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New edict affects all of Moscow's historic holdings across three continents, including former imperial colonies in the US. Russia has laid the groundwork for expanding its soft power across North America and Asia with a new decree Vladimir Putin signed last week. The new order provides funds to search, register and provide legal protection to Russian properties abroad – including land and buildings located in former Russian Empire and Soviet Union territories. Among the areas affected by the new decree is Alaska, which was sold to the United States in 1867 and still hosts communities with close links to Russia....

Ukraine's successful suppression of the Russian Black Sea fleet has resulted in Kyiv's grain exports rising to their highest levels since the invasion by Moscow began. -snip- Russia's Black Sea fleet flagship Moskva was destroyed by Ukraine in the early days of the war. The losses have continued since then, with British Defence Secretary Grant Shapp saying last month that Russia had lost 20 percent of its Black Sea fleet over the course of four months. Significant recent losses include the December destruction of large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk and last week's revelation that Ukrainian drones sank a Tarantul-class corvette...

A giant warehouse near St Petersburg has gone up in smoke after the Russian workers there set the entire facility ablaze. The action was reportedly taken after Russian police raided the Wildberries warehouse to find people to conscript to fight the war in Ukraine. According to Russian media sources the incident is currently under investigation by the state prosecutor's office. According to APA's Russian bureau, there is currently no available information regarding the number of casualties or injuries caused by the fire. The fire took hold of the 50 thousand square metre site and required hundreds of firefighters to bring...

Russia's egg shortage is being exacerbated by bird flu-riddled imports from Turkey, one of the country's biggest trading partners and a NATO member, according to a recent report citing a Russian government official. More than one-fifth of the eggs imported from Turkey were found to be infected with the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza, as well as other dangerous ailments including salmonella and botulism, Russian authorities warned. -snip- Russia's attempt to pivot to Turkey for emergency egg supplies in January now appears to have backfired, as the delivery of the first batch of Turkish eggs was promptly followed by reports...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzian Meat Wave Attacks start to Fail | KA-52 Crisis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swwk_1eEGmw Militaryland news: The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the recent developments on the battlefield, as of 20th December 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time) https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-665-summary/ [NOTE: two summaries per week, released on Wednesday and Sunday] Recap Deployment Map changes – Week 50 December 18, 2023 https://militaryland.net/news/recap-deployment-map-changes-week-50/ *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/