provide profit for the Americans but it also has to fight to the last Ukrainian and is loaded up with debt," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "The favourite colonial policy of the United States of America." Peskov noted that "a very significant" part of the proposed aid would...

I’ve wanted to do this since 1979

Study: 209 Animals Sexually Abused May 2, 11:01 PM (ET) STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - More than 200 animals, mostly horses, have been sexually abused in Sweden since the 1970s, the country's animal protection agency said Friday in its first report on bestiality. The government commissioned the study after reports that sexual abuse of animals could be on the rise in Sweden. Most of the cases were reported by veterinarians and police after 2000, the study said. But it was not clear if sex with animals had become more common or if people had become more likely to report it, it...