Free Republic

Armed police are going door-to-door while gun-toting mercenaries are guarding polling stations as Russian stages sham referendums in occupied Ukraine. 'Voting' is now underway in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions on whether or not to become provinces of Russia - with the results fixed by Moscow. But, just to make extra sure, Kremlin officials, military police and hired guns are keeping a careful eye over the process - with Ukrainian politicians reporting that they are kicking front doors in to force people to cast their ballots. Serhiy Haidai, governor of occupied Luhansk, said some towns under Russian occupation have...

Russia will use its largest and most-powerful nukes to defend the territory it occupies in Ukraine, a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin has insisted today. Dmitry Medvedev, who served as a stand-in for Putin from 2008 to 2012, vowed the territories will become part of Russia when referendums are held this week - after which 'any Russian weapons' will be used to defend them. That includes 'strategic nuclear weapons' such as Putin's giant new Sarmat missile, Medvedev said, and 'weapons based on new principles' - likely a reference to hypersonic technology that the Kremlin claims is invulnerable to air defences.

Russian airlines have stopped selling tickets to Russian men aged 18 to 65 unless they can provide evidence of approval to travel from the Ministry of Defense. All flights from Russia to available foreign destinations were sold out Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin declared a “partial” mobilization of the country’s 25 million reservists. Flights from Moscow to the capitals of Georgia, Turkey and Armenia — which do not require visas for Russians — for Sept. 21 were unavailable within minutes of Putin’s announcement, according to Russia’s top travel planning website aviasales.ru. By noon Moscow time, direct flights from Moscow to...

Terrified Russians are scrambling to flee the country today with one-way flights out of Moscow sold out after Vladimir Putin sparked mass panic by ordering a troop mobilisation in a dramatic escalation of the Ukraine war. Tickets to Johannesburg for a family of three were earlier fetching £44,000, while the cheapest flights from the capital to Dubai were costing more than £4,500 - about five times the average monthly wage, amid the desperate race to escape the potential conscription. In a nationwide speech, Putin ordered the call-up of 300,000 military reserves - a first in Russia since the Second World...