Free Republic

One of the minor outcomes of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s March for Justice on Moscow was that, after he was banished to Belarus, his media empire was shut down. Now there are reports that former employees, who are no longer covered by NDAs, are speaking up about how the propaganda was actually made. (snip) There are apparently a long string of fake reports which were later debunked, designed to anger the populace back home. One infamous story claimed that Ukrainian nationalists had crucified a 3-year-old. This was claimed by an alleged witness who was interviewed back in 2014. "Pretending to be an...

During the chaos in Russia this weekend, much of the nation’s leadership effectively disappeared. It remains unclear if Vladimir Putin is even in Moscow, though state spokesmen insist that he has remained “working inside the Kremlin.” The target of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted coup attempt, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, similarly pulled a vanishing act on Saturday. But today he finally reappeared, showing up in Ukraine to perform an inspection of some of Russia’s troops, making sure that the media was there to cover his performance. The Defense Ministry published a video showing Shoigu meeting with high-ranking Russian Army officers at a...

Russian officials railed against Ukraine’s talk of changing Russia’s official name to Muscovy, after a Ukrainian petition regarding a potential name change garnered 25,000 signatures. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly instructed Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal to “carefully” consider renaming Russia to Muscovy, accounting for consequences under international law and whether it was possible in historical and cultural contexts. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted to Telegram on Saturday that Zelensky is trying to create an “anti-Russia Ukraine.”

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices leaped back above $50 on Wednesday as President Bush (news - web sites) edged toward U.S. election victory, a result which traders said would bolster fuel demand and underpin anxiety over security of Middle East supply. U.S. light crude by 1230 GMT rose 63 cents to $50.25, reversing part of a 12 percent pull-back over the past week. Brent crude was up 57 cents at $47.12 a barrel. White House Chief of Staff Andy Card said Bush was convinced he has won re-election but will hold off a formal victory declaration to give Democrat John...