Free Republic

Russia is facing a critical challenge to its war effort in 2025: The nation is quickly running out of cash, with financial reserves potentially running out before the end of the year, according to estimates from one European economist. Anders Åslund, a Swedish economist and a former fellow at the Atlantic Council, thinks liquid reserves in Russia's National Wealth Fund could potentially be depleted by the fall of this year. That spells trouble for the nation's military efforts in 2025, he said, given how heavily Russia has relied on its wealth fund over the last several years. Liquid reserves in...

On Monday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” President-Elect Donald Trump responded to a question on his strategy to end the Russia-Ukraine war by stating that “there’s only one strategy, and it’s up to Putin. And I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with the way it’s gone, because it hasn’t gone exactly well for him either.” Host Rob Schmitt asked, “You’ve said you want this war ended in six months. What is the strategy to do that? Can you give us any insight?” Trump answered, “Well, there’s only one strategy, and it’s up to Putin. And I can’t imagine...

Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom may slash staff numbers as it faces dwindling revenues amid sanctions imposed following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. -snip- In December, Elena Ilyukhina, a deputy chair of Gazprom's management committee, sent a proposal to CEO Alexey Miller to reduce staff from 4,100 to 2,500 at the firms' central office and St. Petersburg branch, according to the 47news telegram channel. On Monday, the outlet posted an image of the document, in which Ilyukhina described the challenges Gazprom faced. In a call for "cost optimization at all levels of management," she said the company needed to...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals have an artful knack for keeping the Russian military bear off-balance. On Sunday, they renewed their offensive in the Russian Kursk Oblast, once again catching the Russian high command, Kremlin, and many pundits by surprise. Reports of a demoralized Ukrainian army fighting to retain terrain captured during the August Kursk offensive — of which at least 40 percent has been lost — have circulated among western media and Russian milbloggers since November. So too reports that Ukraine’s 155th Mechanized Brigade — trained and equipped by France — was under-resourced in “first person view...