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Moscow's high society has been rocked by a scandal after a pair of prominent Vladimir Putin cronies were allegedly heard insulting the Russian despot. Oligarch and former Russian senator Farkhad Akhmedov and high-profile Moscow music producer Iosif Prigozhin, both supposedly supporters of Putin, have been accused of calling him a 'Satan' and a 'dwarf'. An audio recording of what is reportedly a 35-minute phone call between the wealthy pair was shared by Ukraine's Channel Five and quickly jumped on by other outlets - as well as Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). In the audio clip, the pair are heard eviscerating...

Russia's president Vladimir Putin, 70, is taking tanks as old as he is out of storage in his desperate bid to crush Ukraine on the battlefield. A video showing long obsolete Soviet-era T-54B and T-55A tanks - designed to be used in the armies of Soviet tyrant Josef Stalin - on a train carried across Russia, presumably destined for the frontlines of the war, has emerged. It comes with Putin having already raided museums and storage depots for retired T-62 battle tanks, which halted production 12 years ago. The geriatric T-54 was originally produced by Stalin after the Second World...

President Vladimir Putin will provide Chinese President Xi Jinping with detailed "clarifications" on Russia's point of view on the Ukraine conflict during Xi's state visit to Russia that begins on Monday, the Kremlin said. During a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders would discuss themes in a peace plan for Ukraine proposed by Beijing last month. "One way or another, the topics that figured in this plan will inevitably be touched upon during the exchange of views on Ukraine" between Putin and Xi, Peskov said.

Former Russian commander Igor Girkin floated a "civil war" as a potential solution to Moscow's struggling invasion of Ukraine in a new Telegram post slamming Kremlin military leadership. Girkin's latest remarks come more than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Although Putin initially hoped for a quick victory over Kyiv, which has a smaller military than Russia, Ukraine responded with a stronger-than-anticipated defense effort that has been bolstered by Western military aid, blunting Putin's forces. After months of combat, and a lack of clear progress on Russia's side, some Russian...

The boss of the feared Russian Wagner mercenary group has called for the Russian defence minister's son-in-law to be raped or 'given the sledgehammer'. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to have his men bring defence minister Sergei Shoigu's son-in-law Alexey Stolyarov, 33, to him so he could be trained to go and fight in Ukraine. Prigozhin said the fitness influencer could be 'raped' or face the notorious 'sledgehammer' execution that Wagner has used to kill defectors, as the bitter rift between Vladimir Putin's top military cronies spirals out of control. The Wagner chief, like General Shoigu, is a close Putin...

Vladimir Putin may be upset to discover that his hotly anticipated state-of-the-nation address delivered this morning in central Moscow was not quite as impactful as he would have hoped. Almost one year to the day of his invasion of Ukraine, the despot took to the stage in Moscow before both of Russia's houses of Parliament and a sea of military commanders, where he launched a marathon tirade against the West. He spoke with passion and venom, but even the cream of the Kremlin crop couldn't help but show signs of fatigue as top officials were seen yawning amid their president's...

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group has said in a rare interview that it could take two years for Moscow to control the whole of two eastern Ukrainian regions whose capture it has stated as a key goal of the war. Yevgeny Prigozhin said his understanding of Russia's plan was that it needed to fully control the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that Moscow last year claimed as "republics" of Russia, in a move condemned by most countries of the United Nations as illegal. "As far as I understand, we need to close off the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and...

Russia's federal media watchdog tasks its spooks with protecting Vladimir Putin from memes that portray him as a 'bald dwarf', 'a crab', or 'a Hitler wannabe'. That is according to reports on a leak out of Roskomnadzor, the main agency behind online censorship in Moscow that is responsible for blocking material about the on-going invasion of Ukraine and any disparaging posts about the Russian president. Analysis of the leaks found that the agency compiles reports on all 'negative publications', and sends them 'upstairs' to the Kremlin and Russia's security services to brief them on all of the despot's critics via...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia was being threatened by German tanks, like during World War Two, speaking at an event in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, marking the Soviet victory over Nazi forces in the city. 'It's unbelievable but true. We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks,' Putin said, adding that Russia had an 'answer' to any country that threatened it. Putin appeared to have brought his 'nuclear football' to Volgograd. Aides were seen close to the dictator carrying two black bags. Observers believed one was a fold-up shield to protect Putin in the event of shooting,...

Footage from a fierce ongoing battle around Vuhledar, southwest of Donetsk, shows Russian soldiers retreating after their five vehicles were hit by Ukrainian artillery. The Russian troops were forced to run away and leave their wounded crawling behind them after being struck by airburst ammunition. -snip- Russia is said to be planning a 'new pre-emptive strike' in Ukraine according to satellite photos which show Putin's forces building up fortifications. The new offensive will reportedly take place ahead of the first anniversary of their invasion on February 24.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group of mercenaries has dominated headlines in Ukraine, has reportedly been sidelined by Vladimir Putin after failing to make good on his promises of military gains. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Prigozhin's "star has begun to set" following his boasts that his forces could capture the Donetsk city of Bakhmut. The think tank said on Sunday that Putin wanted to see what Prigozhin and his previous commander in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin could do after the conventional Russian military had suffered disastrous setbacks. "Both efforts failed," the ISW said, as Prigozhin's attempts...

Despite maintaining ‘good relations’ with Moscow, Iran says it will never recognise Crimea and four other regions of Donbas as Russian. During an interview on Thursday, January 19, with the Turkish TV channel TRT World, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Iran confirmed that Tehran did not recognise Crimea and four other regions of Donbas as Russian. This will come as a huge blow to President Vladimir Putin who clearly sees the Republic of Iran as an ally. Abdollahian insisted that Crimea, DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, with reference to the observance of international laws, were Ukrainian...

Vladimir Putin has deployed air defence systems around Moscow, suggesting the despot fears an attack from Ukraine. He has deployed lethal S-400 defence missiles to two locations in the capital, designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles. Local residents say the deployments are new to the Russian capital. The tyrant's latest move comes after two drone strikes on Russian two air bases in Saratov and Ryazan in December, both suspected to be from Ukrainian forces. One S-400 air defence system has been deployed in fields belonging to the Russian State Agricultural University in the northwest of...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, warned NATO on Thursday that the defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war. Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world. -snip- Asked if Medvedev's remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it absolutely does not mean that." -snip- Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church,...

Vladimir Putin has shown his rage at Russia's collapsing economy and failing war effort, as he publicly humiliated his deputy prime minister during an angry rant. The fuming dictator blasted Denis Manturov in a government video conference for failing to procure military and civilian planes. He accused him of "fooling around" after the politician, a deputy PM and Trade and Industry Minister, flew on holiday to Turkey over New Year. The Kremlin leader also shook up his high command once again, promoting a number of loyalist generals. A video of Putin's furious rant showed the president declaring: “There are no...

The Russian Defense Ministry has demoted General Surovikin to deputy head of the united Russian troops in Ukraine & Valery Gerasimov is the new head. This occurs just after his near predecessor Lapin has been promoted.

Moscow has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of Russia’s ground forces, despite having been ousted as commander of the Russian Armed Forces' Central Military District in October, as Russian troops pursue a massive offensive in Donetsk, reports said Tuesday. The appointment was met with criticism from Russia hawks as Russian President Vladimir Putin looks to turn the tide in the near-year long war in Ukraine, where it has made little advances since it began losing territory in September. Lapin first received heavy backlash from top players in Putin’s war, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner founder...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin to attend the overnight Orthodox Christmas service there. Last year, Putin delivered his Orthodox Christmas greetings from the Saint Nicholas Church on Lipno Island, near the western Russian city of Veliky Novgorod.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Please. Yulia Bubnova: Good afternoon. TASS Agency, Yulia Bubnova. To be honest, I would like to start with some summing up. Clearly, it was not the easiest year, and not the most ordinary, but what are its main results for you? What have we achieved, perhaps, what did we fail to achieve, and how do you see our future, where are we going and where should we arrive? Thank you. Vladimir Putin: There are no ideal situations. Ideal situations only happen in plans, on paper, and you always want something more. But in general, I...

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the Russian army must learn from and fix the problems it had suffered in Ukraine, promising to give the military whatever it needed to prosecute a war nearing the end of its 10th month. In a speech to defence chiefs in Moscow, Putin said there were no financial limits on what the government would provide in terms of equipment and hardware. "We have no funding restrictions. The country and the government are providing everything that the army asks for," he said. Putin acknowledged, not for the first time, that the call-up of 300,000...