Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin could be facing another war front, this time on his own turf, as one Chechen battalion prepares a second offensive against Moscow, a spokesman for the volunteer fighting force in Ukraine said. -snip- "We know the enemy’s positions, where Russian military bases are," spokesman for the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, Islam Belokiev, said in a video message obtained by Fox News Digital this week while announcing a plan to once again fight for Chechen independence. "We have divided the Chechen Republic of Icheriya into three fronts and 16 sectors." -snip- At least two volunteer Chechen battalions, including...

Vladimir Putin was snubbed by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan who left him twiddling his thumbs in front of TV cameras during a summit in Iran yesterday. The Russian leader was holding face-to-face talks with his sometimes-ally in Tehran on Tuesday for the first time since ordering the invasion of Ukraine back in February. But he was left waiting for a toe-curling 48 seconds in front of the world's press as Erdogan failed to arrive on time for a hand-shaking photo-op. Putin's critics said he was left 'humiliated and insulted' by what they saw as a bare-faced snub, while others...

The EU's top diplomat has issued a statement expressing sympathy ahead of the day nearly eight years ago that local separatists working with a missile system deployed by Russian intelligence officials are accused of having shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine. -snip- Russian suspect Oleg Pulatov, a former officer of the Russian Army, in 2014 headed a unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate in a region of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists. Pulatov was involved in the transport and protection of a Buk antiaircraft missile system that investigators say fired the missile that brought down the...