Free Republic

At North Korea’s new beach resort, the white sand glistened against the crystal-clear waters. Ten minutes of Wi-Fi cost $1.70. Food arrived in abundance, albeit with the same three beverage choices: water, tea or beer. The weeklong trip cost roughly $2,000. The catch? All travelers had to be Russian. Welcome to North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma coastal complex, a megaresort built by the regime to portray the country as modern and affluent. It is opening to foreign vacationers for the first time, as part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to attract more tourism to his cash-strapped country and...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov commented on Thursday regarding threats issued by U.S. President Donald Trump to BRICS, an organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Trump claimed the group has "anti-American policies" and said he will impose tariffs on it and its allies, with Peskov replying that BRICS "does not respond to threats" and is not aligned against any country, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

Indian state refiners have temporarily ceased purchasing Russian crude oil this week, primarily due to concerns over potential secondary tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump and reduced discounts on Russian oil. This decision by state-controlled refiners, which represent over 60% of India’s refining capacity, marks a shift from their regular imports of Russian oil since 2022. Indian refiners are now seeking alternative crude supplies from the Middle East and West Africa and have requested urgent guidance from the Indian oil ministry regarding future Russian oil flows.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday told U.S. President Donald Trump to remember that Moscow possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort after Trump told Medvedev to "watch his words". -snip- "If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path," Medvedev said in a post on Telegram. Trump should remember, he said, "how dangerous the fabled 'Dead Hand' can be," a reference to a secretive semi-automated Russian command system designed...

President Trump warned Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev that he risks entering “dangerous territory” after he slammed the US deadline for a cease-fire in Ukraine as “a step towards war.” “Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” Trump said regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top ally on Truth Social Thursday morning.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday took a sharp jab at India and Russia -snip- Russia and the USA do almost no business together." He added, "Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!”

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it continues to monitor statements by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding sanctions against Moscow, but that Russia had acquired immunity to such measures thanks to long experience. -snip- "We have been living under a huge number of sanctions for quite a long time, our economy operates under a huge number of restrictions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Therefore, of course, we have already developed a certain immunity in this regard, and we continue to note all statements that come from President Trump, from other international representatives on this matter." Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria...

United States President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that his new deadline for Russia to reach an agreement with Ukraine is ten days from today. "Ten days from today ... and then, you know, we're going to put on tariffs and stuff, and I don't know if it's going to affect Russia, because he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants to obviously, probably, keep the war going, but we're going to put on tariffs and the various things that you put on. It may or may not affect them, but it could," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his...

The Kremlin said on July 29 it had “taken note” of a statement by US President Donald Trump that he was shortening his deadline for Moscow to sign up to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face sanctions. Mr Trump set a new deadline on July 28 of 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine or face consequences, underscoring frustration with President Vladimir Putin over the 3½-year-old conflict. Asked about Mr Trump’s statement on July 29 during a conference call with reporters, the Kremlin kept its remarks short. “We have taken note of...

Monday that he has always had a "great" relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that he is "not so interested" in talking to Putin. He said a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine will "still happen, but it's very late down the process." He repeated that he is "disappointed" with Putin and said that every time he thought the war might end, Putin "kills people." Trump claimed that Putin talks about a trade deal with the US "all the time" and that Russia could be "so rich right now" if it was not spending "all its money on...

For the first time in its history, Russia is fighting alone against the entire West, so we cannot afford weakness. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov․ "We have a lot to do. The most important of them is to defeat the enemy. For the first time in its history, Russia is fighting alone against the entire West. In the First and Second World Wars, we had allies. Now we have no allies on the battlefield. Therefore, we must rely on ourselves," Lavrov said.

A pro-Ukraine hacker group claims to have carried out a major cyberattack on Russia’s biggest airline, Aeroflot. Silent Crow has claimed responsibility for the attack on Aeroflot’s IT infrastructure, which caused the airline to cancel dozens of flights on Monday. -snip- Aeroflot, Russia’s national carrier, said it had cancelled more than 40 flights following the IT “failure”, without saying how long it would take to be resolved. This included journeys to airports across Russia, plus the capital of Belarus, Minsk, and the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, the Reuters news agency reported. Aeroflot has not responded to the hacking claims and...

President Donald Trump on Monday reduced to less than two weeks his deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to either reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face massive "secondary tariffs" on Moscow's trade partners. Trump previously gave Putin a 50-day deadline, which was set to expire in early September. But he signaled Monday that things were taking too long, saying "I'm going to make a new deadline of about ...10 or 12 days from today." "I'm disappointed in President Putin," Trump said in Scotland alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "Russia and Ukraine — I would have said five...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that his delegation will stress the importance of China pausing its purchases of Russian and Iranian oil in a meeting with Chinese officials next week in Sweden. Bessent said in a Fox Business interview that he believes the United States can move on to such issues concerning China, given that trade is now "in a good place." He made the remarks as senior U.S. and Chinese officials are set to meet Monday and Tuesday in Stockholm for a round of trade talks. "I think that the Russian war machine would grind to a...

Ukrainian drones targeted St. Petersburg on Sunday, Russian authorities said, forcing the airport to close for five hours as Vladimir Putin marked Russia's Navy Day in the city, despite the earlier cancellation of its naval parade due to security concerns. St. Petersburg usually holds a large-scale, televised navy parade on Navy Day, which features a flotilla of warships and military vessels sailing down the Neva River and is attended by Putin. Last year, Russia suspected a Ukrainian plan to attack the city's parade, according to state television. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Sunday that this year's parade had been...

US President Donald Trump is still interested in resolving the conflict in Ukraine and wants to see concrete actions to end it, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with the Fox News channel, APA reports. “This is not his war, but he wants it to end“, the head of the foreign policy department said. According to Rubio, Trump is frustrated that “his good interaction and phone calls with Vladimir Putin are not leading to anything“. “It is time to take action and the president has made it very clear. "He's losing patience," the secretary of state...

Russia's navy has been forced to cancel its annual flagship event in St Petersburg, in a humiliating blow for Vladimir Putin. Navy Day is a major national holiday and is held on the last Sunday of July, celebrated by the public and military alike. The event is used by the Kremlin to show off its latests ships and technology, as it attempts to project its naval power to the watching world. As the maritime capital of Russia, St Petersburg holds a Main Naval Parade along the River Neva, which is normally attended by the Russian president. Usually ships from the...

The Russian navy plays a crucial role in Moscow's conflict, but it has suffered significant losses since the war began in February 2022, with approximately half of the Black Sea Fleet damaged or destroyed by Ukrainian maritime drones and long-range anti-ship missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin's prized Black Sea Fleet was nowhere to be seen to thwart heavy bombing by Ukrainian drones Wednesday night amid Moscow's largest naval games this year, which comes as a warning to the West. Putin ordered the 'July Storm' drills, which involve more than 150 combat ships, 120 aircraft, and 15,000-plus military personnel. Footage shows...

A Soviet-era plane that crashed in Russia’s Far East was nearly 50 years old and had recently had its lifespan extended by another decade, highlighting the country’s continued use of ageing passenger jets. The smoldering wreckage of the Angara Airlines An-24 airplane was found on Thursday in the remote Amur region, which borders China. Estimates of the number of people on board vary, but around 49 people, including crew members, are believed to have died. Officials, who have begun a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the disaster, said there were no survivors. The incident has laid bare Russia’s dependency...

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...