http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/kremlin/ en-us Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:17:43 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410405/posts A giant triangular UFO was spotted hovering over the Kremlin in Moscow – in a film that has sent shockwaves throughout Russia. The flying object, which witnesses said could be up to a mile wide, was filmed by two amazed spectators – one at night from a car and another during the day. The hovering pyramid has been likened to Darth Vader’s Imperial Cruiser in Star Wars and has been showed repeatedly on Russian news channels. A clip of the UFO, which reportedly hovered over Moscow’s Red Square for hours, has become a Russian YouTube sensation. Nick Pope, who worked... mirror http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410405/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:17:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397542/posts CARACAS (Reuters) - Russia is building arms plants in Venezuela to produce AK-103 automatic rifles and cartridges and is finalizing contracts to send 53 military helicopters to the Andean nation, Moscow's envoy to Venezuela saidMonday. Ambassador Vladmir Zaemskiy told a news conference that Russian engineers and Venezuelan construction firms were building the rifle and cartridge plants which, when operational, would employ more than 1,500 workers. He gave no completion date for the plants under construction in the central state of Aragua. Details about Moscow's military shipments and projects have been scarce since socialist President Hugo Chavez's government began signing military... Forbes.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397542/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 13:49:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395675/posts MOSCOW (Reuters) - The crash of a luxury train in Russia killed 25 people and injured up to 63 more, an official said on Saturday, and sources suggested it may have been an act of terrorism. "Twenty-five people died in the accident," an official reported to Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting televised by Vesti-25 television, hours after the crash. Several carriages of the Nevsky Express traveling from Moscow to St Petersburg were derailed at 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) on Friday near the town of Bologoye, 350 km (200 miles) from Moscow. Estimates of the number of injured ranged... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395675/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:02:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2370772/posts As the United States and its allies haggle with Iran over its nuclear program, Moscow has fueled Western unease about its military links to Tehran by pledging to continue selling arms to the Islamic republic. This has raised speculation that it may brush aside the strident objections of the United States and Israel and supply Iran with advanced S-300PMU surface-to-air missiles that would greatly enhance its defenses against airstrikes. The Russians, who have rejected the proposed imposition of economic sanctions on Iran as "counterproductive," are keeping the waters muddied with contradictory and ambiguous statements regarding the S-300s. On Wednesday, Russia's... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2370772/posts#comment Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:05:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304609/posts Russia's new president is trying to show the world a more liberal face, but the body count of murdered human rights activists keeps rising. Being a political critic in Russia is getting more dangerous by the day, and now one prominent human rights organization in Chechnya has decided to close its office. Yet another Russian human rights activist has been silenced in yet another brutal attack. This week unknown gunmen shot anti-corruption activist Albert Pchelintsev in the mouth with rubber bullets, in front of his apartment in the Moscow suburb of Khimki. The 38 year old was seriously wounded in... Spiegel Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304609/posts#comment Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:16:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303702/posts Meet Marina Kalashnikova: a Moscow-based historian, researcher and journalist. Last August she criticized foreign “experts” for suggesting that a conflict with Moscow will not happen because Russia’s elite is too closely associated with the West. According to Kalashnikova, “The West does not care to wake from the dream of its wishful thinking, even when Moscow turns to … reanimating Stalin’s cult of personality together with the ideology of the Cheka [i.e., the secret police].” I’m afraid that Marina Kalashnikova is right. The West has been dreaming, and the West will suffer the consequences. If the Kremlin likes Stalin, then there... Global Analysis http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303702/posts#comment Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:13:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286682/posts July 6, 2009 Barack Obama makes basic error over balance of power in Kremlin Tony Halpin. President Obama has made his first mistake in Russia even before he arrives in Moscow today. His attempt to cast Vladimir Putin as yesterday’s man and to drive a wedge between the Prime Minister and President Medvedev demonstrates a misreading of relations in the Kremlin. Mr Medvedev is in office but not in power and whether he becomes President in more than name depends on Mr Putin’s support and intentions. Mr Medvedev may represent a more accommodating face of Russia but this is only... London Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2286682/posts#comment Mon, 6 Jul 2009 18:55:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275039/posts Moscow , June 19 Russia will shoot down the North Korean missile if it strays towards its air space, a top military official today said, even as the country's military is monitoring in "real time" the preparations of its renegade neighbour. "If the North Korean missile would veer towards us, we will shoot it down. All our air and missile defence means are ready for this," Deputy Chief of General Staff Lt-Gen Aleksandr Burutin was quoted as saying by' Vesti FM's radio. Indopia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275039/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:17:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261996/posts When United Auto Workers (UAW) union chief Ron Gettelfinger announced the end of GM's two-day strike in the early hours of September 26, 2007, it was the beginning of the end for the world's largest car manufacturer. The agreement to end the first US nationwide automotive strike in 31 years, which saw General Motors' then 73,000-strong US workforce walk out, was the final death knell in the company's 101-year history. The strike had occurred not over the future of those employees however, but rather of the fate of GM's 460,000 retired workers whose continuing eligibility for healthcare benefits had placed... The London Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261996/posts#comment Mon, 1 Jun 2009 10:22:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255824/posts A proposed law could make comparing Soviet rule with that of the Nazis a crime. Intellectuals fear a manipulation of Russia’s past.A bitter joke from the Soviet-era has it that Russia is the world's only country with an unpredictable past. That jibe has come winging back in recent days, after the Kremlin announced the creation of a special 28-member panel tasked with examining and combating examples of "historical revisionism" that harm Russia's image. The committee, which has no legal power, is chaired by the head of President Dmitry Medvedev's administration, Sergei Naryshkin, and includes a sprinkling of historians but also... Christian Science Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255824/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 21:43:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2215055/posts Something unusual happened a few days ago to Vladmir Putin's party of power, known as "United Russia," which dominates Russia's national parliament and faces no credible opposition there. It lost an election, lost it in a landslide. The poll in question took place in the world's most northerly major city, Murmansk. The race was for mayor, and United Russia's candidate was blown off the electoral map by an upstart independent candidate named Sergei Subbotin. The margin of victory in the runoff election was nearly two to one. The casual onlooker might not have thought Putin's Kremlin would get too worked... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2215055/posts#comment Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:24:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2200682/posts As a former Eastern European who spent 22 years of his life behind the Iron Curtain, my own perception of people's vigilance in the western countries for the security of their freedom, and most of all to safeguard their Catholic Apostolic Faith from the influence of, and possible destruction done by, the atheistic communism, is somewhat blinded by a clearly erroneous belief that people who lived in freedom all their lives want to continue living in it, and will not allow anything so criminal, hideous and ultimately satanic as communism is, to enter their society and take it over, and... Anti-Communist Analyst http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2200682/posts#comment Fri, 6 Mar 2009 15:39:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185473/posts Minutes after protesters unfurled anti-Kremlin banners and chanted "Down with KGB power" and "Russia without Putin," a dozen young men jumped out of cars and started to beat them with fists and metal rods. The thugs first attacked elderly marchers who were walking slowly at the back of the crowd of about 50. When Alexey Kazakov, a protest leader, tried to intervene, some of the assailants surrounded him and started punching and kicking. AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185473/posts#comment Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:18:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2177909/posts President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent. The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration’s plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow. Mr Obama is to establish a non-proliferation office at the White House to oversee the talks, expected to be headed by Gary Samore, a non-proliferation negotiator in the... Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2177909/posts#comment Wed, 4 Feb 2009 03:29:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159147/posts A Brewing Storm in Russia Can Russian liberalism survive the Putin/Medvedev regime? A year ago, Russia was in an odd place between oppressive stagnation and a glimmer of possible change. The ruling party, United Russia, had just consolidated its hold on the parliament in a rigged election; the presidential transition was revealed as the farcical anointment of a handpicked successor to Vladimir Putin—the docile Dmitry Medvedev, who quickly promised to make Putin prime minister. Yet some Russian liberals, and sympathetic Westerners, harbored at least modest hopes that Medvedev might prove more liberal than Putin and that the division of power... reason.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159147/posts#comment Mon, 5 Jan 2009 20:29:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156995/posts <p>Russia faces a particularly nasty version of the global recession (at a minimum), and perhaps an economic "perfect storm." Regardless of how bad its economy gets, two broad political trends, each carrying profound implications for Russia's foreign policy and U.S.-Russian relations, are bound to emerge.</p> Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2156995/posts#comment Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:57:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2150271/posts MOSCOW – A new law drafted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Cabinet would allow authorities to label any government critic a traitor — a move that leading rights activists condemned Wednesday as a chilling reminder of the times under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. The draft extends the definition of treason from breaching Russia's external security to damaging the nation's constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity. ... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2150271/posts#comment Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:59:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148507/posts Kremlin denies minister's acknowledgment of recession in Russia (RTTNews) - The Kremlin issued a clarification correcting Russia's chief macroeconomic planner's acknowledgment Friday that a recession has begun in the country. Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach told reporters that a recession has started. "We will face two quarters of economic decline, and I'm afraid, it won't be over in two quarters," he added. A recession is defined as at least two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth in a country. Nasdaq http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148507/posts#comment Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:59:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128640/posts As fears grow regarding Russia’s growing militancy and seemingly anti-western posturing after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he will deploy a short-range missile system on the doorstep of the EU in the enclave of kalingrad a prominent Jewish Refusenik has stated that the US will be at war with Russia within five years. All News Web http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128640/posts#comment Sun, 9 Nov 2008 09:04:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128677/posts The fire safety system on a new Russian nuclear-powered submarine malfunctioned on a test run in the Sea of Japan, spewing chemicals that killed at least 20 people and injured 21 others, officials said Sunday. It was Russia's worst naval accident since torpedo explosions sank another nuclear-powered submarine, the Kursk, in the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 seamen aboard. The victims died of poisoning from Freon gas that was released Saturday when the fire-extinguishing system accidentally turned on, said Sergei Markin, an official with Russia's top investigative agency. AP, via Yahoo! News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128677/posts#comment Sun, 9 Nov 2008 12:31:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2123100/posts BOGOTA (AFP) – A flood of Russian weapons recently sold to Latin American governments could unleash an arms race in the already volatile region, Washington's ambassador to Colombia warned in remarks published in local media here Sunday. "It's important to proceed carefully in introducing new weapons and weapons systems in the hemisphere," said US ambassador William Brownfield, speaking to the El Tiempo newspape afp http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2123100/posts#comment Mon, 3 Nov 2008 03:14:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2114526/posts Stung by international criticism of its presidential and congressional elections, Russia is striking back by sending a team of observers to monitor the U. S. presidential poll on Nov. 4. Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman with Russia's Foreign Ministry, says Moscow will have eight election observers attached to a monitoring mission conducted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE, which has infuriated the Kremlin in the past by criticizing elections in Russia and other post-communist states, is sending 62 election observers to the United States. The mission, headed by Audrey Glover, the top British diplomat, includes... The National Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2114526/posts#comment Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:06:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101670/posts MOSCOW (AP) — The financial crisis has irreparably damaged the image of the U.S. as the leader of the free world and the global economy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Putin's remarks during a Communist Party meeting were the latest Russian attack singling out the U.S. as the chief culprit in the global financial turmoil. "Trust in the United States as the leader of the free world and the free economy, and confidence in Wall Street as the center of that trust, has been damaged, I believe, forever," Putin said. "There will be no return to the previous... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101670/posts#comment Thu, 9 Oct 2008 20:49:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2102340/posts The Russian's alleged role was disclosed in a document, obtained by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which describes complex and highly sensitive experiments supposedly conducted inside Iran. The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2102340/posts#comment Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:54:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084948/posts Russian markets closed until Friday Russia ordered its main stock exchanges closed for another day Thursday as President Dmitry Medvedev called for pouring 500 billion rubles ($20 billion) into financial markets in an effort to stabilize them. The government is struggling to stem a dizzying plummet in share prices and restore confidence in the economy _ a plummet that has revived memories of the 1998 financial collapse. "We have sufficient reserves and a strong economy, which guarantees the avoidance of any shocks," Medvedev said in televised comments. Yahoo!Asia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2084948/posts#comment Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:15:34 GMT