Free Republic

The Kremlin has fired the commander of its Black Sea Fleet as punishment for a series of humiliating losses to Ukraine, according to Russian war bloggers. The bloggers said that Admiral Viktor Sokolov was replaced by chief of staff Vice Admiral Sergey Pinchuk after Ukraine sank the Russian warship Caesar Kunikov with a sea drone last week. It was the latest in a series of victories for Ukraine, which has a tiny navy, against Russia's much bigger Black Sea fleet. "It seems that it had become impossible to ignore the latest heavy losses of the fleet," the War Informant channel...

Russian federal agents have allegedly shut down a "My Little Pony" convention in Moscow after it was deemed to be “LGBT propaganda” by the government. According to the Russian outlet The Insider, the raid was conducted to break up, "Mi Amore Fest." The event was organized by fans of the "My Little Pony" series.

Russia is in the midst of a historic population decline as it continues to grapple with low birth rates, high emigration, staggering health statistics and a deadly war in Ukraine. The growing crisis has been described by some as a "silent war" against its own human capital. Russian President Vladimir Putin has listed Russia’s declining population as a matter of national security, but his recent war in Ukraine has not only led to hundreds of thousands of additional deaths among fighting-age men but has pushed a mass exodus among Russia's younger populations. Western defense officials have estimated that as many...