Free Republic

Andrei Nikiforov, a lawyer from St Petersburg, was one of the hundreds of thousands of Russians mobilised since last month to hold the frontlines in his country’s faltering war in Ukraine. On 25 September he received his call-up papers. By 7 October, just two weeks later, he was dead. “We don’t know what happened,” said Alexander Zelensky, the head of the Nevsky Collegium of Lawyers, of which Nikiforov was a member. Zelensky and a member of Nikiforov’s family confirmed his call-up and death. “All we have is a date and a place.” That place was Lysychansk, one of the most...

Russian troops shot and killed an orchestra conductor who refused to perform at a concert Russia allegedly staged in the occupied southern region of Kherson, according to Ukrainian officials. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine said in a Facebook post that it confirmed Friday that Russian soldiers shot Yuri Kerpatenko in his own home. Kerpatenko, the main conductor of the Gileya Chamber Orchestra, refused a Russian invitation to perform a concert with the orchestra group “to demonstrate the so-called ‘improvement of peaceful life’ in Kherson,” according to the ministry. The late conductor was also affiliated with the...

Russian Guards unit in major revolt as Putin faces catastrophic collapse in army morale Members of the brigade published a video to social media on October 13, in which they complained about suffering from fatigue and a lack of vital military hardware. consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Vladimir Putin is facing another military revolt, after an army guards unit publicly complained about a lack of critical military equipment and of suffering from exhaustion. The 126th Coastal Defence Brigade is believed to be currently on military duties in the Kherson region. The area has seen intense fighting...

The Russian military continues to lose ground in Kherson. Damage to the Crimean Bridge turns out to be more extensive than initially reported. Russia is also getting very creative and desperate to find Russian men to mobilize, including lawyers and musicians.

Russian premier Vladimir Putin is known as a brutishly dictatorial politician. But that's not all he's known for. He's also a consummate lady's man, and a lover of Russian cars. Now, his two passions have crossed paths in Moscow, where a group of nubile young Putin supporters called 'Putin's Army' took to the streets, offering free car washes to drivers of domestic wheels. Plenty of Volgas and Ladas stopped along the way, and Russia's English-language RT news channel has the report. The only thing more entertaining than the bikini-clad girls soaping up the cars is the stilted debate that followed...