Free Republic

Poland's withdrawal from landmine ban convention threatens escalation — Russian MFA "Beyond weakening the Convention itself, these steps could set off a domino effect, with other countries following suit," Maria Zakharova said MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Warsaw's withdrawal from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention could trigger a "domino effect" and escalate tensions in Europe, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment. "The consequences of such actions will soon become apparent. Beyond weakening the Convention itself, these steps could set off a domino effect, with other countries following suit," the diplomat said. "At the same time, some EU...

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that the UK and its allies should deploy non-combat troops to Ukraine right now, to "flip a switch" in Russian President Vladimir Putin's head. Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg alongside the former head of the military, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, Johnson said troops should be sent to peaceful regions in non-fighting roles. He said: "If we can have a plan for boots on the ground after the war, after Putin has condescended to have a ceasefire, then why not do it now?" The UK government is currently working with its allies to...

Drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders in multiple countries, this exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade, and why most of Europe – including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dismissed them. As the fourth anniversary of the invasion approaches and the world enters a new period of geopolitical uncertainty, Europe’s politicians and spy services continue to draw lessons from the failures of 2022. The phone call William Burns had travelled halfway around the world to speak with Vladimir Putin, but in the end he had...

Hungary will block a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Ukraine until it resumes oil shipments to the country via the Druzhba pipeline, its foreign minister said on Friday after Budapest said it would tap strategic reserves to tackle a shortage. Hungary and Slovakia, which have the only remaining refineries in the European Union using Russian oil through Druzhba, have been trying to secure supply since flows were halted on January 27 following what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack that damaged pipeline infrastructure. Both countries have blamed Ukraine for the delay in restarting the flows for political reasons.

Former Vice President Mike Pence gloated over the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Donald Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).Pence took to X on Friday after the court issued its 6-3 decision against the tariffs, calling it a “victory” for Americans....I'm proud of the work our organization @AmericanFreedom has done on this case through our robust amicus brief program to advance economic freedom and defend the Constitution.With this historic decision, America can now return to the pursuit of Free Trade with Free Nations under the Constitution of the United States!...

Poland will use antipersonnel as well as anti-tank land mines to defend its eastern border against the growing threat from Russia, Poland’s deputy defense minister told The Associated Press on Friday as the country officially left an international convention banning the use of the controversial weapons. The 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, prohibits signatories from keeping or using antipersonnel mines, which can last for years and are known for having caused large-scale suffering among civilians in former conflict zones in countries including Cambodia, Angola and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Poland, which ratified the document in...

ith all eyes on the U.S. military buildup around Iran right now, the Russia-Ukraine War has been temporarily upstaged. It will not play second fiddle for long. The recent trilateral talks in Geneva involving the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the United States have been unable to resolve a principal issue of disagreement: Ukraine’s martial-law-president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s refusal to cede any land and Russia’s insistence that the Donbas region — specifically the four eastern territories that have already held a referendum in support of becoming part of the Russian Federation — be acknowledged as sovereign Russian territory. As the war heads...

Former US Military. Born in Donbas.

“ TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video showing that Russian and Iranian navies hold maneuvers in the Oman Gulf The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russia and Iran have held joint naval operations in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s fleet is joined by the Russian corvette Stoiky, whose crew took part in joint ceremonial events in the port of Bandar Abbas, the report said. The sailors from both sides synchronize their actions to ensure safe navigation. Earlier, media have cited the Russian defense ministry as saying that Iran and Russia will hold joint...

US-mediated peace talks on Ukraine collapsed in less than two hours after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky claimed it was unfair that Donald Trump was placing more pressure on his country than on Russia.The second day of talks concluded on Wednesday, though neither side signalled they were any closer to ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.The talks wrapped up after just two hours, much shorter than the six hours of meetings on Tuesday, according to the head of Russia's delegation.

The Ukrainian public would not accept Kyiv simply handing over the country’s Donbas region to Russia in a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday — advising US envoys against continually pushing a version of peace the war’s victims would see as an “unsuccessful story.” “Emotionally, people will never forgive this. Never. They will not forgive … me, they will not forgive [the US],” Zelensky told Axios, speaking as US, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in Geneva. “This is part of our country, all these citizens, the flag, the land.” The president said it was “not fair” that President Trump...

Ukrainian forces managed to liberate over 200 square kilometers of territory from the Russian troops last week, marking their most successful breakthrough in 2.5 years, AFP reports. According to the outlet, these gains are confirmed by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Between February 11 and 15, Ukrainian troops recaptured 201 square kilometers from Russian forces. AFP reports that Ukrainian soldiers took advantage of disruptions in Russian access to Starlink terminals.

Moscow charges Jacques Tilly with “defaming Russian state organs” and threatens him with up to 10 years in prison, but Düsseldorf’s legendary satirist says he won’t be intimidated and is rolling out a new Putin wagon for Monday’s Rose Monday parade. Russia's prosecution of a German satirist fits a pattern of weaponizing its judiciary against foreign critics of Moscow's war in Ukraine, extending the Kremlin's domestic crackdown on free speech beyond its own borders. The 62-year-old sculptor, who faces Moscow's charges of "defaming Russian state bodies" and up to ten years in prison, sent all three floats through Dusseldorf's streets....

Meanwhile, Moscow is citing fictitious Ukrainian counter-offensives to explain why it doesn’t control territories its forces were claiming they’d seized in Zaporizhia oblast; it looks like Putin’s frontline commanders are afraid to tell the high command they’re failing. Poor Vlad: Having caught on to how Putin’s thugs were using hijacked Starlink terminals to guide their drones in massive long-distance attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid and civilian population, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is now blocking of Russian access to Starlink, disabling Moscow’s frontline command-and-control communications for another game-changer. Russia’s damning whine: Blocking it from Starlink is (somehow) a violation of international law....

A poll shows that around 40% of under-40s across Britain would refuse to serve in the armed forces if WW3 broke out. Meanwhile, 30% said they would still refuse to serve even if the nation was facing an imminent invasion. Experts across the world believe we've never been closer to a global conflict since the end of WW2 as tensions mount over Iran, Greenland, Venezuela, Israel and Palestine, and Russia and Ukraine.The UK recently raised the age limit for Army reservists from 55 to 65, a clear signal of its preparation for conflict. However, a 2024 YouGov poll shows that...

Today, I'm going to have a special episode. What this episode is going to be is an extension on the episode we had 4 days ago regarding this offer from Russia to America regarding a massive amount of resources. Of course, resources carry with it a massive amount of money. Today we have a little bit more information on this that may make it unbelievably attractive, almost too good to turn away potentially for Trump that this would be in US dollars as of course what we have seen over the past years is many nations Russia at the helm...

Zelensky: The Ukrainian Army is the strongest army in Europe. And I think it is simply not smart to keep this army outside NATO

The Russian invasion force is in disarray following the deactivation of its Starlink satellite communications. Meanwhile Ukrainians are rushing to get their terminals whitelisted to maintain the service. Both sides have made extensive use of the commercial Starlink service, which provides long-range, jam-resistant communication. Now the service operated by SpaceX is being denied to the Russians, and only terminals officially registered in Ukraine will work. “The Starlink terminals added to the ‘whitelist’ are working. The Russians’ terminals have already been blocked,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a statement on Thursday, The effect on the Russians has been catastrophic,...

The opposition leader, who is leading the polls ahead of April's elections, says Viktor Orbán's party is orchestrating a smear campaign with secretly recorded intimate videos. Hungary's opposition leader Péter Magyar has accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party of preparing a blackmail campaign against him involving a secretly recorded sex tape, escalating tensions ahead of April's parliamentary elections. Magyar, whose Tisza party leads Fidesz in opinion polls, said he suspects the governing party plans to release intimate recordings made with surveillance equipment. "I suspect they are planning to release a recording, recorded with secret service equipment and possibly...

Russian soldiers and military bloggers have railed against the Kremlin after it restricted access to the Telegram messaging app. Widespread disruptions to the app were reported on Monday and Tuesday as Roskomnadzor, the Russian state media regulator, said it would levy its strongest restrictions on Telegram’s operations yet. The internet watchdog said the move would safeguard Russian citizens against “criminal and terrorist” content, in Moscow’s latest crackdown on the free internet. Roskomnadzor, which has for years crusaded for a “sovereign internet” liberated from Western influence, has over the past six months imposed new limits on Telegram and WhatsApp at least...