Free Republic

...a recruit can get up to 5.2m roubles (£47,000) in the first year of service, plus up to 4m roubles for injuries. ...he stormed out, drunk, upset and barefoot - with a plastic bag containing their savings in cash. ...stopped by the traffic police who noticed the bag and demanded a bribe. They took almost everything - 2.66m roubles (£24,000).

Donald Trump has said he will shorten the deadline he gave Vladimir Putin to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine, giving Russia '10 or 12' days to move. In a clear bid to apply more pressure, the US president said he had wanted to be generous with his original 50-day deadline, but that with no progress being made there was no reason to keep waiting.

Russia's war machine has become such an integral part of its economic engine that its military industry is likely to keep expanding even after the fighting in Ukraine ends, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The end of hostilities will not lead to a radical cut-off of military investment," wrote CSIS analysts in a report published on Thursday. Now in its fourth year, Russia's war with Ukraine continues even as Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration weathers sweeping Western sanctions. And while cracks are starting to show, the Russian economy may still be able to...