Free Republic

So much outrage (including from Vice President and Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris) about the claim in Bob Woodward’s upcoming book that Donald Trump during his presidency sent some test kits to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin at the height of the Covid pandemic when they were scarce in the United States. And about the famed journalist’s report that the former president called Putin seven times since the former left the Oval Office in January, 2021. (See, e.g., here.)And so little about by far the biggest outrage described in War (if true, of course – as with the above revelations): that...

Donald Trump has had as many as seven private phone calls with Vladimir Putin since leaving office and secretly sent the Russian president COVID-19 test machines during the height of the pandemic, Bob Woodward reported in his new book “War.”In the famed Watergate reporter’s latest book, Woodward reports that Trump asked an aide to leave his office at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, so that the former president could have a private call with Putin in early 2024. The aide, whom Woodward doesn’t name, said there have been multiple calls between Trump and Putin since Trump left office, perhaps as many...

The leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has threatened the west with a nuclear warning saying World War 3 will be triggered if NATO advance into his country. The leader of Belarus warned World War 3 will break out - if NATO attacked his country or Russia. Alexander Lukashenko threatened to use nuclear weapons against NATO despite Belarus not having any. However, since last year, the nation has hosted Russian tactical warheads, on behalf of close ally Vladimir Putin. Lukashenko made his sinister threats while speaking in Minsk, saying “World War Three” would be unleashed if NATO troops entered his country,...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine´s air defenses battled an overnight Russian aerial attack on the capital Kyiv for five hours, officials said Thursday, as missiles and drones again hammered the Ukrainian power grid. The Kyiv attack injured at least two people, Ukraine´s Emergency Service said. A kindergarten, a gas pipe and around 20 cars were damaged in the city, said the Kyiv Military Administration. In western Ukraine, the air force said, Russia fired three Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles – one of Russia´s most advanced weapons – “in the direction of” Starokostiantyniv, a city in the Khmelnytskyi region, on Thursday morning....

The Russian government is completely writing off all debt, mortgages, and loans for their soldiers who were wounded or received awards for service in Russia’s Special Military Operations. American soldiers get assistance but not an exoneration of mortgages and debts. Putin also ordered the country’s military to expand to 1.5 million active troops, bringing the total military personnel to nearly 2.4 million. The growing prospect for World War III continue to unfold.

ransomnote: The media is broadcasting part of Putin's statment - essentially if US/UK allow Ukraine to fire long-range missiles deep into Russia, then they are at war with Russia. Right now there's apparently a blackout on Putin's second point - NATO military personelle, and NATO satellite intel are required to fire the missiles deep into Russia (in bold type below).Question: Over the past few days, we have been hearing statements at a very high level in the UK and the United States that the Kiev regime will be allowed to strike targets deep inside Russia using Western long-range weapons. Apparently,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin raised eyebrows Thursday when he expressed his support for US Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, flattering the Democratic nominee with some curiously timed remarks. “Our ‘favorite,’ if you can call it that, was the current president, Mr. [Joe] Biden. But he was removed from the race, and he recommended all his supporters to support Ms. Harris. Well, we will do so – we will support her,” Putin said Thursday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. “She laughs so expressively and infectiously that it means that she is doing well.” Putin also criticized former president...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a Russian TV interview on Sunday that Moscow would prefer seeing Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House next year because she is more “predictable” than her opponent Donald Trump. Peskov’s comments were delivered with a dash of sarcasm, as the Russian government insists it has no preferences in foreign elections and never interferes with them. Peskov therefore treated the question about who the Kremlin favors in the 2024 U.S. presidential election as laughable. His interviewer, regime-friendly TV personality Pavel Zarubin, also made a point of laughing out loud when he asked the...

After receiving a gold-encrusted copy of the Holy Quran of Muslims in a mosque in the Russian Chechen Republic's capital, Grozny, Russian president Putin kissed it and then hugged it to take photos of Kadyrov and Mezhiev.

A clip has emerged online showing Russian warlord Vladimir Putin kissing a copy of the Quran during his visit to Chechnya this week, as Ukraine continues its shock cross-border incursion. Putin also met with Chechnya leader and attack dog Ramzan Kadyrov, with whom he visited the newly constructed "Prophet Jesus" mosque in the capital, Grozny. There the Kremlin leader was presented with a gold-encrusted copy of the Holy Quran, before planting a kiss on it for the cameras.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday made an unscheduled trip to Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic within the Russian Federation, his first visit in nearly 13 years, as Ukraine's stunning cross-border incursion into western Russia entered its third week. Putin was greeted by Chechnya’s self-styled strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov

Ukrainian forces are pushing further into the Kursk region of Russia, in a cross-border incursion that surprised even American officials, multiple US and Ukrainian officials tell CNN. Ukrainian forces are comprised of a mix of Ukrainian regular and special operations units, unlike previous Ukrainian operations inside Russia that often involved undercover units and local sympathizers. The intention, say US and Ukrainian officials, is multifaceted, in part to disrupt and demoralize Russian forces and in part to divert Russian forces away from other parts of the eastern front. Russia claimed on Thursday to have halted a Ukrainian incursion into its territory,...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has discovered that a Russian bot farm, with over 900 AI-generated fake social media accounts, has been spreading propaganda and disinformation around the US and other countries. What has the bot farm been posting? Most of the AI-generated fake profiles look like they belong to American citizens, with biographical information, political ideologies, locations, personas, backstories, photos, friends, and families, and have been posting videos, content, and images to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other pro-Kremlin initiatives. One of these fake profiles professed to be a Bitcoin enthusiast and a free speech absolutist, from Minneapolis,...

WASHINGTON-Russia is turning to a familiar playbook in its attempt to sway the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, looking for ways to boost the candidacy of former President Donald Trump by disparaging the campaign of incumbent President Joe Biden, according to American intelligence officials. A new assessment of threats to the November election, shared Tuesday, does not mention either candidate by name. But an intelligence official told reporters that the Kremlin view of the U.S. political landscape has not changed from previous election cycles...

ransomnote: emphasis mineKYIV. Nov 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian members of parliament have demanded the presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, investigate suspicions of the legalization of $7.4 billion by the "family" of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych through the American investment fund Franklin Templeton Investments, which they said has ties to the U.S. Democratic Party.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txohpK6WV9IAt a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday, MP Andriy Derkach announced that deputies have received new materials from investigative journalists about international corruption and the participation of Ukrainian officials in it."Last week, November 14, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO),...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he had seen fragments of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump but that his preference for Biden as the next US president remained unchanged. Asked by a state television reporter if Biden or Trump was better if his publicly stated preference for Biden had changed after the debate, and if he had seen it, Putin said "Nothing has changed". "Did we not know what could come? We knew," Putin added. Putin has several times said that he feels Biden is preferable as the future U.S. president to Trump, even after...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was sincere about wanting to end the war in Ukraine, but that he did not know how Trump planned to do so if elected. Putin, speaking at a news conference in Kazakhstan at the end of a regional security conference, commented after being asked about Trump's statements that he could end the Ukraine war swiftly if he won the White House race on Nov. 5. "The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in...

Donald Trump is considering scenarios to end the war in Ukraine. The Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency is reportedly already negotiating with Vladimir Putin about how much Ukrainian territory Russia will be able to keep, reports the "Politico" website. Trump is also considering an agreement under which NATO would pledge not to expand eastward.Perhaps Trump is so confident that he is already preparing to take over the presidency after Biden. According to "Politico," the former U.S. president is reportedly negotiating with Putin about how much Ukrainian territory Russia can take. "Politico" cites national security experts from the Republican candidate's...

Proceeds from oil and gas sales for Russia's federal budget rose by around 41% year on year in the first half of the year 5.698 trillion rubles ($65.12 billion), finance ministry data showed on Wednesday, due to rising oil prices and the weaker ruble. Oil and gas revenues have been the most important single source of cash for the Kremlin, accounting for around a third to a half of total federal budget proceedings for the last decade.

Vladimir Putin had always kept his family in the dark. Now, it's out in public. Let's take a closer look at Putin's family. 0:01 have you heard have you ever heard of Vladimir Putin's family chances are you 0:08 haven't heard much it's because in the state he has built Putin's family didn't play any significant role and it's 0:16 always been hidden in the shadows somewhere Putin has placed his bets on 0:24 close friends and former colleagues but not on the Family 0:30 but that is changing now and fast Vladimir Putin has started empowering his family frantically...