Free Republic

The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and accusations that Vladimir Putin was behind it have once again raised the spectre of Kremlin assassinations. World leaders and commentators instantly pointed the finger at the Russian president when the news of Navalny's death broke on Friday, with questions around the cause of death fuelled by officials delaying the release of the body. Some have suggested the 47-year-old dissident was poisoned - as he was in 2020 in a previous assassination attempt - while one source inside the prison colony where Navalny died has claimed he was likely killed by a...

There are reports in British papers that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the arrest of at least two senior officers in the Russian Federal Security Service or FSB. The FSB is the successor to the KGB but without the overseas portfolio. However, it does operate within the now-independent states that comprised the former Soviet Union, which by Russian law (lolol) is forbidden territory to the foreign intelligence service or SVR.A Russian spy chief is said to have been placed under house arrest in a sign that President Putin is seeking to blame the security services for the stalled invasion...