Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already begun initial preparations for his annual Victory Day military parade in May, and he is expecting a special guest from the U.S. for the big day, a Kremlin insider has said. -snip- Putin held a meeting on Wednesday to kickstart preparations for Victory Day, asking the heads of Russian regions and public organizations to "approach the upcoming events with conscience." One Kremlin source said it's clear that Russia must trumpet victory of some sort regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine, but officials are uncertain of the details.

he arrests and firing of several high-profile associates of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu by Kremlin authorities have sparked deep anxieties among members of the Russian elite connected to the current head of Moscow's Security Council, according to a new report. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email. WHY IT MATTERS A slew of well-known figures working in the Russian government and the military were arrested and axed from their posts last year. Western analysts have noted that schisms within the Kremlin's upper echelons are increasingly catching international attention as the grinding war...

MAD Vladimir Putin has been forced to pad out his pathetic parades with North Korean cannon fodder while Russian troops are being massacred on the frontline. Amongst the pomp, propaganda and weaponry, North Korean troops are to march through Moscow's Victory Day parade for the first time, according to insiders. -snip- Dozens of Putin's North Korean cannon fodder are to join the parade in May as the mad dictator desperately attempts to show a substantial military - despite the total casualties of Russian troops standing at over 771,000. Russian sources revealed news of North Korea's participation in the parade to...

VLADIMIR Putin is all set to sign a defence alliance deal with Iran against the West - just two days before Donald Trump takes over the White House. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Moscow today to hold chilling "Axis of Evil" talks with the Russian tyrant. Both autocratic regimes will then sign a comprehensive 20-year Russia-Iran agreement, including provisions for closer defence cooperation and a deepening of their military ties.

Russia is facing a critical challenge to its war effort in 2025: The nation is quickly running out of cash, with financial reserves potentially running out before the end of the year, according to estimates from one European economist. Anders Åslund, a Swedish economist and a former fellow at the Atlantic Council, thinks liquid reserves in Russia's National Wealth Fund could potentially be depleted by the fall of this year. That spells trouble for the nation's military efforts in 2025, he said, given how heavily Russia has relied on its wealth fund over the last several years. Liquid reserves in...

Ukraine launched a wave of devastating drone and missile attacks overnight targeting industrial facilities and oil depots in several Russian cities. The brutal aerial onslaught caused a series of major fires to break out, as emergency services struggled to contain the damage. Ukrainian UAVs targeted the industrial Orgsintez plant in Kazan, a city located 526 miles to the east of Moscow. The facility is one of Russia's largest manufacturers of high-strength plastics and is situated in the northern outskirts of the city. A gas tank close to the industrial site was struck in the attack, causing it to burst into...

When North Korea’s 12,000-strong 11th Army Corps deployed to Kursk Oblast in western Russia to help Russian troops battle an invasion by a powerful Ukrainian force, they brought along anti-tank vehicles, howitzers and rocket launchers. They also brought along a rarely seen air-defense vehicle combining a large wheeled chassis with the radar and missile launchers from a Russian-designed Tor surface-to-air missile vehicle, which normally rides on tracks. The customized North Korean Tor is so unusual that the Russians themselves apparently didn’t recognize it as belonging to their side. On or just before Friday, Russian drones spotted and struck the North...

Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom may slash staff numbers as it faces dwindling revenues amid sanctions imposed following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. -snip- In December, Elena Ilyukhina, a deputy chair of Gazprom's management committee, sent a proposal to CEO Alexey Miller to reduce staff from 4,100 to 2,500 at the firms' central office and St. Petersburg branch, according to the 47news telegram channel. On Monday, the outlet posted an image of the document, in which Ilyukhina described the challenges Gazprom faced. In a call for "cost optimization at all levels of management," she said the company needed to...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals have an artful knack for keeping the Russian military bear off-balance. On Sunday, they renewed their offensive in the Russian Kursk Oblast, once again catching the Russian high command, Kremlin, and many pundits by surprise. Reports of a demoralized Ukrainian army fighting to retain terrain captured during the August Kursk offensive — of which at least 40 percent has been lost — have circulated among western media and Russian milbloggers since November. So too reports that Ukraine’s 155th Mechanized Brigade — trained and equipped by France — was under-resourced in “first person view...

A top Iranian general has accused Russia of lying to Tehran by saying its jets were attacking Syrian rebels while they were instead bombing the open desert. In a rare break from Iran's diplomatic line on Syria, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati partially blamed Moscow for the fall of Bashar Assad's government during a speech at a mosque in Tehran. An audio recording of the speech was published on Tuesday by Abdullah Abdi, a journalist in Geneva who reports on Iran. "We were defeated, and defeated very badly. We took a very big blow, and it's been very difficult," Esbati said...

US president-elect Donald Trump has pushed back his campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine in “24 hours” to several months, in a shift European partners have interpreted as a sign that his administration will not immediately abandon support for Kyiv. -snip- The incoming administration was also wary of comparisons being made with Joe Biden’s calamitous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was something the Trump camp would not like to see repeated in Ukraine, the official added. -snip- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort last week, has ruled out that Washington would “abandon”...

A leading Vladimir Putin propagandist who urged the Kremlin to fire nuclear bombs at Ukraine is in a coma after suffering a "clinical death." Tigran Keosayan, 59, sanctioned by Britain and other Western countries, had urged the Kremlin dictator to use nuclear bombs and vowed Russia will take full control of Ukraine. His powerful wife Margarita Simonyan, 44, who heads the slavish RT international media empire and is also sanctioned, confirmed his condition after rumours swept Moscow. There was speculation that the satirical show host could have been the target of a Ukrainian military intelligence death squad but she insisted...

A state of emergency has been declared in the Russian city of Engels after a Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil depot that supplies Russia's nuclear bomber planes. Saratov regional governor Roman Busargin said that two firefighters had been killed while tackling the blaze. A huge fire exploded at the “Kristal” oil complex, as well as multiple explosions, in the city of Engels after long-range strikes, said Ukraine’s military. It added that the oil depot supplied fuel to the “Engels-2” military airfield, where Russia’s nuclear bomber fleet is based. “The strike of the oil depot creates serious logistical problems for...

Russian vodka enthusiasts are seething after the Finance Ministry implemented a 17 percent price hike for a half-litre bottle on New Year's Day. Russia holds the title as the world's largest vodka producer, accounting for over 30 percent of global production. Domestic consumption makes up more than 90 percent of Russia-made vodka, making it one of the country's most beloved beverages. As of January 1st, a bottle will now set consumers back 349 rubles (£2.53), up from 299 (£2.16) - a jump of 50 rubles. This follows a 6.4 percent increase in June 2024, meaning that within the last six...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked for his initials to be engraved on chains of crosses that will be given to the participants and the commanders of Russian military units in the operation in Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesperson said, Interfax reports. "I believe our friends will be honored to receive these symbols of faith which were consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia during the festive liturgy on [Orthodox] Christmas Eve," Dmitry Peskov quoted the Russian leader as saying. At Putin's request and in his presence, Patriarch Kirill held the consecration ceremony of these crosses and icons for...

Ukraine targeted five of Russia's air defense systems worth an estimated $350 million in a single day, serving a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's exhausted military in the nearly three-year-old war. Russia lost two Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun systems and one OSA air defense system, as well as two S-300 air defense systems, according to Ukraine's military and a war reporter. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian government for comment via email. Ukraine has frequently zeroed-in on Russia's advanced air-defense systems, and Monday's reported loss marks a success for Kyiv's military as both sides continue to sustain...

Russia’s defence ministry may believe its forces are “defeating” Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the Kursk region, but Vladimir Putin clearly doesn’t.He has sent one of his toughest generals to organise the fight back against Ukraine’s surprise Sunday morning counter-offensive.General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, promoted in December 2024 by Putin and trusted to run Russia’s border defences and Africa mercenary projects, arrived in Kursk less than a couple of hours after Ukrainian tanks started rumbling towards Russian positions.By sending Gen Yevkurov to Kursk, Putin has shown his hand.Although it is still unclear how successful the Ukrainian counter-offensive will be, he is clearly worried.

Ukraine has launched a fresh offensive in Russia's Kursk region, the Russian Defence Ministry says. In a statement, the military said efforts to destroy the Ukrainian attack groups are ongoing. Officials in Ukraine have also suggested an operation is under way.

Ukraine has launched a counterattack in the southern Russian border region of Kursk, warning that Russia is “getting what it deserves.” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, an official body, said Ukrainian forces had launched surprise attacks against Russian forces in several locations across Kursk, months after launching its incursion in the region. In a short Telegram post Sunday, the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.” The Ukrainian military first launched an incursion into Kursk in August and has held much of...

Russia-appointed officials in occupied Crimea have announced a regional emergency as oil was detected on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula's largest city. Fuel oil spilled out of two stricken tankers nearly three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, about 250 kilometres from Sevastopol on the southwest of the peninsula. "Today a regional emergency regime has been declared in Sevastopol," regional Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram. Oil was found on four beaches in the region and was "promptly eliminated" by local authorities working together with volunteers, Razvozhaev said. "Let me emphasise: there is no mass pollution of the coastline...