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Russia’s finance ministry on Tuesday proposed introducing extra progressive income tax rates for those earning more than 2.4 million roubles ($27,100) annually, as well as raising the mineral extraction tax for fertiliser and iron ore producers. -snip- The proposed tax amendments also include an increase in taxes for fertiliser and iron ore producers. The mineral extraction tax for iron ore producers would increase by 1.15 times, for potash producers by 2.3 times and it would double for phosphorus fertiliser producers.

Russia has announced plans to raise taxes on businesses and the wealthy as it scrambles for additional revenue to fund its invasion of Ukraine. -snip- “The changes are aimed at building a fair and balanced tax system,” Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said in a statement, adding that the extra funds would bolster Russia’s “economic wellbeing”. -snip- Income tax is currently 13 percent for the majority of Russians, with some higher earners paying a rate of 15 percent. The Finance Ministry said under the amendments that the 15 percent rate would apply for annual incomes between 2.4 and 5 million...

Russia launched plans to sharply raise taxes on high earners and companies to fill state coffers and fund what it sees as a long war in Ukraine. A government commission on Wednesday approved a Finance Ministry plan to introduce a new progressive income tax as well as raise corporate tax rates. The proposed amendments, which would come into force from next year, are expected to bring an additional 2.6 trillion rubles, or around $29 billion. -snip- Per capita household income is around $7,100, according to data provider CEIC. Russia’s military expenditures are already running at over 6% of gross domestic...

In a conversation with the First Vice President, the special assistant to the Russian President stated that, by Putin's order, two advanced aircrafts with special helicopters and 50 professional mountain rescue personnel will be dispatched to Tabriz, Iranian media reported on Sunday overnight.

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec Bannon is going OFF on Speaker Johnson

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is mulling a future with 18 regular-season games, a Presidents Day weekend Super Bowl and a significant increase in international games. Goodell, during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday, shared his long-term vision, one that involves numerous changes to the season's current format. Specifically, Goodell said he would embrace a schedule featuring 18 regular-season games and two preseason contests, a significant shift from the current 17 regular-season and three preseason games that was implemented in 2021. Follow the 2024 NFL draft • Draftcast | First-round picks | Trades • Kiper on Round 1...

So our FRiend Mark Levin is in Israel as its being bombarded with drones and missiles by Iran. (Please Pray for Peace)Kudos to him for being there as some of us have in the past accused him of being a chickenhawk. I'm looking forward to his reports actually if he does any. Life goes on there. I just saw on the BBC bars etc. are open. But I was wondering what Freepers thought of the dual loyalty question ? Mark could become an Israeli citizen if he so wanted and younger Jewish people often volunteer and fight in their military...

Ukrainian forces in a priority section of the front line near Avdiivka appear to have defeated a large Russian mechanized assault involving tanks and fighting vehicles over the weekend. -snip- On March 30, Ukrainian troops outside occupied Avdiivka fought off a Russian battalion-sized mechanized assault, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said. ISW cited a Ukrainian serviceman who, on March 31, said that elements of Russia's 6th Tank Regiment sent 36 tanks and 12 BMP infantry fighting vehicles into a battle on the front line near Tonenke, a village east of Avdiivka. The serviceman said...

In the summer of 2013, a Moscow restaurant owner was gunned down in the Russian capital. A hooded man jumped off a bike and shot his victim twice before fleeing. Six years later, an exiled Chechen commander, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was murdered in a busy Berlin park in eerily similar circumstances, shot by a man on a bike with a silenced Glock 26 in broad daylight. The assailant was arrested after dumping a pistol and wig in the River Spree close to the Reichstag, the building housing the German parliament. A passport bearing the name "Vadim Sokolov" was found on the...

Russia's Kuibyshev mid-sized oil refinery near the city of Samara on the Volga river has halted all production following damage from a Ukrainian drone attack last week, two industry sources told Reuters on Thursday. The disruption adds to the difficulties of the Russian oil refining sector as the need for emergency repairs following numerous drone attacks claimed by Ukraine has left them struggling to deliver supplies. According to Reuters calculations, around 14% of Russia's refining capacity has been shut down by drone attacks, including Kuibyshev, and the country has this month increased gasoline imports from neighbouring Belarus to address possible...

The Kremlin gave no indication that President Vladimir Putin plans to visit family members of those killed in last Friday's attack on a Moscow concert hall, which killed 143 people. The Russian leader was seen lighting a candle for the victims at a Moscow church last week but has not visited the scene of the massacre or publicly met with its victims. "If any contacts are necessary, we will inform you accordingly," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked if President Putin planned to meet family members of the dead. He also said Mr Putin did not plan to visit...

Russia has increased gasoline imports from neighbouring Belarus in March to tackle the risk of shortages in its domestic market because of unscheduled repairs at Russian refineries after drone attacks, four industry and trade sources said on Wednesday. Usually Russia is a net exporter of fuel and a supplier to international markets, but the disruption of Russian refining has forced oil companies to import. Already Russia banned gasoline exports from March 1 to try to secure enough fuel for its domestic market after repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries since the start of the year. Russia normally imports very...

Belarus' strongman dictator Alexander Lukashenko has seemingly undermined Russia's claims that Ukraine was behind the deadly Moscow massacre, after revealing the four terrorists tried fleeing to Belarus, not Ukraine.

Putin later called the embassy’s alerts “provocative” and “outright blackmail,” intended to damage Russian society. “I would also like to recall the recent provocative statements by a number of official Western structures regarding potential terrorist attacks in Russia,” Putin said during a March 19 meeting of the Federal Security Board, per a Kremlin transcript. “All these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society. You are well aware of them, so I will not go into details at this point.”

LONDON (AP) – Ireland is poised to get its youngest-ever premier after Simon Harris secured the leadership of the Fine Gael party on Sunday, replacing Leo Varadkar who announced his surprise resignation last week. The 37-year-old Harris, who is the government’s further and higher education minister, was the only candidate to put his name forward to succeed Varadkar, who had been Ireland’s previous youngest prime minister, or what Ireland calls its taoiseach.

A growing list of human rights violators and authoritarian regimes around the world published messages congratulating Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on his overwhelming “victory” in a three-day sham presidential election that concluded on Sunday. Leaders such as genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un, and the heads of Russia’s satellites in Latin America – Cuba’s figurehead “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro – extended their support and confidence in Putin after securing another six years in power through a largely ceremonial “election” with no meaningful opposition voices on the ballot and widespread reports of...

The world’s despots have rushed to congratulate Vladimir Putin for his all-but-assured Russian election win. -snip- North Korean media says Kim Jong-un sent his congratulations via his embassy in Russia this morning – unsurprising as North Korea has provided Putin with supplies and munitions for his war in Ukraine. Putin has also received well-wishes and congratulations from the authoritarian ruler of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. ‌The presidents of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and Bolivia, Luis Arce, joined the small repressive group hailing Putin’s overwhelming victory

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is among the first to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his “decisive” win in Russia’s presidential election, state media reports. “The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in a message sincerely congratulated Vladimir Putin on his decisive victory and re-election as the President of the Russian Federation,” state news agency IRNA reports. Chinese President Xi Jinping also sends a congratulatory message to Putin, saying his re-election “fully reflects the support of the Russian people,” Beijing’s state media reports.

President Vladimir Putin won a record 88 percent in Russia’s presidential election on Sunday, exit polls and first results showed, cementing his grip on power, though thousands of opponents staged a symbolic noon protest at polling stations. The early result means Putin, who came to power in 1999, looks to have easily won a new six-year term that would enable him to overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years.

Online voter turnout in Russia’s presidential election on the federal platform has reached 90%, according to the portal on online vote monitoring, APA reports citing TASS. As of 9:27 p.m. Moscow time (6:27 p.m. GMT), as many as 4,268,291 ballots were issued to voters in 28 Russian regions, who had applied for voting online. Thus, voter turnout on the federal platform of electronic voting was 90%. Residents of Moscow can vote on Moscow’s own platform and were not required to apply for remote voting beforehand.