Free Republic

Vladimir Putin is facing mutiny from his biggest war Ukraine backers amid fears of an impending coup. An unprecedented wave of defeatism over the war has gripped the “toxic” Kremlin dictator’s most ardent supporters. This follows a wave of crippling Ukrainian drone and missile strikes which have paralysed Putin’s oil exports and savaged his key military factories. Russian gains on the frontline have ground to a virtual halt, with some reversals, amid catastrophic losses of 8,000 or more soldiers a week.

Chelsea Football Club owner, Roman Abramovich is reported to have been effectively barred from living in Britain ever again. This comes after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was also confirmed on Thursday, 24 February. The Russian billionaire has not been seen at Stanford Bridge, Chelsea’s home as well as his home He withdrew his application for a British Tier 1 investor visa in 2018, after reported delays in his application following criticism of Russian oligarchs in the wake of the Salisbury poisonings. The Daily Mail reports that Abramovich has business connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has, however, denied...

Last week, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be helping Iran "a bit". But Iran's successful hitting of US military bases and energy infrastructure in the Gulf suggests that Russian help is much more than what Trump described as "a bit". Russia is reported to have provided Iran with the precise locations of US warships and aircraft operating in the Middle East. Russia's Kanopus-V satellite gives Iran round-the-clock images of American assets and other targets in the region. An important target reportedly provided by Moscow to Tehran was the precise location of a US military base in Kuwait,...

Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia.Two people familiar with the U.S.-Russia negotiations said that such a proposal was made by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during their meeting last week in Miami.The U.S. rejected the proposal, the people added. They, like all other officials cited in this article, were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of...

A pro-Kremlin figure who unexpectedly denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine in a social media post this week that went viral has been placed in a psychiatric facility, the hospital said on Thursday. Ilya Remeslo made a career denouncing Putin’s critics until he became one himself, posting a manifesto late on Tuesday to his 90,000 followers on Telegram entitled: “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.” He said Putin had prosecuted a “failing war” in Ukraine that had killed millions and torpedoed Russia’s economy to the detriment of its citizens’ well-being. Vladimir Putin is not...

In a phone call with President Trump this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed moving Iran's enriched uranium to Russia as part of a deal to end the war. Trump turned him down, sources tell Axios. Why it matters: Securing Iran's 450 kilograms of 60%-enriched uranium — convertible to weapons grade within weeks, and enough for more than 10 nuclear bombs — is one of the U.S. and Israel's key war objectives. In theory, Putin's offer could help facilitate the removal of Iran's nuclear stockpile without U.S. or Israeli boots on the ground. Russia is already a nuclear power and...

A battle is brewing inside the US intelligence community over explosive evidence that Russia may be behind the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” illness that has sickened hundreds of US officials — as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard pushes to make the findings public after the Biden administration allegedly buried them. Multiple sources familiar with the case told The Post that US intelligence agencies internally concluded Moscow was responsible for the attacks dating back to 2016, but all declined to disclose the determination publicly. US officials are also believed to have obtained at least one of the devices used in the...

Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran on the location of US forces in the Middle East in an attempt to help Tehran fight back, according to a new report. The Kremlin has passed on the locations of American warships, aircrafts and other military assets ever since “Operation Epic Fury” kicked off a week ago, three sources told the Washington Post Friday. “It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one official familiar with the intel told the outlet.

Russia giving Iran intelligence info in ‘comprehensive effort’ to attack US in Middle East. By Emily Crane and Samuel Chamberlain. Published March 6, 2026 Updated March 6, 2026, 11:29 a.m. PST Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran about the location of US forces in the Middle East in an attempt to help Tehran fight back against “Operation Epic Fury”. The Kremlin has passed the Islamic Republic the locations of American warships, aircraft, and other military assets since American and Israeli airstrikes began Feb. 28, three sources told the Washington Post Friday. “It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive...

Mr. Putin is also grappling with the arrival of a new world of unbridled American power under President Trump, which is checking Russia’s global influence and ripping up Moscow’s playbook for partnerships abroad. For years, Mr. Putin supported anti-American authoritarian governments in Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, with little worry that Washington would use its overwhelming military power to kill, capture or push out their leaders. That has now changed, as Mr. Trump has demonstrated a willingness to disregard international norms and engage in foreign adventurism by fully exploiting Washington’s might. The last two months have brought the U.S.-Israeli killing of...

The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has fired rockets from Lebanon into Israel for a second day while the Israeli military has sent troops into the south of the country, as Lebanon is dragged into the war between US, Israel and Iran. Israel has also carried out air strikes that have killed dozens of people, according to Lebanese health officials. On Monday, after the regional conflict spread to Lebanon, thousands of residents fled villages in the south and, in Beirut, displaced families gathered in the city's Martyrs' Square and on the promenade along the Mediterranean.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned Monday that World War III "will undoubtedly begin" if President Trump persists in his "insane course" of regime change. Following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Medvedev predicted Iran will pursue nuclear weapons "with triple the energy" and dismissed European reactions as "toadyism. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev issued a stark warning Monday that continued US efforts to topple foreign governments will inevitably trigger global conflict. Speaking to state news agency Tass, Medvedev declared that if President Donald Trump "continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes, it will...

Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, according to U.S. and European officials, despite sharp warnings from Washington and its allies not to provide those armaments to Moscow to use against targets in Ukraine. The new missiles are expected to help Russia further its efforts to destroy Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, which President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said this week now involved 4,000 bombs a month across the country. The U.S. and European officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed that after months of warnings about sanctions, Iran has shipped several hundred short-range ballistic...

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders in multiple countries, this exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade, and why most of Europe – including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dismissed them. As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approaches and the world enters a new period of geopolitical uncertainty, Europe’s politicians and spy services continue to draw lessons from the failures of 2022. The phone call William Burns had travelled halfway around the world to speak with Vladimir Putin, but in the end he had...

The opposition leader, who is leading the polls ahead of April's elections, says Viktor Orbán's party is orchestrating a smear campaign with secretly recorded intimate videos. Hungary's opposition leader Péter Magyar has accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party of preparing a blackmail campaign against him involving a secretly recorded sex tape, escalating tensions ahead of April's parliamentary elections. Magyar, whose Tisza party leads Fidesz in opinion polls, said he suspects the governing party plans to release intimate recordings made with surveillance equipment. "I suspect they are planning to release a recording, recorded with secret service equipment and possibly...

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned on Tuesday that Moscow would take "military and technical compensatory measures" if the United States deploys elements of its proposed "Golden Dome" missile defense system on the Arctic island. Ryabkov made the remarks during a briefing at the Russian Embassy in China. His remarks came as US President Donald Trump seeks to assert greater control over Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory, and advances plans to deploy the "Golden Dome" missile defense system — a multibillion-dollar project he says will be operational before his term ends in 2029. ...His controversial plan comes as the...

In 2009, Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom, began acquiring a Canadian company called Uranium One. It started small—17%—then kept buying. By 2010, Rosatom wanted control. The prize wasn’t just uranium. It was access: to Kazakh deposits, American mines, and strategic reserves buried beneath a 35,000-acre ranch in Wyoming.The deal needed approval from CFIUS, a powerful U.S. committee tasked with blocking foreign threats to national security. On the panel sat the State Department, then led by Secretary Hillary Clinton.That spring, as the uranium deal quietly advanced toward Washington, Salida’s charitable arm—the Salida Capital Foundation—received $3.3 million. It was an anonymous donation.Within...

When chief of staff Andrew Card knelt down and told George Bush “America is under attack” 15 years ago Sunday, the words he whispered in the president’s ear in a Florida classroom launched what was supposed to be a planned, orderly response to a national emergency. But what followed instead was chaos, a breakdown in communication and protocol that risked international conflict and could have made Sept. 11, 2001, a still bigger tragedy. There were live nukes on the tarmac at U.S. airbases, a failed communications system, and a security protocol for the president and his potential successors — the...

The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response. The claim of an invitation comes with Putin showing no signs of ending his invasion of Ukraine, in which hundreds of thousands have been killed and Russian troops have carried out atrocities against civilians. The Russian president has repeatedly rejected proposals...

British authorities on Wednesday indicted two men for the March chemical-weapons attack on a former Russian double agent on British soil. The new details add to the evidence that Vladimir Putin’s regime is responsible, but its reckless methods are the real stunner. Police and prosecutors allege the men they identify as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov—almost certainly pseudonyms—arrived at London’s Gatwick airport on Friday, March 2, smuggling the weapons-grade nerve agent Novichok in a small counterfeit perfume bottle. They ferried the chemical on suburban trains and the Tube through central London to a hotel, where nonfatal quantities of Novichok were...