Free Republic

Recently we learned that President Putin is spending more time in bunkers and cracking down on internal security as he fears the possibility of a drone strike or a coup.In addition to seeking to preserve his own personal security, Putin has cracked down on people's personal freedoms by shutting off social media and private messaging accounts and pushing everyone toward Kremlin-monitored accounts.But there are signs that this repression is starting to backfire as people are increasingly willing to oppose Putin publicly. Case in point, Ilya Remeslo, a former Putin supporter who spent years harassing Putin's enemies.Remeslo was once part of...

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that some of his opponents would destabilise Russia and usher in chaos if they were elected in a presidential election next year, but promised genuine political competition. Putin, who is running for re-election in March, was answering a question at his annual news conference about opposition leader Alexei Navalny who looks unlikely to be allowed to contest the election due to what Navalny says is a trumped up criminal case. The question was put to him to Ksenia Sobchak, a television personality who has said she plans to run...

MOSCOW (AP) — A 35-year-old Russian celebrity TV host who aspires to run for president in next March's election said Tuesday that Crimea belongs to Ukraine despite its 2014 annexation by Moscow — a bold statement that has drawn angry responses from Russian officials and lawmakers. Ksenia Sobchak also emphasized her critical stance by issuing a call for the release of the nation's political prisoners and denouncing official corruption at her first news conference since declaring her presidential ambitions.