Kremlin says it wants apology from Fox News over Putin comments

Reuters ^ | 02/06/17

[Enlightened1]

The Kremlin said on Monday it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments one of the channel's presenters made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Putin as "a killer" in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O'Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed.

"We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

Fox News and O'Reilly did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Trump's views on Putin are closely scrutinized in the United States where U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of having sponsored computer hacking to help Trump win office, and critics say he is too complimentary about the Russian leader.

Trump, when commenting on the allegations against Putin in the same interview, questioned how "innocent" the United States itself was, saying it had made a lot of its own mistakes. That irritated some Congressional Republicans who said there was no comparison between how Russian and U.S. politicians behaved.

[BeadCounter]

O’Reilly was out of line with that interview and he is so stubborn, he won’t apologize. He might invite Putin or a Russian rep on the show. I’ve never cared for O’Reilly to begin with.

[ETL]

Russia's Director of Military Intelligence Dies Unexpectedly

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan. 4, 2016 | Paul Sonne

Since you need to subscribe or log-in to access the article at WSJ, here below is the same from another source...

___________________________________________

MOSCOW-The director of Russia's military intelligence agency has died unexpectedly, according to a short statement released Monday on the Kremlin website, which didn't specify the cause of his death.

Col. Gen. Igor Sergun had run the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's General Staff, known as the GRU, since late 2011. He was 58 years old.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in a statement released to the Interfax news agency, said Col. Gen. Sergun died suddenly on Sunday. Mr. Shoigu's statement offered no additional details.

The military intelligence chief joined the Soviet military in 1973 and became director of the secretive GRU and deputy chief of Russia's general staff in 2011, according to his official biography on the Russian Defense Ministry website. He served in military intelligence since 1984, according to the biography.

Last year, the U.S. and European Union sanctioned Col. Gen. Sergun after Russia annexed Crimea and backed a rebel uprising in east Ukraine.

Western and Ukrainian officials have accused the GRU, one of the most important parts of Russia's foreign intelligence apparatus, of playing a sizable role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the military intelligence chief for dedicating his life to the motherland in a message to his friends and relatives that the Kremlin press service released to Russian newswires on Monday.

"His colleagues and subordinates knew him as a real military officer, and experienced and competent commander, a person of great courage and a true patriot," Mr. Putin said. "They respected him for his professionalism, strength of character, honesty and integrity."

http://www.advfn.com/news_Russias-Director-of-Military-Intelligence-Dies_69876453.html

Russia's Director of Military Intelligence Dies Unexpectedly

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan. 4, 2016 | Paul Sonne

Since you need to subscribe or log-in to access the article at WSJ, here below is the same from another source...

___________________________________________

MOSCOW-The director of Russia's military intelligence agency has died unexpectedly, according to a short statement released Monday on the Kremlin website, which didn't specify the cause of his death.

Col. Gen. Igor Sergun had run the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's General Staff, known as the GRU, since late 2011. He was 58 years old.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in a statement released to the Interfax news agency, said Col. Gen. Sergun died suddenly on Sunday. Mr. Shoigu's statement offered no additional details.

The military intelligence chief joined the Soviet military in 1973 and became director of the secretive GRU and deputy chief of Russia's general staff in 2011, according to his official biography on the Russian Defense Ministry website. He served in military intelligence since 1984, according to the biography.

Last year, the U.S. and European Union sanctioned Col. Gen. Sergun after Russia annexed Crimea and backed a rebel uprising in east Ukraine.

Western and Ukrainian officials have accused the GRU, one of the most important parts of Russia's foreign intelligence apparatus, of playing a sizable role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the military intelligence chief for dedicating his life to the motherland in a message to his friends and relatives that the Kremlin press service released to Russian newswires on Monday.

"His colleagues and subordinates knew him as a real military officer, and experienced and competent commander, a person of great courage and a true patriot," Mr. Putin said. "They respected him for his professionalism, strength of character, honesty and integrity."

http://www.advfn.com/news_Russias-Director-of-Military-Intelligence-Dies_69876453.html

Russia's Director of Military Intelligence Dies Unexpectedly

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan. 4, 2016 | Paul Sonne

Since you need to subscribe or log-in to access the article at WSJ, here below is the same from another source...

___________________________________________

MOSCOW-The director of Russia's military intelligence agency has died unexpectedly, according to a short statement released Monday on the Kremlin website, which didn't specify the cause of his death.

Col. Gen. Igor Sergun had run the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's General Staff, known as the GRU, since late 2011. He was 58 years old.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in a statement released to the Interfax news agency, said Col. Gen. Sergun died suddenly on Sunday. Mr. Shoigu's statement offered no additional details.

The military intelligence chief joined the Soviet military in 1973 and became director of the secretive GRU and deputy chief of Russia's general staff in 2011, according to his official biography on the Russian Defense Ministry website. He served in military intelligence since 1984, according to the biography.

Last year, the U.S. and European Union sanctioned Col. Gen. Sergun after Russia annexed Crimea and backed a rebel uprising in east Ukraine.

Western and Ukrainian officials have accused the GRU, one of the most important parts of Russia's foreign intelligence apparatus, of playing a sizable role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the military intelligence chief for dedicating his life to the motherland in a message to his friends and relatives that the Kremlin press service released to Russian newswires on Monday.

"His colleagues and subordinates knew him as a real military officer, and experienced and competent commander, a person of great courage and a true patriot," Mr. Putin said. "They respected him for his professionalism, strength of character, honesty and integrity."

http://www.advfn.com/news_Russias-Director-of-Military-Intelligence-Dies_69876453.html

[ETL]

Mom of murdered Russian opposition leader: Putin will "kill you for that"

FoxNews.com, February 28, 2015

The murder of prominent Putin critic Boris Nemstov in a gangland-style killing steps from the Kremlin came just weeks after the dissident told a magazine his mother worried the Russian leader would have him bumped off for his outspokenness.

" 'When will you stop cursing Putin? He'll kill you for that.' She was completely serious," Nemstov told Sobsesdnik earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper added that the former Deputy Prime Minister under Russian president Boris Yeltsin expressed some worry about his safety but not as much as his mother.

-snip-

Nemtsov, 55, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Friday near midnight as he walked on a bridge near the Kremlin with a female companion.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/russian-investigators-fail-to-mention-nemtsov-was-top-putin-critic.html

Mom of murdered Russian opposition leader: Putin will "kill you for that"

FoxNews.com, February 28, 2015

The murder of prominent Putin critic Boris Nemstov in a gangland-style killing steps from the Kremlin came just weeks after the dissident told a magazine his mother worried the Russian leader would have him bumped off for his outspokenness.

" 'When will you stop cursing Putin? He'll kill you for that.' She was completely serious," Nemstov told Sobsesdnik earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper added that the former Deputy Prime Minister under Russian president Boris Yeltsin expressed some worry about his safety but not as much as his mother.

-snip-

Nemtsov, 55, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Friday near midnight as he walked on a bridge near the Kremlin with a female companion.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/russian-investigators-fail-to-mention-nemtsov-was-top-putin-critic.html

Mom of murdered Russian opposition leader: Putin will "kill you for that"

FoxNews.com, February 28, 2015

The murder of prominent Putin critic Boris Nemstov in a gangland-style killing steps from the Kremlin came just weeks after the dissident told a magazine his mother worried the Russian leader would have him bumped off for his outspokenness.

" 'When will you stop cursing Putin? He'll kill you for that.' She was completely serious," Nemstov told Sobsesdnik earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper added that the former Deputy Prime Minister under Russian president Boris Yeltsin expressed some worry about his safety but not as much as his mother.

-snip-

Nemtsov, 55, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Friday near midnight as he walked on a bridge near the Kremlin with a female companion.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/russian-investigators-fail-to-mention-nemtsov-was-top-putin-critic.html

[ETL]

Symposium: To Kill a Russian Journalist
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 17, 2006

The murder of internationally renowned Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 was yet another troubling sign of Russia's retreat into its totalitarian past. Today Frontpage Symposium has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss why Anna Politkovskaya was killed and what the tragic loss of her life symbolizes about the direction in which Vladimir Putin's Russia is heading.

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=1490
_______________________________________________________

'PUTIN'S RUSSIA' by Anna Politkovskaya:
http://www.amazon.com/PUTINS-RUSSIA-ANNA-POLITKOVSKAYA/dp/1843430509
_______________________________________________________

Symposium: To Kill a Russian Journalist
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 17, 2006

The murder of internationally renowned Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 was yet another troubling sign of Russia's retreat into its totalitarian past. Today Frontpage Symposium has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss why Anna Politkovskaya was killed and what the tragic loss of her life symbolizes about the direction in which Vladimir Putin's Russia is heading.

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=1490
_______________________________________________________

'PUTIN'S RUSSIA' by Anna Politkovskaya:
http://www.amazon.com/PUTINS-RUSSIA-ANNA-POLITKOVSKAYA/dp/1843430509
_______________________________________________________

Symposium: To Kill a Russian Journalist
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 17, 2006

The murder of internationally renowned Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 was yet another troubling sign of Russia's retreat into its totalitarian past. Today Frontpage Symposium has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss why Anna Politkovskaya was killed and what the tragic loss of her life symbolizes about the direction in which Vladimir Putin's Russia is heading.

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=1490
_______________________________________________________

'PUTIN'S RUSSIA' by Anna Politkovskaya:
http://www.amazon.com/PUTINS-RUSSIA-ANNA-POLITKOVSKAYA/dp/1843430509
_______________________________________________________

[ETL]

From 2014

Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea

by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014

Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."

Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy
______________________________________________

From 2014

Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea

by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014

Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."

Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy
______________________________________________

From 2014

Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea

by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014

Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."

Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy
______________________________________________

[elhombrelibre]

Well, since Putin is arming Iran and the Taliban, since he’s killing Ukrainians and taking part of their country without provocation, for starters, I’d say he deserves a lot of blame. I’m more about ideas. You’re more about loyalty to Putin even though his behavior is murderous and his ideas are autocratic and oligarchical.

[wiseprince]

“Mysteriously died” does not equate to Vladimir Putin murdering someone. I simply don’t by into simplistic narratives like this. Arafat went to France to get treated and ended up dying “mysteriously” a few days later. Was he also murdered? Putin somehow has so much money and power but can’t carry off a hit as quietly as the mob. That seems quite suspicious indeed.

[ETL]

Mikhail Lesin, co-founder of the Russian government-controlled news outlet "Russia Today" (RT), which the FR Putinistas often link to in their threads, was found dead in a Wash DC hotel in November 2015.

Word is he had had a falling out with Putin and was about to become an informer, a 'snitch'. Putin's Russia is very much like the Mafia.

RT (Russia Today) and the other Moscow-controlled media outlets reported at the time that there were no signs of foul play--that he died of a heart attack.

However, when the autopsy report came out 4 months later (Mar 2016) it was revealed that he actually died of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso.

Whether Putin had him murdered or not is not clear. However, just the way that these state-run media outlets in Russia operate is cause enough for alarm. Check out below how this guy, under Putin's direction, seized control of Russia's once independent news outlets.

_________________________________

Mikhail Yuriyevich Lesin (July 11, 1958 – November 5, 2015) was a Russian political figure, media executive and an adviser to president Vladimir Putin.[1]

In 2006 he was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", one of Russia's highest state decoration for civilians.

Mikhail Lesin was nicknamed the Bulldozer because of his ability to get virtually all Russian media outlets under The Kremlin's control.[2]--wikipedia
___________________________________

"RT [Russia Today] has been called a propaganda outlet for the Russian government[10][11][12] and its foreign policy[10][11][13][14] by former Russian officials[15] and by news reporters,[16] including former RT reporters.[17][18][19]

It has also been accused of spreading disinformation.[20][21][22]

The network states that it offers a 'Russian perspective' on global events.[24]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_%28TV_network%29
______________________________________

RT = RUSSIA TODAY

Nov 2015...

• Millionaire Mikhail Lesin, 57, was found dead in $240-a-night in Washington DC last Friday [Nov 6, 2015] and police are investigating

• The pro-Putin 'propaganda channel' he set up, RT [Russia Today] , claimed he 'had been suffering from a prolonged unidentified illness'

• But DC police have made no such finding

  "Nicknamed the 'Bulldozer', Lesin was one of the key props of the Putin presidency, personally masterminding a wide-ranging media crackdown which has left the vast majority of Russian TV stations and newspapers obedient to the Kremlin."

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315994/Vladimir-Putin-s-media-mastermind-dead-DC-hotel-murdered-FBI-informant-alive-claim-Russians.html#ixzz3rOUopg7Q

  _________________________________________

  The following article is from last December (2014)

  "Mikhail Lesin has stepped down as head of major state-controlled media holding Gazprom-Media, the company said late last week.

  Gazprom-Media, whose holdings include independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, said Lesin's resignation was due to family reasons, Russian media reports said Friday.

  The holding's board of directors will finalize his resignation at an upcoming meeting, Gazprom-Media was cited by Ekho Moskvy as saying. No replacement has been named.

  Earlier, a flurry of reports of Lesin's imminent resignation appeared on Russian news wires, all based on undisclosed sources and giving divergent accounts of the motive.

  Forbes Russia cited sources in the media and government as confirming the resignation, with one of the individuals claiming that the decision was made personally by President Vladimir Putin."

  http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/513690.html
  _______________________________________________________

  UPDATE: MAR 2016...

  Mikhail Lesin, Ex-Putin Aide, Died of Blunt Force Trauma in Washington: Autopsy

  by Alastair Jamieson and Alexey Eremenko
  Mar 11 2016

  A former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin found dead in a Washington hotel room was killed by a blunt force trauma to the head, U.S. authorities said Thursday.

  Mikhail Lesin, 57, was found dead on the floor of his room in Dupont Circle on November 5.[2015]

  Autopsy results show that he died from “blunt-force injuries of the head,” according to a joint statement Thursday from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported by NBC Washington , but the exact manner of death was undetermined.

  Also contributing to his death were “blunt-force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities and lower extremities,” the statement said.

  Russian media originally reported that Lesin, a former government minister, had suffered a heart attack. ...”

  http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/mikhail-lesin-ex-putin-aide-died-blunt-force-trauma-washington-n536456

  ______________________________________________________________

  "On Friday, November 6 [2015], RIA Novosti reported that Lesin died of a heart attack citing a spokesman for the family as saying: "Today, Mikhail Lesin died ... His death came supposedly from a heart attack."[35][38]

  RT [Russia Today] reported the next day that the cause of death was a heart attack.[31][39][40][41]

  https://web.archive.org/web/20161026095000/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lesin

  ______________________________________________________________

  "When he [Mikhail Lesin] quit Gazprom Media in December [2014], a move seen as a shock, he cited ‘family reasons’ although there were unconfirmed claims he had fallen out with other influential figures close to Putin. ..."

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315994/Vladimir-Putin-s-media-mastermind-dead-DC-hotel-murdered-FBI-informant-alive-claim-Russians.html
  ______________________________________________________

  From 2014...

  "Mikhail Lesin has stepped down as head of major state-controlled media holding Gazprom-Media, the company said late last week [Dec 2014].

  Gazprom-Media, whose holdings include independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, said Lesin's resignation was due to family reasons, Russian media reports said Friday.

  The holding's board of directors will finalize his resignation at an upcoming meeting, Gazprom-Media was cited by Ekho Moskvy as saying. No replacement has been named.

  Earlier, a flurry of reports of Lesin's imminent resignation appeared on Russian news wires, all based on undisclosed sources and giving divergent accounts of the motive.

  Forbes Russia cited sources in the media and government as confirming the resignation, with one of the individuals claiming that the decision was made personally by President Vladimir Putin."

  http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/513690.html

______________________________________________________

"When he [Mikhail Lesin] quit Gazprom Media in December, a move seen as a shock, he cited ‘family reasons’ although there were unconfirmed claims he had fallen out with other influential figures close to Putin. ..."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315994/Vladimir-Putin-s-media-mastermind-dead-DC-hotel-murdered-FBI-informant-alive-claim-Russians.html
______________________________________________________

" [RT (Russia Today) founder, Mikhail] Lesin was a central figure in the early Putin years, spearheading the Kremlin's effort to silence the country's independent television, the first step in the consolidation of authoritarian rule.

The first target was NTV, at that time Russia's largest and most popular independent TV channel, whose hard-hitting news broadcasts, talk shows, and satirical programs criticized the government over growing corruption and the war in Chechnya and gave airtime to the opposition.

In June 2000, a month after Putin's inauguration, NTV's founder and majority shareholder, Vladimir Gusinsky, was arrested and placed in Moscow's infamous Butyrka prison.

While he was there, the information minister made an offer: Gusinsky could have his freedom if he agreed to transfer his media holdings to Gazprom, the state-owned energy monopoly. ..."

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/vladimir-kara-murza/ominous-return-putins

[wiseprince]

A commercial plane flies over an active war zone and gets shot down by Ukrainian rebels who sees the central power in the country as legitimate is not a Vladimir Putin murder. If Putin wanted Ukraine he would just take it (especially over the last few years) and no one would stop him. What you are referencing is, to me, just more propaganda. Putin didn’t order an airliner to be shot down. For crying out loud, Turkey shot down a Russian military plane and there wasn’t even much of a response. The Russian government you think exists doesn’t exists.

[elhombrelibre]

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/05/putin_condemned.html

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/mar/11/journalist-safety-vladimir-putin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011902604.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11212072/Russian-actor-and-Putin-critic-found-dead-in-Moscow.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anna_Politkovskaya

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mi5-believe-vladimir-putin-behind-3897973

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/dec/18/observer-editorial-putin-russia-journalists-murdered

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2014/07/16/open-letter-to-russias-putin-on-tenth-anniversary-of-forbes-editor-paul-klebnikovs-murder-why-havent-you-solved-this-case/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10728908/Billionaire-critic-of-Putin-may-have-been-murdered-rules-coroner.html http://www.amazon.com/Putins-Labyrinth-Spies-Murder-Russia/dp/0812978412

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/22/brits-investigate-the-assassination-of-the-spy-who-warned-us-about-putin.html#

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/21/malaysia-airlines-flight-father-letter_n_5607856.html

http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2014/07/13/19336.shtml

November 1998 - Less than four months after Putin takes over at the KGB, opposition Duma Deputy Galina Starovoitova, the most prominent pro-democracy Kremlin critic in the nation, is murdered at her apartment building in St. Petersburg.

April 2003 - Sergei Yushenkov, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia political party, is gunned down at the entrance of his Moscow apartment block. Yushenkov had been serving as the vice chair of the group known as the “Kovalev Commission” which was formed to informally investigate charges that Putin’s KGB had planted the Pechatniki and Kashirskoye apartment bombs

July 2003 - Yuri Shchekochikhin , a vocal opposition journalist and member of the Russian Dumaand the Kovalev Commission, suddenly contracts a mysterious illness. After his sudden death on July 3rd. The Russian authorities refused to allow an autopsy, his relatives “managed to send a specimen of his skin to London, where a tentative diagnosis was made of poisoning with thallium” (a poison commonly used by the KGB, at first suspected in the Litvinenko killing).

June 2004 - Nikolai Girenko, a prominent human rights defender, Professor of Ethnology and expert on racism and discrimination in the Russian Federation is shot dead in his home in St Petersburg.

July 2004 - Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition Forbes magazine, is shot and killed in Moscow.

September 2004 - Viktor Yushchenko, anti-Russian candidate for the presidency of the Ukraine, is poisoned by Dioxin. Yushchenko’s chief of staff OlegRibachuk suggests that the poison used was amycotoxin called T-2, also known as “Yellow Rain,” a Soviet-era substance which was reputedly used in Afghanistan as a chemical weapon. Miraculously, he survives the attack.

September 2006 - Andrei Kozlov, First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Central Bank, who strove to stamp out money laundering the highest-ranking reformer in Russia, is shot and killed in Moscow.

October 2006 - Anna Politkovskaya, author of countless books and articles exposing Russian human rights violations in Chechnya and attacking Vladimir Putin as a dictator, is shot and killed at her home in Moscow.

November 2006 - Alexander Litvinenko, KGB defector and author of the book Blowing up Russia, which accuses the Kremlin of masterminding the and Pechatniki and Kashirskoye bombings in order to blame Chechen terrorists and whip up support for an invasion of Chechnya (which shortly followed), is fatally poisoned by radioactive Polonium obtained from Russian sources.

On January 19, 2009, Russian human rights attorney Stanslav Markelov was shot in the back of the head with a silenced pistol as he left a press conference at which he announced his intention to sue the Russian government for its early release of the Col. Yuri Budanov, who murdered his 18-year-old client in Chechnya five years earlier. Also shot and killed was Anastasia Barburova, a young journalism student who was working for Novaya Gazeta and who had studied under Anna Politkovskaya, reporting on the Budanov proceedings.

On July 14, 2009, leading Russian human rights journalist and activist Natalia Estemirova , a single mother of a teenaged daughter, was abducted in front of her home in Grozny, Chechnya, spirited across the border into Ingushetia, shot and dumped in a roadside gutter.

http://larussophobe.wordpress.com/putinmurders/ Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3dd_1401997313#XRRREys6DwG6l1tA.99 In 2013, the last US tanks left Germany. The trajectory was clear and obvious to everyone. NATO was going to continue to shrink; it was a threat to no nation. Most nations in Europe were not even meeting their minimum target of 2% defense spending. Obama had promised just prior to the 2012 election to be even more agreeable with Putin. Hillary planned a reset with Putin that was to pivot the US more toward Asia.

What changed all of that? Well, the people of Ukraine made the mistake of wanting a peaceful reset of their own. They wanted to integrate with the European Union. They wanted more trade and freedom. In 2014, Ukrainian President Yanukovych attempted to pursue that path. Putin stopped him. Yanukovych did a 180 degree turn to satisfy Putin. The people of Ukraine overthrew Yanukovych. They were smeared by the Putin propaganda machine, but they did it on their own. Most of the Ukrainians remember very well Russia and the Holodomor and the deliberate starving of millions of Ukrainians. They remember too Russia's installing of communism on them and their post WWII brutality to the Ukrainian people. These people see themselves as a part of the West, not the Czarist-loving, Stalin-loving, Putin-loving benighted reactionary political culture of the East. They seek a life of freedom and liberty.

It was in this context that despite a treaty with Ukraine (where Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons for Russian promises) and despite the fact that the two nations were at peace, Putin invaded Crimea and broke off a hunk of the Ukrainian nation. Using his so-called "little green men" and other implausible denial techniques, Putin brazenly lied and said he had nothing to do with it. Not long after this, Putin started another undeclared war on Ukraine in the east of that nation that has led to 1.7 million Ukrainians being displaced.

These actions have naturally frightened many nations in Europe as Putin continues his theft of Russian property at home and war abroad. His undeclared wars on other nations and peoples continue to prop up dictators, to align Russia with the mad mullahs of Iran, and to distract the Russia people from Putin's crimes. Who will be the next country to be bombed like Grozny or Aleppo? Once a nation like Putin's decides that mass killing of civilians is a way to conduct just wars, disregarding the Just War Theory of Christianity, then you know that it's just a matter of time before Putin can unleash is war machine on some other nation that doesn't do as he says.

[wiseprince]

Are you serious, the court finds that something “probably” happened and you use that as evidence that Putin absolutely did it? By the way, who was Representing Putin in this mock trial?

[ETL]

Kremlin pays internet trolls to flatter Putin
Ben Hoyle - Moscow
October 11 2013

Russian investigative journalists and bloggers have uncovered an army of internet trolls paid to pour invective on the Kremlin's opponents and heap praise on President Putin.

Posing as job applicants, the reporters discovered the government hacks working at a small company called the St Petersburg Internet Research Agency. ..."

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article3891720.ece
____________________________

Russian Propaganda Is Taking Over Online Comment Boards

Pamela Engel
May 4, 2014

British newspaper The Guardian notes that recently, readers have been complaining of pro-Russia propaganda being posted in the comments section of articles about Russia and Ukraine.

One reader wrote to The Guardian:

"One need only pick a Ukraine article at random, pick any point in the comments at random, and they will find themselves in a sea of incredibly aggressive and hostile users (the most obvious have accounts created since February 2014 ... but there also exist those who registered with the Guardian before the high point of the crisis) who post the most biased, inciteful [sic] pro-Kremlin, anti-western propaganda that seems as if it's taken from a template, so repetitive are the statements. Furthermore, these comments are consistently capturing inordinate numbers of 'recommends', sometimes on the order of 10 to 12 times what pro-Ukrainian comments receive."

Guardian comment moderators believe this is an orchestrated campaign.

Russia has worked hard to make people believe that the country is supporting the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine and defending those people against some type of threat. These "comment mills" play into that strategy.

Last year, The Atlantic wrote about how the Russian government apparently pays people to "sit in a room, surf the Internet, and leave sometimes hundreds of postings a day that criticize the country's opposition and promote Kremlin-backed policymakers."

This practice isn't new, according to The Atlantic. But it can stifle open discussion about political issues in Russia, giving a louder voice to those who support the Kremlin.

http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-paying-people-to-post-pro-russia-propaganda-in-comments-2014-5

[fivecatsandadog]

“Yes, Putin has undoubtedly had people killed.”

And so have our very own home-grown “killers”, Bill AND Hillary Clinton. I’ll bet money on it.

[ETL]

Trump’s U.N. Envoy, Nikki Haley, Condemns Russia’s ‘Aggressive Actions’ in Ukraine

By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Feb 2, 2017

UNITED NATIONS — Nikki R. Haley, the new American ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Russia on Thursday for its recent “aggressive actions” in eastern Ukraine.

“We do want to better our relations with Russia,” Ms. Haley said during her first remarks to an open briefing of the United Nations Security Council. “However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.”

She made it clear that American sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea would remain in place.

During her Senate confirmation hearing last month, Ms. Haley also expressed support for continuing the sanctions and accused Russia of committing war crimes in the Syrian conflict. But her strong criticism of the government of President Vladimir V. Putin put her at odds with President Trump, who has expressed a desire for warmer relations with the Kremlin. ...’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/europe/nikki-haley-trump-ukraine-russia-putin.html?_r=0

__________________________________________________________

Donald Trump: 'Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time'

Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY SHOW (NBC)

Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."

The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."

http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
_______________________________________________

Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube...

Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns
___________________________________________________

Trump says NATO is obsolete but still ‘very important to me’

Reuters
January 16, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.

“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”

Trump added that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection.

“A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-nato-obsolete-still-very-important-004548554—finance.html?ref=gs

_______________________________________________________________________________

Mike Pence, from the VP debate on Oct 5, 2016, on the subject of Putin and Russia:

“When Donald Trump and I observe that, as I’ve said, in Syria, in Iran, in Ukraine, that the small and bullying leader of Russia has been stronger on the world stage than this administration, that’s stating painful facts. That’s not an endorsement of Vladimir Putin — that’s an indictment of the weak and feckless leadership of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.”

______________________________

Also from the Oct 5, 2016 first VP debate...

QUIJANO (Moderator): I want to turn now to Syria. Two hundred fifty thousand people, 100,000 of them children, are under siege in Aleppo, Syria. Bunker buster bombs, cluster munitions, and incendiary weapons are being dropped on them by Russian and Syrian militaries. Does the U.S. have a responsibility to protect civilians and prevent mass casualties on this scale, Governor Pence?

PENCE: The United States of America needs to begin to exercise strong leadership to protect the vulnerable citizens and over 100,000 children in Aleppo. Hillary Clinton’s top priority when she became secretary of state was the Russian reset, the Russians reset. After the Russian reset, the Russians invaded Ukraine and took over Crimea.

And the small and bullying leader of Russia is now dictating terms to the United States to the point where all the United States of America — the greatest nation on Earth — just withdraws from talks about a cease-fire while Vladimir Putin puts a missile defense system in Syria while he marshals the forces and begins — look, we have got to begin to lean into this with strong, broad-shouldered American leadership.

It begins by rebuilding our military. And the Russians and the Chinese have been making enormous investments in the military. We have the smallest Navy since 1916. We have the lowest number of troops since the end of the Second World War. We’ve got to work with Congress, and Donald Trump will, to rebuild our military and project American strength in the world.

But about Aleppo and about Syria, I truly do believe that what America ought to do right now is immediately establish safe zones, so that families and vulnerable families with children can move out of those areas, work with our Arab partners, real time, right now, to make that happen.

And secondly, I just have to tell you that the provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength. And if Russia chooses to be involved and continue, I should say, to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in Aleppo, the United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime to prevent them from this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo.

There’s a broad range of other things that we ought to do, as well. We ought to deploy a missile defense shield to the Czech Republic and Poland which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pulled back on out of not wanting to offend the Russians back in 2009.

QUIJANO: Governor, your two minutes are up.

PENCE: We’ve just got to have American strength on the world stage. When Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, the Russians and other countries in the world will know they’re dealing with a strong American president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/us/politics/vice-president-transcript.html

______________________________

And...

PENCE: What we’re dealing with is the — you know, there’s an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates.

And the truth of the matter is, the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared a few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East.

And all the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we’re not having talks anymore.

To answer your question, we just need American strength. We need to — we need to marshal the resources of our allies in the region, and in the immediate, we need to act and act now to get people out of harm’s way.

__________________________________________________________

Senator Jeff Sessions on Putin...

March 26, 2015

Interview with Jeff Sessions: U.S. and Europe "Have to Unify" Against Russia

excerpt...

What do you expect next from Russia?

Sessions: Well, there's a danger that they may continue this overreach. They just solidified power in Georgia, in South Ossetia. That was I think in the last week. Pressure is still on Ukraine. We don't know whether the Minsk Agreement will hold, I don't think it's holding very well now.

We have the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the Romanians, they're very worried. This is reality, I wish it weren't, but I'm afraid it is. It needs to be clear that Russia knows that there will be a high price to pay if this behavior continues.

If Minsk breaks down, at what point does the president have to act and supply Ukraine with lethal weaponry? What is the breaking point? We know from what Victoria Nuland said that the administration hasn't decided yet.

Sessions: From what I understand from this conference, I think it's clear that Germany has said publicly that they will support harsher sanctions and more military support if the Minsk Agreement fails. And that will be key.

Merkel has worked very very hard to establish a relationship with Putin and Russia. It's been a good-faith effort. If it fails, I would hope that Europe and the United States would have to unify and push back more firmly against Russian overreach. ..."

http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/03/interview_with_jeff_sessions_us_and_europe_have_to_unify_against_russia_111076.html

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20150709024356/http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/03/interview_with_jeff_sessions_us_and_europe_have_to_unify_against_russia_111076.html

--------------------------------------------------------------

"In a Montgomery speech in March 2014...he [Sen Jeff Sessions] called for international scorn toward Russia for its aggressive actions in Ukraine and, before then, Georgia.

"I believe a systematic effort should be undertaken so that Russia feels pain for this," Sessions said then. "Because if you don't act now to make some sanctions against Russia then why will they believe in the future that we're going to impose sanctions or do anything aggressive if they move forward to take all of Ukraine, all of Georgia?""

Sessions, not that long ago, was calling for more sanctions against an expansionist Russia that was rattling U.S. allies in Europe. And he regularly blamed the Obama administration for what he argued was an overly optimistic and weak foreign policy, including a decision to scale back planned missile defense sites in the Czech Republic and Poland.

“There’s no good solution now. The bottle of milk has shattered on the floor and you can’t put it back together,” the Alabama senator said about relations with Russia in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea.

Sessions has also pointed to Russia’s record as justification for a robust missile defense system, which has deep roots in north Alabama.

“Russia’s recent actions in Georgia remind us that country, which we once hoped was on a path to greater integration into the global world community, might again be seeking to restore old Soviet ideas of dominance throughout their neighbors and in Eastern Europe, all of which should serve as a motivation to move ahead with the necessary capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies from missile attack, in particular,” Sessions said on the Senate floor in 2008.

Two years later, Sessions voted against the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, in part because he thought Obama conceded too much ground to the Russians.

“Just signing an agreement on a piece of paper does not create security,” Sessions said. “A consistent, principled, just approach to our legitimate national defense, advocated clearly and forthrightly without misunderstanding, is the best way to have security in this dangerous world.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/15/sen-jeff-sessions-backs-donald-trump-russia-policy/88796584/

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20161115103421/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/15/sen-jeff-sessions-backs-donald-trump-russia-policy/88796584/
___________________________________________________

2014

Sen. Dan Coats banned from entering Russia as retaliation for sanctions

Maureen Groppe and Aamer Madhani, Star Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON – Sen. Dan Coats’ efforts to punish Russia because of Moscow’s move to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine has gotten him banned from the country.

“While I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to go on vacation with my family in Siberia this summer, I am honored to be on this list,” the Indiana Republican said after Russia’s announcement Thursday. ...”

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/20/sen-coats-banned-entering-russia-retaliation-sanctions/6661473/
__________________________________

"President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats to serve as National Intelligence Director"

"Dan Coats of Indiana has served on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees."

[RitchieAprile]

>A commercial plane flies over an active war zone
Unclear since this was not a declared conflict and the
place was clearly a commercial jet. Some muzhik did not push the button without a firm goahead from somewhere and the launcher was provided by Russia, so a reasonable observer would conclude that Vlad was OK with the shootdown.
I didn’t hear any regrets from that quarter either afterwards.

> Putin didn’t order an airliner to be shot down.
You know this how?

> Turkey shot down a Russian military plane
Which was violating its sovereign airspace.

[Thunder90]

Putin is,not a good guy and he is helping Iran.

[Alas Babylon!]

Wait your turn in line, Russian Government!

O’Reilly owes all each one of us Fox News viewers here an apology for his bloviating all these years!

THEN he can get to you!

[ETL]

Are you serious, the court finds that something “probably” happened and you use that as evidence that Putin absolutely did it? By the way, who was Representing Putin in this mock trial?

It was proven that the FSB was behind the assassination. Are you serious in thinking that Putin wouldn't have known about the plot?

[ConservativeMind]

So, you have proof Putin killed someone?

[wiseprince]

Proven how? Who was taking the opposite opinion in the trial? I.e, if you have a plaintiff then you MUST have a defendant. I doubt the FSB was even represented. No, one more than likely happened is the British intelligence sought out to prove something and wouldn’t take no as an answer to proving it. Sorry, I don’t buy this garbage. Do you think the same system would find that British and European “intelligence” had any roll to play in the overthrow of the Ukrainian government prior to this latest conflict? Would they find that outsiders supported the “Orange Revolution” back in about 2004. I wouldn’t take Russia’s word alone on what American Actions are in Russia and neighboring nation states and I will not take British or U.S intelligence as gospel vise a vie Russia either. There are entities in the country that are in full Revolt against a duly elected President and you expect me to believe these types of people? My eyes are wide open as to what is going on in the world and The Brits and the West do not have clean hands. Forgive me for not taking their proclamations as the absolute truth.