Free Republic

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it lost access to many world markets, including much of Europe. Countries like Germany, which for years had relied on Russian gas and oil, now turned sharply away and sought to rid themselves of any vestiges of Russian dependence. (Source) Into the breach stepped China. Always thirsty for new supplies of gas and oil, China quickly notified Russia that it was interested in receiving Russian gas and in developing a pipeline from Siberia for that gas. (Source). Recently, however, that lifeline looks more like a noose, at least for Russia. Beijing is taking...

Frontline: The War in Ukraine and Global Security "If Putin loses Crimea, he could lose power." The failure of Putin's S-300 and S-400 air defenses has put Crimea at risk for Russia says Maj. Gen. Chip Chapman speaking to Kate Gerbeau on Frontline. The failure of Putin's S-300 and S-400 air defences has put Crimea at risk for Russia says Maj. Gen. Chip Chapman speaking to Kate Gerbeau on Frontline.

China delivered a devastating blow to Russia's economic prospects after refusing to commit to a Kremlin deal over future gas exports. The Kremlin saw its gas revenues severely hit by its decision to invade Ukraine, as European countries started to introduce bans on Russian energy exports in the aftermath of the war. Gas and oil pipeline flows to Europe have plummeted by more than eighty percent since 2022, with the state energy company Gazprom taking a US$6.9billion (£5.4billion) hit to its finances.

A PARANOID and sickly Vladimir Putin is kept under surveillance by four doctors at all times, claim shocking leaked documents. The tyrant has been plagued with rumours over his dwindling health for the past year with new bombshell revelations alleging he has 111 security guards on duty at his palace. A secret document has lifted the lid on Putin's biggest concerns - with his health and security seemingly at the forefront for the brutal despot. Putin's nonstop safety blanket has been revealed, according to Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, who have close ties to law enforcement in the country. The stunning...

Q has reminded us repeatedly that together, we are strong. As the false "narrative" is destroyed and the divisive machinery put in place by the Deep State fails, the fact that patriotism has no skin color or political party is exposed for all to see. 3038 Mar 12, 2019 2:55:14 PM EDTQ !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 4fe510 No. 5643022>Decide for yourself (be free from outside opinion).>Decide for yourself (be objective in your conclusions).>Decide for yourself (be true in your own beliefs).>Decide for yourself (be open to following the facts).>Decide for yourself (be strong in defending your beliefs).>Decide for yourself (be resistant to...

It’s reckless, if not insane, to deploy an open-top, unarmored all-terrain vehicle—in essence, a heavy-duty golf cart—in combat just a quarter mile from the front line. But two years into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, Russian commanders are at least reckless if not not insane. Apparently this weekend, a Russian unit—possibly the 488th Motor Rifle Regiment—attacked positions held by the Ukrainian 60th Mechanized Brigade in Yampolivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast. A Russian column including what appeared to be MT-LB armored tractors and at least one T-90 tank motored west toward Yampolivka. That itself wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was...

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...

A massive explosion from a secure site deep within Russia rocked the city if Izhevsk less than an hour ago, with rumors circulating about the origin and cause of the explosion. Russia is reportedly spending 4.5 Billion dollars on Shahed drones annually, and this is expected to be unsustainable. Europe is also preparing on sending around 1 Million artillery shells to Ukraine before the end of this year.

VIDEO: WAR COMMENTARY SUMMATION 02 Feb: Ukrainians CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL COUNTER ATTACK. Russian Gains REDUCED TO ZERO. War in Ukraine Explained Reporting from Ukraine 463K subscribers 2-2-2024 5:00 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh5ecYbONTs I am Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the seven-hundred-ninth day of the war. Day 709: Feb 02 Today, there are a lot of updates about the battle near Vuhledar. But first of all, more information became available about the combined strike on Crimea. Russian sources reported that Ukrainians tricked the Russian air defense system by first launching...

🔴 STREAMING VIDEO - 5334 Viewers Started streaming 71 minutes ago A Russian ship exploded and rapidly sank of the coast of Crimea today in a shocking upset for the Russian navy. Ukrainian naval forces soon released frone footage showing that they attacked and destroyed the vessel. Ukraine is continuing to fight the Russians in Avdiivka, and were able to inflict high losses on attacking forces. Near Vulhedar a similar large battle was won by Ukraine.

New edict affects all of Moscow's historic holdings across three continents, including former imperial colonies in the US. Russia has laid the groundwork for expanding its soft power across North America and Asia with a new decree Vladimir Putin signed last week. The new order provides funds to search, register and provide legal protection to Russian properties abroad – including land and buildings located in former Russian Empire and Soviet Union territories. Among the areas affected by the new decree is Alaska, which was sold to the United States in 1867 and still hosts communities with close links to Russia....

Ukraine's successful suppression of the Russian Black Sea fleet has resulted in Kyiv's grain exports rising to their highest levels since the invasion by Moscow began. -snip- Russia's Black Sea fleet flagship Moskva was destroyed by Ukraine in the early days of the war. The losses have continued since then, with British Defence Secretary Grant Shapp saying last month that Russia had lost 20 percent of its Black Sea fleet over the course of four months. Significant recent losses include the December destruction of large Russian landing ship Novocherkassk and last week's revelation that Ukrainian drones sank a Tarantul-class corvette...

The wife of a Russian soldier delivered an emotional appeal for his return from Ukraine on Saturday at the election headquarters of President Vladimir Putin, a defiant gesture in a country where open criticism of the war is banned. "Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has issued a decree that my husband has to be there (in Ukraine). I'm interested to know when he will issue a decree that my husband has to be home," Maria Andreyeva said. She became involved in a heated exchange with a woman who told her that Russian soldiers in Ukraine were defending the motherland and she should...

Russian strategic culture: Why Russia does things the way it does By Martti J. Kari, former intelligence Colonel in the Finnish Defense Forces BACKGROUND My background is that I have served in military intelligence for most of my career. I am an officer and an intelligence colonel who retired last fall. I started here in January at the university as a teacher. I teach intelligence. As I have spent most of my career in intelligence, Russia and the Soviet Union have always been my point of interest. As a young lieutenant, I was sent to what was then Leningrad to...

Russia could run out of infantry fighting vehicles in two or three years, if a recent assessment is accurate. It might run out of tanks around the same time. According to one count, the Russian armed forces went to war in Ukraine in February 2022 with 2,987 tanks. After 23 months of hard fighting, the Russians have lost at least 2,619 tanks that independent analysts can confirm. That’s 1,725 destroyed, 145 damaged, 205 abandoned and 544 captured T-55s, T-62s, T-72s, T-80s and T-90s. If the Kremlin didn’t have options for replacing war losses, the Russian military would be down to...

An entire platoon of the Russian army fled their frontline trenches and tried to escape to Crimea as commanders threatened execution for deserters, Ukraine claims. Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesman for the Tavria Grouping of Troops, said that 'nearly 40 invaders' had 'recently' tried to escape to the peninsula, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014. 'I'm talking about an entire platoon of the Russian army. There were reports that they were being hunted down in an attempt to bring them back,' he told Espreso Tv, adding that the deserters were armed. The military spokesperson also reportedly said that a...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzia is losing the Critical equipment in Avdiivka | Ukraine wins the fight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZksUfLnycsQ MilitaryLand.net It’s time to look into the future and talk about what awaits us in 2024. In a few weeks, it will be ten years since Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Donbas. Now the focus on will shift back to the beginning of the website: Ukrainian regular and volunteer units. If you like the maps, please stay tuned for more details. *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

(h/t Foldspace)Q is the result of the sacrifices and commitment of countless patriots to win back our captured country from the Deep State and achieve the transformation President Trump promised in this campaign video. President Trump has said the awakening of the public is key to this transformation.Q describes this awakening as follows: "The Great Awakening ('Freedom of Thought’), was designed and created not only as a backchannel to the public (away from the longstanding 'mind’ control of the corrupt & heavily biased media) to endure future events through transparency and regeneration of individual thought (breaking the chains of ‘group-think’),...

(h/t BusterDog)realtrump on GETTRQ is the result of the sacrifices and commitment of countless patriots to win back our captured country from the Deep State and achieve the transformation President Trump promised in this campaign video. President Trump has said the awakening of the public is key to this transformation.Q describes this awakening as follows: "The Great Awakening ('Freedom of Thought’), was designed and created not only as a backchannel to the public (away from the longstanding 'mind’ control of the corrupt & heavily biased media) to endure future events through transparency and regeneration of individual thought (breaking the chains...

Christopher de Bellaigue stresses how, over the centuries, many Muslim leaders have been paragons of enlightenmentChristopher de Bellaigue, a journalist who has spent much of his working life in the Middle East, has grown tired of people throwing up their hands in horror at Isis, Erdogan and Islamic terror, and declaring that the region is backward and in need of a thorough western-style reformation. As he argues in this timely book, the Islamic world has been coming to terms with modernity in its own often turbulent way for more than two centuries. And we’d better understand it, because it’s an...