Free Republic

Hundreds of residents in southwestern Russia’s Ural region staged a rare protest Monday, demanding compensation for the flooding of their homes after a dam gave way because of rising floodwaters. The protest took place in the city of Orsk, located in the Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan. Chanting “Putin help us” and “shame,” the locals affected by the floods defied Russian laws that prohibit demonstrations without the permission of authorities. They gathered in front of the city’s administrative building Monday, demanding emergency assistance as the floods swallowed more than 10,000 homes. Denis Pasler, governor of the Orenburg region...

Afire broke out on the Russian missile ship Serpukhov in the Kaliningrad region, causing significant damage, according to RBC-Ukraine source within special services. The source says the fire engulfed the Serpukhov on April 7. It is a small missile ship of Project 21631 Buyan-M (the fifth ship in the series). Since the full-scale war against Ukraine began, the Russians have already lost many ships, including those of the Black Sea Fleet. Recently, the Ukrainian military attacked large landing ships in Crimea, Yamal and Azov. The Ukrainian Navy also confirmed the damage to the Russian medium reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs. On...

When President Biden proposed an additional $24 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine in August, Moscow spin doctors working for the Kremlin were ready to try to undermine public support for the bill, internal Kremlin documents show. In an ongoing campaign that seeks to influence congressional and other political debates to stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment, Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions, according to a trove of internal Kremlin documents...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev launched a scathing verbal attack against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Thursday, calling for a bounty on any Western troops that enter Ukraine. "There can only be one rule for these overseas lice, who, unlike the unfortunate Ukrainians, were not forced to go to war: no prisoners taken!" Medvedev, who's now the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, wrote in a post on X. "And for each NATO fighter killed, blown-up, or burned, there must be a maximum reward," he added." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This Medvedev comment sounds like a comment from a demented, drugged, serial...

Russia is having to use electronic parts meant for its air defense systems to manufacture its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) due to shortages caused by sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, according to a local report. -snip- "Sources of VChK-OGPU say that today the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant is experiencing a serious shortage of electronic components...for the production of strategic missiles," the channel said. "The electronics of the new RS-28 (Sarmat) missile system are largely of foreign origin and, due to sanctions, are experiencing a serious shortage. Now all efforts are being made to somehow correct the situation with...

Reuters said Novatek had stopped operations at its Arctic LNG 2 project, which processes gas from the Utrenneye field on West Siberia' Gydan Peninsula, in the latest blow to Russian fuel exports. It comes as Russian exports funding Putin's war have been hampered by repeated drone strikes on oil facilities, blamed on Ukraine. One energy industry expert told Newsweek that state oil giant Rosneft had reduced daily oil processing in March by a fifth. Sanctions have caused a lack of specialist tankers to transport the LNG from Russia through thick sea ice. Six Arc7 tankers were due to be built...

Watch the harrowing moment a fireman weeps at the sight of his father's body. RUSSIA targeted firefighters in a sick "double tap" drone strike on an apartment building in Ukraine - killing a father in front of his son. Heartbreaking footage revealed the hideous aftermath of Putin's cruelty that left at least five dead, including three rescuers responding to the first hit. Vladyslav Logienko, 52, was one of the first on the scene early on Thursday morning after an Iranian-made Shahed drone smashed into a block of flats in Kharkiv. In less than an hour, he had been killed with...

Russian cities erupted in flames overnight as more than 60 explosions ripped through several top military air bases. Vladimir Putin's prized weapons went up in flames last night after a devastating Ukrainian drone blitz on three different military air bases. Costly bombers were wiped out during an assault on the Engels, Yeisk and Morozovsk military bases. A senior Kyiv intelligence source later confirmed to Reuters that the attack on the Morozovsk air base in the Rostov region wiped out at least six Russian warplanes in a joint operation between the security services and military. The blitz also damaged at least...

A former Massachusetts city councilor who fled the country to evade child pornography charges is suspected of appearing in Russian propaganda, according to reports. Wilmer Puello-Mota, 27, a former Massachusetts National Guardsman, appears to have been spotted in Russian propaganda videos supporting the war in Ukraine on Telegram and Russian media outlets, the Daily Beast reported. In a video posted online earlier this week the man, identified as only 'Wil' and described as a 'former American soldier', approaches a Russian military recruitment office and delivers a speech about his pride in joining Russia's 'special military operation' and helping Russia to...

Residents in a region hit by the deepest drone strikes within Russian territory since the start of the war in Ukraine have been warned that air defenses may not be able to protect them from future attacks. Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Russia has been hit with drone strikes reaching Moscow as well as ammunition depots and warehouses around the country linked to the war effort. Russian authorities blame Ukraine for the attacks, which Kyiv rarely claims responsibility for. In the latest incident, a drone attack on the Russian republic of Tatarstan on Tuesday reportedly hit industrial areas...

A team of vigilante hackers carrying out cyber-attacks against Russia has been sent awards of gratitude by Ukraine's military. The team, One Fist*, has stolen data from Russian military firms and hacked cameras to spy on troops. The certificates are a controversial sign of how modern warfare is shifting. [excerpt] *One Fist is made up of hackers from eight different countries including the UK, US and Poland.

Vladimir Putin slammed the US' warning of the Moscow massacre as "outright blackmail" before ISIS slaughtered 140 people. American officials informed Russia that the Crocus City Hall was a potential target for a terrorist attack just weeks before Islamic State gunmen gunned down multiple people, according to a report. Information passed to Moscow said that US intelligence was confident of a mass-casualty attack and officials specifically identified the concert venue as a possible target, the Washington Post reports. American officials informed Russia that the Crocus City Hall was a potential target for a terrorist attack just weeks before Islamic State...

US officials warned Russia that an imminent terror attack would happen on Moscow's Crocus City Hall two weeks before Isis gunmen struck but Putin dismissed the caution as a bid to 'destabilize our society'. Intelligence agencies had gathered information that ISIS was planning an attack in Moscow and even identified Crocus City Hall as a potential target, a fact that had not been reported until now. But Russian president Putin dismissed the warnings as 'provocative', calling them 'outright blackmail' and a bid to 'intimidate and destabilize our society' just three days before the gunmen killed more than 140 people in...

Russia said on Tuesday it had important matters to discuss with Afghanistan's Taliban leaders and was working to remove the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations. "This is a country that is next to us, and one way or another we communicate with them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We need to resolve pressing issues, this also requires dialog, so in this regard we communicate with them like practically everyone else - they are the de facto authority in Afghanistan."

Dramatic footage shows the moment a suspected Ukrainian plane-type UAV explodes as it was targeted at a Russian plant assembling Iranian Shahed drones used in the war. There was a huge blast and fireball near Yelabuga, deep in Russia, at least 660 miles from the closest Ukrainian territory. A total of three strikes were reported in the area. Russian sources say it hit a dormitory for workers in the Alabuga economic zone in the Republic of Tatarstan, where it is believed the deadly Iranian drones are assembled. It is unclear so far if there was also damage to the drone-making...

Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's third largest oil refinery on Tuesday about 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front lines, hitting a core unit which processes about 155,000 barrels of crude refining per day. -snip- Pictures from the scene indicated the drone hit the primary refining unit, CDU-7, at the Taneco refinery. The unit accounts for around a half of the plant's total annual production capacity. "A drone attack was carried out on one of the enterprises in Nizhnekamsk," Ramil Mullin, the mayor of Nizhnekamsk, said. -snip- The attack was one of several in Tatarstan, a highly industrialised region south-east of...

Russian forces have inadvertently bombed their own region, escalating concerns over military oversight and competence. On March 31, the Russian Air Force mistakenly discharged two FAB-500 air bombs in Belgorod Oblast, marking the 16th such incident in just two weeks. Reports indicate that the bombs were accidentally released during a routine flight, landing in the Belgorod region. Telegram messages from ASTRA sources confirmed the development, stating: "2 more FABs were dropped by Russian planes on the Belgorod region." One bomb was discovered near the Nina farmstead, while another left a crater in the area of the village of Kryukovo.

Iran tipped off Russia about the possibility of a major “terrorist operation” on its soil ahead of the concert hall massacre near Moscow last month, three sources familiar with the matter said. -snip- “Days before the attack in Russia, Tehran shared information with Moscow about a possible big terrorist attack inside Russia that was acquired during interrogations of those arrested in connection with deadly bombings in Iran,” said one source. Iran’s intelligence ministry said in January it had arrested 35 people linked to twin bombings on Jan. 3 in the southeastern city of Kerman that killed nearly 100 people. On...

Members of Russian military intelligence unit 29155, who allegedly have access to microwave or ultrasound weapons, had been placed at the scene of reported attacks that resulted in US personnel suffering health problems, according to a year-long investigation by the Latvia-based Insider in collaboration with CBS’s “60 Minutes” and Germany’s Der Spiegel. Christo Grozev, the head of investigations with The Insider, told “60 Minutes” that he uncovered accounting records that show a 29155 officer received a bonus for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons.” Unit 29155 has reportedly operated around the world since 2008, and is suspected...

The liquid assets in Russia's national wealth fund fell 44% from January 2022 to December 2023. Total holdings in the fund tumbled 12% over the same period amid the war in Ukraine, per Bloomberg. Liquid assets in the fund could last just another year or two if Russia's oil export price falls below $50 a barrel, per Bloomberg Economics.