Free Republic

As Russians prepare to celebrate the New Year or the week of public holidays that follows, they might notice this year's festive bill at the supermarket come out to significantly more than last year's – especially for fans of sandwiches with butter and red caviar, a New Year's dinner staple in the country. In October of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Russia was “spending too much money on guns and forgetting about butter,” prices of which have seen some of the biggest increases of all produce, growing by over 33 percent since the start of 2024. Caviar,...

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,...