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A huge storm in the Black Sea has wrecked Russian defences in Crimea and devastated Sochi, an important port city on Russia’s wester coast. Trenches, coastal barriers and firing position were washed away from Yevpatoriya, on the western coast of Crimea, close to Sevastopol. Local reports said winds gusted up to 80mph, with waves of up to 30ft. Meanwhile in Sochi, Russia’s largest resort city, similar scenes played out. Footage showed huge waves washing ashore, damaging buildings and inundating promenades along the sea front. Crimea’s west coast is an important front in Russia’s war with Ukraine and was vulnerable to...

Car bombs kill at least two in Russia's Dagestan AFP - Getty Images Police investigators work at a blast site outside a building used by court officials in central Makhachkala, Russia, on Monday. At least eight people were killed and more than a dozen injured in twin car-bomb blasts. By Steve Gutterman, Reuters MAKHACHKALA, Russia - Two car bombs killed at least two people on Monday in Dagestan, a turbulent province in Russia's North Caucasus region where armed groups are waging an Islamist insurgency. The mother of the two brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombing has told ITV News...

@jacksonhinklle “Tucker Carlson has requested an interview with President Putin.” - RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan

@cb_doge Tucker Carlson has requested for an interview with Putin. This will break the internet if it happens 🔥

Putin squirms in his seat as Belarus dictator Lukashenko rants about men 'running away' from mobilisation in Russia as huge traffic jams on Georgia border are captured in images from SPACE Belarusian president monologued and spouted rhetorical questions in his rant to Putin today in Sochi Putin sat silently, clearly uncomfortable, as he listened to his counterpart insisting that Russia would win war The call for mobilisation has proved wildly unpopular throughout Russia, sparking protests and a mass exodus Hundreds of thousands have already fled the country and traffic jams at several border checkpoints are visible from space This is...

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he was not planning a mobilisation after his close ally Russia announced it was calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists for the war in Ukraine. "The mobilisation is in Russia. ... There will be no mobilisation (here)," state media quoted Lukashenko as saying.

Vladimir Putin's legs have buckled during a speech in Moscow, adding to the growing rumours of the Russian leader's health woes. The president was attending an awards ceremony at the Kremlin on Sunday when he appeared unsteady on his feet. The 69-year-old swayed back and forth before his speech as Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov acepted a prize. Then Putin stood behind the podium as he appeared to shake before both legs buckled and he gripped the stand for support. Putin has been plagued by health rumours in recent years amid claims he is suffering from cancer or Parkinson's, and it...

Vladimir Putin underwent 'successful' cancer surgery last week and is recovering, it has been claimed in just the latest rumour about the Russian leader's health. The 69-year-old underwent an unknown procedure late last Monday following advice from medics that treatment was 'essential', according to Telegram channel General SVR which claims to be getting information from inside the Kremlin. Putin's condition was said to have worsened briefly on Friday night before improving, the social media account said, while adding that doctors have advised he avoid taking part in meetings for several more days while he recovers. General SVR said last week...

Working in exile, Alexey Navalny’s team of anti-corruption activists have released a new investigation linking a $700-million superyacht to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The luxury vessel, officially registered to an offshore company in the Marshall Islands, is allegedly crewed by members of Russia’s Secret Service (the FSO). The Scheherazade is one of only 14 yachts in the world that are at least 140 meters (459 feet) long — and according to The New York Times, it’s the only superyacht of its kind whose owner isn’t publicly unknown. On paper, the ship belongs to an offshore company from the Marshall Islands......

1980: 2014:

The results of the Knesset election are very important to Moscow, and it hopes politicians will be elected who will maintain close ties with Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Sochi on Thursday. Netanyahu traveled to the Black Sea resort to meet the Russian leader – just five days before the election – in a move widely seen as an effort to woo elder Russian-speaking immigrants who form an important base of support for Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party.

The U.S. military Tuesday said it supported a plan to establish a demilitarized zone in northern Syria that would separate rebels in their last stronghold from advancing government forces. The agreement to create a buffer zone was worked out Monday in a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held in Sochi, Russia. Russia’s defense minister said that under the agreement, Syria would refrain from launching an offensive on Idlib Province, the last major rebel stronghold.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of a bill that would make international sports doping a crime argued Wednesday that the legislation would deter scandals like Russian state-sponsored drug use at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Yulia Stepanova, a Russian former track athlete who became a whistleblower about the drug program, said at a congressional hearing that ending doping in her country would have to “start from the top” — with Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. The bill was named for Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian lab director who exposed the cheating in Sochi. Rodchenkov has said the doping stemmed from Putin’s command...

If recent trends continue, it’ll only get worse. ... NBC* paid $963 million for the rights to air the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, a 24 percent jump over the $775 million it paid for the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. ... Viewership declines aren’t really surprising, as similar trends have unfolded across the TV landscape and viewers opt for on-demand and online entertainment alternatives. Even football and the Super Bowl — considered the last holdouts where advertisers could guarantee huge live audiences would be watching — are not immune.

Incessant political squabbles again remind us how fragile the political process in Syria can be. But Russia, despite all bottlenecks hampering a settlement, continues with its efforts. Unless the congress is delayed again, it will take place Jan. 29-30. Meanwhile, Russia searches for ways to have the Kurds represented without breaking its promise to Iran and Turkey to jointly agree on invitees. By doing so, Moscow gives the impression that it respects Ankara’s red lines but isn't hesitating to display its relations with the Kurds. The latest such display was to invite Sipan Hemo, general commander of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG),...

MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on the crash of a Russian aircraft with 92 people on board en route to Russia's air base in Syria: A Russian official says the crash of a Russian military passenger plane into the Black Sea could have been caused by a technical malfunction or a crew error, but he believes it could not have been terrorism because the plane was operated by the military. Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense affairs committee at the upper house of Russian parliament, says in remarks carried by the state news agency RIA Novosti that he "totally excludes"...

A Russian plane has disappeared from radar just minutes after take-off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russian media say. They are quoting a source at the emergency ministry as saying the missing aircraft is a Tu-154. Between 70 and 100 people are reported to be on board the plane. Unconfirmed reports say the aircraft belongs to the defence ministry, flying to Syria's Latakia province. Russian officials have so far made no comment.

The Moscow laboratory operated a scheme for the false reporting of positive samples which Richard McClaren called the Disappearing Positive Methodology The Ministry of Sport, the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA) and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the main heir to the Soviet-era KGB, were all involved Russia's Deputy Minister of Sport Yuri Nagornykh was advised of every positive test from 2011 onwards and decided "who would benefit from a cover-up and who would not be protected" Mr Nagornykh used the code word "save" when he wanted an athlete who had tested positive to be protected and "quarantine" for the...

In Putin, IOC aristocrats such as Bach thought they had found their kindred spirit, willing to pay and do anything for Olympic glory. Construct lavish and ridiculous facilities that play to the IOC's over-inflated sense of worth? Check. Suck up to IOC leadership like they are all-powerful? Check. Toss a little something extra on the side to assure the voting on host city goes smooth? Cough. Cough. The New York Times on Thursday reported the latest, and most damning, proof yet that Russia did more than just host the 2014 Winter Olympics: they conspired to fix it. Grigory Rodchenkov, the...

The ski jump sits shrouded in mist, its coat of snow undisturbed by any athletes hurtling down to take off into the air. A year ago, the jump bustled with activity at the Sochi Olympics. But it made unwanted history as well, becoming a symbol of how some of the plans for President Vladimir Putin's $51 billion Winter Games went terribly wrong. The cost of the facility soared from $40 million to nearly $300 million — an overrun that caused the businessman involved to flee a corruption investigation. Russia had vowed to pay for what became the most expensive Olympics...