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Norway is beefing up security on its offshore North Sea oil rigs after mysterious drones came within 50m of its platforms. The country's Petroleum Safety Authority said the unmanned aerial vehicles could carry out 'deliberate attacks' on the infrastructure or smash into helicopters transporting offshore workers to and from the rigs. The warnings come amid claims that Russia was behind the enormous gas leak in the Baltic Sea following three huge undersea explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines on Monday. Norway is now Europe's biggest gas supplier after the Kremlin turned off its taps, wreaking energy havoc across the continent.

LONDON — Lines at neighboring borders and protests are just some of the scenes in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s call for partial military mobilization. Last week, Putin ordered up to 300,000 Russians to serve in the invasion of Ukraine that began in February. Since then, thousands of citizens have fled the country to bordering nations, including Georgia and Mongolia. A satellite image of the Russia-Georgia border taken on Tuesday shows a multitude of cars and people waiting at the crossing. According to Russian state news outlet Tass, more than 5,000 cars had created the traffic jam, which was up...

Ukrainian troops are encircling Russian forces in Lyman, an occupied town in the northeast of the country, as Kyiv presses on with its counteroffensive to recapture seized territory. Maps detailing Ukrainian advance in the region amid a continued counteroffensive show its forces moving north across the Siverskyi Donets river from areas east and west of town, and east across the Oskil river from positions north of Lyman. The British Defense Ministry assessed on Wednesday that over the last few days, Ukraine has pressed its offensive operations in the northeast of the country. Its units advanced on at least two axes...

Russian men who are fleeing the country to avoid being drafted into Moscow’s war against Ukraine should seek asylum in the US, the White House said Tuesday. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her regular briefing that the response inside Russia to the so-called “partial mobilization” ordered last week by the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, shows “this war that was started by the Kremlin is unpopular.” “Regardless of their nationality, [people] may apply for asylum in the United States and have their claims adjudicated on a case by case basis,” Jean-Pierre added. “We welcome any folks who are seeking...

Tucker Carlson accurately outlined the most likely suspect of the sabotage against Russia’s Nord Stream I and II pipeline today. When you consider the media blitz by Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, last weekend (ABC, CNN, NBC and CBS); specifically pointing out the U.S. position against Russia; it is almost a certainty that U.S. action was behind the underwater detonation of explosives to take out Nord Stream pipeline system.

Russia has just finished a Potemkin referendum conducted in the illegally occupied Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson (see Vladimir Putin to Address Russia; Annexation of Ukraine Provinces and Mobilization Seem to Be on the Table). The “voting” began on September 23, and the question is whether those provinces wish to be annexed to Russia.There are complicating factors. All four oblasts are on the front line of a war between Putin’s invading army and the armed forces of Ukraine. Many, if not most, of the residents, are refugees. The voting began within 48 hours after the announcement....

When Ukrainian national Kateryna Rietz-Rakul first heard that Germany wants to take in Russian deserters, she thought it was a bad joke. "I thought this can't possibly be true, I couldn't believe it at first. Until I watched the evening news," says the interpreter, who has lived and worked in Germany for 20 years. There, she was amazed to see German politicians from all three ruling parties literally falling over themselves with offers of help for the Russian conscientious objectors who are seeking to leave the country since President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilization last week. "Those who hate...

...said retired Air Force Gen. David Deptula. “In fact, they don’t have the same air doctrine as the West, they don’t have the same level of training, they suffer from gross incompetence and poor leadership..."...In some cases, Russian jets appear reluctant to enter Ukrainian airspace at all...a lot of what they’ve done is they stay in Russian airspace and they fire into Ukraine with long-range missiles,” the U.S. airpower strategist told The Times. “There is a sense they’re avoiding being shot at by staying in their friendly territory and using their weapons capabilities” at longer range.

The flow of Russian men of fighting age looking to leave the country persisted Tuesday amid fears the government would soon close its borders to stop those trying to evade President Vladimir Putin’s draft. The mass exodus comes as Putin's government tries to energize Russia's faltering offensive in Ukraine, and looked likely to swiftly annex four occupied territories where referendums on joining Russia were being held. The exit of military-age men began shortly after Putin ordered the mobilization of more troops last Wednesday to regain the upper hand in Ukraine. Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said a total of 300,000...

Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday it rejected all claims from Ukraine's energy firm Naftogaz in arbitration proceedings over Russian gas transit, and had notified the arbitration court. It also said that Russia may introduce sanctions against Naftogaz in case it further pursues the arbitration case, meaning Gazprom would be prohibited by the sanctions from paying Ukraine the transit fees. Naftogaz had initiated a new arbitration proceeding against Gazprom earlier this month, saying the Russian company did not pay for the rendered service of gas transportation through Ukraine. read more The company had said "funds were not paid...

Russian men drafted by President Vladimir Putin's recent mobilization announcement are using a Ukrainian hotline to ask how they can give themselves up. The "I Want to Live" hotline was announced by Ukraine's MOD on September 19, two days before Russian President Putin announced the mobilization to the battlefield. Yusov said the hotline has received "a lot of calls" from recently drafted Russians, and even some who haven't yet been mobilized: "They're calling and asking 'What should I do if I get called up? What do I have to do, what's the right way to surrender?'" Putin's announcement sparked protests...

Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, becoming one of the last countries to back the military alliance's expansion... NATO's 30 members have been ratifying their entry since accession protocols were signed in July. With Slovakia's vote, only Hungary and Turkey remain to approve the expansion... Hungary's parliament has the motion on Finland and Sweden's NATO membership on its agenda, but no date is set as lawmakers return after a summer recess.

The “partial mobilization” of Russian men to fight in Putin’s War in Ukraine is shaping up pretty much the fiasco we thought it would be (see Vladimir Putin to Address Russia; Annexation of Ukraine Provinces and Mobilization Seem to Be on the Table). It is equal parts black comedy, political thriller, and tragedy. But, don’t worry, the comedic and thriller elements will go away very soon. The war in Ukraine has left Russia facing a military personnel crisis. About 75% of Russia’s regular ground forces participated in the opening act of the Special Military Operation (SMO). These were reinforced by...

HAS ANYONE HEARD THIS REPORT? PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT: “PUTIN LEFT MOSCOW TO HIS SECRET PALACE NEAR LAKE VALDI BETWEEN MOSCOW & ST PETERBURG WHEN RUSSIA & RUSSIA’S ADMINISTTATION WAS IN SUCH A MESS! LEAVING HIS COUNTRY WITHOUT A LEADER WHHILE HIS COUNTRY WAS ON FIRE & CITIZENS WERE WAITING FOR A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS. PRO-PUTIN POLITICAL OFFICIALS STATED THAT THE RUSSIAN LEADER WENT TO THE LUXURY COMPLEX TO REST HIS BODY AND SOUL.”

Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities on Tuesday in favour of becoming part of Russia after five days of voting in so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham. Hastily arranged votes had taken place in four areas - the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and to the south Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - that make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory. Luhansk authorities said 98.4% of people there had voted to join Russia. In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian-appointed official put the figure at 93.1%. In Kherson, the head of the voting committee put...

Thank you USA BTW, there's no shortage of pipeline capacity for taking gas from Russia to Western Europe, including Germany. Nordstream's only logic was for Putin to be able to blackmail or wage war on Eastern Europe with impunity. All Ukrainian and Baltic sea states have opposed Nordstream's construction for 20 years. Now $20 billion of scrap metal lies at the bottom of the sea, another cost to Russia of its criminal decision to invade Ukraine. Someone, @MFA_Russia, did a special maintenance operation.

someone blew up in Nor Stream Pipe line and gas is escaping from the Baltic Sea

"Poland and Bulgaria’s foreign ministries are recommending all of their citizens leave Russia." "Speculating here, but couple this with all the nuclear saber rattling, and I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that Russia has been caught preparing to use a tactical nuke in Ukraine." https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1574848223004565504

According to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, Moscow can use the bomb when conventional weapons threaten "the very existence of the state"--a principle that could be applied to dangers faced by occupied territory incorporated via referendums..."The supply of modern weapons is just a business for Western countries based on hatred of us. No more. Overseas and European demagogues are not going to die in a nuclear apocalypse. Therefore, they will swallow the use of any weapon in the current conflict," Medvedev predicted.