Free Republic

The last time the Russian "Doomsday Plane" was seen in the air doing its trademark loops at 27,000 feet telegraphing Vladimir Putin was somewhere nearby, was on March 31, just days after the formerly Ukrainian region was annexed by the Kremlin. Until today, when over the past 4 hours, the Tu-214 has been quietly circling in position just shy of Finland and the Baltics, where as it is known, NATO has been depositing hundreds of western soldiers in a "defensive" build up.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been unable to get Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the phone amid escalating tension near the country’s shared border with Ukraine. Mr. Shoigu announced Thursday that Russia planned to engage in a new series of military exercises near the Ukraine border. The military move, he said, is in response to ongoing NATO training exercises in Poland and the death of at least two pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Friday that Mr. Hagel has been trying to communicate with Russian officials but has yet to hear...

A recording proving that Russia is backing separatists in eastern Ukraine has surfaced online. The SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) taped the operatives, whose code names are "Nose," "Adler," "Shooter" and "Agath," discussing strategy, weapon stockpiles, and requests for reinforcements. The SBU has identified the number calling the separatists in Ukraine as having a Russian +7 area code.

GOOGLE TRANSLATION: Acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov said that the National Security Council has commissioned a large-scale counter-terrorist operations with involvement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "We did everything to avoid casualties. But we are prepared to resist all attempts of invasion, destabilization and terrorist acts in arms" - said Turchinov the TV channel Council. "National Security Council decided to launch a large-scale terrorist operation involving the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We'll repeat of the Crimean scenario in the eastern region" - said Turchinov. "For those who do not shoot our security forces, who lay down their arms...

The glamorous foreign minister of a breakaway region of Moldova is calling on Vladimir Putin to make her country his next conquest in eastern Europe. Few may have heard of Transdniestria, the unofficial and fictitious-sounding statelet whose head of international relations is 36-year-old Nina Shtanski. However, senior Western figures are alarmed that following the annexation of Crimea it is step two in a Kremlin masterplan to redraw the frontiers of Europe. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2587559/Nato-alarm-woman-minister-urges-Putin-invade-country-Military-commander-speaks-concerns-threat-breakaway-region-near-Moldovan-border.html#ixzz2wtZKhnz8 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Pressed by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl to comment on a threat made last night on state TV that Russia is still “the only country in the world capable of turning the U.S.A. into radioactive dust,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dismissively said, “people say crazy things on TV all the time.” See below for the full exchange: JON KARL: And let me ask you just something on — that was on Russian television, state-controlled television, the main state-controlled channel. Dmitry Kiselev, prominent Russian television anchor, posed in front of a mushroom cloud and warned that Russia’s the only country...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday froze the U.S. assets of seven Russian officials, including top advisers to President Vladimir Putin, for their support of Crimea's vote to secede from Ukraine. The sanctions are the most comprehensive since the end of the Cold War. Obama said he was moving to "increase the cost" to Russia, and he warned that more people could face financial punishment.

The Washington Post reported: Russia, news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov took to the Rossiya 1 news channel to put the situation into a broader geopolitical context for views. One part of his explanation, however, has caught a lot of attention: Kiselyov explained to his viewers that Russia is the only country capable of turning the United States into “radioactive ashes.” He then went on to use animated maps to show exactly how Russia would automatically respond with nuclear missiles if command and control were attacked or disabled by a U.S. attack. He also took a swipe at Obama.

At the end of WWII the Russian army raped and pillaged as they pushed the Nazis back into Germany [that barbarian nature that they have - yet are so sensitive about]. One thing that would cause them to pause [halt their knee-jerk barbarism] was being called nekulturny. No matter how uncouth and barbaric a Russian is by nature, they are very sensitive to being called on it. Someone with authority [which leaves out Obama and Kerry] needs to paint Putin as being nekulturny - UNCULTURED! Kerry did exactly this when he said Putin was acting so 19th Century, not like...

Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum within 10 days on the decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has effectively been seized by Russian forces, formally under Moscow's rule came as European Union leaders gathered for an emergency summit to seek ways to pressure Russia to back down and accept mediation. The Crimean parliament voted unanimously "to enter into the Russian Federation with the rights of a subject of...

Apparently the Russian solider who is seen threatening to shoot unarmed Ukraine forces because he is following his orders was not told today Russian president Vladimir Putin denied sending troops inside the Ukraine...

Russian military servicemen have taken weapons from a radar base and naval training facility in Ukraine's Crimea region and urged personnel to side with the peninsula's "legitimate" leaders, Interfax news agency said on Sunday. It quoted a Ukrainian Defense Ministry source as saying the Russian servicemen had taken pistols, rifles and ammunition cartridges from the radar post near in the town of Sudak and taken them away by car. Another group of Russian military had also removed weapons from a Ukrainian navy training centre in the port city of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet also has a base.

Ukrainians in the Bay Area are watching with worry as the Russian military enters their country. Many are concerned about loved ones as an already deadly conflict over democracy appears to be escalating. Jean Elle reports. Ukrainians in the Bay Area are watching with worry as the Russian military enters their country. Many are concerned about loved ones as an already deadly conflict over democracy appears to be escalating. Obama to Russia: "There Will Be Costs" for Ukraine Intervention Nick Bilogorskiy is a Bay Area resident concerned with the developments in Ukraine. He said his father is in a politically...

Everyone is curious who those unmarked men in unforms that have been seen in youtube clips from the Crimea are. Courtesy of Russian blogger Lev Shlosberg who writes for the newspaper Pskovskaya Guberniya, we now have an answer: according to him they are the officers of the 76th Chernihov (Pskov) Storm Troops Division and have slowly dispersed across key choke points in Ukraine.From his post, translated by Interpretermag.com According to one of the participants in the operation, officers and contractors of the 76th Shock Troops Division have been re-locating to Ukrainian territory since last week. By early this week, there...

Armed men have seized the government buildings in the capital of the Ukraine’s Crimea region and hoisted a Russian flag over a barricade. The men occupying the parliament building in the regional capital, Simferopol, early on Thursday did not come out to voice any demands. They wore black and orange ribbons, a Russian symbol of the victory in World War II. The men also put up a sign saying “Crimea is Russia.” They threw a flash grenade in response to a journalist’s questions. Phone calls to region’s legislature rang unanswered, and its website was down.

TECHNOLOGY 7887 kHz, Your Home for Classic Cuban Espionage Radio The shortwave radio signals that the alleged Russian spies were using are still surprisingly effective. By Brett Sokol Posted Tuesday, July 6, 2010, at 1:53 PM ET The FBI documents that accompanied last week's arrest of 10 alleged Russian spies are alternately creepy—who knew the Tribeca Barnes & Noble was a hotbed of espionage?—and comical—turns out even foreign spies wanted to cash in on suburban New Jersey's real estate boom. With a nod to Boris and Natasha, the accused are also said to have used short-wave radio, a 1920s-era technology...

St. Petersburg, February 14, Interfax - An Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity located at the Russian Antarctic station Bellingshausen will be sanctified on Friday, the press service for the Research Institute for the Arctic and Antarctic has reported. The church turns 10 on February 14, the press service reported. The polar explorers from the Russian Antarctic expedition suggested the creation of an Orthodox chapel back in the late 1990s. That offer was upheld and an Orthodox church was build at the station. The construction of the church began in fall 2001 in Altai. The main materials used in its...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire in a cathedral on the Russian island of Sakhalin, off the country's eastern coast, on Sunday, killing a nun and a churchgoer and wounding six other people, state-run news agency RIA reported.

U.S. intelligence agencies last week urged the Obama administration to check its new healthcare network for malicious software after learning that developers linked to the Belarus government helped produce the website, raising fresh concerns that private data posted by millions of Americans will be compromised. The intelligence agencies notified the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency in charge of the Healthcare.gov network, about their concerns last week. Specifically, officials warned that programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyber attacks, according to U.S....

Russian teen charged with possessing weapon of mass destruction, Pennsylvania authorities say By Todd StarnesPublished January 25, 2014FoxNews.com UNDATED: Vladislav Miftakhov, 19, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, authorities in Pennsylvania said. (Altoona Police Department) A teenage Russian national was arrested late Friday on charges of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, police in Altoona, Pa. said. Blair County Prison confirmed to Fox News that Vladislav Miftakhov, 19, is in custody. He is charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, risking a catastrophe, possessing instruments of crime, prohibited offensive weapons, incendiary devices, recklessly endangering...