Free Republic

Poland's foreign minister says his country has evidence that Russia recruited people on the Telegram messaging service to carry out last year's massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw. Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview, Radek Sikorski said Moscow's actions were "completely unacceptable" and that a second Russian consulate in Poland had been closed as a result. His comments come after a Polish investigation concluded that the Marywilska shopping centre fire was orchestrated by Moscow's intelligence services. Russia denied its involvement, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Poland of being "Russophobic".

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...

Russia said on Tuesday that any normalisation of relations with the US would require the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a Reuters report that said the US is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine. "It is probably too early to say anything. We have not heard any official statements, but in any case, our attitude towards sanctions is well known, we consider them illegal," Peskov said. "And, of course, if...

The Kremlin said in remarks published on Tuesday that the next round of Russia-U.S. talks on ending the war in Ukraine is unlikely to happen before the embassies of both countries resume normal operations. "Unlikely," Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of President Vladimir Putin, told RIA state news agency in response to a question whether the negotiations could start before the two countries' embassies fully reopen. Operations have been curtailed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. -snip- Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington, the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries, but...

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has denied claims that he will visit Vladimir Putin in Moscow for the May 9 victory day parade. -snip- Trump has rubbished a report he will fly to Russia for Victory Day celebrations on May 9. It comes after French outlet Le Point claimed, citing Russian sources, that the Republican would be in attendance, marking the first visit by a US president since mad Vlad launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But President Trump was quick to squash the claim, responding "no, I'm not" upon being asked if he was to attend. He also...

The Kremlin said on Monday it had yet to receive any signals from the United States about arranging a possible meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, but remained ready to organise such an encounter. "So far, we have not received any signals from the Americans", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. "(Russia's) readiness (for a meeting) remains, and the same readiness, as far as we have heard, remains on the American side. Apparently, a certain amount of time is required (to set something up)," he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday declined to comment on a report by Bloomberg about limited talks between Russia and Ukraine in Qatar on protecting nuclear facilities from attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked for his initials to be engraved on chains of crosses that will be given to the participants and the commanders of Russian military units in the operation in Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesperson said, Interfax reports. "I believe our friends will be honored to receive these symbols of faith which were consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia during the festive liturgy on [Orthodox] Christmas Eve," Dmitry Peskov quoted the Russian leader as saying. At Putin's request and in his presence, Patriarch Kirill held the consecration ceremony of these crosses and icons for...

Russia has been forced to issue a humiliating denial of rumours that the wife of the former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad wants a divorce. Rebel forces stormed to victory this month, taking the Syrian capital, Damascus, and forcing President al-Assad to flee to Russia, where he has been personally given sanctuary by his long-time ally, President Vladimir Putin. But after losing his country, rumours ran amok that Assad could also be losing his wife Asma al-Assad, with Turkish and Arabic media reporting the British-born former first lady wanted to come to the UK. Now, in an angry rebuttal from Moscow,...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia newspaper in an interview published Wednesday that Russia sees "no grounds for negotiations yet" to end Moscow's war on Ukraine. President-elect Donald Trump's imminent return to the White House has revived speculation as to a possible deal to end Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which by the time Trump takes office again will be nearly three years old. Russia still occupies around 20% of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four entire regions -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- though it only partially occupies the areas it claims.

Never a dull day: America’s political culture is ever changing. Currently, we are witnessing a beautifully orchestrated “display” of how one leaves the office of president as a sore loser. After the 2020 election, Donald Trump was defeated and had to vacate the White House to make room for Joe Biden. In the end, whatever you think about the president-elect, January 6 was a political protest that devolved into a riot. Nothing more, nothing less. It certainly was not an insurrection. For many it was an expression of contempt for Washington establishment elites and their sense of entitlement to everything...

MOSCOW - Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested U.S. President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office."Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such...

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons, a move that follows U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russian territory with American-supplied longer-range missiles. The new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine fired six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles early Tuesday at a military facility in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, adding that air defenses shot down five of them and damaged one...

Ukraine has carried out its first strike on Russian territory with US-supplied long-range missiles just days after the Biden administration gave Kyiv the green light despite fears it could escalate the conflict beyond control. A fiery explosion at an ammunition depot in Karachev around 75 miles from the Ukrainian border in Russia's Bryansk region lit up the night sky early this morning on what is the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine. Eyewitnesses along with Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers first reported the attack, with anonymous Ukrainian military officials later telling RBC Ukraine the strike was conducted with the US-manufactured...

Moscow signaled to the West that it’s ready for a nuclear confrontation. Ukrainian news outlets reported early Tuesday that the missiles had been used to attack a Russian military facility in the Bryansk border region.

Key points Moscow says Ukraine has hit Russia with US long-range missiles . Putin signs doctrine lowering threshold for nuclear weapons use after US missile decision . Kremlin warns Ukraine's use of Western-supplied missiles against Russia could trigger nuclear response . Ukrainian region hit by deadly Russian attack for second day

President Vladimir Putin has updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine, two days after his US counterpart Joe Biden granted Ukraine permission to strike targets deep inside Russia with US-made weapons. Under the updated doctrine issued Tuesday, Moscow will consider aggression from any non-nuclear state – but with the participation of a nuclear country – a joint attack on Moscow. In a phone call with reporters Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted the changes mean that “the Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression using conventional weapons against it and/or the Republic of Belarus.” “An important...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today strongly condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian group Hamas, in a drone strike on his residence in Tehran, saying it undermines prospects of ending the conflict in Gaza. At a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov stated that the attack was detrimental to peace efforts in the region and risked destabilising the situation. “We strongly condemn this attack, which resulted in Mr. Haniyeh’s death. Such actions undermine attempts to establish peace in the region and could significantly destabilise an already tense situation,” he emphasised. In a separate...

Russian police have put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list, according to the Russian Interior Ministry's database. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kallas was wanted for the "desecration of historical memory". Russian state agency TASS said the Baltic officials were accused of "destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers", acts that are punishable by a 5-year prison term under the Russian criminal code. -snip- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "This is only the beginning." "Crimes against the memory of the world's liberators from Nazism and fascism must...

President Vladimir Putin will hold his annual press conference and field questions from the public on Dec. 14 -snip- "On the 14th December, Vladimir Putin will sum up the results of the year," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "It will be a programme, a project of the TV channels as before, and it will be a combined format of the Direct Line (live question and answer session with the public) and the President's end of year press conference," said Peskov. -snip- Only Josef Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, has been in...