Free Republic

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his past negotiations with the United States only confirmed Washington’s “unchangeable” hostility toward his country and described his nuclear buildup as the only way to counter external threats, state media said Friday. According to North Korean state media, Kim said: "Never before have the warring parties on the Korean peninsula faced such a dangerous and acute confrontation that it could escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war."

Vladimir Putin has mysteriously disappeared from public view as his regime issued apocalyptic World War Three nuclear threats over the use of long-range Western missiles by Ukraine against Russian territory. It is unclear if during the past 12 days of high international tension the Kremlin dictator has been holed up in a hi-tech bunker, unwell, underwent another round of plastic surgery, took a secret holiday or simply chose to remain out of sight. Yet Putin, 72, has not been definitively seen since an appearance at the Valdai Forum in Sochi on November 7 when he congratulated a "courageous" Donald Trump...

Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent ally of Vladimir Putin, said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is "in no way" a friend of Russia. -snip- "We won't bargain about our constitutional territories, Solovyov said on his program Evening with Vladimir Solovyov. "But [we] can discuss with Trump whether we're going to take Berlin. 'OK, we're not going to take Berlin today,' figuratively speaking. I mean, it's a question of the system of relations. "But Trump will demand something different. He has repeatedly said that the most important thing is that there should be no alliance between Russia and China....

A local journalist in Iran publicly criticized Russia on Monday for failing to provide promised defense systems, leaving Iran vulnerable during recent Israeli attacks. According to Iran International, reporter Ali-Akbar Saadati from Kar va Kargar directly questioned the Iranian government on a daily basis on Russia’s unfulfilled commitments to supply S-400 anti-aircraft systems and Su-35 fighters. “Whenever they faced difficulties in Ukraine, suffered misfortune, or got stuck in the quagmire of the Ukraine war, they came running to us, asking for drones, missiles, everything,” Saadati said, expressing frustration over Iran’s isolation during Israeli airstrikes. “On the night Israel attacked us,...

Iran has been left powerless to export ballistic missiles to Russia for up to two years following Israeli airstrikes on weapons factories across the country. Over 100 aircraft, including F-35 Lightnings, F-16 Falcons, F-15 Eagles, air-to-air refuellers and drones, took part in the Israeli attacks in the early hours of Saturday morning. In particular, Israel appears to have targeted Iranian “planetary mixers”, used to make solid fuel for ballistic missiles. -snip- The exchange of weapons goes both ways and Iran had been reliant on Russian air defences to see off Israeli attacks. Iran purchased the S-300 air defence system from...

South Korea's foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul on Monday and urged an "immediate" withdrawal of North Korean soldiers from the war in Ukraine. "We condemn North Korea's illegal military cooperation, including its dispatch of troops to Russia, in the strongest terms," said South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun in a press release, calling for an "immediate withdrawal" of the troops. The minister warned the Russian ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev that Seoul will respond by mobilizing "all available means in cooperation with the international community to any acts that threaten the core interests of South Korea."...

Former US President Donald Trump in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal claimed he had warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about potential consequences if Russia invaded Ukraine. He recounted a conversation in which he warned the Russian leader about the severe consequences of invading Ukraine. Trump described Putin's reaction as one of disbelief, but he responded with unwavering certainty.Trump claimed that he told Putin, “Vladimir, if you go after Ukraine, I’m going to hit you so hard, you’re not even going to believe it. I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow... We’re friends....

The Kremlin has refused to publish details of "high-level conversations" between top officials, a spokesperson said after Donald Trump said he had threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with a strike on his capital if Moscow invaded Ukraine. Trump, the Republican candidate for elections now just two weeks away, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Friday that he had warned Putin—with whom he said he had a "great relationship"—not to go to war in Ukraine or he would "hit" Moscow. "I said, 'Vladimir, 'if you go after Ukraine, I am going to hit you so hard, you're...

Donald Trump, the US presidential candidate from the Republican party, said that he threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with striking Moscow in the event of an attack on Ukraine. Trump stated this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I said. ‘Vladimir, if you pursue Ukraine, I will hit you so hard you won't even believe it. I'm going to hit you right in the center of freaking Moscow. I said, 'We’re friends. I don’t want to do it, but I have no choice,’" Trump said in the interview. According to Trump, Putin responded by saying, "No way." “I...

A TOP Russian oligarch has been found dead by Putin's spies after falling 110ft down from a window at his home in Moscow. Mikhail Rogachev, 64, was vice-president of Russian oil giant Yukos which was forced out of business for being against the tyrant dictator. His body was found in the courtyard of his tenth-floor flat by an SVR employee linked to a former Russian spymaster. Initial reports in Moscow media outlets said that he had been suffering from “a severe form of cancer”. But these reports were denied by his close friends and relatives. His relatives insisted there were...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the war in the Gaza Strip must end with the establishment of a "full-fledged" Palestinian state, urging the Middle East Quartet to be reactivated in order to resume mediation efforts in the region. "The primary solution to the Palestinian problem is the establishment of a fully-fledged Palestinian state. The Russian side has upheld this position since the Soviet era," he remarked during a meeting with BRICS media managers in Moscow.

North Korean special forces troops have been seen boarding Russian ships and being transported to the mainland in satellite images released by South Korea's intelligence services. The images, from mid August, show North Korean troops boarding Russian naval transport ships and then organizing on the mainland. South Korea's National Intelligence Service stated four landing ships and three escort ships belonging to the Russian Pacific Fleet completed the first transport of approximately 1,500 North Korean special forces from near Chongjin, Hamhung, and Musudan, North Korea, to Vladivostok, Russia. A second transport operation is scheduled to take place soon, according to the...

Russia is “concerned” about the possible consequences for the Middle East after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel, the Kremlin spokesperson said on Friday. "The main thing for us is the consequences for the civilian population that we are witnessing. This is of significant concern to us. The humanitarian catastrophe that is being observed in both Gaza and Lebanon is a matter of serious concern to us," Dmitry Peskov said in a press briefing in Moscow.

North Korea has begun the deployment of around 12,000 soldiers to support Russia's war in Ukraine, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Friday citing the country's spy agency, saying it marks Pyongyang's first large-scale deployment of ground forces. The National Intelligence Service said Pyongyang had deployed 1,500 special forces troops between Oct. 8 and last Sunday to Vladivostok in Russia's Far East and that the dispatch of a second unit is expected to take place soon. The move confirmed "the start of North Korea's involvement in the war," the agency said. The North Korean soldiers are currently stationed with Russian...

North Korea has shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia's far east for training and acclimatizing at local military bases and will likely be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine, South Korea's spy agency said on Friday. South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) also said it had been working with Ukrainian intelligence service and had used facial recognition artificial intelligence technology to identify North Korean officers in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region supporting Russian forces firing North Korean missiles. In more than 13,000 containers, North Korea has shipped artillery rounds, ballistic missiles and anti-tank rockets to Russia since August...

Kiev has the capability to build a nuclear weapon "in a few weeks," a high-ranking Ukrainian official has told Bild, the German tabloid reported on Thursday after Vladimir Zelensky announced his atomic ambitions. Ukraine needs either membership in NATO or nuclear weapons, Zelensky said on Friday in Brussels, arguing in favor of his "victory plan" to end the conflict with Russia. This prompted Bild to reveal that a Ukrainian official involved in weapons procurement told them "a few months ago" that Kiev was willing to go nuclear. "We have the material, we have the knowledge. If the order is given,...

This is the moment a smug Vladimir Putin is taken down a peg by one of his top energy officials in a dispute during a tense discussion about Russia's Arctic infrastructure projects. Director General of Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev yesterday visited the Kremlin where he delivered a presentation about the company's performance and ongoing projects under Vladimir's steely gaze. After a lengthy speech in which he boasted of Rosatom's 24 per cent annual revenue growth and lauded the successes of the company's work to establish Russia as a major player in nuclear energy globally, the director...

North Korea claims more than a million young people have signed up to join or rejoin the army this week, state media reported, after accusing South Korea of sending propaganda drones to Pyongyang and blowing up border roads. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday that 1.4 million young people, including students and youth league officials, signed the petition to join the army. “Millions of young people have turned out in the nationwide struggle to wipe out the ROK scum who committed a serious provocation of violating the sovereignty of the DPRK through a drone infiltration,” KCNA...

Some 18 North Korean soldiers are believed to have deserted the Russian frontline, with Kremlin fighters reportedly searching for them. The troops were deployed in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk oblasts, about four miles from the border with Ukraine, when they deserted, the public broadcasting company of Ukraine, Suspilne, reported. Intelligence officials cited by the broadcaster said the Russian military is searching for the North Korean soldiers, while commanders are trying to conceal the desertion from their higher-ups. It comes after reports that Moscow was planning to assemble a battalion of troops sent over by Kim Jong Un to help push...

The shooting comes in the wake of a blood feud declared by Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov against politicians from Dagestan and Ingushetia. Unidentified gunmen targeted a car carrying Russian counterterrorism officers, killing three. The incident happened on Friday in Magas, the capital city of the Republic of Ingushetia in Russia's North Caucasus. The shooting comes in the wake of a blood feud declared by Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov against politicians from Dagestan and Ingushetia and have sparked fears of growing instability and bloodshed. The gunmen were allegedly aiming to kill Adam Khamkhoyev, the deputy head of Putin's Centre 'E' counterterrorism...