Free Republic

MOSCOW/VILNIUS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Russian police have put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister, and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments, according to the Russian interior ministry's database. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kallas was wanted for the "desecration of historical memory". Russian state agency TASS said the Baltic officials were accused of "destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers", acts that are punishable by a five-year prison term under the Russian criminal code. *snip* The Baltic governments regard the monuments as propaganda tools constructed by their former imperial overlords. "The...

A key Russian general who Russian president Vladimir Putin promoted this week said that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is a mere "stepping stone" to further conflict with Europe. Vladimir Putin promoted lieutenant general Andrey Mordvichev to the rank of colonel-general after he had already been serving in the role of commanding the central military district and Russian central grouping of forces in Ukraine. In an interview with Moscow's state-run Russia-1, Andrey Mordvichev said that he believes Vladimir Putin's war will last quite a long time and expand in the future. "I think there's still plenty of time to spend. It...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has set off for Russia aboard a special train, a South Korean source said, as Pyongyang and Moscow on Monday (Sep 11) confirmed a summit with President Vladimir Putin amid Russia's deepening isolation over the war in Ukraine. Kim will visit Russia in the coming days at the invitation of Putin, the Kremlin said, while North Korean state news agency KCNA said the two would "meet and have a talk", without elaborating. US officials have said the pair would discuss possible arms deals to aid Russia's war in Ukraine and provide North Korea with...

Douglas Macgregor @DougAMacgregor FACT: People in Washington know the Ukrainians are finished, they know they can't replace the losses.The question now is what comes next and nobody wants to accept publicly the fact that the Russians are in a strategically powerful and dominant position. 10:39 PM · Aug 5, 2023 · 2,086 Views

MINSK, August 1. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he plans to expedite the establishment of a contracted army using PMC Wagner fighters billeted in Belarus as the backbone of these forces.

Wagner Group mercenaries appeared ready to clash with Russian soldiers defending Moscow from a sudden armed rebellion over the weekend. Hail-mary negotiations, mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, stopped the potential bloodshed in the capital. Lukashenko, a second-rate dictator and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has since seized on the opportunity to boast about how he saved Moscow from the mutiny — "humiliating" the Russian leader for being unable to do this himself, war experts say. After Wagner fighters captured the southern city of Rostov-on-Don early Saturday, they continued north toward Moscow as the city prepared its defenses...

In brief statements issued late last week in Moscow – their significance missed in the western press — President Vladimir Putin ordered a reality check of Russia’s war strategy. He then answered himself by declaring the war will be over when no Ukrainian army will be left on the battlefield, nor NATO weapons. The Foreign Ministry answered by pointing out that Russia does not recognize there is a legal Ukrainian state because the reality is that the mutual recognition treaty between Russia and the Ukraine was cancelled by Presidents Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Zelensky in 2018 and 2019. “We can...

Giant flags of the the USSR and the Russian Federation were raised in St. Petersburg today.

Russia has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Vladimir Putin says. Speaking at an economic forum, he said they would only be used if Russia's territory or state was threatened. The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin plans to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine. "We don't see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Mr Putin's comments. Belarus is a key Russian ally and served as a launchpad for Mr Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year....

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that nations who are willing “to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus” will be given nuclear weapons, days after confirming the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow to Minsk had begun. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the comments in an on-camera interview released Sunday on the state-run Russia 1 channel. During the interview, Lukashenko said, “no one minds Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation.” “It’s very simple,” he added. “Join the Union State of Belarus...

At least two people have been killed and 23 injured in a missile strike on a medical clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor says. Of the 23 injured, 21 are in hospital and three are in a serious condition. Two boys aged three and six were also among the wounded, governor Serhiy Lysak said. Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified in recent weeks ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. Mr Zelensky posted a video of the damaged clinic that showed firefighters at the scene and smoke billowing from the building. "Russian terrorists once again confirm...

After 9 months, Bloodbath Bakhmut is falling. Soon, scared, maimed and dying Ukrainian soldiers won’t have to scream in the “Meat Grinder”. Maybe Ukraine is falling. Russia stands on the dead, proud captor of buildings like holes and earth like charcoal. There's the possibility that I'm lying. After all, John Kirby, retired Admiral and ex-spokesperson for the Pentagon, and now spokesperson for the National Security Council, stated on May 2 that: "Russia's attempt at an offensive in the Donbas, largely through Bakhmut, has failed." In the words of the White House, "The National Security Council is the President's principal forum...

There are yet unconfirmed reports that the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced late on Sunday, April 2nd, 2023. that his forces have raised the Russian flag over the administration building of the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine. There is no question that Bakhmut will fall. Zelensky has sent over 100,000 men to their death there desperate to keep the money flowing into Ukraine. It is a sad state of affairs when a high-heel dancing idiot orders generals to fight to the death all for his pride and money. The fall of Bakhmut is simply inevitable and...

President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Russia, which has already decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could if necessary put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too. In an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Lukashenko said Moscow's plans to station nuclear arms on the territory of its close ally would help protect Belarus, which he said was under threat from the West. (snip) "I am not trying to intimidate or blackmail anyone. I want to safeguard the Belarusian state and ensure peace for the Belarusian people," Lukashenko said. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that...

Yes. I think they will. But not because Russia is running out of shells and rockets. Nope. I think China wants a chance to field test some of its weaponry and drones against a foe that shoots back in order to see how they perform in a combat environment. Firing artillery or surface-to-air missiles on a closed range does not compare with lighting them up on a bona fide battlefield.The warnings to China to not help Russia is not new. One year ago the Biden team put out the word that:China will face consequences if it helps Russia evade sanctions...

Ukrainian president Zelensky just admitted that American troops will be needed to keep Ukraine from total collapse. At the same time NATO announces Ukraine will become a member of the alliance before too long. This is a non-starter for Russian President Putin. Colonel Douglas MacGregor joins Redacted host Clayton Morris for the very latest developments. Video at link.

DEFENCE AND SECURITY, ECONOMY, MEDIA, POLITICS, WORLD Ukraine: Is it almost over? By Scott Burchill Mar 1, 2023 Joint press conference President Biden and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy December 21, 2022 Despite celebrating 12 months of surviving the Russian onslaught, promises of more money and military equipment (including tanks) from the West, and a chorus of support for the courage and resilience of the people, the war appears almost over for Ukraine. There are four reasons for thinking this. First, as the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal explains, public rhetoric [about Ukraine’s heroic resistance] masks deepening private doubts among politicians in the...

Here are a couple of big picture maps showing the current position of Russian and Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut and the surrounding area. As you can see the Russians (i.e., the Wagner Group) are making rapid advances after months of slow progress and appear to be on the verge of a tactical encirclement of the Ukrainian units. It is important to understand the terrain of the Bakhmut area. The photos below show a landscape that reminds me of the state I grew up in — Missouri. Rolling hills, farmland and light forest that surround small cities. The first photo is...

The US Government has told i that it is “deeply concerned” by reports of a Kremlin-backed coup to overthrow the Government of Moldova. The message from Washington comes as fears grow that Vladimir Putin is plotting to take the capital city and use its airport to open a western front the war in Ukraine. “The United States firmly supports Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a US State Department spokesperson told i. “We are deeply concerned by reports of a plot by Russia to destabilise Moldova’s democratically elected government. Russia has a long history of malign influence, both in Moldova and...

Michael Weiss and Holger Roonemaa Mon, February 20, 2023 at 5:00 PM CST A leaked internal strategy document from Vladimir Putin’s executive office and obtained by Yahoo News lays out a detailed plan on how Russia plans to take full control over neighboring Belarus in the next decade under the pretext of a merger between the two countries. The document outlines in granular detail a creeping annexation by political, economic and military means of an independent but illiberal European nation by Russia, which is an active state of war in its bid to conquer Ukraine through overwhelming force. “Russia’s goals...