Free Republic

So what changed the policy in Tehran? Mikhail Podolyak, the head of the Ukraine Presidential Office, blamed Iran for agreeing to be "directly complicit in the mass murder of Ukrainians." Why?, he asked: "Russia offered something important to Iran in exchange for killer drones and a ballistic missile contract. It is one of these options: uranium and other materials; nuclear technology; regional guarantees from the Russian Federation."

Sweden officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Thursday, a historic shift that highlights how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is transforming European security in ways he may not have foreseen. At a meeting in Washington, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson deposited the final paperwork with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the last step needed for the former militarily nonaligned nation to become NATO’s 32nd member. Sweden’s neighbor, Finland, joined last year. To justify his aggression in Ukraine, Putin cited the possibility of NATO expansion. Now, in one of the conflict’s many twists, his war has brought a...

Hamas and Fatah are expected to attend a meeting in Moscow to discuss the future governance of a Palestinian state. Representatives from Palestinian political factions, including Hamas and Fatah, are expected to meet in the Russian capital, Moscow, to discuss the formation of a unified Palestinian government amid Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 people. Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said on Thursday that while there was a lot of “uncertainty” about the meeting, it is expected to last three days for the factions to develop a “unified strategy”. “Russia has previously held similar...

"Russian officials and state-run and state-affiliated TV channels likely refrained from commenting on the two-year anniversary of the start of Russia's full-scale invasion to avoid drawing attention to Russia's failures to achieve its stated strategic goals in Ukraine and its more immediate goals of seizing all of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, while also suffering high personnel losses," the ISW said... The think tank said a recent opinion poll, conducted by independent Russian opposition polling organization Chronicles between January 23 and 29, suggests that "Russian sentiments about the war in Ukraine have largely remained unchanged in recent months and that most...

Aclose ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened the use of nuclear weapons on the U.S. if it fails in its invasion of Ukraine.In a Telegram post on Sunday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, has claimed the Moscow would use nuclear weapons in the event that "Ukraine with its allies" managed to push Russia out of the war-torn country. make nuclear threats against key U.S. and European capital cities. "Against Kyiv, Berlin, London, Washington. Against all other beautiful historical places that have been long ago included in the flight targets of our nuclear triad,"...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that he preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump but was willing to work with any U.S. president. Putin was asked by interviewer Pavel Zarubin who was "better for us" out of Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican. Putin replied: "Biden. He is a more experienced, predictable person, a politician of the old school. But we will work with any U.S. president who the American people have confidence in.”

At the World Government Summit, Tucker Carlson told a gathering of world leaders that Moscow “was so much nicer than any city” in the United States. “It’s radicalizing for an American to go to Moscow,” Tucker went on. “I didn’t know that. I’ve learned it this week, to Singapore, to Tokyo, to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, because these cities, no matter how we’re told they’re run and on what principles they’re run, are wonderful places to live -snip- If you’re wealthy, I imagine, Moscow is pretty great. This is true of most European cities. When you’re an American tourist, you...

Ukraine is desperate. It cannot win on the battlefield, and Victoria Nuland’s sister-in-law, who runs the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), is the source of all the propaganda that keeps painting Russia as weak to get the West to attack it. Ukraine is now using drones and long-range missiles, violating the air space of NATO with no concern, and attacking an oil refinery in Finland. Now, they attacked a refinery in southern Russia. It was the Ukrainians that destroyed Nord Stream. The hardliners in Russia say they are correct and they should have nuked Kyiv. They are now...

I just got back from Ukraine, where I was visiting some friends. Everything we have heard about what’s happening in Ukraine is a lie. The reality is darker, bleaker, and unequivocally hopeless. There is no such thing as Ukraine "winning" this war. - By their estimates, they have lost over one million of their sons, fathers and husbands; an entire generation is gone. - Even in the Southwest, where the anti-Russian sentiment is long-standing, citizens are reluctant or straight-up scared to publicly criticize Zelensky; they will go to jail. - In every village and town, the streets, shops, and restaurants...

Vladimir Putin has said that his alliance with Iran has turned the tide of the war in Ukraine, with Tehran’s support giving his forces momentum. Steady supplies of Iranian kamikaze drones, artillery shells and bullets have arrived in Russia since the invasion began, with Tehran quickly becoming one of the Kremlin’s closest military allies as both countries attempt to weather the impact of sanctions. “Our relations are developing very well. Please convey my best wishes to leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei,” Putin told Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president, in Tehran on Thursday. Thanks to the Iranian head of state, Putin said,...

More Programmes Live NewsWorldRussia Putin pardons Satanist killer after the criminal fought in Ukraine Putin, pictured here last year, has drawn criticism for the move By Saskia O'Donoghue with AFP Published on 22/11/2023 - 15:37 Share this article Comments Nikolai Ogolobyak was given the reprieve after fighting for the notorious Storm Z unit of the Russian army in their war against Ukraine. The Kremlin has announced it will maintain its policy of presidential pardons for prisoners who agree to fight in Ukraine. The news comes following reports by Russian press revealing that a man convicted of Satanist and cannibalistic murders...

A Russian cannibal in a Satanic cult that slaughtered four teenagers — beheading and partially eating two of them — has been pardoned by President Vladimir Putin after fighting against Ukraine in a notorious unit of convicts. Nikolai Ogolobyak, 33, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2010 for murder and desecrating corpses over a series of horrifying ritualistic murders that rocked the Yaroslavl region — where the then-teenager was known as “Count.” Ogolobyak and other Satan worshippers, including one nicknamed “Hitler,” beheaded two of their four victims — then cut out their hearts and tongues which they then...

Guards at Vladimir Putin's residence reportedly entered the Russian leader's apartment after hearing a loud crash before discovering the 71-year-old "lying on the floor next to the bed". Vladimir Putin is alleged to have suffered a "cardiac arrest" in his private Moscow apartment on Sunday evening. A Telegram Channel believed to be run by a former Kremlin insider reported that incident saying the Russian leader was found by guards on the floor of the bedroom "lying on the floor, rolling his eyes." Doctors were reportedly called immediately and they later diagnosed the 71-year-old as having suffered a "cardiac arrest." Putin...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When a vehicle is captured and then...

The country's state energy giant Gazprom said in its latest report that gas production in the first half of 2023 was 179.45 billion cubic meters (bcm). Gazprom added that this represents a year-on-year decrease of nearly a quarter (24.7 percent), and a 26.5 percent drop in gas supplies to the domestic and foreign markets... The invasion also pushed Europe to cut purchases of Russian oil and gas drastically. The continent overcame an energy crunch last winter, in part by reducing energy consumption and finding other suppliers, such as sellers of seaborne liquefied natural gas (LNG)... Independent Russian-language news outlet Agentstvo...

Relations between Kazakhstan and Russia, have deteriorated since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022... "Kazakhstan has unambiguously stated that it will follow the sanctions regime," Tokayev said following talks during an official visit to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Timothy Ash, an economist and associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at British think tank Chatham House, said the statement was significant and shows Moscow is losing influence. "Wow, huge move. Just shows weakening grip across region of Russia because of Putin's idiotic invasion of Ukraine. He lost Armenia in recent weeks on Russia's...

A Russian propagandist has called for the reinstatement of the Russian Empire, saying that's the country's ultimate goal. As Russia continues its military offensive against Ukraine, Russian propagandist Sergey Mardan alluded to a misconception that Russia wishes to restore the USSR, which collapsed in 1991, and instead suggested the country could rewind the clock back beyond the days of the Russian Empire. His comments come as President Vladimir Putin announced a new Russian holiday, the "Day of Unification," on September 30, to mark the illegal annexation of the Dontesk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. Putin declared them to...

Russian occupiers tortured Ukrainians so brutally that some of their victims died, and forced families to listen as they raped women next door, members of a U.N.-mandated investigative body said on Monday, in their latest findings from the field. Erik Møse, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva his team had "collected further evidence indicating that the use of torture by Russian armed forces in areas under their control has been widespread and systematic". "In some cases, torture was inflicted with such brutality that it caused the death of the victim,"...

A key Russian general who Russian president Vladimir Putin promoted this week said that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is a mere "stepping stone" to further conflict with Europe. Vladimir Putin promoted lieutenant general Andrey Mordvichev to the rank of colonel-general after he had already been serving in the role of commanding the central military district and Russian central grouping of forces in Ukraine. In an interview with Moscow's state-run Russia-1, Andrey Mordvichev said that he believes Vladimir Putin's war will last quite a long time and expand in the future. "I think there's still plenty of time to spend. It...

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reportedly arrived in Russia Tuesday ahead of an expected meeting with President Vladimir Putin, officials said. The two leaders, flanked by their top military officials, are set to negotiate a potential arms deal to help resupply Moscow’s military drained by its war in Ukraine. North Korea may have tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets that could give a boost to the Russian army, analysts say. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency previously said Kim boarded his personal train Sunday afternoon en route to Russia, accompanied by unspecified members of the country’s ruling...