Free Republic

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he may cancel his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Argentina because of Russia's maritime clash with Ukraine. "Maybe I won't have the meeting. Maybe I won't even have the meeting. I don't like that aggression. I don't want that aggression at all," Trump told the Washington Post in an interview. The Russian navy fired on two Ukrainian naval vessels and rammed a third on Sunday in the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of Azov and Black Sea. It then captured the three vessels and the...

What started as a seemingly mild admiration between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin took an uncomfortable turn Friday when the GOP White House hopeful seemed to defend the Russian president’s strong-arm tactics – and dismiss his alleged killing of journalists and others who cross him.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to Western leaders to bury their differences with Russia and jointly strike at the "barbarian" Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria, saying Friday's Paris terrorist attack underscored the need for such concerted action. In a condolences telegram sent to French President Francois Hollande, Putin said, "This tragedy is another proof of the barbarian nature of terrorism, which challenges the human civilisation. Clearly, for effective fighting this evil, the entire international community should unite efforts," Tass news agency reported. "I would like to confirm the Russian side is ready for most close cooperation with the French...

RT: Forbes claims that Putin can do what he wants and get away with it. Do you agree that he wields that much power? MM: That is basically what he is doing because he knows exactly how far to go, he knows where the red line is, he isn’t going beyond that red line. He is not going to start a war with the US because Russia would lose it. He is not going to start a war with China because he would lose it. Therefore, in his policies he knows exactly how far to go. And he knows the...

Russia has unveiled a new-generation battle tank called Armata T-14 ahead of World War Two Victory Day celebrations on 9 May. It is among several new weapons systems featuring in a vast parade on 9 May. It is 70 years since the Soviet and Allied armies defeated Nazi Germany in 1945. The Russian defence ministry has posted photos of the new military hardware, taken during a rehearsal. Most Western leaders will not go to Moscow because of the Ukraine crisis.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion. With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, NATO said there was a "high probability" that Moscow could intervene militarily in the country's east, where Kiev forces are closing in on pro-Russian separatists.

US journalist David Satter, a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Monday he had been banned from the country in one of the first such expulsions since the Cold War. Satter, a former Financial Times and Wall Street Journal correspondent who published three books on Russia and the former Soviet Union, had been living and working in the country since September 2013 as an adviser for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The US government-funded broadcaster said that the US Embassy in Moscow has been informed of the move and lodged a formal diplomatic protest. Embassy officials have sought and...

A very merry Christmas to Pussy Riot, Greenpeace and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, not to say to Vladimir Putin. At his somewhat bizarre annual press conference, with 1,300 journalist waving flags to capture his attention, Putin announced that Khodorkovsky, like the others, would be released from prison. Putin may not be a very lovable or gentle creature, but yet again he has shown himself to be unusually cunning, for all that he has been not only derided but consistently underrated. Since the implosion of the Soviet Union, more than 20 years ago, the west has made every conceivable mistake in dealing with...

...The Bizarro World comes to mind as I watch the erosion of the moral foundation of freedom in the United States of America. I grew up believing that the United States of America, with its Christian roots, emphasis on a Natural Moral Law and recognition of inalienable rights which come from God, was a beacon for all Nations. In particular, for those Nations which had succumbed to the lies of atheistic Marxism. That included Russia, once the greatest proponent of atheistic communism. I still hope this is the case. However, we have clearly lost our moral compass as a Nation....

With America clearly in mind, Putin declared, "In many countries today, moral and ethical norms are being reconsidered." "They're now requiring not only the proper acknowledgment of freedom of conscience, political views and private life, but also the mandatory acknowledgment of the equality of good and evil." Translation: While privacy and freedom of thought, religion and speech are cherished rights, to equate traditional marriage and same-sex marriage is to equate good with evil.