Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has added Zakhar Prylepin, Russian writer and Donbas fighter to the so-called 'working group' for the constitutional amendments he announced on 15 January. Prylepin's inclusion is a grave affront to all Ukrainians, however the changes Putin is planning are likely to have even more serious ramifications for Ukraine. While well-known Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Portnikov is doubtless correct in saying that Putin's plans are akin to a declaration of war against Ukraine, they are also an assault on international law and, therefore, a challenge to the European structures and leaders who are increasingly seeking so-called 'dialogue' with...

Military strongman Khalifa Haftar's reluctance to sign up to a Turkish-Russian orchestrated ceasefire accord underlines the complexity of Libya's conflict and pressures exerted by key foreign players, analysts say. He left Moscow on Tuesday without signing a permanent truce aimed at ending nine months of fighting against the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj. His abrupt departure was a setback for an international diplomatic push, after Sarraj had signed up to halting Haftar's offensive to seize Tripoli from the GNA. For Emad Badi of the Washington-based Middle East Institute, there are two plausible explanations for Haftar...

The death of employees is a bitter loss for the entire nuclear center. The victims of the explosion developed special hardware and software; a leading electronic engineer, the head of the research and testing group a category 1 test engineer, and the deputy head of the research and testing department. It took the centre a year to arrange preparations for the tests in the water area of the White Sea. We put up appropriate stands, conducted the certifications. We conducted serious instruction works, prepared equipment, programs, techniques and discussed everything. It seemed that everything was prepared accordingly, adding that "the...

Federal prosecutors in Washington are investigating a years-old leak of classified information about a Russian intelligence document, and they appear to be focusing on whether the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey illegally provided details to reporters, according to people familiar with the inquiry. The case is the second time the Justice Department has investigated leaks potentially involving Mr. Comey, a frequent target of President Trump, who has repeatedly called him a “leaker.” Mr. Trump recently suggested without evidence that Mr. Comey should be prosecuted for “unlawful conduct” and spend years in prison. The timing of the investigation could raise...

Riyad Dirar, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF, stressed that they are among those who are inviting but not invited to the Third Cairo Conference, because they are from the preparatory committee of it. He stressed Egypt's important role in the political solution in Syria and that it supports their position in facing "Turkish aggression" in the region. Dirar said in a statement to North-Press, that the Syrian Democratic Council is included in the preparatory committee for "Cairo 3" conference, and they are seeking to develop the road map...

Key Points: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at the U.S. and Europe in a televised speech on state TV on Wednesday. Rouhani slammed the EU’s “failure to keep it promises” under the 2015 nuclear deal and blamed the U.S. for making the Middle East insecure. ==================================================================== DUBAI, United Arab Emirates ⁠— In an angry speech on state television, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at the U.S. and Europe for its presence in the Middle East and for what he described as the latter’s failures in upholding the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. U.S. troops are “insecure” in the region...

Tehran, Iran — Iran's president warned Wednesday that European soldiers in the Mideast "could be in danger" after three nations challenged Tehran over breaking the limits of its nuclear deal. Tehran's top diplomat meanwhile acknowledged that Iranians "were lied to" for days following the Islamic Republic's accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people. President Hassan Rouhani's remarks in a televised Cabinet meeting represent the first direct threat he's made to Europe as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's admission that the Islamic Republic lied to its own people, meanwhile, came...

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world's largest importer of oil and natural gas. Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it. Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world's largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are...

by Sheri Urban Nancy Pelosi had her "historic," "somber" press conference on Wednesday to send the Articles of Impeachment of President Trump over to the Senate. But it did NOT go as she planned. Before she even got started, she had to bring up the Russia Hoax yet again...but had to wrestle with her own tongue first. Check out how she pronounced Vladimir Putin’s name. And she carried on like she had been sampling a bit too much vintage from her own vineyards. And boy did people notice.

The Turkish and Syrian heads of intelligence met in Moscow on Monday, in the first official contact in years despite AnkaraÂ’s longstanding hostility to President Bashar al-Assad, a senior Turkish official and Syrian news agency SANA said. According to Reuters, both sides have said there have been intelligence contacts but that this is the first explicit acknowledgement of such a senior meeting. Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan backs rebels who fought to topple Assad during SyriaÂ’s nine-year civil war. ErdoÄŸan described Assad as a terrorist and called for him to be driven from power, which earlier in the war had...

Russia's government has resigned, hours after President Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping constitutional changes that could prolong his stay in power. PM Dmitry Medvedev said the president's proposals would significantly change Russia's balance of power. Mr Putin asked Mr Medvedev to become deputy head of the National Security Council, which is chaired by Mr Putin. The president later nominated tax service chief Mikhail Mishustin to replace Mr Medvedev as prime minister. The unexpected announcement comes four years before Mr Putin's fourth term of office is due to end. Under the existing constitution, he would not be entitled to another term. The...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attend a meeting with members of the government in Moscow, Russia January 15, 2020. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS

Russia's prime minister and its entire government resigned on Wednesday as part of sweeping constitutional changes that could see President Vladimir Putin extend his hold on power.

On June 22, 1941, the Third Reich launched its ill-fated invasion of Russia. It was pestilential in scale; more than three million Axis soldiers swarmed Russia’s borders in a matter of hours, overwhelming Soviet defenses. Hitler regarded the peoples of the Soviet Union to be a subhuman rabble against whom victory was inevitable. But the supposed Untermensch turned out to be ferocious opponents, hardened by decades of deprivation and fueled by an unbending love of country. Among those supercharged patriots were eight hundred thousand women who volunteered for frontline action, in roles such as snipers, machine gunners, and tank drivers....

RUSSIA HOAX II: HERE WE GO AGAIN... New York Times' NEW hoax starts like the Steele Dossier lie; nefarious speculation over a document of murky origins concocted by "experts." The Times is playing the handmaiden to panicked actors in all out SAVE BIDEN mode.

This tiresome nonsense is never going to end. – As the Ukraine hoax goes to its certain death in the Senate, the Democrats and their media toadies bring back the Russia hoax. It’s all so very tiresome, but it’s all these depraved, disloyal people have. The New York Times kicked things off on Monday with a classic narrative-setting piece claiming that the email servers at Burisma – the Ukraine gas company that facilitated the Joe/Hunter Biden influence scam – had been hacked by – guess who? – the Russians. Because of course they’re claiming it was the Russians. The “source”...

The Russian government resigned Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev announced the resignations after the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, delivered his yearly state-of-the-union address, RT reported. In a meeting of ministers after the resignations, Putin thanked Medvedev’s government, CNBC reported citing state news agency TASS.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored today the entry of a convoy of logistical and military assistance to the International Coalition, from Simalka border crossing with Iraq, the convoy consists of more than 60 trucks and carriers and they carry armored vehicles, 4×4 vehicles, tanks, and electricity generators, and the convoy headed towards al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor where the oil wells are, in support of the Syria Democratic Forces there. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored on the 4th of January 2019 that the SOHR sources confirmed seeing a new batch of trucks belonging to the international coalition...

A video has surfaced of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad laughing about President Trump during Putin's visit to Damascus last week. The video, originally posted by a journalist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda, comes just over a month after multiple NATO nation leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, were recorded seemingly mocking the American president at a NATO summit. In the latest clip, Assad and Putin joked that Trump should follow in the footsteps of Paul the Apostle and visit the Syrian capital of Damascus. "If Trump arrives along this road...

A new video reveals that two missiles struck Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, which crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran, Iran early on January 8. The video appears to be taken from a security camera on the roof of a building near where the plane was struck. The video, which was originally uploaded to YouTube by an Iranian user early Tuesday morning was verified as authentic by a New York Times investigations team. The video shows the plane being struck by the first missile, which appeared to result in a small explosion, followed by the second missile strike about 20...