Free Republic

Russians have been told to grow their own bananas as a shortage looms, days after President Vladimir Putin issued a ban on imports from Ecuador, its largest supplier of the fruit, seemingly over an arms shipment spat. Oleg Knyazkov, the head of the industry expertise center at Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian consumer watchdog, told local news outlet Gazeta that he predicts there will be a nationwide shortage of bananas in a month. He advised Russians to start growing them domestically. His comments come after Putin suspended banana imports from five Ecuadorian companies on February 2, saying the decision was made due...

Russian authorities denied an emergency in Russia's Udmurt Republic, as videos show a huge fireball over a weapons plant that produces nuclear weapons components and ballistic missiles. Massive explosion was reported on Wednesday on the grounds of the Votkinsk weapons factory, which produces weapons including the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) & strategic ballistic missiles for the Topol-M and Iskander systems. The factory is located some 30 miles from the capital of the Udmurt Republic, Izhevsk. Videos filmed by residents showed a huge fireball over the area and a massive glow in the sky. Locals reported hearing explosions before...

The Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow, but disputed a claim he made that Western journalists hadn't attempted to interview the leader throughout the war. -snip- Peskov said Carlson is "wrong" by suggesting that Western journalists haven't attempted to interview Putin—an assertion the former Fox News host made in a lengthy video announcing his interview with the Russian leader. "He, in fact, cannot know this. We receive many requests for interviews with the president," Peskov said. -snip- Many Western journalists have interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr...

Russia's egg shortage is being exacerbated by bird flu-riddled imports from Turkey, one of the country's biggest trading partners and a NATO member, according to a recent report citing a Russian government official. More than one-fifth of the eggs imported from Turkey were found to be infected with the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza, as well as other dangerous ailments including salmonella and botulism, Russian authorities warned. -snip- Russia's attempt to pivot to Turkey for emergency egg supplies in January now appears to have backfired, as the delivery of the first batch of Turkish eggs was promptly followed by reports...

A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that any Ukrainian attacks on missile launch sites inside Russia with arms supplied by the United States and its allies would risk a nuclear response from Moscow. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that some Ukrainian military commanders were considering hitting missile launch sites inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range missiles. He did not name the commanders or disclose more details of the alleged plan and there was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to his threat.

Russian investigators said on Tuesday they had arrested three people over heating outages south of Moscow that have sent regional officials scrambling to restore services and drawn scrutiny from the Kremlin. Authorities blamed the breakdown on failures at a boiler plant owned by a private ammunition factory. The heads of the heating plant and the factory were arrested on suspicion of providing unsafe services, investigators said in a statement. The deputy head of the local administration was also detained on suspicion of certifying the heating plant as adequate for winter despite allegedly knowing about defects that needed to be fixed....

Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has welcomed former CNN anchor Don Lemon to “a new world” of journalism on X, the platform once known as Twitter. Carlson’s welcome to Lemon comes after the ex-CNN anchor announced Tuesday that he is launching The Don Lemon Show through his own media company and that it will be available on X. Lemon’s announcement comes after Carlson launched his own show on X, of which he has released over 60 episodes since mid-2023. “Congratulations,” Carlson wrote in sharing Lemon’s post. “It’s a new world. Welcome.” The welcoming statement from Carlson comes after both...

Zoya Konovalova, the head of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's state TV channels, has been found dead after a suspected poisoning incident, officials said. Konovalova, 48, editor-in-chief of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Kuban, was found alongside the body of her ex-husband, 52, at a home in the Krasnodar region on January 5. It is the latest in a series of mysterious deaths involving prominent Russian figures since Putin's forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The Russian government is taking urgent measures to stabilise the situation in the local egg market where prices have soared more than 40% this year. Egg farmers claim that the industry is in “a perfect storm”. -snip- Russia’s federal veterinary watchdog Rosselhoznadzor recently greenlighted egg imports from Turkey. This country, alongside Azerbaijan, is expected to help Russia to fill the gap in the egg market, the agricultural ministry commented. The price hike has happened due to a perfect storm in the Russian egg industry, Leonid Kkolod, an independent agricultural analyst, told the local press. Over the past 2 years, Russian...

By not punishing shoplifters, looters, rioters, and other criminals, Democrat cities have turned many of their neighborhoods into food deserts. (1/5) #FoodDesert #BLM #shoplifting #riot #looting #crime #softoncrime #socialjustice #poverty #hunger #liberal #progressive #Democrat https://web.archive.org/web/20201121054539/https://old.post-gazette.com/pg/08358/937017-85.stm https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-longfellow-neighborhood-almost-food-desert-after-riots/570928442/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200609190703/https://www.wbez.org/stories/in-chicagos-poorest-areas-recovery-may-be-long-if-it-comes-at-all/4ec11642-b45f-4c32-9e48-66ab206d14d5 https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/emails-reveal-frustration-with-city-led-sodo-food-desert/PXM5GXPPDJEBJO4J6TAJZADOPY/ https://www.ipi.org/ipi_issues/detail/those-food-deserts-may-become-food-wastelands (2/5) https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Fk1zrva8R_wJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/06/02/minneapolis-school-asked-people-donate-food-students-after-looting-closed-stores-miles-cars-lined-up/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://komonews.com/news/local/crime-prompts-sodos-only-grocery-store-to-close https://www.fox29.com/news/looting-forces-germantown-stores-to-close-leaving-residents-with-limited-access-to-food https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/06/03/chicagos-south-side-left-with-few-food-options-after-weekend-violence/ (3/5) https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/06/02/black-girls-break-bread-steps-in-as-looting-leaves-food-deserts-even-worse-off/ https://abc7chicago.com/looted-pharmacies-grocery-stores-remain-closed-while-residents-scramble-for-essentials/6227663/ https://thesource.com/2020/06/06/chicago-food-deserts-grow-on-citys-south-side-due-to-looting-during-recent-protests/ https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Walgreens-to-close-5-more-S-F-stores-citing-16528444.php (4/5) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walgreens-close-five-stores-san-francisco-theft-shoplifting/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/13/walgreens-closes-5-more-locations-san-francisco-over-shoplifting/8434183002/ https://blackdoctor.org/looters-leave-more-food-deserts-in-black-communities https://web.archive.org/web/20210601041405/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/san-francisco-shoplifting-epidemic.html https://www.marketplace.org/2020/06/04/neighborhoods-where-stores-were-destroyed-become-food-deserts-overnight/ (5/5)

In a significant development in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force successfully targeted and destroyed the Russian landing ship Novocherkassk. The military action took place in the early hours of December 26, in the port of Feodosia, located in the occupied territory of Crimea. The event was announced by the Ukrainian Air Force Commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, and signifies a strategic blow to the Russian military’s capabilities in the region. The Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, represents a significant asset in the Russian Navy. Its destruction likely involved the use of Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles. This loss...

Loud explosions were heard in early Tuesday hours over the Crimean town of Feodosia on the Black Sea coast, Russian news outlets on the Telegram messaging service reported. Footage posted on several Russian news outlets on Telegram showed powerful explosions and fires over a port area.

For reasons seemingly no one understands, the embattled actor shared another bizarre video with 'fans' on Sunday. Embattled actor Kevin Spacey is once again making Christmas surreal and awkward by portraying his (notably killed off) House of Cards character in what is quickly becoming an unfortunate holiday tradition. As Spacey has done numerous times before, the controversial actor donned the persona of Frank Underwood, and was joined this time around by recently fired former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for a mock political interview. The 7-minute clip, titled "Being Frank With Tucker," Spacey's Underwood sits down for a surreal yuletide...

Update (0933 EST): Russian military bloggers are blaming Russian General Teplinsky for ordering the glide bombing of the Ukrainian bridgehead by Su-34s even after a November 25th shoot down of another Su-34 carrying out that mission. The bloggers claim that Teplinsky is “obsessed” with destroying the Ukrainian bridgehead and has “crossed a line”, sacrificing hundreds of soldiers, Marines, and now up to four Su-34s. According to their sources, the general disregarded warnings of Ukrainian shuffling of advanced air defenses to Kherson and ordered the flights anyways. These bloggers may be referencing Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky who is the embattled commander...

Russian war fanatics are enraged over an 'almost naked' party staged in Moscow by wealthy showbiz celebrities including Vladimir Putin's 'goddaughter'. The 'debauched' gathering was likened to Sodom and Gomorrah by critics claiming the antics of the wealthy stars insulted those on the frontline in the Kremlin's illegal war against Ukraine. Among the most visible guests was a pregnant and braless Ksenia Sobchak, 40, a TV presenter and 'liberal' Russian presidential candidate in 2018, in a nude-coloured Sorelle outfit. She is known as Putin's goddaughter after he attended her baptism and viewed her late father Anatoly Sobchak as his political...

Tackling cost of eggs and putting western company exits on hold among measures aimed at containing surging prices. Vladimir Putin’s re-election campaign has prompted a fresh drive by Russian officials to curb inflation as disquiet grows over soaring prices for consumer goods and as technocrats move to rein in a weakening rouble. -snip- Pressures on consumers were a central feature of Putin’s telethon last Thursday, the first time he had held his usually annual press conference or phone-in since ordering the invasion in 2022 — and, since “eggs” are slang for testicles in Russian, he could not pass up an...

Sharply rising prices for eggs led another weekly rise in consumer inflation in Russia as the central bank hiked interest rates by 100 basis points, data from the federal statistics service showed on Wednesday. The government last week said it would exempt 1.2 billion eggs from import duty in the first half of next year to try to rein in prices that have risen by more than 50% this year, a surge in costs for Russia's poorest that led to a rare apology from President Vladimir Putin. -snip- The Bank of Russia said its interest rate hiking cycle may be...