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Russia has been forced to issue a humiliating denial of rumours that the wife of the former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad wants a divorce. Rebel forces stormed to victory this month, taking the Syrian capital, Damascus, and forcing President al-Assad to flee to Russia, where he has been personally given sanctuary by his long-time ally, President Vladimir Putin. But after losing his country, rumours ran amok that Assad could also be losing his wife Asma al-Assad, with Turkish and Arabic media reporting the British-born former first lady wanted to come to the UK. Now, in an angry rebuttal from Moscow,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged retaliation after Ukrainian drones struck residential buildings in the city of Kazan in Russia’s Tatarstan region. Putin made the comments via videolink on Sunday while addressing the local leader of Tatarstan in a road-opening ceremony. “Whoever, and however much they try to destroy, they will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do in our country,” Putin said. -snip- Kazan is more than 1,000km (600 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Vladimir Putin has promised ‘further destruction’ of Ukraine after a Russian oil field was destroyed by a ‘massive’ drone strike overnight. Video footage of the strike shows the oil field erupting in an enormous explosion after the drone attack, lighting up the sky with apocalyptic yellow and orange as Russian air defences seek to defend the strategic depot. The Steel Horse facility supplies Vladimir Putin’s armed forces in Ukraine, and links to the Druzhba pipeline which sends Russian oil to Europe.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico held one-on-one talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin late Sunday evening as part of a bid to secure continued access to cheap Russian fossil fuels. Fico's decision to travel to Russia for trade talks will prove controversial among his fellow EU leaders, and defies the bloc's public commitments to end its reliance on Moscow for gas imports. The leftist-populist Slovak politician arrived in the country for what Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov called a "working visit," posed for pictures and shook hands with Putin.

Russian commanders are reportedly refusing to send their troops to join a planned offensive to storm the Dnipro river. Putin's army is building up its forces on the left bank of the Dnipro river, as it prepares to force a crossing. Intelligence reports suggest 2,000 assault troops have been assembled in the Kherson region, along with some 300 speedboats. However, many senior officers believe the planned assault to be a suicidal mission and are reluctant to commit their troops and equipment to the fight, according to the ATESH partisan group. In a post to their Telegram channel, they wrote: "Russian...

Drones have hit high-rise buildings in Kazan, the capital of Russia's republic of Tatarstan, with the attacks causing the city's airport to temporarily suspend flights. The Russian Defense Ministry said the attacks came in three waves between 7:40 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. local time on December 21. The ministry claimed the drones were of Ukrainian origin, while Ukrainian authorities have not issued any comment. The press service of Rustam Minnikhanov, the leader of the autonomous republic of Tatarstan, said in a statement that eight drones attacked the city.

Russian deserters from the Ukraine war were burned alive in Vladimir Putin's infamous "torture jail". Five so-called 'refuseniks' were killed as a fire ripped through the army jail where they were being held in Yakutsk, the world’s coldest city. Reports suggest seven more were injured. The fire broke out at around 2am with seven people admitted to hospital, officials said, although the Russian defence ministry has not said what caused the fire. The notorious facility has been the target of numerous allegations of torture after footage from the grim prison was leaked in May. At the time of the blaze...

Leaked voice recordings have revealed the chilling scale of North Korean losses in Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, with "several hundreds" of troops reportedly killed or wounded on the frontline in Kursk. The audio messages, allegedly intercepted by Ukraine's Security Service, are between a nurse in a Russian hospital and her husband, who is fighting in Kharkiv. During the call, the woman makes reference to hundreds of injured or killed soldiers filling Moscow's hospitals. The woman says: "Yesterday there was a train with about 100 people. Today, 120 others, making 200. How many more are there? God only knows." She...

THIS is the powerful moment a British journalist bravely challenges Vladimir Putin and labels him as a "weaker leader" than Donald Trump. Fearless Keir Simmons launched the rare full-frontal attack on the mad despot at his bizarre annual call-in event with Vlad left red-faced with rage. Simmons was allowed to ask the Russian leader a question at yesterday's marathon conference as he took the opportunity to lambast Putin over his unsuccessful 2024. The top NBC journalist said directly to the tyrant: "Mr President you have failed to reach the objectives of your special military operation. "Large numbers of Russians have...

Russian President Vladimir Putin uses antisemitic rhetoric during his lengthy end-of-year press conference, accusing people including “ethnic Jews” of tearing apart the Russian Orthodox Church. “These people that are attacking the church, they are not atheists,” Putin says, addressing a question posed at the press conference. “They are absolutely faithless people, Godless people. Well, ethnically, many of them are Jews, but you haven’t seen them visit any synagogue.” -snip- The Russian Orthodox Church is widely criticized by international watchdogs for its close relationship with the Russian government. The Council of Europe recently labeled the church a propaganda tool of the...

If I had the opportunity to go back in time, knowing what I know now, I would reconsider the decision regarding the "special operation" in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual press conference, APA's Moscow correspondent reports. that this was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his annual press conference. He emphasized that preparation was needed before launching the "special operation": "But we began the operations without any special preparation.

The tyrant managed to avoid several looming questions on Assad's ouster and the deaths of North Korean troops. A CHILDISH Vladimir Putin has offered out the US to a bizarre "missile duel" involving his Orshenik rockets during his annual strange call-in. The Russian dictator lived up to his typical boastful nature as he rambled on about Donald Trump and even claimed Russia hasn't lost in Syria despite the embarrassing rebel siege on his pal Assad. -snip- The weird address saw Putin try to flex his muscles towards the West as he spoke on his self-proclaimed unbeatable Oreshnik missile. Western scepticism...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday suggested a missile 'duel' with the United States that would show how Russia's new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile could defeat any US missile defense system. Addressing Western skepticism about the Oreshnik, Putin suggested that both sides select a designated target to be protected by US missiles. "We're ready for such an experiment," Putin said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to provide a specific timeline for when Ukrainian forces might be expelled from Russia's Kursk region during a news conference on Thursday, in response to a question from a resident who asked for clarity on the situation in the border area. Putin responded by saying: "I cannot and do not even want to name a specific date when they will be knocked out. There is a battle going on now, such serious battles. We will definitely knock them out. Sorry, I cannot name a specific date. I imagine there are plans, and they will be...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on U.S. President Joe Biden pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, APA's Moscow correspondent reports. During a year-end press conference, Putin said he does not criticize Biden for pardoning his son. "Biden pardoned his son, even though he had said he wouldn't. When discussing Biden, one must consider that he is a politician. The important question is which trait of his dominates—politics or humanity. It seems humanity prevails in Biden. I wouldn’t criticize him for that," the Russian leader emphasized. Putin compared Hunter Biden's pardon to Stalin's decision not to exchange his captured son.

Vladimir Putin bizarrely suggested that Russian eating habits were to blame for rising food prices. His comments came in response to questions about the economy during a marathon press conference broadcast live on state TV. -snip- In an attempt to answer his own question about how to address food inflation, he noted that consumption of some goods had risen beyond supplies. As an example he pointed to meat consumption, saying Russians were eating "significantly" more than the global average. -snip- Putin also appeared to target Russian farmers, blaming a lack of milk production for rising butter costs. -snip- Russia's central...

Russia has developed an mRNA-based vaccine aimed at combating cancer. The vaccine, developed in collaboration with multiple research centres, is set to be distributed free of cost to cancer patients, as announced by Andrey Kaprin, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center under the Russian Ministry of Health. This vaccine is expected to be released for public use by early 2025. Pre-clinical trials have already demonstrated its efficacy in suppressing tumour development and preventing potential metastases, according to Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. mRNA vaccines work by delivering specific instructions to...

An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has implied that Moscow cannot push Ukraine out of Kursk by the end of the year, despite Putin previously setting a deadline to kick them out by October. Russia's Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, said that all the tasks set by the country's leadership for the military in 2024 have been completed, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. He was speaking during a briefing for the military. As Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk, it is possible that driving them out was not a...

Zelensky defiantly stood his ground in Kyiv as Russia invaded - despite reports that Russia would claim it in days. UKRAINE drafted a secret plan to move its government to London before tyrant Vladimir Putin invaded in February 2022. But when Russian forces launched their illegal assault Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky famously refused Western pleas to seek safe haven. "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride," he told the US, according to the Ukrainian embassy in Britain. The embassy said Ukrainians were "proud of their President" as he stood strong in the face of danger when Putin...

Russia will launch the serial production of its new powerful Oreshnik missiles in the "near future," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday. "In the near future, serial production of such systems should be ensured to protect the security of Russia and our allies," said Putin in a speech at the Russian Defense Ministry's final board meeting of the year on Monday, which was publicly broadcast. -snip- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said last week that he had asked Putin to provide him with the new missiles, and Russia agreed to supply Oreshniks "for free."