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When President Biden proposed an additional $24 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine in August, Moscow spin doctors working for the Kremlin were ready to try to undermine public support for the bill, internal Kremlin documents show. In an ongoing campaign that seeks to influence congressional and other political debates to stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment, Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions, according to a trove of internal Kremlin documents...

Nato must be ready for Russia launching an “existential” war against the Baltic states “masked by a blizzard of disinformation”, ambassadors from the three countries have warned. Writing exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph, the top diplomats to the UK from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said that Russia could “pivot quickly” from Ukraine to invade the Baltic. And they said that Vladimir Putin’s brutalisation of Ukraine is evoking the three countries’ “darkest memories” of occupation under Stalin. The Estonian ambassador Viljar Lubi, the Latvian ambassador Ivita Burmistre, and Lithuania’s charge d’affaire Lina Zigmantaite, wrote the joint article to mark Friday’s 20...

ISIL’s Afghan branch – also known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) – has claimed responsibility for the attack... “Russian foreign policy has been one big red flag for ISIS [ISIL],” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center told Al Jazeera. “The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Russian actions in Chechnya, Moscow’s close relationships with the Syrian and Iranian governments, and especially the military campaigns that Russia has waged against ISIS fighters in Syria and — through Wagner Group mercenaries – in parts of Africa.” “ISK [ISKP] has consistently demonstrated its ambition...

The Kremlin promised entertainment.Western analysts feared Vladimir Putin would declare another war.But the Russian president’s more than two-hour-long address on Thursday delivered on neither expectation, though Putin presented Russians with a vision of the future that alternated between nuclear saber-rattling and grand social promises. ###Putin, who cut a relaxed figure, also called for the safeguarding of “traditional family values.”“We see what is happening in some countries where moral norms and family institutions are deliberately being destroyed, pushing entire peoples to extinction and degeneration,” he said. “We choose life.”

For over a year now, pro-Russian voices have circulated the conspiracy theory that Ukraine was close to signing a peace deal in the spring of 2022, only to be thwarted by the West. Although this narrative has repeatedly been debunked as disinformation, it stubbornly persists in some circles.The central premise of the theory is that, only a few weeks into the war, Ukraine was ready to sign a deal with Russia amid peace talks in Istanbul until Western powers, led by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ordered Kyiv to scrap the deal. It is thus argued that blame for...

Senior Russian officials were due to fly on the doomed military plane that crashed Wednesday, killing around 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war – but were stopped “at the last moment” by their security services, according to Ukraine. The claim came as gruesome new video showed apparent charred human remains at the scene of the crashed plane, which Russia has blamed Ukraine for downing as it flew to a prisoner exchange. “It is known that there were indeed several VIPs from the military and political representation of the state aggressor due to fly on the Il-76,” Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukrainian...

A Russian military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed near the border between the two nations Wednesday, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of shooting down the aircraft, Kremlin officials say. The Russian Ilyushin Il-76 plane was carrying 74 people, including six crew members and three guards who were set to deliver the POWs in exchange for Russian captives, according to state news agency RIA’s quotes from the defense ministry. Andrei Kartapolov, a Russian lawmaker, claimed during a parliamentary session Wednesday that the plane had been shot down by three missiles.

Russian strategic culture: Why Russia does things the way it does By Martti J. Kari, former intelligence Colonel in the Finnish Defense Forces BACKGROUND My background is that I have served in military intelligence for most of my career. I am an officer and an intelligence colonel who retired last fall. I started here in January at the university as a teacher. I teach intelligence. As I have spent most of my career in intelligence, Russia and the Soviet Union have always been my point of interest. As a young lieutenant, I was sent to what was then Leningrad to...

Russian-state television pundit Aleksandr Sytin recently warned that life "keeps getting worse" in Russia amid its war with Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, claiming to seek the "denazification" of the Eastern European country's government and hoping for a quick victory. Nearly two years later, Ukraine's stronger-than-anticipated defense effort has blocked Russian advances, and both sides continue fighting for control of eastern Ukrainian territory. The Russian military has faced myriad challenges amid the conflict, including troubles recruiting and maintaining well-trained, disciplined troops. Military analysts have noted that Putin's troops lack motivation, and questions...

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Switzerland to organise a 'high-level peace conference' amid the ongoing war with Russia. Swiss President, Viola Amherd, revealed during a joint press conference in Bern: 'I confirmed that Switzerland is ready to organize the conference. We agreed that the details of the further approach will be looked into in depth in order to make this peace process a success.' The Swiss president underlined that the country will 'fight for long-lasting and just peace in Ukraine', with planning for the event to begin on Tuesday. Zelensky added: 'We are open to all countries that respect...

Back in November, Finland closed part of its border and accused Russia of trying to stir up trouble by sending migrants on bicycles to border crossings. Why bicycles? It seems that Russia has been bringing these migrants across the entire country (none of them are Russian) and then giving them bikes to travel the last few miles on their own. There’s video of Russian authorities handing out bikes from the back of a van. There are no Russians trying to cross the border. They're sending people without necessary travel documents from countries like Yemen, Somalia and Syria.Russia is taking advantage...

In a significant development in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force successfully targeted and destroyed the Russian landing ship Novocherkassk. The military action took place in the early hours of December 26, in the port of Feodosia, located in the occupied territory of Crimea. The event was announced by the Ukrainian Air Force Commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, and signifies a strategic blow to the Russian military’s capabilities in the region. The Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, represents a significant asset in the Russian Navy. Its destruction likely involved the use of Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles. This loss...

Update from Ukraine | Situation in Avdiivka | Ruzzia is Unable to encircle the city Meat waves start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp1SR2xdKaA The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the recent developments on the battlefield, as of 22nd November 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-637-summary/ [NOTE: two summaries per week, released on Wednesday and Sunday] *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

This is a video from a Russian propagandist with English language subtitles. In the video the propagandist proudly promotes the prospect of a restored Russian/Soviet Empire.

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia's most senior navy officers, was shown on Tuesday attending a video conference, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him. In video and photographs released by the Russian defence ministry, Sokolov was shown apparently taking part in a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top admirals and army chiefs. Ukraine's special forces said on Monday they had killed Sokolov, Moscow's top admiral in Crimea, along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on...

MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. Ukraine is fated either to capitulate on Moscow’s terms or cease to exist as a state, Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament), said. "When speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, [US President Joe] Biden, [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg and other Western officials have started calling it 'a war of attrition.' They have put huge amounts of money into militarizing the Kiev regime. Where has it gotten them? The simple facts are these: the West is experiencing weapons and ammunition shortages, people in Europe and the US have lost trust...

One of Ukraine’s greatest tragedies as it pursues a critical offensive that has, so far, failed to meet its own and Western expectations is that it cannot, by itself, decide its destiny. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is dependent on a massive pipeline of US and western armaments. And Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose historical obsessions and personal power calculations thrust Ukraine into this horrific war, will also have a great say in if and when it ends. So, while battlefield sacrifices will decide how much seized territory Ukraine recovers, the outcome of the war will also be shaped by outside...

The head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergei Shoigu, presented the crew of a tank with the call sign “Alyosha” for state awards, which repelled an attack by a Ukrainian armored group in the Zaporozhye direction in June of this year. This was announced on August 1 in the defense department. “The Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu presented the crew of the Russian tank for showing courage and heroism in repelling an attack by an armored group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye direction in June 2023,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in...

As Russia amassed troops on the Ukrainian border, Russian President Vladimir Putin, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, and other Russian officials repeatedly denied that their country had plans to invade Ukraine. They blamed the U.S., Ukraine and others for the tension, insisting that Russia is a “peaceful country” and that it is “not going to attack anyone.” That, of course, was proven false when Russia launched a full-scale invasion against Ukraine on Feb. 24 — two days after Russian tanks rolled into eastern Ukraine on a “peace-keeping” mission.

Chief of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary force and self-proclaimed "butcher" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has once again come out swinging at Moscow's defense ministry, this time warning there will be a revolution like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution if Russian elites do not get serious about the war in Ukraine. According to a Reuters report Wednesday, Prigozhin in an interview posted to Telegram said that there are already "tens of thousands" of angry Russians who are sick of seeing loved ones come back in zinc coffins while the children of Moscow’s elite "shook their a---s." "This divide can...