Free Republic

United States President Donald Trump has expressed his frustration with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as he believes the latter is "slow-rolling comprehensive ceasefire talks," Fox News reported on Tuesday, citing sources. According to the sources, due to such behavior, the Trump administration is mulling "aggressive" sanctions enforcement that would affect Russia's "shadow fleet," among other things. The sources explained that the sanctions enforcement is currently "low," more specifically "level 3 out of 10." The sources went on to say that some 70% of Russia's illegal oil sales are done with the use of the "shadow fleet."

The United States is ready to go "all in" on sanctions against Russia, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared, signaling the administration's readiness to impose even harsher measures to pressure Moscow into peace negotiations. -snip- Bessent was critical of former US President Joe Biden's sanctions approach, describing them as "egregiously weak," particularly when it came to Russian energy. He argued that the weakness in these sanctions allowed Russia's military operations to continue, largely because of concerns about rising energy prices in the US. "A major factor that has enabled the Russian war machine's continued financing was the Biden administration's egregiously...

Russia cannot accept U.S. proposals to end the war in Ukraine in their current form because they do not address problems Moscow regards as having caused the conflict, a senior Russian diplomat said, suggesting U.S.-Russia talks on the subject had stalled. The comments by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggest Moscow and Washington have so far been unable to bridge differences which President Vladimir Putin raised more than two weeks ago when he said U.S. proposals needed reworking. -snip- "We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can't accept it all in its current...

Russia has issued a stark warning over US threats to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, saying such an attack could have 'catastrophic' consequences for the region. -snip- 'If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing,' Trump declared. 'It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.' Moscow, which has been strengthening ties with Iran, condemned Trump's threats. 'Threats are indeed being heard, ultimatums are also being heard,' Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Russian journal 'International Affairs' in an interview, extracts of which were published on Tuesday. 'We consider such methods inappropriate, we condemn...

IRAN'S twisted generals have demanded an "immediate" strike on a US military base in response to Donald Trump's continued threats to bomb the region. The US president's B-2 stealth bomber strike force has already starting massing on the island of Diego Garcia with his team now aimed directly at Iran. Trump warned Iran on Sunday that there would be “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” if Iran continues to rejects his nuclear weapons proposal. The president set a deadline to the Ayatollah to come to the table to discuss the complete disarmament of all nuclear weapons....

Russia has ordered the largest increase in conscription since the Ukraine war began as a further 160,000 servicemen are called up to the frontline. The planned draft size has increased from 150,000 in 2024 and 134,500 in 2022, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia to boost the size of its army to 1.5 million active servicemen - an increase of some 180,000 troops over three years.

Russia has warned that strikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure would have "catastrophic" consequences, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran unless it came to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program. "Threats are indeed being heard, ultimatums are also being heard," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Russian journal "International Affairs" in an interview, extracts of which were published on Tuesday. "We consider such methods inappropriate, we condemn them, we consider them a way for (the U.S.) to impose its own will on the Iranian side."