Free Republic

The official website of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia had announced that it will be putting forward a motion in the Russian State Duma to relieve Ilya Ponomarev of his duties as an MP. Ponomarev became the only lawmaker out of 446 who voted against ratification of the treaty annexing Crimea. "On April 7th, the faction will introduce a motion before the State Duma to recognize that Ilya Ponomarev had lost the authority of a deputy, because he opposed the interests of the state, blindly obeying the Nazis who want to split the country " – was said in...

When Russia seized Crimea in March, it acquired not just the Crimean landmass but also a maritime zone more than three times its size with the rights to underwater resources potentially worth trillions of dollars. Russia portrayed the takeover as reclamation of its rightful territory, drawing no attention to the oil and gas rush that had recently been heating up in the Black Sea. But the move also extended Russia’s maritime boundaries, quietly giving Russia dominion over vast oil and gas reserves while dealing a crippling blow to Ukraine’s hopes for energy independence. Russia did so under an international accord...

In the northwestern Turkish town of Mudurnu, a peculiar and ghostly sight awaits those who venture a few kilometers south...Imagine stumbling upon a town of hundreds of Disney-inspired mini-palaces, complete with turrets and over-the-top glamorous towers. Burj Al Babas was intended to be a luxurious urban development, boasting 732 French-inspired châteaus.However, economic challenges halted construction at 583 homes, leaving the landscape dotted with abandoned castles that were supposed to redefine opulence in the Middle East...Sarot Group, the ambitious project developer, envisioned a community where Mediterranean climate and European aesthetics converged nestled in a massive valley at the base of Turkey’s...

During the Roman period, Apsaros was an important port and garrison on the Colchis coast—a term that refers to a historical region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, roughly corresponding to what is now western Georgia—Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski said. Apsaros, constructed around 2,000 years ago, was of particular importance in the time of the Roman emperors Trajan (who ruled from A.D. 98-117) and Hadrian (who ruled from A.D. 117-138).The votive plaque found during the 2024 excavation season at the site, which ran from mid-May to the end of July, is essentially a thin gold plate. It features a Greek inscription...

VLADIMIR Putin has mysteriously demolished one of his most beloved palaces amid claims the paranoid tyrant is scared of being targeted by a Ukrainian drone. Satellite images show how Putin's pricey Bocharov Ruchey palace which overlooks the Black Sea in Sochi has been bulldozed with just a patch of empty land left behind. An investigation by the Russian opposition news site Proekt has revealed that the palace may have torn down because Vlad is “truly afraid” of being killed in a kamikaze drone strike. It is believed it was decimated by the dictator back in February or March of this...

A Russian Su-30SM fighter jet crashed into the Black Sea on the night of September 10 near Sevastopol during a strike operation targeting Ukraine. The aircraft, which took off from the Saki airbase in Novofedorivka, disappeared from radar after launching four of its six missiles at maritime targets, according to initial reports. Sources suggest that the fighter jet may have been shot down by a man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) fired from a boat in the Black Sea. Although the exact cause of the crash has not been confirmed, reports from the area point to a possible MANPADS strike. According...

An expert team of maritime archeologists and scientists uses state-of-the-art technology to search for ancient shipwrecks and evidence of prehistoric human activity in the deep Black sea. Equipped with advanced sonar, laser technology, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the team investigates the Black Sea, reaching depths up to 2,000 meters. The Black Sea, once a prehistoric lake, is believed to hold shipwrecks and artifacts from ancient civilizations, including the Greek and Ottoman Empires. The unique anoxic conditions below 150 meters preserve these underwater treasures, offering unique insights into human history and early seafaring.The Hunt For Ancient Shipwrecks In The Mysterious...

Two U.S. Air Force long-range bombers that had a close encounter over the weekend with Russian fighters over the Barents Sea landed at an allied base near the Black Sea hours later, according to the service. The arrival of the B-52H Stratofortress bombers at Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base on Sunday marks the first time U.S. strategic bombers have operated from the installation, U.S. Air Forces Europe and Africa said the same day. The base, known as MK to forces deployed there, serves as the main operational hub for the U.S. military in the Black Sea region. It is undergoing...

Strikes on Russian oil refineries have a significant impact on Russia’s ability to conduct warfare. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, Commander of U.S. Forces Europe in 2014-17, stated this during the 16th annual Kyiv Security Forum. “Of course, attacks on oil refineries have a significant impact. Russia is less able to pay for this war, and it also deprives it of the necessary fuel to continue hostilities. I would recommend ignoring the calls for an end to such attacks.” The Lieutenant General emphasized that sanctions against Russia need to be strengthened. He also added that 2024 will be the year of...

Ukraine said Tuesday it had sunk a Russian patrol ship off the coast of occupied Crimea, claiming another victory over the Kremlin's forces in the hotly contested waters of the Black Sea. Moscow did not confirm the claim, which would represent the latest blow to its naval power as Kyiv strikes targets deep behind the war's front lines, even as its army suffers setbacks on the battlefield. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that it had used high-tech sea drones in an overnight attack on the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, which separates the annexed peninsula’s eastern...

The Kremlin has fired the commander of its Black Sea Fleet as punishment for a series of humiliating losses to Ukraine, according to Russian war bloggers. The bloggers said that Admiral Viktor Sokolov was replaced by chief of staff Vice Admiral Sergey Pinchuk after Ukraine sank the Russian warship Caesar Kunikov with a sea drone last week. It was the latest in a series of victories for Ukraine, which has a tiny navy, against Russia's much bigger Black Sea fleet. "It seems that it had become impossible to ignore the latest heavy losses of the fleet," the War Informant channel...

What have I done to be placed on the sanctions list of the Russian Foreign Ministry, alongside several distinguished historians of eastern Europe? My normal hunting ground (not the right word for a maritime historian) is the Mediterranean and the oceans beyond. But maybe Russia’s mandarins know that I am now writing about the Black Sea. Since the reign of Peter the Great in the 18th century, Russia has seen the Black Sea as a vital gateway to the wider world. The Ottoman sultans blocked Russian attempts to reach warmer waters via Istanbul. Russian ships bound for intended conquests had...

Ukraine's successful suppression of the Russian Black Sea fleet has resulted in Kyiv's grain exports rising to their highest levels since the invasion by Moscow began. -snip- Russia's Black Sea fleet flagship Moskva was destroyed by Ukraine in the early days of the war. The losses have continued since then, with British Defence Secretary Grant Shapp saying last month that Russia had lost 20 percent of its Black Sea fleet over the course of four months. Significant recent losses include the December destruction of large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk and last week's revelation that Ukrainian drones sank a Tarantul-class corvette...

A court on Tuesday sentenced a former senior officer in the National Guard to six years in a prison colony after convicting him of buying equipment unable to protect the bridge which links southern Russia to Crimea, the TASS state news agency reported. TASS said that Colonel Sergei Volkov had purchased two radar-based air defence systems for 395 million roubles ($4.5 million) which were meant to be able to bring down Ukrainian attack drones by suppressing their signal. A military court in Moscow had determined that the equipment - which was also meant to protect a gas pipeline running from...

A Ukrainian missile strike hit a Russian warship moored in Crimea early on Tuesday, in what appeared to be one of the most significant attacks against Moscow’s prized Black Sea Fleet in months amid Kyiv’s intensified campaign to target the Russian-occupied peninsula. The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, in the southeastern Crimean port of Feodosia overnight. Russia’s Defense Ministry told the Tass state news agency that the ship had been damaged in an attack using “aircraft-guided missiles,” but did not say whether the vessel had been permanently disabled....

Grain thunders into rail cars and trucks zip around a storage facility in central Ukraine, a place that growing numbers of companies turned to as they struggled to export their food to people facing hunger around the world. Now, more of the grain is getting unloaded from overcrammed silos and heading to ports on the Black Sea, set to traverse a fledgling shipping corridor launched after Russia pulled out of a U.N.-brokered agreement this summer that allowed food to flow safely from Ukraine during the war. “It was tight, but we kept working … we sought how to accept every...

Speaking at the Grain from Ukraine conference in Kyiv on Saturday, Nov. 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that partner countries have committed to transferring warships to Ukraine to enhance the safety of vessels navigating the critical "grain corridor" in the Black Sea. Zelensky hailed the establishment and operation of the "grain corridor" as one of the notable achievements of the year. "We have reached agreements with our partners and will provide sea escorts to ensure the safety of ships," explained President Zelensky during the conference. He emphasized that specific agreements for receiving the warships have already been made, making it...

Ukrainian attack on a shipyard in annexed eastern Crimea last week caused "significant" damage, a Ukrainian military spokesperson has said. Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk made the remarks on national television on Sunday, commenting on the November 4 strike by Ukraine on the Zaliv shipyard, also referred to as Butoma, in Kerch, which reportedly hit Russian cruise-missile carrier Askold. Schemes, a project by U.S.-funded Radio Liberty, published satellite images by California-based global-imaging company Planet Labs that appear to show the aftermath of the strike on the vessel, which is armed with a Kalibr strike missile system. "As for the...

Day 587. Today, we bring you the latest news from the battlefront and discuss Ukraine and the EU. Plus we have a double bill of interviews, from Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Dmytro Natalukha, People’s Deputy of Ukraine from Sluha Narodne, the Servant of the People party.

It was a moment of humiliation for Moscow. The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet – a building of elegant white columns overlooking the Crimean port of Sevastopol – was ablaze. Smoke billowed into a blue sky. First one, and then a second Storm Shadow missile slammed into its roof. Video captured the impact: a precise, deadly, thunderous strike. The attack on 22 September killed 34 officers, including Viktor Sokolov, the fleet’s commander, according to Ukraine. Russia denied this, releasing footage of Sokolov, suggesting he was still alive. Whatever the truth of the admiral’s fate, the blow deep into enemy...