Free Republic

In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence. But hundreds of pages of government documents — which Mueller possessed since 2018 — describe Kilimnik as a “sensitive” intelligence source for the U.S. State Department who informed on Ukrainian and Russian matters. Why special counsel Robert Mueller’s team omitted that part of the Kilimnik narrative from their report and related court filings is not known. But the revelation of it comes as the accuracy of Mueller’s Russia conclusions face increased scrutiny. The incomplete portrayal...

A Russian navy tugboat, the Kapitan Ushakov, sank on August 9, 2025, at a shipyard in St. Petersburg. It was expected to be delivered to the Northern fleet. The Project 23470 began listing to starboard on August 8. The sinking of the ship occurred at a time when it was in the final stages of outfitting and about to be completed at the Baltic shipyard in St. Petersburg. The shipyard team made efforts throughout the night to stabilise the vessel, but failed ultimately. By the morning of August 9, the tugboat flipped and capsized on the seabed near the dock....

From Russia to the FBI, with Love How the FBI agent who spied for Russia set the stage for the FBI’s betrayal of the American people. Igor Danchenko, the primary source for the infamous dossier deployed against Donald Trump in 2016, was acquitted Tuesday of lying to the FBI. If the verdict seems surprising, consider the back story. Danchenko, a Russian national, was once on the FBI payroll. As Julie Kelly explains, that made the Russian part of the bureau’s untouchable “sources and methods,” protecting him and any documents referencing him from congressional and other outside scrutiny. That invites a...

An American citizen spearheading the California secessionist movement said he’ll open an embassy in Moscow this weekend as his separatist campaign looks toward Russia for recognition.Louis Marinelli, the president of the Yes California Independence Campaign, plans to open the doors Sunday to the Golden State’s first ever “embassy” in none other than the Russian capital.Mr. Marinelli, 30, has been one of the most vocal proponents in recent years of the grassroots movement dedicated towards gaining California’s independence from the United States. He’s orchestrated that campaign from abroad since at least September, however, when he relocated from San Diego to Siberia to be with...

Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned. John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, "almost certainly" removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad. "The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to...

He bit more than the bullet. A Russian soldier on the frontlines in Ukraine murdered his comrade and ate the corpse to survive the grim wartime conditions — only to end up dying anyway, Kyiv’s military intelligence reported. A call between two Russian soldiers who shared the jaw-dropping story of the cannibalistic ‘Brelok’, who killed his countryman ‘Foma’, was allegedly intercepted by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, according to the Kyiv Post. **SNIP** The ghoulish cannibal was found dead, according to the report. Russia has recruited hardened criminals — including murderers and convicted cannibals — to bolster its ranks during...

A prominent Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin has docked his 500-foot yacht in the Port of Palm Beach, just days before President Trump makes his way to Mar-a-Lago. Roman Abramovich docked the yacht, which is estimated to be worth between $400 and $500 million, at the port on Friday afternoon, and is expected to stay until Dec. 5, according to The Palm Beach Post. Abramovich's arrival comes days before Trump is set to arrive at his Florida resort, dubbed the "winter White House," for the Thanksgiving holiday. There have not been reports or signs that the...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A sharp rise in global oil prices following Israeli strikes on Iran will benefit Russia and bolster its military capabilities in the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in comments that were under embargo until Saturday afternoon. Speaking to journalists in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the surge in oil prices threatens Ukraine´s position on the battlefield, especially because Western allies have not enforced effective price caps on Russian oil exports. “The strikes led to a sharp increase in the price of oil, which is negative for us,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians are getting stronger...

The attorney representing Mohamed Sabry Soliman — the terrorist charged with firebombing a peaceful pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado — was reportedly barred from practicing law just six years earlier over what was described as “misconduct concerning an immigration matter.” The Federalist’s Sean Davis shared the story in a post on X, explaining that attorney Susanna Dvortsin had been reprimanded by the South Dakota Supreme Court and barred from practicing law in that state in 2019. “Guess who was banned from practicing law in 2019 for immigration misconduct? The attorney for the illegal immigrant family of the Egyptian terrorist who...

YIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, in which at least three people were killed and many others injured, was described by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “brutal.” According to authorities, a barrage of multiple rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the center of the northeastern city a day after direct peace talks made no progress on ending the 3-year war. Zelenskyy said one of the rockets fired at Sumy pierced the wall of an apartment building but failed to detonate.

Ukrainian forces have wiped out dozens of Russian military aircraft, including nuclear bombers, in a massive drone attack on President Vladimir Putin’s air bases deep inside the country, Kyiv sources are claiming. The mission carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) using first-person-view (FPV) drones hit 41 Russian heavy bombers at four separate airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine, a security source told the Kyiv Independent on Sunday. The drones were reportedly smuggled into the country hidden in trucks. TU-95 “Bear” nuclear bombers, TU-22 “Backfire” fast-attack strike bombers and A-50 “Mainstay” command-and-control jets were among the aircraft that were destroyed...

A former FBI informant pleaded guilty on Thursday to lying about a $10 million bribe that a Ukrainian businessman paid to then-vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter to “protect” his firm from a looming corruption investigation. Alexander Smirnov, 43, entered into a plea agreement with special counsel David Weiss and confessed to having created “a false and fictitious record” as part of a multi-year federal probe into the Bidens. The falsehoods included the bribery allegation, which was memorialized in an FBI FD-1023 form in 2020 and released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last year, and other aspects of...

(AFP) — Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Germany along with Ukraine’s other key Western backers had lifted range restrictions on weapons they send to Kyiv to fight against Russia. Merz, who took office early this month, also vowed that “we will do everything in our power to continue supporting Ukraine, including militarily”, in close coordination with other supporters. “There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine — neither by the British nor by the French nor by us nor by the Americans,” he said. “This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by...

NEW YORK — In recently released testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a key participant at the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. said that he “knows” Hillary Clinton and has a personal relationship with her that dates back to the late-1990s. Besides describing a direct connection to Clinton, Russian-born Washington lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin also testified that he “knew some people who worked on” Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Akhmetshin was one of the participants at the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting that has been the subject of much news media coverage related...

MOSCOW (AP) - A Muslim cleric formerly held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba said Tuesday U.S. guards there regularly desecrated the Qur'an by putting it into a toilet, although he added he never witnessed it himself. Airat Vakhitov, who described himself as a former imam of a mosque in Tatarstan, a majority Muslim republic in southern Russia, is one of seven men released from Guantanamo in 2004 and returned to Russia. He and the six others were held in Russia for three months, then released a year ago. Vakhitov said at a news conference organized by the state RIA-Novosti...

The following is an excerpt from pp 682 - 690 of the: National Archives - JFK Assassination Records - Appendix 13: Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald Detailing Lee Harvey Oswald's U.S. Marine Corps activities for the period of 1957 - 1959, prior to his defection to the U.S.S.R.

The invasion of Ukraine is the deadliest conflict for Russia since the Second World War, the British government says, as it places the “likely” death toll for Russian Federation forces at a quarter of a million so far. Russia is “likely” to have taken 900,000 casualties in all since it renewed its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and between 200,000 and 250,000 of those are fatalities, an intelligence digest from Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said. The review of Russia’s combat casualties so far come as U.S. President Donald Trump places clear emphasises on ending what he calls the “killing...

U.S. sanctions are causing delays in Russian crude oil deliveries, with many tankers struggling to reach their final destinations. A significant number of tankers loaded with Russian oil, particularly from Sakhalin Island, are experiencing prolonged sea voyages. Buyers, especially India, are avoiding sanctioned tankers, leading to logistical challenges and a reshuffling of the supply chain. ... Tankers continue to load crude oil from Russia but many of these are seeing difficulty in delivering the cargo to ports as buyers avoid supply chain sanctioned by the United States, ... Deliveries from Russia’s Arctic projects are also being delayed by weeks as...

Did you know that the European Union has sent more money to Russia in payment for petroleum products than they have provided aid to Ukraine. You read that right: the EU is funding both sides of the war. ... EU imports of Russian fossil fuels in the third year of the invasion surpassed the EUR 18.7 bn of financial aid they sent to Ukraine in 2024 ... All the virtue signaling from European leaders about standing with Ukraine is completely belied by this. They all continue to trade with Russia and import oil, gas, and coal. If they were really...

Saddam Hussein's government provided senior Russian officials with oil rights worth millions of dollars under the oil-for-food program in an effort to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq, according to a U.S. Senate Committee report released on Monday. The oil allocations were "compensation for support," Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report, based on documents as well as interviews with Ramadan and Tareq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister, pointed to Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Presidential Council, and ultranationalist parliamentarian Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Both men had...