Free Republic

Mystery surrounds a secret trip by Squad members Ilhan Omar and Pramila Japayal to Communist Cuba that coincided with a visit by Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. The two leaders of the Democrats progressive caucus sparked fury when details of last week's trip emerged with top Republicans accusing them of a Communist 'pilgrimage.' -snip- 'No surprise that the Hamas Caucus made a pilgrimage to Cuba last week to get a refresher course on communism to bring back to DC,' tweeted Florida Congressman Mike Waltz.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it had informed Israeli Ambassador Simona Halperin of its “negative reaction” to criticisms of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian policy in the Middle East made by the diplomat. The Israeli envoy was summoned to the foreign ministry earlier on Tuesday, a day after Russian authorities lashed out over what they called “unacceptable comments” made by the ambassador in an interview with Russian newspaper Kommersant published on Sunday. Halperin told the paper that Lavrov played down the importance of the Holocaust and and said Russia was too friendly with the Palestinian Islamist terror...

The Hamas terror organization stated that they appreciated Lavrov's comments, saying his comments "confirms Washington’s criminal role in the continued suffering of our Palestinian people." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, in an interview with Russian media on Thursday, that he doubted the conspiracy theory that Israel knew in advance of plans that Hamas were planning on committing a massacre on October 7. “A lot of conspiracy theories are now appearing. Just the other day, our television and social networks once again conveyed a message from Western media, Western journalists, and researchers that the Israeli leadership, a year before October...

After the ceasefire, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should take seriously its obligation to implement its resolutions on the establishment of a Palestinian state, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. Speaking to the press after the meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Foreign Ministers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that he hoped that with the end of hostilities, Palestine and Israel would return to implementing United Nations (UN) resolutions. "We hope that after the ceasefire, everyone will take seriously the obligation to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on the establishment of a Palestinian state," he...

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, thanked his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, for supporting the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, South Korean news outlet Yonhap News has reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov hosted Choe on Tuesday to discuss bolstering ties amid reports of an arms cooperation deal between Moscow and Pyongyang. His comments underscore the Kremlin's increasing dependence on North Korea for weaponry.

"He really left us with a very deep impression about the principles that, without ceasing to be an earthly man, he promoted in the international arena," the Russian diplomat said. On Friday, Russian Federation's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov evoked the historical figure of Commander Hugo Chavez, the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution whose death anniversary Venezuelans will remember next Sunday. "We pay tribute to Hugo Chavez, who passed away 10 years ago, leaving a deep mark not only in the history of his country and Latin American, but also in the history of the world community," Lavrov said, pointing...

Russia on Tuesday denounced the suspension of humanitarian funds by several Western countries to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), describing it as a “collective punishment” for the Gaza population. At least 16 Western countries, including the United States, suspended funding to the UN agency last week, after Israel accused some of its staff members of involvement in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli territory. During a press conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the Western countries’ “wrong decision” as a “collective punishment” against the Gaza residents, which is “prohibited” by international humanitarian law.

Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday said Moscow cannot recognize Israel’s methods against the Palestinian group Hamas as "acceptable." -snip- “Neighborhoods are being razed to the ground, more than 18,000 civilians have already died, this figure is increasing every day, two-thirds of them are women and children. The situation is terrible," Lavrov said. His remarks come days after a conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin, in which the former criticized the cooperation between Russia and Iran, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the positions taken “against Israel by Russian representatives at the UN and in other forums.”

Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, hosted routine talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Astana on November 9. At the customary, post-meeting press conference, Tokayev said little that was new, yet his delivery marked a notable departure from the past. He opened his remarks in Kazakh, not Russian. Tokayev’s rhetoric included the usual platitudes concerning the strength of bilateral relations, which he said were underpinned by “unshakable values of mutual respect and trust.” He went on to “confirm Kazakhstan is committed to the strategic direction of further strengthening comprehensive cooperation with Russia.” But in making top Russian officials in attendance, including...

Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller said he has suspended an employee involved in allowing Adolf Hitler's image to be shown on videoboards at Spartan Stadium before Saturday's football game against No. 2 Michigan. The employee, who was not named, will be paid pending an investigation that will help to determine potential action in the future. Haller said no one in the department viewed the entire video, exposing a failure in its process. "Antisemitism must be denounced," Haller said in a statement Sunday night. "The image displayed prior to Saturday night's game is not representative of who we are and...

In Ukraine, Israeli mercenaries are actually shoulder-to-shoulder with the Azov militants,” said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Israelis are fighting alongside Azov, a Ukrainian military battalion with neo-Nazi roots, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, amid a row between Jerusalem and Moscow over the latter saying Hitler was part Jewish. “I’ll say something that the politicians in Israel who are now inflating their information campaign are unlikely to want to hear,” Zakharova said in an interview with Sputnik Radio. “Perhaps they will be interested. In Ukraine, Israeli mercenaries are actually shoulder-to-shoulder with the Azov militants.” Israel is certainly aware...

After attempting to navigate through the politics in order to curry favor with the base Republican voters on a Ukraine position, when confronted by Piers Morgan who is a pro-NATO war voice, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis now says his former position on Ukraine has been “mischaracterized” and Vladimir Putin “is a war criminal.”The walk back highlights once again that Ron DeSantis is an empty vessel using poll testing to formulate his policy stances.The reversing comments on Vladimir Putin and Ukraine come from the interview DeSantis gave to Piers Morgan as noted in a recent New York Post article:(Piers Morgan, NY...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought to clean up comments where he called Russia's brutal war on Ukraine a 'territorial dispute' after drawing rebukes against 'isolationism' but praise from Fox News host Tucker Carlson. 'Well, I think it's been mischaracterized. Obviously, Russia invaded — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — That was wrong,' DeSantis told Piers Morgan in an interview more than a week after his initial comments. He also rolled out tough talk against Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him a 'war criminal' and saying he should be 'held accountable,' while dissing Russia as...

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was "taking the Chinese position" on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when the potential Republican 2024 contender called the war a "territorial dispute." During an interview with Fox News Digital on Friday, the South Carolina lawmaker and military veteran was asked whether he was concerned about the current front-runners for the GOP presidential nomination — DeSantis, who is expected to announce a White House bid, and former President Donald Trump, who already has — both having a more skeptical position of the current level of U.S. aid to Ukraine than more...

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he is “gravely concerned” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said the Ukraine war is a “territorial dispute.” Guest host Mike Barnicle asked, “Senator, given the lit fuse that is Ukraine and Russia, and given what happened over the Black Sea, do you have any sense of the communication at the top of the house, each house, secretary of defense here, defense minister in Russia, Putin, the president of the United States, any sense at all of communication that might be going on between the two of them? Then as...

Ukraine has invited Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to visit, after the Republican dismissed the Russian invasion as a "territorial dispute". Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko criticised Mr DeSantis's comments and tweeted his invitation to the Republican governor on Tuesday. "We are sure that as a former military officer deployed to a combat zone, Governor Ron DeSantis knows the difference between a 'dispute' and war," Mr Nikolenko said. "We invite him to visit Ukraine to get a deeper understanding of Russia's full-scale invasion and the threats it poses to US interests."

The Republican Party is once again in a war of words with itself over the war in Ukraine — this time because of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.In a statement submitted to Tucker Carlson's Fox News show, DeSantis said that the war in Ukraine was not among the United States' "many vital national interests," adding that "becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.""The Biden administration's virtual 'blank check' funding of this conflict for 'as long as it takes,' without any defined objectives or accountability, distracts from our country's most pressing challenges,"...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said on Tuesday that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is not a “territorial dispute,” pushing back against remarks made by his home state Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on the matter. In a questionnaire sent out by Fox News personality Tucker Carlson to potential 2024 presidential candidates, DeSantis said “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia” was not among the United States’ “vital national interests.” During an appearance on the “Hugh Hewitt Show” on Tuesday, Rubio was asked about those remarks from DeSantis. “Well, it’s not a territorial dispute in the sense that any...

Belarus's foreign minister Vladimir Makei was poisoned in a Kremlin sting operation, extraordinary new reports have claimed. The veteran diplomat and former spy died suddenly yesterday amid claims he was in secret contact with the West concerning the war in Ukraine and preventing Belarus from being incorporated into Russia by Vladimir Putin. A video shows Makei, 64, looking healthy on a Belarus military cargo plane last week shortly before he died. He wasn't known to suffer from any chronic illness. -snip- Makei was this week due to attend an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Poland...

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has postponed a planned visit to Minsk following the death of his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei, according to Russian media reports quoting the foreign ministry. Belarus's state news agency Belta reported on Saturday that the long-standing foreign minister and associate of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko had died suddenly. The cause of death wasn't given and Makei wasn't known to suffer from any chronic illness. Makei, 64, was due to meet Lavrov on Monday. Last week he attended a conference of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) -- a military alliance of several post soviet states...