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Ukraine said on Monday that it downed two Russian military command aircraft over the Sea of Asov, saying it had carried out a 'successful' mission against Moscow's forces. Officials said the country's air force took out an A-50 radar-detection plane worth £260 million, as well as an IL-22 aerial command plane, as they flew over the Sea of Azov on Sunday. The Sea of Azov lies between Russia and Ukraine, but Moscow controls its entire coast after seizing large swathes of southeastern Ukraine during its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. 'Minus an enemy long-range radar detection aircraft, A-50,...

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...

In Siberia's Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city, a major hot-water main burst, sending cascades of steaming water rushing through frozen streets and cutting off heating to scores of buildings -- and thousands of people -- amid Arctic temperatures. In the Pacific port of Vladivostok, some 3,000 people were left in the bitter cold after an above-ground heating pipeline ruptured, spewing similar volumes of steaming water. And nine hours to the west, in a string of Moscow suburbs, more than 150,000 people shivered -- and complained vociferously -- when another municipal heating pipe broke down, with engineers rushing to dig up the...

A giant warehouse near St Petersburg has gone up in smoke after the Russian workers there set the entire facility ablaze. The action was reportedly taken after Russian police raided the Wildberries warehouse to find people to conscript to fight the war in Ukraine. According to Russian media sources the incident is currently under investigation by the state prosecutor's office. According to APA's Russian bureau, there is currently no available information regarding the number of casualties or injuries caused by the fire. The fire took hold of the 50 thousand square metre site and required hundreds of firefighters to bring...

Russia's egg shortage is being exacerbated by bird flu-riddled imports from Turkey, one of the country's biggest trading partners and a NATO member, according to a recent report citing a Russian government official. More than one-fifth of the eggs imported from Turkey were found to be infected with the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza, as well as other dangerous ailments including salmonella and botulism, Russian authorities warned. -snip- Russia's attempt to pivot to Turkey for emergency egg supplies in January now appears to have backfired, as the delivery of the first batch of Turkish eggs was promptly followed by reports...

The Russian government is taking urgent measures to stabilise the situation in the local egg market where prices have soared more than 40% this year. Egg farmers claim that the industry is in “a perfect storm”. -snip- Russia’s federal veterinary watchdog Rosselhoznadzor recently greenlighted egg imports from Turkey. This country, alongside Azerbaijan, is expected to help Russia to fill the gap in the egg market, the agricultural ministry commented. The price hike has happened due to a perfect storm in the Russian egg industry, Leonid Kkolod, an independent agricultural analyst, told the local press. Over the past 2 years, Russian...

Russia's egg crisis spiraled out of control this week after an attempt was made on the life of the head of a poultry farm in the Voronezh region, with prices for the staple food item continuing to climb. Gennady Shiryaev, the 59-year-old head of the Tretyakov Poultry Farm, the largest in the western Voronezh region, was driving home when an unknown person fired two shots at his car. Shiryaev told Russian news outlet Kommersant that he wasn't injured in the assassination attempt. "There were two shots, it didn't hit me," Shiryaev said. Russia has seen an unprecedented surge in egg...

ROCHESTER , Minn.- A U.S. woman said she was lucky to make her flight on time when security at a German airport mistook a Faberge egg in her luggage for a grenade. Mary McNab of Rochester, Minn., said she was trying to make a connecting flight from a Frankfort airport on her way home from a trip to Moscow with a $70 souvenir Faberge egg she had purchased from a Kremlin gift shop Saturday when staff at the airport's X-ray machine appeared to become suspicious, MinnPost.com reported Wednesday. "My rolling carry-on bag went through the X-ray scanner, and they kept...

LONDON — A rare enamel-and-gold Faberge egg that had been in the Rothschild banking family for more than a century is expected to fetch millions at auction Wednesday. Bids for the pink egg topped with a diamond-studded cockerel could go as high as $18 million, Christie's predicted as the auction got under way in London. That price would break the record for Russian artwork: $9.6 million paid for a Faberge egg in New York in April 2002. Russian Czar Alexander III commissioned the first of the elaborate eggs from craftsman Peter Carl Faberge as an Easter gift for his wife,...

Leading jewellery experts are not so convinced, but refuse to say so publiclyMOSCOW. A group of Russian collectors thought to include some of Russia’s richest oil barons is claiming to own two Fabergé Easter eggs made for the Tsar. The eggs in question are currently on display in Moscow at the Museum of the History and Reconstruction of Moscow near Red Square. Fabergé experts are not convinced by the objects’ supposed imperial provenance. The exhibition, held under the patronage of President Putin, includes works from Gokhran, the State depository of precious metals and gemstones, the Russian State Archives, and the...

John Kerry's Fellow TravellersA 5--part series exposing John Kerry's Communist connections.Part 5: John Kerry vs. the War on Terror: Candidate Kerry's Subversive CampaignBy Fedora *NOTE: The term “fellow traveller" as used in this article series refers to someone who is not a member of the Communist Party (CP) but regularly engages in actions which advance the Party's program. Some apparent fellow travellers may actually be “concealed party members": members of the CP who conceal their membership. Which of these classifications is applicable to the Kerrys is a question this series leaves unresolved. This series does not argue for any direct...