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Jews have been fleeing Russia in droves | Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images As Vladimir Putin’s war rages on for the fifth month in Ukraine and repression suffocates civil liberties back home, Russian Jews are worried they’ll soon become the Kremlin’s targets. Jews have been fleeing Russia in droves; those who’ve stayed behind are terrified of directly criticizing the war, which Putin has cynically claimed he launched to “de-Nazify” Ukraine. “In our congregation, we don’t talk about any political issues,” said a Moscow rabbi who asked not to be named. He added that after a 2011 crackdown on protests linked...

A Russian journalist accused of posting 'sane people are for peace' about Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has been locked in a Siberian clinical psychiatric hospital. Maria Ponomarenko, a 44-year-old mother of two, claims the authorities are seeking to gag her because of her opposition to the war. She is accused of spreading 'fake' news concerning Putin’s 'special military operation' in Ukraine. One comment seen as against the law by prosecutors said: 'It is impossible to remain silent, knowing about the death of thousands of innocent people.' Her 'fake' Telegram posts also included critical comments about the Russian bombing of...

Ukraine's newest heroes: Brave Russian defectors have joined Kyiv's forces on frontlines against Putin's regime to liberate their beloved country from his rule Scores of Russians have defected to fight alongside Ukrainian armed forces They risk severe treatment and most likely the death penalty if they are captured But fighters say they see Putin and the Kremlin as a 'cancer' preventing peace Like all his Ukrainian army comrades, Volodymyr Grotskov is fuelled by deeply-held patriotism as he risks his life on the bloodstained frontline of the brutal war against Russia. The 48-year-old electrical engineer says he loves his country and...

Since the Russian army attacked Ukraine nearly four months ago, thousands of civilians have been killed and whole towns reduced to rubble, while millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes. But on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov looked me in the eye and told me things were not as they seemed. "We didn't invade Ukraine," he claimed.

Andriy watched anxiously as Russian soldiers connected his mobile to their computer, trying to restore some files. Andriy, a 28-year-old marketing officer, was attempting to leave Mariupol. He had deleted everything he thought a Russian soldier could use against him, such as text messages discussing Russia's invasion of Ukraine or photos of the devastation in his city caused by weeks of relentless shelling. But the internet in Mariupol, a once bustling port in southern Ukraine, had been cut off as part of the siege imposed by Russia, and Andriy had not been able to take down some of his social...

Laurie Meadows 11 June 2022 [ last edited 13 June 2022 2040 UTC] This is a follow up article to the article I wrote on 19th of February 2022, 5 days before the launch of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. It was called 'Mutually Assured Destruction - the Prelude to Mutually Assured Security'. At the time, I didn't think Russia would move into the Donesk. I wrote: "The current lead that Russia has in missile and defensive systems might persuade the US to agree to verifiable arms control, but this is the work of years. In the meantime,...

As the mournful notes of the cello brought the four minutes of The Dying Swan to a close at The Hague on January 24, 1931, the audience was in tears. Throughout the performance, there had been no dancer — only a moving spotlight emphasizing the absence of Anna Pavlova, the ballerina the world loved. She had died the day before, of a mysterious lung infection that began almost immediately after her train had left Paris. She'd told doctors she suspected she'd been poisoned. Unable to reach a diagnosis, they treated her symptoms but failed to save her. For Soviet émigrés...

When I wrote this piece initially last week, I identified 6 Ukrainian units that filmed themselves rebelling against their chain of command. These “rebellion” videos came on the heels of the surrender of more than 2500 members of the AZOV battalion at Mariupol. Now the number is 12–that is 12 different units in the Donbas. They all voice the same complaints about their chain of command for not properly supplying them with the weapons and equipment they need to fight. This is not your normal troop bitching about conditions. All soldiers in all wars throughout history have passed the time...

Album:The Frost Music 1969,US Prog/RockThe Frost-First Day Of May | May 18, 2012 | Znaor Mario

The war in Ukraine is a trompe l’oeil. Behind the appearances of the unity of NATO and its consolidation by new members, several big players run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. In reality, all those who are not blinded by their own propaganda know that their side is going to lose and is already planning other enemies on other battlefields. Washington is making the best of a bad situation and using Russian pressure to close ranks. On the front of the stage, Nato assures that it has been strengthened by “Putin’s madness”. Ukraine, powerfully armed by the...

The idea of undercover Russian spies and deep cover ‘sleeper agents’ has been a source of much intrigue and speculation ever since the height of the Cold War, inspiring countless works of fiction and continuing to maintain a prominent place in our understanding of espionage. But while TV programs such as long-running FX drama The Americans toyed with the idea of foreign spies hiding in plain sight in the heart of suburbia, in reality the exact same thing was playing out in real-time right under people’s noses. Recently declassified FBI files have now revealed the existence of a vast network...

According to information from the German Press Agency, there are informal agreements among the NATO states to refrain from delivering certain weapon systems to Ukraine. As the dpa was confirmed in alliance circles in Brussels on Wednesday, the risk of a direct military confrontation between NATO states and Russia should be kept as low as possible. There are fears, for example, that Russia could officially see the delivery of Western battle tanks and combat aircraft as entering the war and then take military retaliatory measures. Weapon systems of this type have not yet been delivered to Ukraine. According to information...

Emails obtained via an open records request provide a picture of the politics behind the players who formulated and fed the Alfa Bank theory via Michael Sussmann to the FBI.While Dagon may have been an expert in the data crunching, emails recently obtained by The Federalist from Georgia Tech reveal Dagon was something more—he was an anti-Trump, Russia-collusion conspiracy theorist.Dagon’s name first became connected with the Alfa Bank story when Special Counsel John Durham indicted Michael Sussmann two months ago, charging the Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer with lying to FBI General Counsel James Baker.What the Indictment Says about the Alfa...

Russia claimed to have captured Mariupol on Friday in what would be its biggest victory yet in its war with Ukraine, after a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of the strategic port city to a smoking ruin...Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin the “complete liberation” of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol......As they surrendered, the troops were taken prisoner by the Russians, and at least some were taken to a former penal colony. Others were said to be hospitalized.Russia said the Azov commander was taken away from the plant in an armored vehicle.

Nearly 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russian said Wednesday, as the battle ... drew toward a close....The Ukrainian fighters trooping out of the ruined Azovstal steelworks that became the last stronghold of resistance in the city face an uncertain fate. Some were taken by the Russians to a former penal colony in territory controlled by Moscow-backed separatists....Russia’s main federal investigative body said it intends to interrogate the surrendering troops to “identify the nationalists” and determine whether they were involved in crimes against civilians.The Russian parliament was scheduled to consider a...

Russia's Defence Ministry said on May 19 that 1,730 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered this week at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine's port city of Mariupol. "Over the past 24 hours, 771 militants of the Azov nationalist regiment surrendered," the Ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict. "In total, since May 16, 1,730 militants have surrendered, including 80 wounded," it added.

On Sunday, the Former Deputy prime minister of Russia, Dmitry Rogozin, threatened the Starlink founder for assisting Ukraine — “Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment. And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult – no matter how much you’ll play the fool.”“The word “Nazi” doesn’t mean what he seems to think it does,” Musk tweeted.” If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2022 The word “Nazi” doesn’t mean what he seems to think it does pic.twitter.com/pk9SQhBOsG>— Elon...

If you just followed news reports on Ukraine, you might think that the war has settled into a long, grinding and somewhat boring slog. You would be wrong. Things are actually getting more dangerous by the day. For starters, the longer this war goes on, the more opportunity for catastrophic miscalculations — and the raw material for that is piling up fast and furious. Take the two high-profile leaks from American officials this past week about U.S. involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war: First, The Times disclosed that “the United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians...

A Russian official has boasted that Russia would destroy NATO countries in "half-an-hour" if conflict escalated to the use of nuclear weapons. Dmitry Rogozin, Head of Russia’s Space Agency Roscosmos and former Deputy Prime Minister, said Sunday that in the event of a nuclear war, "NATO countries will be destroyed by Russia in half-an-hour." ON WORLD WAR II ANNIVERSARY, ZELENSKYY SAYS EVIL HAS RETURNED He stressed that such an event "cannot be allowed because the consequences will impact the [entire] Earth."

Thermonuclear missiles roll through Red Square as Putin sends chilling warning to the West: Russia prepares for Victory Day parade while its army continues its carnage in Ukraine The RS-24 Yars ballistic missile - which experts believe can can carry up to 10 warheads - was paraded today Intercontinental weapon, which weighs 49.6 tonnes, can travel up to 24,500km/hr has range of 12,000km Jubilant soldiers and servicewomen marched outside the Kremlin in preparation for Monday's celebration Nuclear missiles have rolled through Moscow's Red Square in a chilling warning to the West as dictator Vladimir Putin prepares for his annual Victory...