Free Republic

he arrests and firing of several high-profile associates of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu by Kremlin authorities have sparked deep anxieties among members of the Russian elite connected to the current head of Moscow's Security Council, according to a new report. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email. WHY IT MATTERS A slew of well-known figures working in the Russian government and the military were arrested and axed from their posts last year. Western analysts have noted that schisms within the Kremlin's upper echelons are increasingly catching international attention as the grinding war...

Ukraine appears to have hit Russia with cluster Atacms missiles for the first time since Joe Biden lifted a ban on long-range weapons.Kyiv hit Khalino airfield near Kursk city overnight, Ukrainian military bloggers said, sharing geolocated photos of the site.The airfield is no longer used by Russian aviation, but they said the facility still contained a command headquarters, ammunition depots and a drone launching area.A video of the strike showed hundreds of small explosions typical of cluster munitions hitting the airport. Atacms come in two forms: as cluster munitions or a unitary warhead that hits a more specific target.It was...

NATO is flirting with war and extinction. France is now “officially” sending troops to Ukraine (they have been there for some time) and NATO countries are demanding strikes deep inside Russia. Meanwhile, the US has secretly made a “policy shift” that somewhat falls short of what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted but opens the door to deep strikes by the US on Russian territory.

China delivered a devastating blow to Russia's economic prospects after refusing to commit to a Kremlin deal over future gas exports. The Kremlin saw its gas revenues severely hit by its decision to invade Ukraine, as European countries started to introduce bans on Russian energy exports in the aftermath of the war. Gas and oil pipeline flows to Europe have plummeted by more than eighty percent since 2022, with the state energy company Gazprom taking a US$6.9billion (£5.4billion) hit to its finances.

A vaunted 'new era' of strategic partnership between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Xi Jinping may not exactly have been sealed with a kiss, but it did lead to rare hugs between them. Underscoring the importance of Xi's support for the Kremlin, Putin headed to Beijing earlier this week in what was his first trip abroad since his March re-election and the second in just over six months to China. Russia, grappling with Western sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine, is increasingly reliant on its booming trade with China, which is challenging US supremacy in areas from quantum...

A team of vigilante hackers carrying out cyber-attacks against Russia has been sent awards of gratitude by Ukraine's military. The team, One Fist*, has stolen data from Russian military firms and hacked cameras to spy on troops. The certificates are a controversial sign of how modern warfare is shifting. [excerpt] *One Fist is made up of hackers from eight different countries including the UK, US and Poland.