Free Republic

The Battle of the Debaltsevo Bulge is possibly the most fierce and wide-ranging battle of the Muscovite-Ukrainian war to date. The battle involved the full capabilities of modern mechanized forces, the interaction of intelligence, infantry, artillery and armored vehicles, artillery and means of electronic intelligence. The Ukrainian army, for the first time in its history, held a successful defensive operation on a broad front showing itself to be fully capable in battle. After 8 days of fighting Ukrainian troops successfully repelled the Muscovite assault. The Muscovite army of mercenaries had attempted to destroy the Ukrainian defense in the Donbas and...

According to the information from a Russian activist, a member of the Facebook group “We are together” Albert Liberman, the 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Western Military District has been sent to Ukraine. Mr. Liberman stated that about 70% of the brigade is made up of newly recruited conscripts, and it would be worth giving a hint to their mothers in Saint Petersburg about their children’s assignment. Detachments of the 138th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade were discovered in the Rostov group of Russian invasion forces back in the fall of 2014. Specifically, an artillery unit of this brigade was...

On the eve of Angela Merkel and François Hollande's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) made a concrete push for Putin's vision of eastern Ukraine. The self-proclaimed, largely unrecognized DPR moved closer to unifying with the other region that has forcefully broken away by declaring itself the legal successor of a 1918 self-proclaimed Soviet republic. "We, the deputies of the Donetsk People's Republic, aware of our responsibility before the past and paving the road for the future, proclaim the continuation of the tradition of the Donetsk-Krivoy-Rog Republic and announce that the state of Donetsk...

American threats to arm Ukraine are a "bluff" aimed at making Russia blink as the crisis in east Ukraine deepens, according to senior EU diplomats. Angela Merkel and François Hollande’s mission to Moscow comes following a “radical deterioration” and Western intelligence showing “beyond doubt” that thousands of Russian are fighting in Ukraine, senior diplomats said. The general consensus among Western diplomats, including Nato, is that there is no military solution to the Ukraine crisis although attitudes are hardening in Washington as fears grow that Kiev is on the edge of military and economic collapse. One European diplomat said that reports...

LVIV is a city of over 700,000 people in Western Ukraine. It’s regarded by popular Ukrainian magazine Focus as the country’s best city to live in. It’s also home to an anti-cult, full of strong hatred towards Russian president Vladimir Putin. The hatred towards the Russian president follows his support for pro-Russian separatists fighting in a civil war that has claimed the lives of over 4,300 soldiers and civilians. Around the city, there are posters that show Putin with a single bloody bullethole in his head and swastikas printed on his shirt. Shooting ranges are even available where you can...

Russian debt insurance costs and yield spreads on sovereign dollar bonds are near six-year highs, surpassing those of countries such as Pakistan whose credit ratings are several notches lower. Analysts said on Monday that last week's shock interest rate cut had worsened the situation by weakening the rouble, making debt repayment costlier for many companies and raising inflationary pressures. Russia is rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch, their lowest investment-grade ratings, while Standard & Poor's cut its rating to a "junk'' grade BB+ last week.

Russia is on a path to greater nationalization of private business, and the country has become a "value trap," Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder told CNBC on Tuesday. As a result, there is little value to be found in the country for investors, the outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin said in a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview. "It's a value trap right now. Low price-to-earnings ratio only helps you if you get those earnings in the end," Browder said. "None of that money is going to come to you. You're either going to lose it from capital controls, from...

The United States and Russia are once more locked in what could be a generation-defining conflict, and Europe is yet again the core battleground. But this Cold War reprise isn't about military supremacy. It's about heat and electricity for tens of millions of Europeans. The points on the map aren't troop deployments, tank battalions and missile silos but pipelines, ports and power plants. As the Obama administration escalates economic sanctions on Russia and weighs military support to Ukraine, it also has revved up a less noticed but far broader campaign to wean Central and Eastern Europe off a deep reliance...

Members of the Russian parliament are creating a task force to estimate the damages inflicted on Russia by Germany during WWII, in a bid to demand financial compensation from the German state almost 70 years after the end of the conflict, Russian daily newspaper Izvestia reported on Tuesday. The initiative is a direct response to trade sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and EU, for its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March and continuous support of separatist fighters in Eastern Ukraine since, according to Mikhail Degyaterov, an MP from the Liberal Democrat Party of Russia, who has proposed...

While the markets are still debating whether the price of oil is more impacted by the excess pumping of crude here, or the lack of demand there, or if it is all just a mechanical squeeze by momentum-chasing HFT algos who also know to buy in the milliseconds before 2:30pm, we bring readers' attention back to what several months ago was debunked as a deep conspiracy theory. Back then we wrote about a certain visit by John Kerry to Saudi Arabia, on September 11 of all days, to negotiate a secret deal with the now late King Abdullah so as...

As a senior archivist for the KGB’s foreign-intelligence directorate, Vasili Mitrokhin had access to a treasure trove of information. He unveiled those secrets after defecting to Britain in 1992. One such secret concerned the “active measures” — the lies – the KGB had used against the West during the Cold War. In the 1980s, for example, the KGB spread a couple of particularly pernicious rumors. It claimed the United States had manufactured the AIDS virus and that rich Americans were murdering children in the Third World for organ-harvesting purposes. Framed by faux science and ideologically screened “experts,” and harnessing anti-American...

The Russian central bank's rate drop last week will not be enough to prevent the country's banking system from posting heavy losses this year, which could run to as much as 1 trillion rubles ($14.5 billion; £9.6 billion). Research from the ratings agency Moody's indicates that Russian banks are struggling to contain cost increases following the surprise 650 basis point interest rate hike by the central bank last month, to 17%. Although the Bank of Russia reduced rates to 15% last week in an effort to ease pressure on the banking system, these measures are unlikely to be enough to...

Russian VDV (airborne) veterans anti-Putin song [ENG subtitles] Russian airborne veterans join protest movement with pro-democracy song UPD. Watch their performance on 4th February 2012 during mass protest rally in Moscow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsuS1z... Lyrics: If you're a good citizen, if you're the President there's the Law and there are some restrictions that apply to you: You may not steal nation's money, and you should not ever lie to your people Be open to the public, be accountable for what you say Had 8 years as a President, but now you're a candidate again! Now look into our eyes, and drop your...

Bill Browder rose from rebellious grandson of the former head of the Communist Party USA, Earl Browder, to the leading foreign capitalist in Russia, as the founder and CEO of the high-flying hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management. But his rise was matched by a brutal and deadly fall, in which the Russian government would steal and destroy Browder’s company, and physically threaten its employees, culminating in the imprisonment, torture and death of Browder’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky — the man for whom on account of Browder’s lobbying, the Magnitsky Act was named. Browder and a deceased Magnitsky would both be convicted...

'Brief' video clip at link. "...because he (President Putin) was caught, uh...off balance by the protests in the Maidan and, uh... Yanukovych (president voted by Ukrainian people) then fleeing after we've brokered a deal, uh... to transition power in Ukraine".

The Republic found itself at the centre of the latest muscle-flexing exercise by Vladimir Putin after Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons flew past the west coast. A diplomatic spat erupted as the Irish Government warned it was “absolutely unacceptable” that the two Tupolev 95s were in Irish-controlled airspace for five hours without notifying the authorities. The planes were flying with their transponders switched off – meaning they could not be ‘seen’ by civilian aircraft as they passed through the busy airspace, where around 1,800 planes a day travel. The aircraft were tracked by RAF Typhoon jets for more...

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Thousands of protesters in Budapest are demanding the ouster of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government a day before a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Around 3,000 people attended the rally Sunday, which organizer Balazs Gulyas said was meant to show "that the majority of the country does not support (Orban's) policies going closer to Vladimir Putin." Orban's dealings with Moscow, including an agreement for Russia to build new reactors at Hungary's nuclear power plant and a loan of 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to help finance the project, are expected to be on the agenda...

The Islamic State announced its arrival in Libya in brutal fashion this week with the slaying of an American contractor in a suicide attack on a Tripoli hotel, an act that will make it harder for Washington to continue ignoring the conflict and chaos raging in this North African country. Until now the United States and the European Great Powers have been content to look the other way as Libya had descended into violence and anarchy. Four years ago, NATO bombed the rebels to victory in their war against Muammar Qadhafi, then packed its bags and left the country to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t been one to back down in response to sanctions against his country and attacks on his economy. Rather, he has stepped up not only his rhetoric, but his military activities as well. His latest move is yet another show of force to let the West know Russia is prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect its interests. The U.K.’s Royal Air Force scrambled fighter jets on Thursday after a pair of nuclear-capable Russian bombers flew across a busy civilian air traffic corridor above the English Channel. The bombers had their transponders turned off, British...

Russia has suspended work in the PACE for a year following the adoption of a resolution depriving the Russian delegation of its voting rights in the organization until the April session. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted on Wednesday a resolution depriving the Russian delegation of its voting rights in the organization until at least the April session. The resolution stresses that the revision of the decision and other sanctions against Russia could be held during opening meetings of the April session if Moscow demonstrates substantial progress in meeting the PACE demands over Russia's alleged role...