Free Republic

ISIS had a huge Russian and Central Asian contingent in its heyday. About one out of every five Russian citizens is Muslim, but that population is not evenly distributed either geographically or socioeconomically. In cities, a lot of taxi drivers and hard-luck laborers have names like Magomedov and Ismailov, indicative of Muslim ancestry.... The center of geographic gravity of Islam in Russia is the Northern Caucasus, the site of domestic strife and bloodshed in a series of episodes going back centuries. Some groups around Dagestan and Chechnya have become proficient guerrilla warriors, and Putin perfected his own harsh methods on...

Victoria Nuland: "With this money, Ukraine will be able to accelerate the asymmetric warfare that has been most effective on the battlefield. As I said in Kiev three weeks ago, this supplemental funding will ensure Putin faces some nasty surprises on the battlefield this year."

Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) has stated that the recent terrorist attack in Moscow Oblast is a deliberate provocation by Putin’s regime and had been anticipated by the international community. Source: Andrii Yusov, representative of DIU, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda Quote: "This is the deliberate provocation by Putin’s special services that the international community warned us about. The Kremlin tyrant started his career like this, and he wants to end it the same way: committing crimes against his citizens."

It is not reported whether UMPC control modules will be installed on them. The Russians began mass production of three-ton FAB-3000 aerial bombs . This was reported to the Russian Ministry of Defense following the results of Minister Sergei Shoigu’s trip to the enterprises of the military-industrial complex in the Nizhny Novgorod region. “Sergei Shoigu was informed that mass production of FAB-3000 has been organized at the enterprise since February of this year,” the Russian department said in a statement.

The Russian military fired a missile at its [own] trawler Kapitan Lobanov during a Baltic Fleet exercise. [A] second rocket fell into fishing nets nearby. This was reported by the Russian TV channel “Dozhd” with reference to a relative of a crew member. According to him, the rocket fell on the captain’s cabin of a fishing trawler and was simply blown away. As a result of the strike, three crew members were killed and four more were injured. According to the source, the survivors are in the Pionersk hospital, one of the victims is in serious condition. They have already...

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a private conversation, said that in the near future, the confrontation between Ukraine and russia could end in defeat for Kyiv. Politico reported this, citing unnamed participants in a conversation with Macron. The first interlocutor of the publication said that during a private conversation in the Elysee Palace, Macron considered a quick defeat of Ukraine possible. "Ukraine can fall very quickly," Macron allegedly said.

Russia fired 31 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv before dawn Thursday in the first attack on the Ukrainian capital in 44 days, officials said. Air defenses shot down all the incoming missiles, though 13 people including a child were injured by falling wreckage, they said. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles against the capital. Kyiv has better air defenses than most regions of the large country. The missile interception rate is frequently high, rendering Russian attacks on the capital significantly less successful than during the early days of the war. Even so,...

By a long shot, the enduring image of a NATO-standard modern main battle tank in the Russo-Ukraine War is a video of a stopped vehicle getting hammered by cheap FPV drones, before it gets set on fire and burns down to a six-million-dollar hulk. Combat video posted by the 79th Air Assault Brigade on Tuesday, reportedly from the eastern Avdiivka sector, was typical, showing a stationary US-made M1A2 Abrams tank hit with a detonation in the back of the turret, probably by a Russian FPV drone. Three crew hurl themselves from the main battle tank (MBT) as ammunition stored in...

About a month ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to public and stated that Kiev forces had lost a grand total of 30 thousand troops in the war. It was a shame to see how the world’s MSM sheepishly accepted these figures, that everyone knew were not accurate in the least. Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu had put the number of Ukrainian losses at over 600 thousand – and apparently the real numbers may be an order of magnitude greater. A high-ranking Polish general has just gone on the public record saying that Ukrainian losses in its confrontation with the...

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has hailed the "return" of Crimea to Russia at a concert marking the 10th anniversary of the illegal annexation of the territory from Ukraine. He said Crimea had "returned to its home harbour" and that it would move forwards with Russia "hand in hand". ... On Monday, Mr Putin said the "return" of those four Ukrainian regions to Russia had turned out to be "much more grave and tragic" than Crimea. "But in the end we did it. It is a big event in the history of our country," he said, describing the occupied territories as...

Russia's three-day presidential election began on Friday, and some Western analysts have said the Kremlin is concerned about low voter turnout. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to win by a large margin in what is considered by many to be a rigged election, his office is reportedly concerned that a smaller-than-expected turnout could lend credence to the argument that the contest is illegitimate. The Moscow Times on Thursday detailed how Russia is attempting to lure citizens to the polling stations with prizes like bags of sugar and concert tickets. In Omsk, a city in Siberia, some young voters...

As I walk around Borovsk, two things strike me about this town 60 miles (100km) from Moscow. First, there is almost no sign of the presidential election coming up this weekend. I see few election banners or billboards and no political flyers being handed out. Not surprising, really. The absence of election preparations mirrors the absence of drama surrounding a stage-managed event that will hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term in the Kremlin. The other thing you can't help noticing in Borovsk is the street art. It's everywhere. Much of it has been created by street artist Vladimir Ovchinnikov. All...

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Ukraine lost 234 troops, seven tanks, and three Bradley combat vehicles during an attack on the Russian border in the Belgorod and Kursk Regions, the Russian defense ministry said. As Russia’s Defense Ministry reported earlier on Tuesday, Russian troops jointly with the Federal Security Service (FSB) thwarted an attempt by the Kiev regime to break through into the borderline territory in the Belgorod and Kursk Regions. "As a result of active actions by border units of the Battlegroup West and the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service, terrorist units of the Kiev regime were...

The Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL) and Siberian Battalion (SB) posted videos purportedly showing their fighters in Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions. An exiled Russian politician claimed one village in the Belgorod region was now controlled by "liberation forces". Russia's defence ministry said the breakthrough attempts were thwarted. Ukraine's military denied any involvement in Tuesday's cross-border raids. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the country's military intelligence, said the paramilitary groups were "independent organisations" comprising of Russian nationals and therefore operating "at home". Last May, Russia's military said a similar attack in the Belgorod region was rebuffed and armed insurgents defeated.

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, called on Russians to join an election day protest at noon on March 17 and to vote against President Vladimir Putin or spoil their ballots. In a YouTube video, Navalnaya said she had drawn hope from the huge crowds that turned out last week for the funeral of her husband, who died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, and who since then have submerged his grave in a sea of flowers. She urged people to join the March 17 action that Navalny, Russia's best known opposition figure, had called for...

Moldova’s national intelligence agency warned Tuesday against "unprecedented" Russian interference as the country gears up for a referendum on joining the European Union and a presidential election. The Intelligence and Security Services, or SIS, released a report saying it has gathered data indicating Russia plans to launch vast hybrid attacks against Moldova through 2024-2025 to try to bring the former Soviet republic back under Moscow's influence. Head of the SIS, Alexandru Musteata, said in a press conference that Russia sought to undermine the democratic polling this year in the eastern European country. "There is information about an attempt to compromise...

Ukrainian forces destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet's newest patrol ship, the Sergey Kotov, using naval drones in an overnight attack, Kyiv has said. According to the Unian news agency, Russia's newest Project 22160 patrol ship cost around $65 million to build and had a crew of 80, though it is currently unclear how many people were on board. "As a result of the attack by Magura V5 naval drones, the Russian ship of project 22160 'Sergey Kotov' suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides," Ukraine's military intelligence said in a post on Telegram. Ukraine has used Magura...

Berlin has confirmed a leaked conversation between top military officers about the specifics of British soldiers assisting Ukraine in using advanced missiles took place. A conversation that allegedly took place on March 1st involving a group of senior German officers including the head of Luftwaffe (Air Force) Generalleutnant Ingo Gerhartz [above, left] that took place on an open, unsecured line was intercepted by Russia and published over the weekend. Discussing options Germany had for deploying an advanced cruise missile against Russia in support of Ukraine with plausible deniability, one officer reflected in apparently prophetic words: “Just imagine the uproar if...

Western imperialism comes out of the closethttps://gregreese.substack.com/Putin has made it clear in several interviews that he is well aware of how US Presidents come and go, and US policy never changes.Vladimir Putin: "I have already spoken to three US Presidents. They come and go, but the politics stay the same at all times. Do you know why? Because of the powerful bureaucracy. When a person is elected, they may have some ideas. Then people with briefcases arrive, well dressed, wearing dark suits, just like mine, except for the red tie, since they wear black or dark blue ones. These people...

On the 25th February (a Sunday), 25 year old Aaron Bushnel, a US airman, set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington - shouting ‘I will no longer be complicit in genocide’ and, finally, before he collapsed, Free Palestine! Later, he died of his wounds. This reminded me that in the summer of 1963, Thích Quang Duc, a Buddhist Monk, burned himself in public, protesting against the government of South Vietnam’s persecution of Buddhists. This American airman died protesting against the genocide of Palestinians and deserves his place in history alongside Duc. At a personal level, this, for...