Free Republic

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that South Korea would be making "a big mistake" if it decides to supply arms to Ukraine and that Moscow would respond to such a move in a way that would be painful for Seoul. Putin, who was speaking at a news conference in Vietnam, was reacting to a report from Yonhap news earlier on Thursday which said South Korea would review the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine after Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a mutual defence pact a day earlier. He warned Seoul against moving to supply weapons to...

Putin and Kim bonded during the trip, petting dogs and taking turns driving a Russian-manufactured limousine. Russia has entered into a defensive pact with North Korea that obligates both nations to defend each other from military adversaries "without delay." Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un signed the landmark agreement on Wednesday in a move that has alarmed Western powers. "If one of the two sides is placed under war situations due to an armed invasion from an individual country or several nations, the other side provides military and other assistance without delay by mobilizing...

Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked four deputy defence ministers on Monday and appointed a relative to fill one of the resulting vacancies. The reshuffle marked the latest stage in a radical shakeout which Putin launched in May when he unexpectedly removed his longstanding defence minister Sergei Shoigu. -snip- In the latest changes, Putin sacked deputy defence ministers Nikolai Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, Tatiana Shevtsova and Pavel Popov, according to Kremlin decrees. He appointed Anna Tsivileva, the daughter of his late cousin, as a deputy defence minister whose responsibilities will include improving social and housing support for military personnel. Her husband Sergei...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is readying to go to North Korea on Tuesday for his first trip to the country in 24 years. The Russian leader is set to visit the isolated nation for two days at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, state-run Korean Central News Agency said. The talks are expected to focus on expanding military cooperation between the countries

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made an antisemitic statement Saturday during his government meeting in which he hinted at a connection between Jews and theft. He referred to a corruption case involving his former aide, the governor of the Vitebsk region and former Minister of Agriculture and Food Igor Brylo, as well as dozens of other people. "There are 36 people on the list. Sorry, I don't consider myself antisemitic, but more than half of them are Jewish. Do they have a special, privileged role, that they steal and do not think about their future? Do they have privileges? All peoples...

Vladimir Putin's leading propagandist on Russian state TV has suggested that Moscow should simply blow up the Kyiv dam and flood the Ukrainian capital to deal a killer blow in the war. The shocking tirade comes amid growing frustration in Russia at the slow progress of the country's offensive along the frontline in Ukraine. There is also anger after 90 countries around the world attended a Ukrainian peace summit in Switzerland which did not invite Russia.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine—Moments after the band struck up a song of praise at a Christian church in a Russian-held city near here, Russian soldiers stormed in wearing full tactical gear. One of them wove through the crowd, mounted the stage and told the congregation to prepare their documents for inspection. The service in September 2022 was the last held inside Melitopol’s Church of God’s Grace. The Russian authorities took over the building, adorned it with murals depicting their dead fighters, and converted it into a culture ministry in this part of occupied south Ukraine. The church’s erasure from view is part...

Anton Andreev says only 12 out of 100 soldiers remained alive after unit came under Ukrainian fire and drones in Vovchansk. Anton Andreev, a Russian soldier from the fifth company of the 1009th regiment, painted a bleak picture of Russia’s offensive in the Ukrainian northern region of Kharkiv. His unit had been decimated, he said, with only 12 out of 100 soldiers still alive as they came under constant Ukrainian fire and drones in Vovchansk, a prime target of Russia’s advances. “They just chop us up. We are sent under machine guns, under drones in daylight, like meat. And commanders...

Russian soldiers have been surrendering to an elite Ukrainian combat brigade in the northern town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, reports say. A video released on Wednesday by Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade appears to show Russian troops emerging from a trench with their hands raised above their head or tied behind their backs. The video appeared to confirm recent reports that dozens of Russian soldiers had been surrendering around Vovchansk, where heavy fighting has raged since Moscow launched a cross-border offensive towards Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, last month. -snip- Several of the captured soldiers said they had been forced...

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia's right to develop closer ties with North Korea should not be in doubt or a source of fear for anyone, saying the potential for the two countries' relations was very deep. -snip- "It is our neighbour, it is a friendly country with which we are developing bilateral relations. We will continue to do so in an upward direction," said Peskov. "The potential for the development of our relations is very deep. We believe that our right to develop good relations with our neighbours should not be of concern to anyone and cannot and...

New U.S. sanctions against Russia will shut down trading in dollars and euros on its leading financial marketplace, the Moscow Exchange, the bourse and the central bank said on Wednesday. "Due to the introduction of restrictive measures by the United States against the Moscow Exchange Group, exchange trading and settlements of deliverable instruments in U.S. dollars and euros are suspended," the central bank said. -snip- The bank rushed out a statement, despite a public holiday in Russia, to reassure people that their dollar and euro bank deposits were secure. "Companies and individuals can continue to buy and sell U.S. dollars...

Heralding days of the tense Cold War, particularly the Cuban Missile Crisis, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine of the Yasen-M class, the Kazan, will visit Havana, Cuba has announced. -snip- According to RUSI (Royal United Services Institute), the Kazan was constructed in eight years, less than half the time taken to construct the lead ship of the class, the Severodvinsk. The Kazan’s and Severodvinsk’s “most notable feature” is the capability to launch a range of anti-ship and land attack missiles

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country is an "invincible comrade-in-arms" with Russia in a message to President Vladimir Putin, state media KCNA said on Wednesday, amid speculation over Putin's impending visit to North Korea. Marking Russia's National Day, Kim said his meeting with Putin at a Russian space launch facility last year elevated the ties of their "century-old strategic relationship". The message came after Russia's Vedomosti newspaper on Monday reported Putin would visit North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks. -snip- Kim also lauded Russia for achieving results on its efforts to build a strong...

Gazprom, once Russia's biggest earning company, last year made its largest ever cut in natural gas production as the war in Ukraine continues to affect the majority state-owned energy giant. Until 2023, Gazprom was the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world, but the engine of Russia's economy has paid a high price due to Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, last month posting its first annual loss in a quarter of a century. Adding to the bad news, Gazprom's annual report released Monday said that it had cut natural gas production by 13 percent to an all-time...

News comes as Russia’s Putin plans to visit North Korea in coming weeks. After a four-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, passenger rail service between Russia and North Korea has been restored, with 41 Russian tourists taking the train to North Korea last week, according to Moscow’s customs service. The news comes amid a report Monday from the Russian daily Vedomosti that President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea sometime in the next few weeks. That would mark only the second time that Putin has visited the country, after a July 2000 trip – although Putin did meet with...

Russia has rolled back on comments suggesting that a major agreement with Iran had been suspended due to problems it faced with Tehran. Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Tehran has supplied Moscow's war machine with equipment such as the Shahed drone, which has been used to attack Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. In September of that year, work on a new treaty between Moscow and Tehran was announced during a meeting between Putin and the late President of the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Raisi. Russia's Foreign Ministry had said in January that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty...

Today Monday June 10th, Tucker Carlson announced his first ever national arena tour, TUCKER CARLSON LIVE 2024, a Tucker Carlson Network (TCN) Production, Presented by Sambrosa.com and brought to you by Swan Bitcoin. As the presidential election unfolds this fall, Tucker will be reacting live to the latest developments and joined on stage by some of the smartest, most interesting people in America. "I can't wait to take our show on the road in cities across America. We're going to be talking about real issues with real people. You'd better believe the Establishment will be losing their minds," said Tucker...

Watch the incredible clips of Kyiv's powerful drones annihilating Mad Vlad's tankers as debris and flames take over the battlefield. THIS is the dramatic moment Ukrainian kamikaze drones blow up Russian tanks in the latest blow to Putin's failing forces. Spectacular footage shows Kyiv's fierce determination as the drones reduce the hodgepodge "Franken-tanks" to fiery wreckage. The drones are seen in the daylight mission smoothly descending until they hit Mad Vlad's tinderboxes with pinpoint accuracy. The clunky military vehicles are then seen engulfed by bright orange flames in a brutal inferno. As smoke was blown away, what once was a...

Ukraine attacked several advanced Russian air-defense systems across Crimea overnight, Kyiv's military said on Monday, in the latest round of long-range strikes to menace vital Russian assets on the annexed peninsula Ukraine has vowed to reclaim from Moscow. -snip- Rybar, one of the influential Russian military blogger accounts often used as sources in lieu of official statements from Moscow, said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had attacked Crimea overnight with "at least 12" U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, fired from Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region. Another prominent military blogger said Kyiv had attacked Crimea with an unspecified number of...

Ukrainian drones are threatening Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov, it has been reported, signaling an intention by Kyiv to target Moscow's infrastructure beyond the Black Sea. -snip- British outlet Sky News reported Ukrainian forces had carried out a "coordinated strike" against a Ropucha-class landing ship overnight Saturday, which had moved to the Sea of Azov, connected to the Black Sea by the Strait of Kerch. Ukrainian Telegram channel Crimean Wind and Ukrainian Mariupol mayoral adviser Petro Andryushchenko gave more details, saying a ship was hit near the port of Yeysk, located in Krasnodar. But there are conflicting reports...