Free Republic

March 14 (Reuters) - An online voting system that was criticised by some defeated candidates at parliamentary elections last year will be rolled out for use across Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed electronic voting procedures into law on Monday. A coalition of defeated parliamentary candidates in Moscow claimed they were cheated of victory in a parliamentary election last September by the system and sought to try to overturn the results via lawsuits and public pressure.

In one of the largest overnight strikes since the war began, Russia unleashed some 614 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles across Ukraine, killing one, injuring dozens and destroying an American-owned electronics company less than an hour from two NATO borders, officials confirmed Thursday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said the strike on the private U.S. company, which involved "several" cruise missiles, was "very telling" following President Donald Trump’s attempts to force Moscow to end its invasion.

Witkoff noted that these concessions were partly achieved because the U.S. side tested Russia’s willingness to adopt a more flexible stance. Trump and his team focused on securing a long-term peace agreement rather than a temporary ceasefire during the Anchorage meeting, he added. “We stayed there for quite some time because we actually made progress on how we might get to a peace deal,” Witkoff said. According to him, Trump began to sense that many preconditions for a comprehensive deal were already in place, prompting efforts to negotiate a full peace agreement.

President Trump on Monday did not rule out sending U.S. troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force if a potential peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow can be reached. “We’ll let you know that, maybe later today,” Mr. Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Mr. Trump’s refusal to rule out the idea of U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine is a potential major shift in his policy towards Ukraine as the war-torn nation considers security guarantees to be essential for any peace agreement. Mr. Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin...

With less than 24 hours to go before he meets Donald Trump again, Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the president's "historic decision" to offer Ukraine security guarantees if a peace deal is reached with Russia. It's unclear exactly what shape this support might take, but Trump envoy Steve Witkoff today suggested the US and its partners could offer "Article 5 like language" - reflecting Article 5 of the Nato agreement that states an armed attack on one member country would be considered an attack on all members.

The traditionally Russian-speaking area is at the heart of what the Russian president calls the “root causes” of the war, and taking it over is near the top of his list of territorial and political demands.The proposal to end the war in Ukraine that emerged from the summit in Alaska between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia centers on persuading Kyiv to give up the Donbas, the industrial region in the east.The traditionally Russian-speaking area has been at the heart of what Mr. Putin calls the “root causes” of the war, and taking it over is near...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia's refusal to agree to a ceasefire is complicating efforts to end the war. "We see that Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation," he said in a statement on 'X'. On Monday, the Ukrainian leader travel to Washington DC, where US President Donald Trump has said he will urge Zelensky to agree to a peace deal. Trump has said he wants to bypass a ceasefire in Ukraine to move directly to a permanent peace agreement after his...

The Taliban's four-year quest for legitimacy received a major boost last month when Russia became the first country to formally recognize the group's rule in Afghanistan. While the Kremlin's decision is largely symbolic, it could still yield strategic benefits for Moscow. Recognition allows Russia to project itself as a bold global power unafraid to challenge Western norms, especially after setbacks in regions like the Middle East. By taking the initiative, Moscow aims to restore its reputation as an agenda-setter in international affairs, potentially encouraging other nations -- particularly in Central Asia -- to follow suit and normalize ties with the...

Watch our live coverage of President Trump's historic meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage Alaska, with RAV White House correspondent, Brian Glenn.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St. Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile.… Putin has praised the Oreshnik’s capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one...

Former Harvard law professor and veteran trial attorney Alan Dershowitz — who represented notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in his 2008 criminal case — said during a recent appearance on Fox News that at least two prominent Democrats are named in files relating to the case. While speaking with host Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday,” Dershowitz stated that while the Epstein “client list” does not exist in the way it has been built up in some corners of the internet, there are other ways to reveal the names of individuals who were potentially involved in Epstein’s crimes. ““Are [the names]...

DOJ has declassified key new documents detailing how the Comey FBI and Peter Strzok ignored a major national security breach by Hillary Clinton they should have thoroughly investigated as part of a counterintelligence case, but they went after Donald Trump instead ... When are you going to get off this ignoring stuff? Steele was paid by FBI simultaneously as he was being paid by Clinton. You can do the math. They set Steele up inside Clinton campaign. He was using Danchenko as a cutout. Clinton put him there through Strobe Talbott, another name you are omitting from this that should...

Ukraine will let foreign arms companies test out their latest weapons on the front line of its war against Russia's invasion, Kyiv's state-backed arms investment and procurement group Brave1 said on Thursday. -snip- "We have a list of priorities. One of the top of those would be air defense, like new air defense capabilities, drone interceptors, AI-guided systems, all the solutions against gliding bombs," he said. Unmanned systems in the water and electronic profile systems on the ground are also on Ukraine's list of priorities, as are advanced fire control systems or AI guidance to make howitzers more accurate. Under...

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed the Kremlin could launch "preemptive strikes" on Western nations if they escalate the war in Ukraine just days after United States President Donald Trump demanded a ceasefire. On Tuesday, President Trump threatened to impose "very severe" tariffs on Russia unless the Kremlin negotiated an end to its invasion. The US leader also declared he was "very unhappy" with Russian President Vladimir Putin's reticence to engage in peace talks, in a notable shift away from previous comments praising Russia's leader. The Kremlin subsequently dismissed the threat, with Mr Medvedev, who now acts as the...

Donald Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky if Ukraine was capable of striking Moscow, as he encouraged more long-range strikes inside Russia. The US president told his Ukrainian counterpart that he wanted Ukraine to “make them [Russians] feel the pain” and force Putin to the negotiation table, sources told the Financial Times. “Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow?... Can you hit St Petersburg too?” the US president reportedly asked on the July 4 call. The Ukrainian president replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.” Following the call, Kyiv received a list from US aides of long-range strike systems that could...

President Donald Trump has finally lost patience with Vladimir Putin. Having promised a “major” announcement on Russia, Trump has now confirmed that the US will dramatically increase weapons supplies to Europe for use in Ukraine and threatened 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Russia’s trade partners. Trump would only provide Russia with an off-ramp if Putin agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine within 50 days.

Representative Ro Khanna (D‑CA) has announced plans to force a vote in the House of Representatives demanding the full, unredacted release of all documents related to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Khanna said he will introduce an amendment this week that would require the House Speaker to bring the measure to a roll-call vote, putting every member of Congress on the record.

Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Vladimir Putin after a maternity ward was struck by drones in Ukraine. The US president responded to news that drones had damaged a maternity hospital in Kharkiv, as he said: “I know. You'll be seeing things happen.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that among the nine wounded in Kharkiv were women in the hospital - “mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery.” He said: “Russia is targeting life itself – even in the very places where it begins.” It comes ahead of Trump’s “major statement” on Monday for Russia as he grows frustrated...

A 1-year-old boy was “mercilessly and deliberately” executed in a Russian drone attack in southern Ukraine — where terrified residents say they feel they are being hunted in a sick game of “human safari,”officials said. The boy, identified as Dmytryk, was playing at his grandmother’s yard in Pravdyne on Wednesday when the drone came crashing in, causing shrapnel to pierce his heart and kill the toddler who celebrated his first birthday just two months ago. “Our little boy was here, in the playpen, walking around,” his distraught grandmother, Halyna, 64, told local Ukrainian outlet Podrobnosti.

Vladimir Solovyov threatens America