Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered one of the top commanders of the Wagner military contractor to take charge of “volunteer units” fighting in Ukraine, signaling the Kremlin’s effort to keep using the mercenaries after the death of their chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin. In remarks released by the Kremlin on Friday, Putin told Andrei Troshev that his task is to “deal with forming volunteer units that could perform various combat tasks, primarily in the zone of the special military operation” — a term the Kremlin uses for its war in Ukraine. Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was also present at the...

Russian jet crash kills all 88 on board Photo: AFP PERM, Russia (AFP) - An Aeroflot Boeing-737 jet crashed near a Ural mountains city Sunday killing all 88 passengers and crew on board, after reportedly catching fire in the sky, the airline said. There were 21 foreigners and seven children on the jet which came down as it prepared to land in Perm on a flight from Moscow. The wreckage cut off the Trans-Siberian railway. "It was burning while still in the sky and it looked like a falling comet," one female witness told Russia's Vesti-24 television. The jet narrowly...