Free Republic

Tanks and columns of troops are massing in Moscow ahead of Russia's annual Victory Day - timed this year to coincide with Vladimir Putin's latest presidential inauguration after another election victory denounced as a 'sham'. The despot is set for another six years in the Kremlin after emphatically and unsurprisingly winning March's presidential poll, with his new term formally beginning on Tuesday. -snip- Last year's Victory Day parade featured just a single tank, a Second World War-era T-34.

The inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place on May 7, Andrey Klishas, chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and Statehood in the upper house Federation Council, said, APA reports citing TASS. "The inauguration will be held on [May] 7. There will be additional information about the [PCR] tests for [senators attending the inauguration]. This is a standard procedure, it will take place once, on [May] 6," Klishas said at a committee meeting.

Facing a myriad of deadly threats on the battlefield, exploding drones being a particularly serious threat, Russia and Ukraine have both taken extra steps to safeguard their tanks and vehicles by outfitting them with extra layers of protective armor. This improvised armor, sometimes little more than a chain-link cage welded around the outside of a vehicle, is essentially an effort to provide a last-ditch defense against inbound munitions like artillery, anti-tank missiles, or small drones packed with explosives, especially the latter. While both militaries have used such tactics, Russia, in recent weeks, has unveiled a strange-looking — albeit apparently effective...

Vladimir Putin's hopes of a swift victory in Ukraine have been dealt a major blow after a key weapon is proving to be a major flop -snip- Yet one area where Ukraine's military appears to hold the upper hand over their bitter foes is in drone warfare. In a recent Telegram post, a pro-Kremlin military blogger described the fighting round the eastern town of Chasiv Yar, where fierce battles are raging The blogger, whose moniker is "Two Majors", said Putin's army was handicapped by the poor performance of their first-person view (FPV) drones. He said that most of the Russian...

Vladimir Putin has had to cancel multiple Victory Day parades over ‘security risks’. -snip- Celebrated every year on May 9, the Victory Parade will take place online in some regions, Elena Tsunaeva, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs, announced. Portraits of veterans will be placed on public transport instead of the procession. Heads of multiple Russian regions and occupied Crimea, for example, announced that events will be scaled back or not happening at all, despite it being the most solemn day in the Russian calendar. Victory parades and fireworks have...

"You can't go anywhere at all, not even to Uzbekistan or Belarus for the May holidays," said one source. -snip- Russia is making overseas travel harder for some officials due to fears that foreign powers may try to gain access to state secrets during the worst crisis in relations with the West for more than 60 years, nine sources told Reuters. The Federal Security Service (FSB) is putting pressure on employees across government ministries not to leave Russia at all, even to visit so-called 'friendly' countries that have not imposed sanctions against Moscow, the sources said. Foreign travel was highly...

Ukraine's air force has previously said Russia has used the Tu-22M3 aircraft to fire Kh-22 cruise missiles at Ukrainian territory. The HUR said the bomber that was downed "carried out a missile attack against Ukraine on the night of April 19." The aircraft was shot down "as a result of a [HUR] special operation in cooperation with the Air Force," it said, adding that it was struck at a distance of about 300 kilometers from Ukraine. The HUR added: "It should be noted that this is the first successful destruction of a strategic bomber in the air during a combat...

Watch footage of the bizarre tanks ploughing through the battlefield. PUTIN'S failing forces have resorted to using bizarre mobile sheds on the battlefield in an attempt to withstand Ukrainian kamikaze drones. Russian tanks have appeared underneath turtle shell-like cages after it was revealed that a humiliated Putin has lost almost all of the tanks he had when he began his brutal invasion of Ukraine. Strange footage shows a row of ageing Russian tanks trawling through fields under the steel covers. The odd-shaped metal blanket appears to be designed to shield Putin's dwindling fleet from Ukrainian onslaught. Up close clips show...

Russia is having to use electronic parts meant for its air defense systems to manufacture its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) due to shortages caused by sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, according to a local report. -snip- "Sources of VChK-OGPU say that today the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant is experiencing a serious shortage of electronic components...for the production of strategic missiles," the channel said. "The electronics of the new RS-28 (Sarmat) missile system are largely of foreign origin and, due to sanctions, are experiencing a serious shortage. Now all efforts are being made to somehow correct the situation with...

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., recognized as the country’s largest producer of fresh eggs, announced on Tuesday that it has temporarily suspended operations at one of its major facilities located in Parmer County, Texas. This drastic measure comes in the wake of a detected outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The outbreak has led to the culling of approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets. This action represents about 3.6% of Cal-Maine Foods’ total flock as of early March 2024, marking a significant loss for the company and the egg industry as a whole. Cal-Maine released the following statement: Cal-Maine...

Residents in a region hit by the deepest drone strikes within Russian territory since the start of the war in Ukraine have been warned that air defenses may not be able to protect them from future attacks. Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Russia has been hit with drone strikes reaching Moscow as well as ammunition depots and warehouses around the country linked to the war effort. Russian authorities blame Ukraine for the attacks, which Kyiv rarely claims responsibility for. In the latest incident, a drone attack on the Russian republic of Tatarstan on Tuesday reportedly hit industrial areas...

The incumbent Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, who is vying for the country’s top office as an independent candidate, has cast his electronic vote in the presidential election, APA reports quoting TASS. The published video footage shows Putin walking to a computer in his office, casting his vote and then smiling and waving at the camera. The computer monitor displayed a standard notification for a successfully cast vote.

Vladimir Putin could raise taxes after the presidential election this month to keep the money flowing to pay for the country's war in Ukraine. Bloomberg reported on Monday that the Kremlin is considering dipping into the pockets of high-earning Russians and corporations, as the government plans to hike taxes by as much as 4 trillion rubles ($44 billion). Sources said that the hikes could be finalized this summer. Under the plan, the government would raise personal income tax from 15% to 20% for those earning over 5 million rubles (roughly $55k USD) and from 13% to 15% for those making...

Russian citizens were forced to cast their votes in presidential elections from their beds today as polling officials set out to garner a high turnout for incumbent president Vladimir Putin. Dystopian images emerged of an elderly, bed-ridden man looking over his shoulder as a stern-faced woman presumed to be his wife thrusts their voting cards into an empty ballot box held by an election official. -snip- Running effectively unchallenged, the 71-year-old Kremlin chief is almost certain to secure another six-year term with any legitimate political opponents in jail, in exile or in the ground after his fiercest of opponents, Alexei...

Voting for Russia's presidential elections was disrupted today in the border region Belgorod amid new shelling and incursions of anti-Kremlin Russian groups from Ukraine that forced 'thousands' of people to evacuate. Polling was suspended in Belgorod city after it came under artillery fire, with clips circulated by Russian news channels on the Telegram messaging app showing trucks and cars blown to pieces by the shelling. Election officials were seen wearing bulletproof gear as they monitored voting on the first day of a three-day election expected to return Putin by a landslide. Meanwhile, footage appears to show anti-Putin pro-Ukrainian partisan paramilitary...

President Vladimir Putin is facing trouble in his ongoing war in Ukraine, days before the country's election, which is expected to result in the Russian leader remaining in power until at least 2030. This week has so far been tumultuous for the Russian president. On Tuesday night, the country was attacked by more than 60 Ukrainian drones, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, with targets including a Federal Security Service building in the southern Belgorod region and an oil refinery—both of which sustained damage. Multiple incursions by Russian defectors were also launched on Russian soil. The militia groups Freedom of...

Ukraine launched a sweeping drone attack on Russian regions on Wednesday, causing a fire at Rosneft's biggest oil refinery in what President Vladimir Putin said was an attempt to disrupt Russia's presidential election. -snip- The day after seriously damaging Lukoil's NORSI refinery, a Ukrainian drone attacked Rosneft's Ryazan oil refinery, Russia's seventh largest, 180 km (110 miles) from Moscow. -snip- "The Ryazan oil refinery was attacked by a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle)," Pavel Malkov, governor of the Ryazan region bordering the Moscow region to its north, said on the Telegram messaging app. "A fire broke out as a result. According...

Ukrainian forces destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet's newest patrol ship, the Sergey Kotov, using naval drones in an overnight attack, Kyiv has said. According to the Unian news agency, Russia's newest Project 22160 patrol ship cost around $65 million to build and had a crew of 80, though it is currently unclear how many people were on board. "As a result of the attack by Magura V5 naval drones, the Russian ship of project 22160 'Sergey Kotov' suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides," Ukraine's military intelligence said in a post on Telegram. Ukraine has used Magura...

Vladimir Putin's military is unlikely to use its prized T-14 Armata tank in combat in Ukraine because it is "too valuable," an ally of the Russian president said. The comments were made by Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, the country's state-owned defense conglomerate, in an interview with Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti, published Sunday. Moscow is reported to have briefly deployed several of the main battle tanks for combat operations in July 2023, before they were withdrawn from the front line. The tank was once labeled by a senior British army official as "the most revolutionary tank in...

Deliveries of all-new Russian aircraft have been delayed by two years due to safety concerns ... The publication said that, for example, the weight of the new MS-21 passenger aircraft has increased by 5.75 tons, compared to the previous version, which used foreign components and Western engines. This means its flight range and altitude have been significantly reduced. One of Kommersant's sources said that, if Russia is unable to reduce the weight of the aircraft, it will be impossible for authorities to make the plane achieve the desired performance characteristics. "It's impossible to increase engine thrust by 20 percent," the...