Free Republic

Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov is siting in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, and that spells trouble for his boss Sergei Shoigu. -snip- In his latest job overseeing military construction, Ivanov was in charge of some of Russia’s most prestigious projects, including a giant military-themed cathedral and patriotic theme park on the outskirts of Moscow and, more recently, reconstruction work in the ruined city of Mariupol in occupied Ukraine. His access to astronomic funds earned him the nickname “Shoigu’s wallet.” Rather than hide his wealth, Ivanov flaunted it. For years, tabloids and independent journalists documented his love for women, opulent real estate,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with an ally of the Wagner Group signals his struggle to address setbacks in the Ukraine conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking decisive steps to address growing challenges as he seeks to regain control over his struggling military campaign in Ukraine. On May 2, Putin met with Alexei Dyumin, the governor of Russia's Tula Oblast, and a known associate of the Wagner Group, at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence in Moscow Oblast. The meeting has raised questions about the stability of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's position, signalling Putin's increasing desperation in the face of unmet...

A Russian deputy defence minister has been accused of taking bribes and remanded in custody by a court in Moscow. Timur Ivanov, who denies the charges, is accused of accepting bribes "on a particularly large scale". Appointed to the defence ministry in 2016, Mr Ivanov, 47, has been responsible for Russia's military infrastructure projects. Mr Ivanov is considered an ally of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and has worked with him for many years. He was previously deputy prime minister of the Moscow region, where Mr Shoigu briefly served as governor. -snip- In 2022, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), the group founded...

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned Kremlin will intensify attacks on Western weapons stored in Ukraine. “We will increase the intensity of attacks on logistics centers and storage bases for Western weapons,” Shoigu said on Tuesday, according to Russian state-owned outlet RIA Novosti. The warning from Shoigu came just as the House passed the $95 billion foreign aid package over the weekend and cleared the Senate Tuesday night. It is now on its way to President Biden’s desk to be signed. Foreign aid for embattled U.S. allies includes $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid in Gaza, $8 billion for...

Russian libraries have one simple rule. And it is not "to be quiet" while others are present. The Ministry of Defense of Russia was hacked again. Did Shoigu visit "suspicious websites"? Russian air defense systems in Crimea were fully immobilized. Was this a result of a hack? Putin reveals his next potential invasion in Tucker Carlson's interview. Russia will not stop. 0:00 In today's episode 0:57 Russian libraries have one simple rule 1:39 Ministry of Defense of Russia was hacked 4:33 Russian air defense fully immobilized 10:25 Putin reveals his next potential invasion

Russia’s defense minister on Wednesday boasted about the country’s military prowess on the battlefield in Ukraine—and then shrugged when asked if Moscow would win. “The troops are engaged in maintaining an active defense in the necessary and indispensable areas. We are firmly defending what we need to defend right now. But the main task is to smash [Ukrainian] equipment,” Sergei Shoigu told a reporter on state-controlled TV. He appeared caught off guard when the reporter concluded the interview with the question, “Will we win?” Staring off into the distance for a long pause, Shoigu shrugged before saying simply, “We have...

Russia's defence minister merely shrugged when asked whether his forces will win the war, in a sign of just how bad the country's invasion of Ukraine is going. Sergei Shoigu, who has overseen his troops' startling losses and battlefield failures, didn't exude confidence in the military's abilities in an interview on Russian TV yesterday. Appearing deflated, he comically raised his shoulders with his arms outstretched as he said 'we have no other option' when asked whether Russia will win the war. It marked a stark shift from his language 18 months ago where he said 'domination had to be won'....

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state after a deadly plane crash believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the volatile chief of the mercenary group. Putin signed the decree bringing in the change with immediate effect on Friday after the Kremlin said that Western suggestions that Prigozhin had been killed on its orders were an "absolute lie".

Sergei Shoigu hails North Korea as ‘most powerful military in the world’ as he pledges closer ties to nuclear regime Russia’s defence minister has pledged to boost military ties with North Korea after meeting Kim Jong-un on a rare high-level visit to the reclusive nuclear-armed regime....

Russia sacked two generals in the past week, as Moscow’s Ministry of Defense reportedly continues to purge its top officers, pointing to a growing disarray in the military leadership following the aborted rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group. Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu canned Maj. Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov, commander of the Tula Airborne Division, this week, according to Belarusian news outlet Charter97. The governor of the Tula region, which borders Moscow, Alexei Dyumin, tried to stand up for Seliverstov, who was involved in the battles in Bakhmut, but to no avail, according to the Russian publication VChK-OGPU. Seliverstov’s reported...

Russia sacked two generals in the past week, as Moscow’s Ministry of Defense reportedly continues to purge its top officers, pointing to a growing disarray in the military leadership following the aborted rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group. Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu canned Maj. Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov, commander of the Tula Airborne Division, this week, according to Belarusian news outlet Charter97. The governor of the Tula region, which borders Moscow, Alexei Dyumin, tried to stand up for Seliverstov, who was involved in the battles in Bakhmut, but to no avail, according to the Russian publication VChK-OGPU. Seliverstov’s reported...

A top Russian general has 'vanished' amid claims he had advance knowledge of the weekend armed revolt which threatened Vladimir Putin's regime. One theory is that General Sergei 'Armageddon' Surovikin is under interrogation over a plot to oust defence minister Sergei Shoigu amid a hunt to purge the enemies within. Surovikin, 56, is the second-in-command of the Russian armed forces. He has known links to 'coup leader' Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary army chief. US officials briefed on American intelligence said a top Russian general had advance knowledge of Prigozhin's plans to rebel against Shoigu and chief of the armed...

Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down the leaders of an armed mutiny which threatened to topple his regime as the Russian dictator broke cover for the first time since the chaos engulfing his country. In a short pre-recorded TV address to the nation, the warmonger denounced the Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted Wagner mutineers as 'criminals' and warned he would bring them to 'justice'. -snip- Putin made no mention of Prigozhin, who is believed to have fled to Belarus after agreeing to stand down his march on Moscow after negotiating a deal with Moscow brokered by Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has broken his silence after abandoning his armed uprising on Saturday evening, insisting that he marched on Moscow to stop the Kremlin taking control of his mercenary army and denying a plot to overthrow Vladimir Putin. Speaking in an 11-minute audio clip posted on Wagner-affiliated Telegram channels, Prigozhin claimed the armed uprising was a 'master class' on how Russia's assault on Kyiv should have looked. He said he only called off his group's surge for the Russian capital to avoid spilling Russian blood, adding that the uprising was intended to register a protest at the ineffectual...

During the chaos in Russia this weekend, much of the nation’s leadership effectively disappeared. It remains unclear if Vladimir Putin is even in Moscow, though state spokesmen insist that he has remained “working inside the Kremlin.” The target of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted coup attempt, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, similarly pulled a vanishing act on Saturday. But today he finally reappeared, showing up in Ukraine to perform an inspection of some of Russia’s troops, making sure that the media was there to cover his performance. The Defense Ministry published a video showing Shoigu meeting with high-ranking Russian Army officers at a...

ARTICLE 1: "Russian military launches missile attack on Wagner PMC camps - Prigozhyn. VIDEO" Censor.NET 23.06.23 21:53 https://censor.net/en/v3426631 Russian Armed Forces launch a missile attack on rear units of Wagner PMC: hundreds of people are killed in attack, social media reports. The corresponding video was published on the Butusov PLUS Telegram channel, VIDEO LINK: https://storage2.censor.net/video/3/230623_hdt.mp4 "A huge number of our fighters were killed. We will decide how to respond. The next step is ours," said Yevhen Prigozhin, head of the private military company Wagner. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that all the videos of the alleged shelling of Wagner's...

The Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has said Russia’s defence ministry concocted false pretences to trick Vladimir Putin into invading Ukraine and said Moscow could have avoided the war entirely. In a half-hour tirade Prigozhin, founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, claimed Russia had faced no immediate threat from Ukraine when Putin began his full-scale invasion last year and accused the army’s top brass of deceiving the Russian president for their own personal gain. The extraordinary rant, posted on social media on Friday, was the former caterer’s latest salvo in a long-running spat with defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who Prigozhin...

Vladimir Putin has not openly criticised his long-suffering defence minister amid the war in Ukraine, but the Russian president appeared to make his feelings towards Sergei Shoigu very clear on a visit to a hospital for wounded soldiers. Putin and Shoigu yesterday visited the Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow to greet several servicemen who sustained all manner of gruesome injuries amid the Kremlin chief's war in Ukraine. Upon their arrival at the medical facility, Putin quickly walked around the group, awkwardly shaking the hands - and in some cases bandaged stumps - of the medically discharged veterans, asking...

Russia's most powerful mercenary said on Sunday that his Wagner fighters would not sign any contract with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, publicly refusing an attempt by the defence ministry to bring his fighting force under its sway. -snip- The defence ministry on Saturday said Shoigu had ordered all "volunteer detachments" to sign contracts with his ministry by the end of the month, a step it said would increase the effectiveness of the Russian army. Though the ministry did not mention Wagner in its public statement, the Russian media reported that it was an attempt by Shoigu to bring the mercenaries...

Russia appears to have moved to take direct control of Wagner, after months of infighting between defence officials and the private military group. Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Saturday "volunteer formations" will be asked to sign contracts directly with the ministry of defence. The vaguely worded statement is widely believed to target the group. But in a furious statement on Sunday, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces would boycott the contracts. The private military group has played a major role in the war in Ukraine, fighting on the side of Russian forces. But Prigozhin, who is said...