Free Republic

Moscow: Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers on Wednesday took off from their base in Engels in Volga region on a record 23-hour patrol during which they will cover a distance of 18,000 kilometres without touching the ground. "We are expecting this mission to set a record because its duration will exceed the previous achievement by two hours and it would be of total of 23 hours, and its range will reach 18,000 kilometres," Air Force spokesman Lt Col Vladimir Drik was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. A similar mission last year had lasted 21 hours. The Tu-160...

NATO and Russia said on Wednesday they intend to boost efforts to develop a joint system to protect their troops from attack by short-range missiles.

A revolution is brewing in Vladimir Putin's Russia. The chickens of his incompetence and shameless artifice are finally coming home to roost. Now, he has only neo-Soviet brutality to fall back upon. How long that will maintain him, only the likes of Barack Obama can say. The Bruce Springsteen of Russia, Yuri Shevchuk of the seminal rock band DDT, recently launched into an unprecedented, lengthy, and biting critique of the Putin regime from the stage of one of Russia's most prestigious arenas. A video of the speech went viral and has already been viewed nearly 200,000 times and received over...