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After Austria and Hungary, Bulgaria has also joined the minority group of European Union countries that refuse to send weapons to Ukraine, news and opinion portal Mandiner reports [link at URL]. Bulgaria has declared that it will not take part in the EU’s joint ammunition purchase program, nor will it supply fighter jets or tanks to Ukraine, Euronews reports. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is under enormous pressure from opposition parties, but he has said he stands by his position. ... Although many of its Western allies accuse Hungary of siding with Russia in the war based on its firm stance...

Vladimir Putin's commanders are forcing his conscript soldiers at gunpoint to remain at the frontline. They are using a brutal Stalin tactic to prevent Russian reservist troops leaving their positions, say men who have seen the horror of the cannon-fodder killing fields. 'People are abandoned in the trenches as if homeless and littered with corpses,' complained Russian reservist draftees in a new video appealing directly to Vladimir Putin. 'Retreat-blocking detachments were set up against us and they did not let us out of positions.' They are forced at gunpoint to remain in position, a tactic used by Stalin's cruel SMERSH...

The U.S. National Security Council spokesman has suggested the best way for Moscow's tankers to avoid the British depleted uranium munitions being sent to Ukraine would be to retreat back across the border. London announced on Monday that it would send depleted uranium tank rounds—which are particularly effective in piercing enemy armor—along with the Challenger 2 main battle tanks being provided for Kyiv's use. The news touched off a furious reaction in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin falsely equated the munitions to nuclear weapons. NSC spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday dismissed the Kremlin's concerns about the depleted uranium munitions during...

Update(1017ET): What's being described as an initial, informal meeting between Presidents Xi and Putin is underway at the Kremlin. While the expected cordialities and expressions of closer relations were exchange, among the most notable early statements came from Putin, who said he's "open" to peace talks with Ukraine and China's mediation efforts."We have a lot of joint tasks, goals," Putin told his Chinese counterpart while also congratulating him on re-election as the head of the Chinese state for a third 5-year term. Xi in return said "Russia succeeded in promoting prosperity under Putin’s leadership." Putin further expressed that "we will...

Russia does not use hypersonic weapons in fact now, though it has them, same as other cutting-edge systems, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-1 TV channel published by journalist Pavel Zarubin on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

The UK is pledging millions of pounds to help Moldova and Georgia protect themselves against Russian interference. On a visit to the region, the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will announce new funding to boost resilience against the destabilizing impact of President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. The package will include an extra £10m to support economic and governance reforms in Moldova, as well as money to strengthen the security of next year's elections in Georgia. (snip) Ahead of the visit, Mr Cleverly said: "Few societies understand the underhand tactics of Russian malign activity more than Moldova and Georgia. "The UK...

A secret plan drawn up by Russia’s security service, the FSB, lays out detailed options to destabilize Moldova – including supporting pro-Russian groups, utilizing the Orthodox Church and threatening to cut off supplies of natural gas. The document appears to have been drawn up to thwart Moldova’s tilt to the West, which includes closer relations with NATO and an application to join the European Union. It repeatedly refers to the importance of preventing Moldova from joining NATO. (snip)The document sets out a 10-year strategy for bringing Moldova, a former Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, within Russia’s sphere of...

A Russian plot to sabotage Poland's train lines in a bid to stop the country delivering arms to Ukraine has been uncovered, with six suspected foreign agents arrested. According to news outlet RMF FM, the 'foreigners from across our eastern border' were detained by Poland's Internal Security Agency 'on suspicion of working on behalf of the Russian special services'. The six agents - who are thought to be from Belarus - were seized after intelligence officers from Poland’s ABW found hidden cameras recording important railway routes for transferring weapons and ammo to Ukraine. They are suspected of trying to sabotage...

Police in Moldova said they foiled a plot by groups of Russia-backed actors who were trained to cause mass unrest during a Sunday protest against the country’s new pro-Western government. The head of Moldova’s police, Viorel Cernauteanu, said in a news conference that an undercover agent had infiltrated groups of “diversionists,” some Russian citizens, who allegedly were promised $10,000 to organize “mass disorder” during the protest in the capital, Chisinau. Seven people were detained, he said. Separately, police said they arrested 54 protesters, including 21 minors, who exhibited “questionable behavior” or were found to be carrying prohibited items, including at...

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has awarded the Hero of Ukraine to a soldier whose execution by machine gun fire was filmed by Russian forces. The soldier was identified as Oleksandr Igorevich Matsievskyi by Ukraine’s security services after speculation about his identity followed the publishing of the grim video that captured his death. In his nightly address, Zelenskiy said Matsievskyi had become a symbol of resistance to the Ukrainian people. “Today I conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine upon Oleksandr Matsievskyi, a soldier,” he said. “A man whom all Ukrainians will know. A man who will be remembered for ever. For...

Russian officials railed against Ukraine’s talk of changing Russia’s official name to Muscovy, after a Ukrainian petition regarding a potential name change garnered 25,000 signatures. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly instructed Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal to “carefully” consider renaming Russia to Muscovy, accounting for consequences under international law and whether it was possible in historical and cultural contexts. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted to Telegram on Saturday that Zelensky is trying to create an “anti-Russia Ukraine.”

The US intelligence community believes that individuals with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in Moldova to try to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government, with the ultimate goal of seeing a more pro-Russia administration installed there, White House officials said Friday. The US believes that Russia is working to weaken the Moldovan government which is seeking closer ties with the European Union, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said, The US is also seeing signs that Russian government-linked actors could provide training to anti-government demonstrators in Moldova. The country’s capital, Chisinau,...

In the near future, Russia is planning a large-scale provocation on the Ukraine–Belarus border. Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov was instructed to cover it. "Information has been received that the Russian military-political command is planning a large-scale provocation on the Ukraine–Belarus border in the near future. To cover the provocation in detail, main Russian propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov is expected to arrive in Belarus. On March 11, it is planned to organize a tele- and radio conference and a live broadcast at the scene for Russian propaganda media," the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense posted on Telegram. According...

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko will pay an official visit to Iran on 12-13 March, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian leader. In Tehran, the Belarusian head of state is expected to hold talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. During a meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand on 16 September 2022, the leaders of the two countries instructed the foreign ministries to take stock of relations and to intensify them. The talks in Tehran will focus on the development of cooperation across the entire spectrum of bilateral relations with an emphasis on trade and...

U.S. intelligence officials have determined that people with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in hopes of toppling the Moldovan government, according to the White House. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the intelligence shows that actors, some connected with Russian intelligence, are seeking to stage and use protests in Moldova as a basis to foment an insurrection against Moldova’s new pro-Western government. Kirby said the intelligence shows that another set of Russian actors would provide training and help manufacture demonstrations in Moldova, which was granted European Union candidate status in June, on the...

The outspoken founder of the Wagner mercenary group complained that Vladimir Putin has cut off all contact with him following his constant demands for more ammunition for his fighters in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering mogul and Putin’s long-time ally, said in a message on his Telegram channel Thursday that he has been unable to get through to anyone at the Kremlin. The apparent silent treatment came after Prigozhin publicly called on the Russian Ministry of Defense to supply ammunition to his mercenaries fighting to capture the key city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has seen some of the...

This war need never have happened if Kissinger’s, and many others’, proposal for a neutral, non-NATO Ukraine had been accepted by the US in 2021, as Russia reasonably requested, and if Ukraine, at America’s direction, had ceased its eight year, US-sponsored war on the Donbas Russian speakers and Russian ethnics, and had enforced the Minsk II accords.But the US Military Industrial Complex wanted a war and got one. The object: To bleed and weaken Russia with a Vietnam-like quagmire.Russia appears to be surviving US sanctions quite comfortably, as new customers pop up in Asia for its natural gas and other...

After Russia invaded Ukraine, guerrillas from Belarus began carrying out acts of sabotage on their country’s railways, including blowing up track equipment to paralyze the rails that Russian forces used to get troops and weapons into Ukraine. In the most recent sabotage to make international headlines, they attacked a Russian warplane parked just outside the Belarusian capital. “Belarusians will not allow the Russians to freely use our territory for the war with Ukraine, and we want to force them to leave,” Anton, a retired Belarusian serviceman who joined a group of saboteurs, told The Associated Press in a phone interview....

Belarus’s authoritarian president has signed a bill introducing capital punishment for state officials and military personnel convicted of high treason. The amendments to the country’s criminal code endorsed by President Alexander Lukashenko envisage death sentences for officials and service personnel who cause “irreparable damage” to Belarus’s national security through acts of treason. Belarus is the only country in Europe that has not banned capital punishment, which has been applied to those convicted of murder or terrorism. Executions are carried out with a shot to the back of the head. Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for nearly three...

Pro-Moscow authorities in Moldova's separatist region of Transdniestria, which borders Ukraine, have claimed they prevented a terror attack organised by Kyiv against separatist officials. Security officials said in a statement they had halted 'a terror attack... directed by Ukrainian security services, being prepared against a number of officials,' including Transdniestria's leader Vadim Krasnoselsky. 'The suspects have been detained. They have given confessions,' the report claimed, providing no further information. The comments were published by Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti and come on the same day that the Moldovan parliament adopted a declaration condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prompting suspicions...