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The boss of the feared Russian Wagner mercenary group has called for the Russian defence minister's son-in-law to be raped or 'given the sledgehammer'. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to have his men bring defence minister Sergei Shoigu's son-in-law Alexey Stolyarov, 33, to him so he could be trained to go and fight in Ukraine. Prigozhin said the fitness influencer could be 'raped' or face the notorious 'sledgehammer' execution that Wagner has used to kill defectors, as the bitter rift between Vladimir Putin's top military cronies spirals out of control. The Wagner chief, like General Shoigu, is a close Putin...

Russians are being offered free food to attend a major Vladimir Putin rally in Moscow on Wednesday, according to reports. The mass rally at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow was announced by the Kremlin earlier this month, and it's being held a day after the Russian president's much delayed state-of-the-nation address in the capital. Putin is expected to make an appearance at the rally, which is set to feature performances from pop stars and rock groups. The Telegram channel of the independent Russian publication Sirena shared images of a Google Forms sheet created by a Russian volunteer organization called Mega...

Vladimir Putin may be upset to discover that his hotly anticipated state-of-the-nation address delivered this morning in central Moscow was not quite as impactful as he would have hoped. Almost one year to the day of his invasion of Ukraine, the despot took to the stage in Moscow before both of Russia's houses of Parliament and a sea of military commanders, where he launched a marathon tirade against the West. He spoke with passion and venom, but even the cream of the Kremlin crop couldn't help but show signs of fatigue as top officials were seen yawning amid their president's...

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner group, on Tuesday accused the Russian defence minister and the chief of the general staff of depriving his fighters of munitions and trying to destroy Wagner - actions he said were equivalent to treason. A onetime catering entrepreneur who once shunned the public spotlight, Prigozhin has assumed an more public role since the start of the war in Ukraine a year ago, with his Wagner Group spearheading Russia's months-long battle for the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region. "There is simply direct opposition going on," Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on...

China is considering giving Russia weapons and ammunition for the Ukraine war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Mr Blinken told CBS News that Chinese companies were already providing "non-lethal support" to Russia - and new information suggested Beijing could provide "lethal support". This escalation would mean "serious consequences" for China, he warned. China has denied reports that Moscow has requested military equipment. Chinese President Xi Jinping is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is yet to condemn Russia's invasion - but he has sought to remain neutral in the conflict and has called for peace....

Ramzan Kadyrov, the ally of President Vladimir Putin who leads Chechnya, said on Sunday that he one day planned to set up his own private military company in the style of Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group of mercenaries. -snip- "We can say confidently that Wagner has shown its mettle in military terms and drawn a line under discussions about whether or not such private military companies are needed," said Kadyrov, who has led the Chechen Republic since 2007. "When my service to the state is completed, I seriously plan to compete with our dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin and create a private...

Vladimir Putin hosted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at his own residence near Moscow for a meeting. However, the Russian leader's odd and fidgeting body language sparked a swirl of speculation about his health. President Putin can be seen uneasily moving his legs throughout the entire duration of the public conversation with President Lukashenko. -snip- Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, tweeted a clip of the moment: "Putin's feet during his meeting with Lukashenko. Is this Morse code?" Tendar, which regularly monitors the conflict in Ukraine, added: "Putin’s continuing problem to control his legs and...

Russia could encircle the war-ravaged city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region by March or April, according to a new assessment by Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, which has been leading an offensive alongside Russian troops against the city since July. In video interviews with Russian media published late on February 15, Prigozhin, who has been sidelined by the Kremlin in recent weeks, appeared to shift expectations on the potential capture of Bakhmut. Prigozhin blasted Russia's "monstrous military bureaucracy" for its failure to seize the city before the end of last year, and warned that Russia should not...

On Friday, the president of the aggressor country Vladimir Putin will meet with illegitimate President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, and the conversation will be profound in nature. Source: Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti and BelTA, Belarusian state-run news agency Quote from Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary of Russian President: "As for the preparations for the meeting between the two presidents, Putin and Lukashenko, tomorrow – yes, I can confirm that such a meeting is being prepared." Details: Peskov states that the meeting will take place in Novo-Ogaryovo, and "the conversation will be thorough." Lukashenko...

The Kremlin will not invite reporters from countries that Russia has deemed “unfriendly” to President Vladimir Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly next week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 15 that only media representing "friendly" countries will be accredited to the February 21 event. -snip- More than 60 countries, including the United States, EU member states, Britain, Canada, and Japan, have been declared "unfriendly" by Russia for imposing or supporting sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian ruble struck its weakest mark since late April on Tuesday, hurt by lower foreign currency revenue inflows from hydrocarbon exports and a continued recovery in imports as companies build new supply chains. -snip- The Russian government has been selling 8.9 billion rubles ($120.8 million) of foreign currency per day to plug a budget deficit that has soared because of lower oil and gas revenues. Expectations for weaker energy revenue were also weighing on the Russian currency after the central bank cut its Urals oil price forecast on Friday. The bank dropped its projected average price for the rest...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West. The remarks from Lukashenko, who has held power in Belarus since 1994, indicate a potential further escalation of the war in Ukraine, possibly with a combined Russian-Belarus joint force in the north of Ukraine. "Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not just being discussed in Ukraine today, but are also being planned," Lukashenko said at a meeting on security, without providing...

Russian troops have been deployed near the border with Georgia today even as the Kremlin tries to stamp out rumours that Putin is about to introduce martial law and ban people from leaving in order to avoid being conscripted into the army. Footage geolocated to the small town of Chmi, on the main highway from Russia into Georgia's South Ossetia region, shows at least six soldiers sitting on top of an armoured vehicle passing a queue of cars in the direction of the crossing. Troops arrived to set up a checkpoint, sources told the Russia's RBC network, with the FSB...

Russia is preparing to hold "sham" referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories within a matter of days or weeks, the US warned on Wednesday. Moscow has instructed officials to begin preparations in areas that have fallen under its control during its war on Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhia, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. The first referenda could be announced as soon as this week's end, he added, noting the US and international community will not view any such elections as legitimate. "We expect Russia to try to manipulate the results of these referenda...

An ailing Vladimir Putin is flailing over his war strategy, torn between using nuclear weapons and accepting defeat and handing back Ukrainian regions invaded by his forces, a Telegram channel claims. Amid fresh concerns over his health, his security officials have bluntly told the warmonger president that he has run out of 'good' options. This comes as the death toll in the Russian armed forces plus separatist fighters and pro-Putin private armies has reached almost 65,000, said General SVR Telegram channel, an opposition source offering 'insider' information which the Kremlin is 'seeking to shut down'. There is 'despondency' among Putin’s...

A police officer in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was killed on Wednesday by an explosive device planted by the Ukrainian "resistance movement" and another one was injured, Ukraine's defence ministry said. The reported killing is the latest in a series of attacks on local officials in regions captured by Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. "The resistance movement clears Kherson of traitors," the ministry's defence intelligence directorate said a statement. The device was set off by radio control on a street just north of the city centre, it said. On Saturday, the directorate urged citizens in the Kherson...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a cabinet meeting on Monday with senior officials, amid concerns about Ukraine's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the United States that Western officials claim hamper Moscow's war efforts. The rocket systems first arrived in Ukraine in June from the U.S and have been seen as crucial to helping Kyiv's forces repel the Russian military. The Russian state-backed TASS news agency reported on Monday that Putin will hold the cabinet meeting via videoconference on Monday, with the main topics being the development of air transport and aircraft manufacturing. Deputy Prime Minister and Trade...

ussian President Vladimir Putin has scheduled an operational meeting with members of the Russian Security Council, as rumors swirl that Russia and Belarus are moving toward a unification process. "On Friday, the president will hold an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council in the middle of the day or in the afternoon—it will depend on other events," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russia's state-run news agency TASS as saying. -snip- Russian political scientist and publicist Andrei Piontkovsky said in an interview with TSN.ua that Putin may, during Friday's meeting, sign a "pact to unite"...

A four-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome has become the latest innocent victim of Putin's war in Ukraine after she was killed in her pram by a Russian cruise missile which also left her mother fighting for life. Liza Dmitrieva was accompanying mother Irina on a day out in the city of Vinnystya - in western Ukraine, hundreds of miles from the nearest frontline - when a Russian Kalibre missile launched from a submarine in the Black Sea crashed down on top of them around 10.50am local time. The pink pram that Liza had been filmed pushing an hour earlier was...

The lower house of the Russian parliament will gather on July 15 for an extraordinary session, its council decided on Monday, just days after President Vladimir Putin warned that he had not even started to get serious in the war in Ukraine. Putin used a meeting with parliamentary leaders on Thursday to dare the United States and its allies to try to defeat Russia in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Parliamentary leaders all thanked Putin for his decisions.