Free Republic

The Summary of the Report Background 2014-2021 Since the first months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2014, faith-based communities of various denominations have fully experienced the brutality and ruthlessness of Russia’s repressive policy in the occupied territories of Crimea and the Donbas region. Russian troops and Russian- backed separatists have targeted religious leaders and individual believers of most faiths, except the Orthodox parishes affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. Representatives of religious minorities were arbitrarily arrested, threatened, beaten, illegally imprisoned, tortured, and some were deliberately killed. The repressive policy in the self-proclaimed “people’s republics,” in those parts...

Islamic State released on Saturday a photo of what it said were the four attackers behind a shooting rampage that killed at least 143 people in a concert hall near Moscow on Friday, the terrorist group's Amaq news agency said on Telegram. The publication noted that the attackers were armed with grenades, explosive devices, firearms, and knives. It was also reported that four ISIS terrorists carried out the attack - three of them were firing shots with firearms, while the fourth used explosives at the scene, Ynet reported. "The attack comes within the context of a raging war between the...

Four unnamed sources from the Russian President’s administration and the Ministry of Defence told the news website Verstka that a new wave of mobilized troops could soon be sent to Ukraine. These soldiers will likely comprise reservists and existing conscripts who will be “cajoled” into signing new contracts once their current tour of duty ends. “Something is coming. Reservists are being recruited now, the same as before the last mobilization. Whether the mobilization will happen or not, I don’t know, but last time the procedure was the same,” an officer from one of the military units in the Zabaikal region,...

Ukraine authorities in the eastern Donetsk region of the country launched a war crimes-murder investigation after six seriously wounded Ukrainian troops allegedly were executed by Russian forces as they were waiting to be medevacked from Avdiivka. The alleged murders by a Russian soldier of two Ukrainian POWs in the nearby village of Vesele, 12 miles northeast of the frontline city of Bakhmut, is the subject of a second separate investigation, the Donetsk regional prosecutor's office said Sunday in a social media post. Advertisement The probe of the executions of prisoners in Avdiivka, which fell to Russian forces at the weekend,...

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is not known for his resolve. It’s the main reason why the new and emerging consensus among Wall Street Fed watchers is that he will cut interest rates at least twice this year despite signs of persistent inflation, the Post has learned. If the CEOs and top executives who follow the Fed can be believed — and these folks have sources inside the central bank’s building in DC — Powell is already brushing off last week’s high inflation reads as a likely anomaly. His first rate cut since he started to raise them in March...

A con artist who is accused of defrauding the US Army out of $100 million has been given the green light to retire with full benefits. Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, who is currently under criminal investigation, brazenly claims she “earned” her civil servant retirement package despite allegedly using the funds to purchase over 30 homes, luxury cars, and jewelry through the seven-year-long scheme. The military admitted that there is nothing that can be done to withhold Mello’s benefits from her as it’s protected under a federal law that was held up in government bureaucracy. “The command has no authority to...

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was hit with new charges by Russia Friday, according to reports. Navalny, 47, is already serving more than 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of charges that he and his supporters say were politically motivated. This time, he said in social media posts shared by his spokesperson that he has been charged under article 214 of Russia’s penal code, which covers crimes of vandalism. Navalny, a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that the Kremlin wants to “initiate a new criminal case against me every three months.” “I don’t...

A short-term bill that will stave off a partial government shutdown for at least another two months cleared the House of Representatives Tuesday evening, bringing lawmakers one giant step closer to keeping federal operations going after 11:59 p.m. Friday. The 336-95 vote represented a win for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who unveiled his plan for a so-called “laddered” continuing resolution (CR) Saturday. A contingent of conservative Republicans quickly came out in opposition to the bill, which they complained lacked spending cuts. However, 209 Democrats offered their support and helped send the measure on to the Senate, where it is...

For Moscow to finally let go of its imperial ambitions, it must lose the war it has been waging in Ukraine. As the history of the last few hundred years shows, this is the only way Russia will change. The idealogue at the head of Putinist Russia, Vladislav Surkov, has made his vision of an ideal Russia very clear. In his view, Russia is a country that “having stopped falling, has begun to rebuild itself and returned to the natural and only possible state of a great, growing and land-collecting community of nations." Surkov says that Russia makes "no promise"...

Senior Hamas Official Ali Baraka: We Have Been Secretly Planning The Invasion For Two Years; Russia Sympathizes With Us, Benefits From U.S. Embroilment In This War; Any Swap Deal Should Include Hamas Prisoners In Europe And The U.S. Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an October 8, 2023 interview that aired on Russia Today TV that Hamas had been secretly planning the invasion of southern Israel for two years, even as it was making it seem like it was busy governing the Gaza Strip. He explained that this is the reason Hamas did not join the Palestinian Islamic Jihad...

If you’re kicking yourself for missing the historic moment of a House speaker’s ouster Tuesday because you had to work or get your kids from school, relax: We watched, and all it boiled down to was hot air — sound and fury, signifying nothing except cynical nihilism and likely weeks of chaotic paralysis. Oh, Rep. Matt Gaetz and his fellow rebels talked plenty about high principle and the crisis of the Republic, but all they were really doing was burning down the House, or at least the House Republican majority. Professed conservative hardliner Gaetz got the chaos he wanted, ironically...

A statue of Feliks Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet secret police, Cheka, was unveiled in front of the headquarters of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in Moscow on September 11. The statue is a replica of a larger Dzerzhinsky statue, one of the symbols of Soviet repression, which was pulled from its pedestal outside KGB headquarters in August 1991. SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin said at the ceremony for the statue's unveiling that Dzerzhinsky's face on the original and new statues is turned toward Poland and Baltic states "because the threat to Russia from the northwest remains."

Russian Orthodox Priests are facing persecution by their church for calling for peace in Ukraine while Moscow’s war rages on. At least 30 Orthodox priests have faced pressure by religious or state authorities for speaking out against the war, said Natallia Vasilevich, the coordinator for the human rights group Christians Against War. There may be even more cases, according to Vasilevich, who said some priests are afraid to discuss repercussions for fear of further retaliation. One of those priests, Rev. Ioann Koval, was defrocked after he prayed for peace in Ukraine following orders from Moscow Patriarch Kirill, the leader of...

To the rear of the brutal fighting at the frontlines, Ukraine appears to be making the very best of counter-battery fire to suppress and destroy Russian artillery units. Though Ukrainian troops continue fighting for breakthroughs in Russian defensive lines, artillery gunners are playing the long game for future artillery supremacy. Counter-battery fire, and especially radars that facilitate it with high accuracy, are playing a big part in this. It has been reported that many Russian artillery units lack counter-battery radar systems to pinpoint incoming fire, with losses of these prized systems having taken their toll in nearly year and half...

The German government has finalized a 700-million-euro ($770.28 million) military aid package for Ukraine, the defense ministry said on Tuesday, the first day of a NATO summit in Vilnius. The package includes two Patriot launchers from Bundeswehr stock, 40 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 25 additional 1 A5 main battle tanks, as well as five Bergepanzer 2 tanks, the ministry said. It includes an additional 20,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 5,000 rounds of 155 mm smoke ammunition, the ministry added. The package “serves Ukraine’s priorities: air defense, tanks, artillery ... with it, we are making an important contribution to...

Ireland is likely to join a new Nato initiative to monitor and protect undersea cables running through Irish waters against potential Russian sabotage, according to sources familiar with discussions in Government. Ireland is a member of the Nato-led Partnership for Peace, which enables non-Nato members to co-operate with the alliance on specific projects. That membership, in place since 1999, is currently being renewed and a new Nato project called the Critical Undersea Infrastructure Cell is likely to part of the discussions. It’s expected that Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Micheál Martin and officials will discuss the potential...

Two Russian men who claim to be former Wagner Group commanders have told a human rights activist that they killed children and civilians during their time in Ukraine. The claims were made in video interviews with Gulagu.net, a human rights organization targeting corruption and torture in Russia. In the video interviews posted online, former Russian convicts Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev – who were both pardoned by Russian presidential decrees last year, according to Gulagu.net – describe their actions in Ukraine, during Russia’s invasion. CNN cannot independently verify their claims or identities in the videos but has obtained Russian penal...

Sen. Rand Paul’s heated opposition to a TikTok ban startled Capitol Hill last week, but you could look at it as a straightforward case of following the money, according to insiders – in this case, the money of a major GOP donor who has $33 billion on the line. The gentleman from Kentucky – who has made his career partly as a China hawk – surprised colleagues on the Senate floor last week when he blocked Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s hopes for fast-tracked legislation to ban TikTok. “Speech is protected whether you like it or not,” Rand said, jumping...

A Manhattan parking garage attendant who was shot twice while confronting an alleged thief — then wrestled the gun away and opened fire on the suspect — has been charged with attempted murder, police and sources said. The overnight worker, identified by cops as Moussa Diarra, 57, was also hit with assault and criminal possession of a weapon charge in the Saturday incident, which unfolded around 5:30 a.m. as the attendant saw a man peering into cars on the second floor of the West 31st Street garage, the sources said. Believing the man was stealing, the attendant brought him outside...

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s elite propagandists wanted to drink champagne in the studio to properly celebrate the moment. Head of state propaganda agency, RT, Margarita Simonyan, expressed “an overwhelming sense of euphoria” and added: “I’ve been waiting eight years for this . . . it finally happened. This is true happiness.” With the bloody all-out invasion now in its second year, the euphoria has been replaced by a lingering sense of dread, with Putin’s mouthpieces routinely fretting about the possibility of war crimes tribunals. The issue is playing on their minds. Appearing on the state TV show, Evening...