Free Republic

VLADIMIR Putin rushed through a speech in Moscow's Red Square today to open a diminished parade marking Russia's victory in World War II. Far fewer troops and a solitary rusting tank dating from the war were on display amid tight security after a suspected assassination attempt on the tyrant. -snip- A solitary WWII vintage commemorative T-34 was the only tank that took part and instead of usual show of armoured might, it was followed by just 10 armoured jeeps. The usual flypast over Moscow and other cities was cancelled again, after a lack of trained pilots grounded it last year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the new commander of the Russian military forces in Ukraine a March deadline to seize control of the Donbas region, according to a Ukrainian intelligence spokesman. Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, told Ukraine's Freedom TV on Monday that General Valery Gerasimov was ordered to capture the eastern region in Ukraine by March. The news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that Yusov also said during the interview that Putin has set similar deadlines in the past without success. "This is not the first timeframe. It...

Russian-installed occupation officials on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea have rejected social-media reports claiming that civilians were being evacuated from the city of Armyansk, near where the peninsula connects to the mainland. " The situation in the city is stable," wrote Armyansk occupation chief Vasyl Telizhenko, adding that the evacuation reports were "all fake information." Earlier, it was reported that Russian troops had begun digging emplacements in northern Crimea in apparent anticipation of a Ukrainian attack.