Free Republic

A Russian deputy defence minister has been accused of taking bribes and remanded in custody by a court in Moscow. Timur Ivanov, who denies the charges, is accused of accepting bribes "on a particularly large scale". Appointed to the defence ministry in 2016, Mr Ivanov, 47, has been responsible for Russia's military infrastructure projects. Mr Ivanov is considered an ally of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and has worked with him for many years. He was previously deputy prime minister of the Moscow region, where Mr Shoigu briefly served as governor. -snip- In 2022, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), the group founded...

Russia's egg crisis spiraled out of control this week after an attempt was made on the life of the head of a poultry farm in the Voronezh region, with prices for the staple food item continuing to climb. Gennady Shiryaev, the 59-year-old head of the Tretyakov Poultry Farm, the largest in the western Voronezh region, was driving home when an unknown person fired two shots at his car. Shiryaev told Russian news outlet Kommersant that he wasn't injured in the assassination attempt. "There were two shots, it didn't hit me," Shiryaev said. Russia has seen an unprecedented surge in egg...

In a shocking admission that underscores the challenges facing Russia, its own central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said on Monday that the country should brace for more economic pain in the form of additional sanctions. This admission comes amidst growing concerns about the resilience of the Russian economy and the effectiveness of its leadership in the face of mounting global pressure. Nabiullina, speaking to the TASS state news agency, cautioned against optimism regarding Russia's economic standing, asserting that the nation is not as robust as some may believe.

Vladimir Putin has been mocked by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko over Russia’s shortage of eggs. Mr Putin’s ally confronted him over the skyrocketing prices of the kitchen staple, with the entire exchange caught on camera at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session in St Petersburg. At the event Mr Putin, 71, was also spotted bizarrely stretching his feet as he waited to greet several fellow ex-Soviet republic leaders, including Mr Lukashenko, 69. Former farm boss Mr Lukashenko teased the Russian leader that Belarus’s agricultural industry was in better shape than Russia’s. He said: ‘We have achieved a high level of...

Ukraine claimed three more Russian Su-34 bombers downed on Friday, all in the southern area of operations which has been the focus of Kyiv's counteroffensive efforts over the past six months. -snip- Unconfirmed reports on the pro-war Russian Military Informant Telegram channel attributed Friday's three destroyed Su-34 aircraft to a U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot air defense system, the first of which arrived in Ukraine in April.