Free Republic

Russia's upper house of parliament will on Dec. 13 officially announce the date of the March presidential election, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said on Tuesday - a step that marks the start of overt campaigning. According to Russian law, the upper house of parliament must announce the exact date at least 100 days before the vote. Election day is widely assumed to be March 17. President Vladimir Putin has not yet said whether he plans to run again

For Darya Stepanova, a mother of two who lives in a small town on the eastern side of the Ural mountains, soaring prices for everything from baby food to nappies have forced her family to cut back on most treats and eating out. The Stepanov family is one of millions of Russian families having to cut back due to the significant changes forced on Russia's economy by the war in Ukraine and the myriad sanctions imposed by the West. Stepanova, 34, her five year old son and newborn son, try to make ends meet on the 50,000 roubles ($550) a...

-snip- The changes Putin greenlighted limit coverage of Central Election Commission sessions to registered media outlets, which could exclude freelancers or independent journalists, according to the reports on Tuesday. The amendments prohibit media from reporting on the commission’s actions at military bases or in areas under martial law without advance clearance from regional and military authorities. They also bar the publication of any campaign content on “blocked sources”, referring to restricted websites and social media services. Under an intensifying crackdown on the opposition and the flow of information, Russia has banned an array of websites and services, including Facebook and...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that no decision has been made regarding the possible candidacy of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the presidential elections next year. -snip- “It is quite clear that this topic is now increasingly attracting the attention of political experts, but so far no decision has been made in this regard. It is understandable that the time of announcing the election is approaching, but for now there are no decisions in this regard. You will be informed as soon as they are,” said Peskov. Presidential elections in Russia should be held in March next year.

The Kremlin says it’s confident that Russian President Vladimir Putin will win the 2024 presidential election if he decides to run for another term in office. Neither Putin, 71, nor the Kremlin has confirmed he will run for another six-year term in office -snip- Senior Russian official Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, told CNBC that though there has been no formal announcement that Putin will run for reelection, he believes the president will win the vote set to be held in March. “There has been no formal announcement yet. But I have no doubt that if he puts forward...

Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s Chechnya region and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, proposed on Saturday that a presidential election due next March should either be postponed due to the war in Ukraine or limited to one candidate- Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not made any announcements that he will run for another term and the campaign has not yet been announced, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. "The president has not made any statements" about this, Peksov said when asked about a Reuters report that Putin had decided to run.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Local leprechaun, pot o' gold enthusiast, and all-around jokester Leery O'Canahan had been excited for St. Patrick's Day for months. "It's like our Super Bowl," O'Canahan told reporters. "Without the weird halftime shows." But this year it's not all drinking and shenanigans for this leprechaun. He'd entrusted all his pots of gold to Silicon Valley Bank after the investment strategy was recommended to him by Jim Cramer on Mad Money. As his deposits were worth far more than the FDIC-insured $250,000, it's now unclear if he'll ever get his money back. "It seemed like a sure...

I could tell right away this wasn’t going to be your average Washington D.C. antiwar protest. For months, the antiwar coalition International A.N.S.W.E.R. had been publicizing its plans to hold a major antiwar rally in the nation’s capital on Saturday, March 17. However, reaching the protest staging site next to the Lincoln Memorial at 11:00 -- an hour before the protestors were slated to begin marching to the Pentagon -- I found the field nearly empty. Across the street stood several thousand counter-demonstrators, mostly comprised of Vietnam War veterans associated with various biker clubs. Wearing leather jackets emblazoned with organization...

The group Defend Our Freedom will be at the March 17, 2007 protest at the Vietnam Memorial Wall to counter the ANSWER protest. We will be wearing our "Terrorist Hunter" t-shirts, which can be seen at http://www.defendourfreedom.com/store.html and will be filming/photographing the entire event. We encourage everyone to show their support for our soldiers by attending, and hope you'll join us on our forum at http://www.nationalsecurityforums.com - stay safe and stay proud of our great nation! -Defender