Free Republic

Pro-war Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who is in custody awaiting trial for inciting extremism, said on Sunday he wanted to run for president even though he understood the March election would be "sham" with the winner already clear. Girkin, who is also known by the alias Igor Strelkov, has repeatedly said Russia faces revolution and even civil war unless President Vladimir Putin's military top brass fight the war in Ukraine more effectively. A former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who helped Russia to annex Crimea in 2014 and then to organise pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine, Girkin said before his...

This week’s “No Shit Analysis” award goes to Eugene B. Rumer for his Wall Street Journal op-ed, It’s Time to End Magical Thinking About Russia’s Defeat. Only took him 22 months to figure this out. He may be a slow learner but give him some credit, he finally awakened from his dream world and is beginning to grasp that the Ukraine project is swirling down the toilet.Eugene B. Rumer is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, Washington DC. Previously, he served at the State Department, on the staff of the National Security Council...

The families of Russian men drafted under President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization last year have planned mass protests demanding their return home, amid reports that soldiers are being prohibited from leaving the military. The soldiers' relatives published a manifesto on the Telegram channel The Way Home on November 12 demanding that their men be allowed home, and inviting Russians nationwide to participate in rallies on November 19. Since 2014, protesters in Russia have faced punishment for holding demonstrations without the permission of the authorities. The RAND Corporation, an American think tank and research institute, said in a report in June...

Russia's top security official today warned of biological warfare and ordered regional governors to put their economies on a war footing. Security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, 72, is seen by some as Vladimir Putin’s likely successor. A strong anti-Western hardliner, he claimed that the conflict in Ukraine could see biological warfare while also suggesting a new round of mobilisation in Russia after heavy losses of conscripts. -snip- “Unauthorised access to collections of dangerous pathogens, destruction and looting of laboratory premises, as well as loss of biological samples, cannot be ruled out….” He warned of Ukraine infecting refugees who travel from...

For Darya Stepanova, a mother of two who lives in a small town on the eastern side of the Ural mountains, soaring prices for everything from baby food to nappies have forced her family to cut back on most treats and eating out. The Stepanov family is one of millions of Russian families having to cut back due to the significant changes forced on Russia's economy by the war in Ukraine and the myriad sanctions imposed by the West. Stepanova, 34, her five year old son and newborn son, try to make ends meet on the 50,000 roubles ($550) a...

An Olympic gold medalist long rumoured to be Vladimir Putin’s mistress hasn’t been seen for weeks. Alina Kabaeva, 40, hasn’t made a public appearance since October 22 during a visit to her elite gymnastics school in Sochi, a Russian city on the Black Sea. Just days later a sketchy Telegram blog said the Russian president had died of a cardiac arrest, a claim the Kremlin furiously denied as ‘fake news’ at best. Only a week before, the General SVR account alleged that if the leader were to die, a body double would likely rule in his stead. Kabaeva was last...

Rumours are circulating that Vladimir Putin has died, and that his corpse is being stored in a freezer in his luxurious woodland palace. The General SVR Telegram Channel, supposedly led by a Kremlin insider, claimed the Russian President had succumbed to a number of health issues last month. A heart attack was said to have been the final blow, with a body double now filling in for the despot. The channel continues to state that Putin is dead despite the Kremlin refuting the claims. A Telegram post earlier this week said the body was "in the freezer at his residence...

Vladimir Putin’s alleged secret gymnast partner has not been seen in public since rumours emerged of the Kremlin leader’s death. -snip- Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva, a woman who is claimed to be the mother of two or three of Putin’s children, and his secret lover, also hasn’t been seen since late October. This is said to be around the date Putin supposedly suffered a heart attack and she has not re-emerged since. Earlier in October she was highly visible in footage from her Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy in Sochi - an elite training base for future sports...

Intriguing rumors have recently surfaced regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin's health and whereabouts, coupled with startling claims about his luxurious woodland palace, Valdai, situated in central Russia. According to sources including Radar Online and the General SVR Telegram channel, there are allegations that Putin, 71, may have passed away on October 25, with his body purportedly being stored in a freezer at this opulent residence. These claims, which have been denied by the Kremlin, suggest that a body double of Putin might be acting on his behalf. The General SVR Telegram channel, believed to be operated by a Kremlin insider,...

Nikolai Patrushev gives speech about Putin in past tense Vladimir Putin's rumoured death has taken a stunning new twist after his top security aide and the man tipped to succeed Russia's president referred to him entirely in the past tense during a bizarre speech. Speculation has swirled around Putin after General SVR, a Telegram channel thought to be left by a Kremlin insider, claimed he died from a heart attack and that body doubles had been put in his place. The Kremlin has furiously denied the rumours. B‌ut Nikolai Patrushev – a former head of the FSB security service who...