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Tokyo: Japan has ditched the United States to purchase Russian crude oil above the $60-a-barrel cap, saying it needed it to ensure access to energy from Moscow. The oil purchases by Japan represent a break in the US-led efforts to impose a global $60 per barrel cap on purchases of Russian oil. However, a report by The Wall Street Journal said Tokyo, which is Washington’s closest allies in Asia, got the US agree to the exception. Most European nations stopped purchasing Russian oil in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The G7 nations which include Japan...

The former president told Sean Hannity’s radio show:...Mr Trump added: “That’s without even negotiating a deal. I could have negotiated. At worst, I could have made a deal to take over something, you know, there are certain areas that are Russian speaking areas, right, like, but you could have worked a deal. And now Ukraine is just being blown to smithereens.”

“This is a huge victory for Moscow over Washington,” former national security director John Bolton declared this morning on CBS. “It endangers other Americans in the future, who can be grabbed and used by bargaining chips,” he said of the swap of Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout, one of the world’s most dangerous men before his arrest and conviction.Bolton also revealed in this clip that the Trump administration had an offer to trade Paul Whelan for Bout two years ago. They passed, and as Bolton says, “for very good reasons” (via Caleb Howe at Mediaite):The 1-for-1 prisoner swap of Brittney...

by Becca London | RNNIf it wasn't already clear what a weak surrender - and strategically-dangerous move - was Joe Biden's sending back a jailed Russian arms dealer to the Kremlin in exchange for pothead, America-hating WNBA player Brittney Griner, a stunning video clip from Russian TV makes it that much clearer. To recap, Biden freed the imprisoned "Merchant of Death" Viktor Bout - the most notorious arms dealer in history - to Russia for Griner, but left an American Marine hero Paul Whelan in a brutal Russian jail, where he was thrown after being railroaded on a fake "espionage"...

Huh, now why do you think NBC would pull their own bombshell? You’d THINK if they had a bombshell like this, that Biden could have choosen between Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, this would be a big story. But then again, if their main goal is to do the bidding of the Democratic Party, and by default, the Biden White House, we suppose the bombshell isn’t worth having to them. Which should be weird but sadly … it’s not. Take a look at this: NBC had a bombshell report that Russia offered America Brittney Griner OR Paul Whelan, citing a...

Former President Donald Trump shot down Russian attempts to trade former Marine Paul Whelan for “Merchant of Death” arms dealer Viktor Bout, former national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday — as Trump ripped his successor for agreeing to send Bout home in exchange for the return of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Bolton recalled in an interview with CBS that he was in the midst of his 17-month tenure at the White House when Whelan was detained on concocted espionage charges in December 2018. “The possibility of a Bout-for-Whelan trade existed back then,” said Bolton, 74, “and it wasn’t made,...

Chechnya's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, delivered a warm congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 70th birthday, after a week of criticizing how the Ukraine war has been handled. In a stark shift of tone after publicly ridiculing Putin's military amid a series of successful counteroffensives conducted by Kyiv in Ukraine's south and northeast, Kadyrov extended his well wishes to Putin, offering praise and crediting the leader for supporting Chechnya "in the most difficult times." "Russian President Vladimir Putin played a key role in the fate of the Chechen people," he said, adding that Russian leader "saved the republic"...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused neighbouring Ukraine on Tuesday of sending 15,000 troops to the border area to build defences and conduct reconnaissance, actions that he called "provocations". Lukashenko allowed his close ally Russia in February to use Belarus as a staging post for its invasion of Ukraine. However, he has said Belarus is not a party to the conflict and that its own forces are not involved. In comments carried by the state news agency BelTA, Lukashenko said the Ukrainian unit brought up to the border had blocked roads and was setting up checkpoints and firing positions. "In a...

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he was not planning a mobilisation after his close ally Russia announced it was calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists for the war in Ukraine. "The mobilisation is in Russia. ... There will be no mobilisation (here)," state media quoted Lukashenko as saying.

Twitter: Our sources report: #Lukashenko agreed to deploy 120K soldiers during November-February. (Russia) undertakes to supply 100K mobilized soldiers in addition. Lukashenko is preparing for a full-scale war. The West must issue an ultimatum he cannot refuse

Belarus has allegedly threatened to deploy 100,000 troops in Ukraine unless Kyiv withdraws its forces from the ‘new Russian territories’ after the referendums. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Belarus government in Minsk today, Thursday, September 29, announced that unless Kyiv withdraws all of its military forces from the four new regions of Russia, it will deploy 100,000 troops in Ukraine. They were referring of course to the four occupied regions of Ukraine where the recent ‘referendums’ were held in which people allegedly voted to join the Russian Federation. They also revealed that railway stations and airports in the...

Putin squirms in his seat as Belarus dictator Lukashenko rants about men 'running away' from mobilisation in Russia as huge traffic jams on Georgia border are captured in images from SPACE Belarusian president monologued and spouted rhetorical questions in his rant to Putin today in Sochi Putin sat silently, clearly uncomfortable, as he listened to his counterpart insisting that Russia would win war The call for mobilisation has proved wildly unpopular throughout Russia, sparking protests and a mass exodus Hundreds of thousands have already fled the country and traffic jams at several border checkpoints are visible from space This is...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria said Wednesday it will recognize the "independence and sovereignty" of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions and contacts will be established to set up diplomatic relations. (snip) Earlier this month, Russia claimed to have taken control of 97% of one of the two provinces that make up Ukraine's Donbas, bringing the Kremlin closer to its goal of fully capturing the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says Ukraine had tried to strike military facilities on Belarusian territory three days ago, but all its missiles had been intercepted, the state-run Belta news agency reported. Lukashenko, who did not provide evidence for the claim, said Belarus did not want war with Ukraine, but would fight if its own territory was invaded. The Ukrainian military did not immediately comment. "They are provoking us. I have to tell you, three days ago, maybe a bit more, an attempt to strike military facilities on Belarusian territory was made from the territory of Ukraine," Belta quoted Lukashenko as...

The White House blamed food shortages across the country on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, accusing him of “weaponizing food.” “President Putin is, no kidding, weaponizing food,” said White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby on Tuesday. “Let’s just call it what it is, he’s weaponizing food.”

Russian patriarch criticised for his support of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. It would take a council of all the Churches or a decision of the Moscow synod to dismiss him. Kirill increasingly under scrutiny in the Orthodox and Christian world of the West.Moscow (AsiaNews) - The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill (Gundjaev) celebrated a service after Easter in the historic Cathedral of the Assumption within the walls of the Kremlin, inviting the population to gather around the "city of Moscow, center of all Russia" to defend itself from the "centers of power abroad." The Russian people need to...

Russian president Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko, who spoke with Putin in the eastern Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, said he believes Belarus’ branding as “an accomplice of the aggressor” is unfair. Minsk, which is providing logistical support to the Russian military and served as a key staging point for Russian forces in the opening stages of the invasion of Ukraine, has fallen under many of the same Western sanctions as Moscow since the start of the war on February 24. Lukashenko characterized the war as a “dangerous moment,” explicitly blaming Britain and the United...

The Pentagon announced Wednesday it will delay its nuclear missile test scheduled for this weekend in the midst of Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine so he does not 'misunderstand' the move. Kirby said the U.S. did not put its nuclear forces on heightened alert in response to Putin's move.

Think about the madness of this… Joe Biden is running around trying to look tough, hitting Russia with sanctions over Vladimir Putin’s obscene invasion of Ukraine. But at the same time, we pay Russia in the vicinity of $70 million per day for oil imports. In other words, during these seven days of Putin’s criminal war against Ukraine, we’ve sent this same Putin during those same seven days close to a half-billion dollars! What the hell is going on? On the one hand, Biden claims to be crippling Vlad with sanctions, while on the other hand, we’re slipping him $70...

The Mufti of the Chechen Republic has endorsed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, backed by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, saying that the invaders are “on the path of Allah”. Kadyrov, an Islamist who fought in a jihadist insurrection against the Russian Federation in the mid-’90s but helped to crush a wider insurrection in 1999, ultimately following his father to become Chechnya’s undisputed master under President Putin’s patronage, recently boasted he could muster up to 70,000 fighters to aid the Ukrainian offensive. Following a rally of 12,000 such fighters in the regional capital of Grozny, the strongman announced that...