Free Republic

Russia opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because Moscow needs a “solid and long-term peace” that resolves the core reasons for the crisis, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign intelligence chief said on Tuesday. Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said that Russia had the initiative on the battlefield. -snip- Russia is open for talks, Naryshkin said.

The United States and Russia are very close to engaging in 'direct military conflict,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned in an interview published Friday in a Turkey daily, just days ahead of a US presidential election. 'Under the current president (Joe Biden), who has taken the downward spiral of Russophobia in the US to its logical conclusion, our countries are on the brink of direct military conflict,' he told the Hurriyet daily, without elaborating. Asked about next week's US election pitting former Republican president Donald Trump against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Lavrov said the outcome would make little difference...