Free Republic

Europe is facing a transformational moment in history as it battles for its future. Russia’s actions in recent weeks, but especially the past days, should be a final wake-up call to those who value the rule of law and freedom. Russia has manipulated the balance of power shift to its benefit. The consequences of Russia’s belligerence in Ukraine will, unfortunately, be even higher energy prices for Americans, and greater energy insecurity in Europe. American leadership must right the ship before it’s too late. Europe is no stranger to President Putin’s use of energy as a weapon. After all, Russia has...

A raid by Russian Orthodox vigilantes on "blasphemous" artworks in central Moscow has highlighted the influence of traditional, ultra-conservative values in President Vladimir Putin's Russia. The Orthodox Church has long had close links to the Kremlin. And during Russia's stand-off with the West over Ukraine that relationship has only grown stronger. On 14 August a radical group called God's Will raided an exhibition of Soviet-era underground art at the Manezh hall, near the Kremlin. They especially objected to avant-garde depictions of Jesus Christ and Orthodox saints - a video posted online showed them throwing exhibits onto the floor and shouting...

According to a tweet from the meeting in St Petersburg, Mr Atambayev said that Mr Putin "just took me for a little drive - he was at the wheel - nearby here, and I can confirm that he's in excellent form". The Russian TV news channel Rossiya 24 also showed some brief footage of Mr Putin at the meeting, without sound. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov - quoted in a Russian journalist's tweet - said St Petersburg was chosen as a convenient venue for Mr Atambayev, whose daughter is studying there. Mr Peskov was also quoted as saying the "little drive"...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been seen in public for nearly two weeks and the internet has responded to his vanishing act in the only way it knows how: memes.

ASTANA, March 16. /TASS/. The presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus will meet in Astana on March 20, a spokesman for the Kazakh leader said on Monday. The spokesman said Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko had already confirmed they would attend the meeting. "The heads of state will discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation," the spokesman said adding that they would also focus on global economic issues and the Ukrainian crisis.

Crimea's [Head Of Republic] But Mr Aksyonov denied that Russia had done anything wrong. Sergei Aksyonov said the annexation of the peninsula by Russia one year ago had been a "democratic act". "I can tell you that no-one took anything," he told the BBC's John Simpson. "That was the choice of the Crimeans. Nothing could happen without the support of the local population which is why this was not an act of aggression, but a real democratic act. "This is the main mistake and misunderstanding of Western leaders. People are misinformed by the media which is failing to give an...

The Russian and Serbian leaders watched as jets, including a Russian aerobatic team, flew in formation over Belgrade to applause from the crowd. More than 3,000 Serbian soldiers took part in the parade, marching in heavy rain, with tanks, rockets and boats all featuring.... The event is likely to play well among Serbs and Russians nostalgic for Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. In another nod to the two countries' historic relations, a statue of Russia's last Tsar, Nicholas II, was erected this week in Belgrade.

MOSCOW, September 15. /ITAR-TASS/. The results of Sunday’s regional election in Russia prove that the presidential approval rating in the country is high, the head of the Institute for Social, Economic and Political Studies said Monday. “The results of the election are a projection of the approval rating for the country’s president and the course that he has taken,” Dmitry Badovsky said at the Regions of Russia media forum. The outcome of the vote could have been forecast already in March when an opinion poll on Crimea’s reunification with Russia showed that over 90% of Russians across the country supported...

President Putin has called for talks to discuss "statehood" for eastern Ukraine, Russian media report. He said the issue needed to be discussed to ensure the interests of local people "are definitely upheld". His comments came after the EU gave Russian a one-week ultimatum to reverse course in Ukraine or face sanctions.

OSCOW, May 12, /ITAR-TASS/. RF President Vladimir Putin will formulate his attitude to the referenda, held on Sunday, on the status of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, "on the strength of their results", presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper Kommersant. What the RF President's decision will be "is difficult to forecast", Peskov added. Asked by the newspaper whether Putin's attitude would be influenced by the fact that he himself had asked the federalization supporters to postpone the referendum until a later date, the presidential press secretary pointed out as follows: "Not asked but made such a recommendation". "However,...

MOSCOW, April 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on rehabilitation of Crimean Tatars and other nationalities of Crimea, who were victims of Stalin-era repressions. “Taking advantage of an opportunity, I would like to inform colleagues that I have signed a decree on rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars, the Armenian population, Germans, Greeks - all those who suffered from Stalin’s repressions,” Putin said. Other Crimean ethnic groups repressed by Stalin would also be rehabilitated, he said, listing Armenians, Germans and Greeks among them in a move reaching out to some 250,000 mainly Sunnite Tatars in a modern...

SIMFEROPOL, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. The candidacy of Prime Minister of the Russian Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov will be offered to Russian President Vladimir Putin for appointment as acting head of the republic, Speaker of the Crimean State Council, a local parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov told reporters in the Crimean capital city on Friday.

MOSCOW, March 29, /ITAR-TASS/. In a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Barack Obama Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the continuing rampage by extremists in Ukraine, who are committing acts of intimidation against civilians, bodies of power, and law enforcers in different parts of Ukraine and in Kiev and do so with impunity, the Kremlin’s press-service has said. In this context the Russian leader suggested considering likely steps by the international community to help stabilize the situation in Ukraine. It was agreed that Russian and US foreign ministers would discuss specific parameters of such joint work in the...

MOSCOW, March 28. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a proposal to the State Duma on terminating the legal effect of a number of Russian-Ukrainian agreements on the parameters of division of the Black Sea Fleet that were signed on May 28, 1997, as well as on the status and conditions of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s deployment on the territory of Ukraine, on reciprocal payments in connection with the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s deployment in Ukraine, and on the stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine (the latter agreement signed April 21, 2010). A report on...

Nina Moreyeva, a Moscow resident who lives on a pension, doesn't agree with the widespread perception in the West that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been too muscular in his actions in Ukraine. Quite the opposite. She believes Russia had the right to annex the Ukrainian territory of Crimea – even if it meant going to war with Kiev. "Crimea is deep in our history," she says. "I have never accepted that it was given to Ukraine" by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. Nor is she worried about the West imposing sanctions. "Russia shouldn't be under anyone's thumb,"...

One of the strategically interesting things about Vladimir Putin is that he has been careful not to set himself against religious belief but attempted to align himself with it. He has taken domestic actions that he believes reflect the assumptions of religious conservatives. He has positioned himself so that he can make a claim on a part of the Russian soul, as they used to say, that his forbears could not: He is not anti-God, he is pro-God, pro the old church of the older, great Russia. ... At the top, religious references. Crimea is "where Prince Vladimir was baptized....

MOSCOW, March 26. /ITAR-TASS/. The level of Russian electoral support to incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached the figures of the country’s presidential elections in 2004 for the first time, the presidential rating peak is caused by his responsible actions in view of current crisis in Ukraine, political experts told Itar-Tass in comments on the Public Opinion Fund (FOM) survey results made public on Wednesday. The FOM sociological survey conducted on March 23 showed that 64% of Russians would vote for Putin, if presidential elections were held next Sunday. Sociologists polled three thousand respondents in 64 Russian constituent entities....

MOSCOW, March 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to open an account in Russian bank Rossiya which came under US sanctions. Putin has made a statement at a meeting of the Russian Security Council after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s report on introduction of US sanctions against Russia. “As far as I understand, this is a middle-size bank,” Putin noted. “I do not have an account there, but I will compulsorily open an account there on Monday,” he pledged. Putin also took with humour imposing of sanctions against concrete Russian citizens, state officials, some of which participated in the...

MOSCOW, March 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian bank Rossiya ('Russia') that came under Western sanctions is not related to events in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Friday. He instructed the Central Bank of Russia to give all necessary aid to this bank. Sanctions against bank Rossiya The US added to the black list another 20 Russian officials on 20 March. In addition, the USA included in the list the only legal entity – bank ‘Russia’ controlled by Yury Kovalchuk, arresting US-based assets of this crediting organization. On Friday, international payment systems Visa and MasterCard suddenly stopped service of cards...

MOSCOW, March 19, /ITAR-TASS/. 60% of respondents would vote for President Vladimir Putin if elections were held on the nearest Sunday, according to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on March 16. Three thousand respondents in 204 towns in 64 Russian regions took part in the poll. The margin of error was 3.3 percent. Analysts say that the results of the poll indicate that Putin’s electoral rating remains stable and exceeds that before the presidential elections in 2012. Putin’s rating increased by 7 percent in the last week and by 15 percent in the last month. Political scientists...