Free Republic

When he penned his eyewitness account of the 1917 Russian Revolution, American journalist John Reed famously titled it Ten Days That Shook The World. But 10 days is too long for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. They've shaken things up in a week. -snip- The Kremlin wants the Russian public and the international community to see that Western efforts to isolate Russia over the war in Ukraine have failed. Russian media are welcoming the prospect of warmer ties with Washington and pouring scorn on European leaders and Kyiv. "Trump knows he will have to make concessions [to Russia] because he...

There are times in history when countries are gripped by election fever. January 2025 in Belarus is not one of them. Drive around Minsk and you'll see no big billboards promoting the portraits of candidates. There is little campaigning. The grey skies and sleet of a Belarusian winter add to an overriding sense of inactivity. And inevitability. The outcome of the 2025 presidential election is not in doubt. Alexander Lukashenko, once dubbed "Europe's last dictator," who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than 30 years, will be declared the winner and secure a seventh term in office....

-snip- Belarus has played a part in Russia’s war. In February 2022 Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched, partly, from Belarusian territory. Why did the country’s leader allow the Kremlin to do that? “How do you know I gave permission for Belarusian territory to be used?” Lukashenko asks me. “Because Belarusian territory was used [for the invasion].” “There were exercises going on involving several thousand Russian soldiers. Putin started withdrawing these troops from where they were in southern Belarus, down a road, along the border with Ukraine. "At one point he redirected some of these troops to Kyiv. I’m...

The headline in this morning’s Kommersant newspaper captured the drama. “Vladimir Putin draws his red line.” Will the West cross it? And, if it does, how will Russia respond? Speaking in St Petersburg, President Putin sent a clear warning to the West: don’t allow Ukraine to use your long-range missiles to strike Russian territory. Moscow, he said, would view that as the “direct participation” of Nato countries in the war in Ukraine. “It would substantially change the very essence, the nature of the conflict,” the Kremlin leader continued. “This will mean that Nato countries, the USA and European states, are...

As I walk around Borovsk, two things strike me about this town 60 miles (100km) from Moscow. First, there is almost no sign of the presidential election coming up this weekend. I see few election banners or billboards and no political flyers being handed out. Not surprising, really. The absence of election preparations mirrors the absence of drama surrounding a stage-managed event that will hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term in the Kremlin. The other thing you can't help noticing in Borovsk is the street art. It's everywhere. Much of it has been created by street artist Vladimir Ovchinnikov. All...

University student Olesya Krivtsova has been missing a lot of classes. That's because 20-year-old Olesya is under house arrest. She has an electronic tag on her leg. Police can monitor her every move. Her alleged crime? Olesya was arrested for anti-war posts on social media. One of them concerned last October's explosion on the bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea. "I posted an Instagram story about the bridge," Olesya tells the BBC, "reflecting on how Ukrainians were happy with what had happened." She had also shared a friend's post about the war. Then the drama began.

It is more than 26 years since Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan. But today Russia, once again, is at war outside the former Soviet Union - in Syria. The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow met some veterans of that Soviet war to find out what lessons were learnt. Modern Russia often claims it has learnt the lessons of Afghanistan, and that never again will it allow itself to be sucked into a long bloody war, far from its borders.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko banned a number of Western and Russian journalists from the country, accusing them of being a "threat to national interests" or promoting "terrorist activities," according to a list published on the presidential website on Wednesday. Two British journalists working for the BBC—Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg and producer Emma Wells— and BBC cameraman Anton Chicherov had been banned from entering Ukraine but Judith Gough, the British ambassador to Ukraine, confirmed on Twitter that the BBC journalists would be released. Two Spanish journalists, Antonio Pampliega and Angel Sastre, were also included on the blacklist although Sastre went missing...