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TWO Russian TikTokers were forced to issue a grovelling apology after filming in front of a flaming Russian plant following a Ukrainian strike. Social media influencers Dasha Vladimirovna 21, and Karina Evgenyevna, 19, were filmed rapping in front of the Rosneft-Kubannefteprodukt oil depot in Sochi. The energy plant was on fire after being hit by a massive Ukrainian drone attack, which is understood to have infuriated Moscow. But the TikTok stars were seen glorying in the Ukrainian strike, which the Russian air defences failed to prevent. The video was posted to a track called Crimson Dawn by singer Endshpil, a...

More than 120 firefighters were trying to extinguish a blaze at an oil depot in the Russian city of Sochi that was sparked by a Ukrainian drone attack, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev has said on the Telegram messaging app. In the Krasnodar region, where Sochi is located, a fuel tank with a capacity of 2,000 cubic metres was on fire, Russia's RIA news agency reported on Sunday, citing emergency officials. Rosaviatsia, Russia's civil aviation authority, said on Telegram that flights were halted at Sochi's airport to ensure air safety. The attack, which Kondratyev said was in the Adler district of...

In a bold and meticulously coordinated drone operation, Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) targeted key locations near the Russian Black Sea resort cities of Sochi and Adler early Thursday morning, dealing a blow to strategic infrastructure and spreading fear deep into Russian-occupied Georgian region Abkhazia. One of the main targets was an oil facility in the village of Sirius, just outside Sochi. Russian officials confirmed the strike and urged civilians to stay away from the area due to ongoing safety concerns, as emergency crews responded to fires at the site. In Adler district, drone debris killed one woman and seriously...

It was Christmas 2011, a year after Roman Abramovich had taken delivery of his new superyacht, Eclipse. But it seemed the oligarch would not be using it over the festive period - records show it had been chartered by a company based in the British Virgin Islands. And yet photographs from Christmas Day that year show Mr Abramovich in the Caribbean sunshine, standing on the swim platform at the rear of the yacht, with Eclipse's large letter-E logo behind him. Charter records such as this were part of a decade-long scheme to mislead tax authorities, now uncovered in an investigation...

Russian President Vladimir Putin supposedly demolished his beloved summer residence in southern Russia due to his fear of being killed in a Ukrainian drone strike. The Bocharov Ruchey residence in Sochi appeared to have been torn down in February or March, leaving a dirt pit and construction materials behind, according to satellite images obtained by the Russian opposition outlet Proekt. Putin, 72, allegedly felt a “threat to his physical safety” at the Black Sea resort after Sochi was hit by multiple drone attacks, Proekt said. In September 2023, in particular, plumes of smoke and flames were seen at the site...

VLADIMIR Putin has mysteriously demolished one of his most beloved palaces amid claims the paranoid tyrant is scared of being targeted by a Ukrainian drone. Satellite images show how Putin's pricey Bocharov Ruchey palace which overlooks the Black Sea in Sochi has been bulldozed with just a patch of empty land left behind. An investigation by the Russian opposition news site Proekt has revealed that the palace may have torn down because Vlad is “truly afraid” of being killed in a kamikaze drone strike. It is believed it was decimated by the dictator back in February or March of this...

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......

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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.