Free Republic

This is proof that Ukraine – with the help of the West – is mastering the art of 21st century warfare. The Sevastopol missile strike that killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov along with 34 of his officers on Saturday shows that modern military operations depend on combining accurate intelligence and rapid decision-making with advanced machinery. -snip- The result is a humiliating blow to Russian morale. While the Kremlin-controlled media has so far remained largely silent about the raid, rage-filled posts on social media complain of Moscow's inept handling of its 'special military operation'. Many point out that the losses of the...

On Wednesday, the Russian government said that two drones from Ukraine had attacked the holy of holies in Russia — the ancient Kremlin — and that the U.S. assisted Ukraine in the operation. Here’s a video released by the Russian government appearing to show something exploding above the Kremlin. Astonishing footage of last night's drone attack on the Kremlin pic.twitter.com/3rghCHdIed— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 3, 2023Video analysis is not my forte, so I will not comment on the authenticity of what was recorded. But a drone being able to work its way through two or three layers of air defenses?...

Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine is now being led by a ruthless commander known by his troops as “General Armageddon.” The Kremlin appointed Gen. Sergey Surovikin, 56, as overall commander of Russia’s joint group of forces in its so-called “special military operation” on Saturday. Just two days later, more than 80 long-range missiles rained down across Ukraine — including one just feet from a kids’ playground — in the most dramatic escalation since the invasion nearly eight months ago. “I am not surprised to see what happened … Surovikin is absolutely ruthless, with little regard for human life,” a former...

The horrifying attacks on Ukraine yesterday– are a sign that the Russian president is, if not yet desperate, getting nearer to it. They represent a highly significant psychological shift for the beleaguered leader. He is no longer trying to win the war: now he is simply trying not to visibly lose it. Previously he could have defined victory however he wanted. But by annexing Ukrainian regions, he has upped the already high stakes. If he cedes so-called ‘Russian’ territory, he will become the Tsar who gave away Russian land instead of the strongman who restored the empire. And by ordering...

While the Ukrainians are fighting a conventional war on their own territory, Russia and the West are engaged in an unconventional one fought by economic pressure, political subterfuge and dirty tricks. The apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines seems just the latest example. Both of these lines linking Russia to Germany have sprung devastating leaks. The cause, according to seismological readings, was a series of explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm, too directed (and powerful enough to breach 4cm of steel and a thick concrete mantle) and too synchronised to be any kind of an accident. There...

Car bombs used to be a fixture of gangland feuds in 1990s Russia but have since fallen out of fashion. This makes it all the more striking when, as happened last night, such a device rips through a car just outside Moscow, killing Darya Dugina, daughter of the controversial nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin. She was prominent figure in her own right, a journalist working for an outfit Washington says is owned by Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin – under sanctions in the West for being the godfather of both the Wagner mercenary group and the infamous social media ‘troll farms’ –...

Some years ago, I lived on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, one of the wide, radial roads that leads into central Moscow — and the favoured route of President Vladimir Putin’s motorcade to the Kremlin. Putin never liked travelling in helicopters so the 18-vehicle extravaganza, including outriders, an ambulance and a string of gleaming, black limousines with tinted glass, was a familiar sight. Around 45 minutes before it passed, the road would be sealed — and I mean sealed. A security man was stationed in the doorway of my apartment building preventing residents from leaving. The Russian president has always been security conscious,...

I was the first to write about Russia’s infamous high-tech military strategy. One small problem: it doesn't exist.Everywhere, you’ll find scholars, pundits, and policymakers talking about the threat the “Gerasimov doctrine” — named after Russia’s chief of the general staff — poses to the West. It’s a new way of war, “an expanded theory of modern warfare,” or even “a vision of total warfare.”There’s one small problem. It doesn’t exist. And the longer we pretend it does, the longer we misunderstand the — real, but different — challenge Russia poses.I feel I can say that because, to my immense chagrin,...

A circular firing squad is forming in the Kremlin, with everyone pointing their guns at each other: Vladimir Putin's regime looks under serious threat for the first time since he came to power, writes Professor MARK GALEOTTI Western counter-intelligence campaigns are being aimed at the secretive FSB In Russia, anyone can be denounced as a warmonger or a traitor, or even both Putin has been picking off key figures in the secret police, the FSB, and politicians in a bid to retain his hold on power as the war continues When the demonic despot Joseph Stalin suffered a severe stroke...

While special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, some of the key people in creating the Russia-collusion narrative themselves have ties to a foreign nation. Both the Democratic National Committee as well as Fusion GPS—the company hired by the DNC and the Clinton campaign to research the Trump campaign—were using Ukrainian sources in their efforts to discredit Trump. Serhiy Leshchenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, was a common thread involved in Democratic opposition research efforts into former Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort. Leshchenko, along with Artem Sytnyk, the...