Free Republic

Thefts of packs of butter have highlighted the impact of skyrocketing inflation on Russia’s war economy. -snip- Security footage in Ekaterinburg, the capital of Russia’s defence industry, recently captured two masked men breaking into a dairy shop. As one raided the cash register, the other made off with 20kg of butter.

VLADIMIR Putin's infamous "Torture General" has been killed by Ukrainian forces after heading up a grim prison camp. Major-General Pavel Klimenko, 47, was riding a motorbike in the war zone when he was hit by a kamikaze drone near the town of Krasnohorivka. The wounded commander was taken to a local hospital in occupied Donetsk and later died from head injuries, according to reports. He had been inspecting military checkpoints and observation points when he and his group came under attack. Klimenko ran a Donetsk brigade and formed a vile torture camp where anti-war Russians were beaten and starved. Other...

THIS is the dramatic moment Ukrainian kamikaze drones blasted a key Kremlin naval base and flotilla. Footage of the drone strike shows the Caspian Sea Flotilla in Kaspiysk blitzed as Russian servicemen can be seen running for their lives. In the video, a Ukranian A-22 Flying Fox long-range drone can be seen exploding at the port in Dagestan region after Russian air defences shot down drone following the air strike. The flotilla has previously launched missile strikes on Ukraine, and the 177th Marine Regiment has taken part in battles in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

DONALD Trump could "face a JFK-style assassination" if he tries to end the brutal war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin's crackpot crony has warned. -snip- Mad Vlad's puppet Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday claimed Trump may face the same fate as John F Kennedy in 1963 should he win the presidential race. On his Russian Telegram Channel, the ex-Russian president and longest-serving Prime Minister, said: “A tired Trump, issuing platitudes like ‘I'll offer a deal’ and 'I have a great relationship with…’ will also be forced to follow all the system's rules. “He won't be able to stop the war. “Not in...

Russia is facing a "butter armageddon" as prices for the staple food product continue to rise sharply. By the end of October, prices for dairy products in Russia had risen by an astonishing 25.7% compared to December 2023. The steep hike in cost has led to a spate of thefts from shops around the country, forcing management to keep the product under lock and key. Images have circulated on social media, showing butter locked in fridges and signs telling customers to contact staff if they want to buy some. A CCTV video posted online also allegedly shows a Russian man...

Ukrainian forces foiled a massive Russian armoured assault in the Donetsk region, inflicting heavy casualties and loss of equipment. The ferocious battle took place near Vyymka in the Bakhmut district on the Siversk sector of the front and involved Ukraine's 10th Mountain Assault Brigade. The Russian assault group comprised over 120 soldiers and 22 armoured vehicles, including tanks. They were spotted by aerial reconnaissance and came under sustained and heavy artillery fire and drone attacks. Video images of the battle show Russian armoured vehicles being targeted and destroyed by kamikaze drones. As Putin's troops abandon their vehicles, a second wave...

RUSSIA is ready to use nuclear weapons and trigger World War Three if provoked, Putin puppet Dmitry Medvedev has warned. -snip- "If the new [US] leader is going to be fiercely dedicated to adding fuel to the fire of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it will be a very bad choice. "Because this is the road to hell. "It's really a road to World War Three. "Whoever decides to continue the war will be making a very dangerous mistake."

Russia is importing butter from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkiye, in response to soaring butter prices, which have been attributed to rising demand for ice cream and cheese. The agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor announced that deliveries from the UAE began on October 18, marking the first shipments of butter from that country to Russia. Higher production costs, coupled with increased consumer interest in ice cream and cheese, have significantly impacted butter prices, according to dairy producers. Artyom Belov, chief of the national dairy producer association Soyuzmoloko, told a local news outlet that these product segments are major factors contributing...

North Korea has confirmed that dictator Kim Jong Un “gave the order” to bail out Vladimir Putin by sending North Korean troops to fight in Putin’s “holy war” against Ukraine. The troop deal was confirmed at a meeting between North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui and the Kremlin’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. More than 10,000 North Korean troops are reported to be deployed to Russia, with some already in the area of operations. The Pyongyang envoy said: “From the very beginning of the special military operation, respected comrade Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong Un gave the...

President Vladimir Putin says that Russia’s war economy is well balanced to supply both guns and butter, but the price of butter itself is now soaring as surging inflation distorts parts of the economy. The price of a block of butter has risen by 25.7% since December, according to the state statistics service. Reuters reporters found shopping bills showed the price of a pack of “Brest-Litovsk” high-grade butter in Moscow has risen by 34% since the start of the year to 239.96 roubles ($2.47). “The Armageddon with butter is escalating; we wouldn’t be surprised if butter repeats last year’s situation...

Talk about Under Siege – at least as far as his clothes are concerned. Former action star Steven Seagal has ballooned to over 320lb since moving to Russia where he's now living large, stills from a newly unearthed documentary show. And the strain is telling on the 6ft 4in one-time star as he is filmed barely able to wrap his arms around his burgeoning belly. Seagal, 72, has done his best to control images of himself being released. Recent photos on his social media are from the chest up, and he has not posted himself on his Instagram since December...

Amid shortages of basic groceries in Russia as a result of its war in Ukraine, instances of petty thefts of essential items have been reported online, with butter emerging as one of the targeted products. -snip- The shortages in the country stem from a combination of supply chain disruptions, Western sanctions, and declining domestic production. As reported by state-owned news outlet Moskow 24, large butter-making enterprises have begun to reduce production and suspend shipments of their products to retail chains. One production company cited 46 percent cumulative inflation for eight months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023,...

Vladimir Putin has admitted that sanctions on Russia and worker shortages have contributed to economic turbulence in the country. The Russian president made the comments days after Russia's Central Bank raised its key interest rate to a record 21 percent—higher than the emergency 20 percent level introduced in the aftermath of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine when facing Western sanctions and isolation from the global financial system. -snip- Russia's economic growth has been fueled by record levels of military spending but a lack of workers exacerbated by troop losses in Ukraine and a brain drain of those avoiding the draft,...

The school has trained 47,000 troops deployed to Ukraine. A Chechen military training school came under drone attack on Tuesday, the region’s strongman leader announced. The Russian Special Forces University, located in the town of Gudermes, was struck in the morning and set ablaze, Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov said on Telegram.

Restrictions on long-range strikes within Russia by Western weapons supplied to Kyiv should be dropped following confirmation that Vladimir Putin is using North Korean troops to fight Ukraine, Lithuania's president has said. Pyongyang has been supplying Russia with munitions to fight Ukraine but Rutte said the deployment marks "a significant escalation" in its involvement and was "a dangerous expansion of Russia's war." On Monday, the Pentagon said that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia who could join Moscow's fight against Ukraine in the "next several weeks" amid concerns from South Korea and the U.S. that Moscow might offer...

This is the bizarre moment Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov started performing standing press-ups at a BRICS meeting in an apparent attempt to impress ministers with his strength. Video footage taken from an informal meeting between Putin and the president of the UAE at the BRICS summit, where the Russian leader tried to woo the leaders of around two-dozen nations into deepening ties with his country, Kadyrov was seen leaning on two chairs and repeatedly doing leaned press-ups. After a few press-ups, he was seen looking around in an apparent bid for approval. But no one, including Russian foreign minister Sergei...

Butter blocks enclosed in plastic boxes with "security chips" - these images are now common in Russian shops. Recently, butter imports have drastically fallen, and product prices have soared. This, in turn, has led Russians to start stealing instead of buying. For years, Russia was at the forefront of the world's largest food import markets, particularly leading in butter and cheese imports. Until 2022, butter arrived in Russia from all over the world. However, since the invasion of Ukraine, the situation has changed. Consequences of the invasion of Ukraine In 2022, Russia ranked 19th worldwide for butter imports. Over the...

A longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has predicted that the majority of Russian companies could go bankrupt due to the increasingly high interest rate. - snip- Chemezov criticized the Russian central bank's elevated key interest rate, which, following his comments, was raised by an additional two percentage points on Friday to a record 21 percent. "There is no 20 percent profitability anywhere. Maybe in the drug trade, but even the sale of weapons does not bring such a profit," he said. Chemezov said that the high key interest rate drives up borrowing costs for businesses, which hurts their...

Russia's central bank hiked its key interest rate by 200 basis points on Friday to 21%, the highest level since the early years of President Vladimir Putin's rule, when Russia was recovering from the chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Putin is regretful over the war in Ukraine, according to the latest claim by one of his closest allies, as US defence officials warned North Korean troops will become 'legitimate targets' if they are seen to fight alongside Russian forces. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko delivered a wide-ranging interview with the BBC and state-owned broadcaster BelTA this week in which he was asked whether his Russian counterpart had regrets over launching his so-called 'special military operation' in Ukraine. -snip- 'Both sides suffer heavy losses... Does Putin regret it or not? Of course he regrets. He's a living man.' -snip- Ukraine's...