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Russia's defence minister merely shrugged when asked whether his forces will win the war, in a sign of just how bad the country's invasion of Ukraine is going. Sergei Shoigu, who has overseen his troops' startling losses and battlefield failures, didn't exude confidence in the military's abilities in an interview on Russian TV yesterday. Appearing deflated, he comically raised his shoulders with his arms outstretched as he said 'we have no other option' when asked whether Russia will win the war. It marked a stark shift from his language 18 months ago where he said 'domination had to be won'....

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the UK's special forces were training Ukrainian troops on how to damage nuclear power plants in Russia Vladimir Putin today warned Britain of 'serious consequences' and ranted that Rishi Sunak 'doesn't understand' the risks after he accused the UK's special forces of trying to disrupt Russian nuclear power plants. The Kremlin dictator claimed, without providing evidence, that Britain's elite forces were training Ukrainian troops on how to damage atomic power lines in Russia. The despot threatened dire consequences for the UK while admitting his thinly veiled threat would be interpreted as 'nuclear blackmail'. Putin...

A new economic outlook revealed that Russia expects to sell gas to China at a steeply discounted rate over the next three years, far below the price European buyers will pay, according to a Bloomberg report.

Russia’s central bank on Tuesday hiked interest rates by 350 basis points to 12% at an emergency meeting, as Moscow looks to halt a rapid depreciation of the country’s ruble currency. The ruble slumped to near 102 to the dollar on Monday, as President Vladimir Putin’s economic advisor, Maxim Oreshkin, penned an op-ed in Russian state-owned Tass news agency that blamed the plunging currency and the acceleration of inflation on the “loose monetary policy” of the central bank.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group that leads the ongoing assault on Bakhmut, on Tuesday accused the Russian army of fleeing its positions around the city. "Today one of the units of the Defense Ministry fled from one of our flanks ... exposing the front," said Prigozhin. Prigozhin, popularly known as Putin's chef because of the lucrative catering contracts he once held with the Kremlin, accused the Russian Defense Ministry of "scheming all the time" instead of fighting. Prigozhin said soldiers were abandoning their positions because of the "stupidity" of Russian army commanders, who he said were giving...

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force fighting in eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday he had been told he and his men would be regarded as traitors if they abandoned their positions in the city of Bakhmut. But Yevgeny Prigozhin said for the second time in a matter of days that his forces would leave Bakhmut if they did not receive the ammunition they needed to press the battle. He delivered his latest tirade in a profanity-laced audio message which coincided with Russia marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two with its traditional parade on Moscow's...

Moscow media mouthpieces often refer to history books when they talk about Russia's invasion of Ukraine but one Kremlin propagandist decided to turn to the Bible. During a monologue on Solovyov Live, host Roman Golovanov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among those who have used the Old Testament story of David versus Goliath as a parallel for the war in Ukraine, in which Russia is portrayed as the larger adversary. However, Golovanov said that the perennial tale of the underdog triumphing should be flipped around and that Russia "was in fact the David" because "at least 50 countries are...

With even nationalist pro-war bloggers criticising Putin’s actions in Ukraine, his desperation and paranoia are growing. May is traditionally a month for public celebration in Russia, with massive public processions on 1 May for Labour Day and military parades on 9 May for Victory Day, a holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Not so in 2023. Russia’s biggest trade union cancelled its traditional Labour Day demonstrations because of the “heightened risk of terrorist activity”, while regions near the Ukrainian border called off Victory Day parades so as to “not provoke” the Ukrainian army. The Russian government has warned...

Vladimir Putin has reportedly fired a top admiral because of his refusal to send his sailors to fight in the war against Ukraine. Admiral Sergei Avakyants, 66, was suddenly stripped of the role of commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet last week during war games involving nuclear bombers ordered by the Kremlin. Avakyants has been seeking to protect his men from deployment - to prevent them from being cannon fodder - according to Volya and Brief Telegram. The admiral had repeatedly resisted or subverted orders to send his men to fight in Ukraine. When forced to do so he allegedly...

ONE of Vladimir Putin's war planes dropped a bomb on a Russian city tonight - blowing a massive 65ft crater in the street. Residents said they heard a whistling noise before a blast erupted beside a block of flats in Belgorod, only 25 miles from the border with Ukraine. In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defence said: "As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition."

Traditional military parades set to take place next month have been called off in Crimea due to security concerns, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian politician acting as head of the Russia-annexed Crimea since 2014. In a statement on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, Aksyonov said authorities in both Crimea and Sevastopol have decided not to hold parades or marches to mark Victory Day on May 9. Marches to mark Labor Day on May 1 have also been scrapped in the region, he said. The move comes as Ukraine has signaled it intends to recapture Crimea as part of its...

Prof. John Quelch discusses the BRICS nations announcing their own currency, in a bid to break away from the US dollar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's popularity in the United States has reached its highest point since 2020, years before his troops invaded Ukraine, according to new data. The Kremlin leader's popularity among Americans, as of the first quarter of 2023, stands at 21 percent, according to pollster YouGov. In the first quarter of 2021, Putin's popularity hovered at 15 percent, and shortly after Russia began the war with Ukraine, it was registered at 17 percent.

The Kremlin wants to replace the notorious Wagner Group with an alternative force Vladimir Putin can exert more influence over, reports say. An apparent feud between Russia’s Military of Defence and the mercenary faction has reportedly led to Putin becoming paranoid about his own position. The Russian president is reportedly fearful the Wagner Group has become too powerful amid rumours of a power struggle between key Russian officials. However, no other known Russian group comes close to Wagner’s military size or combat power, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said. The British defence experts said the desire for a...

Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov suggested that opponents of the construction of a mosque in the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district in eastern Moscow go “to the trenches with a machine gun”. About this Kadyrov writing in your telegram channel. Previously, the possible construction of a mosque had provoked protests from local residents and a discussion on social networks. “If all these participants of the meeting wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly have the idea of ​​​​defending Russian land, then advance into the trenches with a machine gun! Take a machine gun, push back the Muslim who is fighting for you today in the Russian Donbass, and...

A Russian war propagandist who called for the destruction of Ukraine was killed in a bomb attack in St Petersburg. Video shows the moment pro-Putin cheerleader Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was handed a statuette of himself by an unnamed woman that was believed to have contained the explosive just minutes before he was blown to bits at the political event in the cafe. -snip- It is not known if the woman who handed him the statue, which Russian media said was a gold-coloured likeness of Tatarskiy and contained 200g of TNT, was aware of its contents.

Russian forces in Ukraine have failed to meet a key deadline for progress in eastern Ukraine ahead of a long-touted counteroffensive from Kyiv, according to a new assessment. Moscow did not manage to "achieve the Kremlin's goals" of exerting control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March 31, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said on Saturday. The two regions, which collectively make up the Donbas, saw fighting between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists break out in 2014. They have seen many of the heaviest clashes since the start of the all-out war in February...

March 29 (Reuters) - An explosion hit a natural gas pipeline near a village in northern Siberia late on Wednesday but there were no casualties, Tass news agency cited a local official as saying.

Ukraine struck a railway depot and knocked out power in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol deep behind the front line on Wednesday amid growing talk from Kyiv of a counterassault against Russian forces worn out by a failed winter offensive. Unverified images on the internet showed explosions lighting up the night sky with streaks of contrails in Melitopol, base of the Russian-controlled administration in Zaporizhzhia, one of five Ukrainian provinces Russia claims to have annexed. Ukraine's exiled mayor of the city confirmed there were explosions there. Russia's state TASS news agency, citing Moscow-installed officials, said a railway depot was damaged...

A Russian tank formation intended to cause devastation in Ukraine has been hit with heavy losses due to low morale and poor discipline, it has been reported. The 10th tank regiment is part of the 3rd army corps, the first major new Russian formation in the invasion, but it has already lost 'a large proportion of its tanks, according to British intelligence. After failing attempts to capture Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Moscow is diverting the ailing legion to nearby Avdiivka, The Telegraph reports. -snip- The Ministry of Defence stated: '10th tank regiment's losses have largely been due to tactically...