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The Russian military has begun using Moscow’s vast video surveillance system to find conscripts who evade compulsory service, Moscow’s chief draft officer Maxim Loktev told state-run news agency TASS on Tuesday. Russia Says Surveillance System Helping to Find Draft Dodgers “Moscow’s video surveillance systems are being used to determine a conscript’s residence,” said Loktev. He added that workplaces and educational establishments will also provide information on those required to perform military service. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a controversial law that seeks to tighten Russia’s military call-up system, replacing paper summons with electronic summons, creating a new digital...

A growing number of Chinese parts have been found in Russian weapons, Ukraine told Reuters. Chinese-made parts have been found in Russian aerial drones and tanks, the outlet reported. China has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia. Ukraine said it has found Chinese parts in captured Russian weapons, a senior advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters on Monday. Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who is also a sanctions expert, told the outlet that Ukraine "continues to find different electronics" in Russian weapons that have been used in Ukraine. "We're picking [up] a lot of different stuff, China-made," Vlasiuk said. "The...

A fire raged near the Kremlin yesterday as Vladimir Putin carried out secret talks with Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko. As the two leaders met, emergency services swarmed to the blaze at a defence ministry building at 19 Znamenka Street, Moscow. Dramatic footage shows smoke gushing from windows and rising into the sky. Around 50 people were evacuated, with the cause of the fire currently unconfirmed. Some reports said the section of the building on fire was a department of military property dealing with facilities across the country. No injuries were reported. As firefighters battle to extinguish the flames, Putin was...

BRUSSELS (AP) — The blue-and-white Finnish flag rises outside NATO headquarters Tuesday afternoon, making Finland a member and doubling Russia’s border with the world’s biggest security alliance. The move is a strategic and political blow to President Vladimir Putin, who has long complained about NATO’s expansion toward Russia and partly used that as a justification for his country’s war with Ukraine. “What we see is that President Putin went to war against Ukraine with a declared aim to get less NATO,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. “He’s getting the exact opposite.” Like all NATO members, Finland will benefit from the...

He revealed Putin is 'mortally afraid' of Covid and is isolating for fourth year A protection officer who worked directly for Vladimir Putin has defected from Russia, labelling the Kremlin despot a 'war criminal' for his invasion of Ukraine. Gleb Karakulov, 35, is a captain in the Federal Guard Service, known as the FGS or FSO, who escaped Russia to the safety via Istanbul. 'With Putin… he doesn't use the internet or a mobile phone. He only receives information from his closest circle, which means that he lives in an information vacuum,' Karakulov said. This means his knowledge of events...

James Olson, the spy agency's former chief of counterintelligence, said he believes the sharks are now circling for the tyrant back home in Russia. Olson said that Putin is now in a "no win" situation - with the war either devolving into a grinding statelemate, or ending with Vlad's death. He said if Putin stays in power he will never give up the war - and so the way to end it is for Vlad to be killed or ousted. Olson, who served for over 30 years in the CIA and won medals for his service, explained that things don't...

Series of explosions rocked the FSB building before it burst into flames today The building is located in city of Rostov-on-Don, located 75 miles from Ukraine A deadly fire today broke out at a Russian FSB building located 75 miles from Ukraine after ammunition detonated in a warehouse. A series of explosions rocked the building, which belongs to the FSB's border patrol section, before it burst into flames in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don this morning. One person was killed and two others were injured after the raging inferno ripped through the building. Video shows the building engulfed in...