Putin

Vladimir Putin should help Irish terrorist organisations attack Buckingham Palace, a Russian TV pundit reportedly declared. Vladimir Rogov, a talking head on Russian television, suggested that Vladimir Putin should begin arming Irish terrorists in the hopes they would attack Buckingham Palace. The outlandish suggestion is largely par for the course in terms of the Russian-language war rhetoric produced domestically in the country, with pundits and politicians regularly recommending that Putin solves all of the country’s problems with precision nuclear strikes. According to a report by the Belfast Telegraph , Rogov reportedly said that the Russian government should, in response to the UK sending missiles to Ukraine, begin “accidentally” arming the “Irish Republican Army”. “Can’t we somehow (ensure) the remaining combat wing of the Irish Republican Army, which is fighting against British occupation, has normal weapons (to) hit Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, and … [Read more...] about Putin Should Help IRA Attack Buckingham Palace, TV Pundit Declares

Clashes broke out on Monday in Russian villages near the Ukrainian border, according to local officials and verified videos, after a group of anti-Kremlin Russian fighters allied with Ukraine appeared to have mounted a rare ground assault inside Russia. Videos posted online and verified by The New York Times showed the aftermath of an attack on a border post near Grayvoron, a town in the Russian region of Belgorod, north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. One video showed several soldiers and three armored vehicles, including one bearing an insignia previously seen on Ukrainian equipment, around a damaged building. Another showed a soldier and an armored vehicle bearing Ukrainian markings at an intersection about three miles into Russian territory. A third video appears to show the pro-Ukrainian fighters capturing a Russian armored vehicle. A group called the Free Russia Legion , which says its ranks are made up of Russians, claimed to be behind the attacks. The group … [Read more...] about Attackers Hit Russian Border Towns; Anti-Putin Russians Say They Did It

Citizens of Russia have become the captive audience of a dystopian “comedy club” run by the government, according to some former Moscow officials. And the Kremlin, it appears, is not in on the joke. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that beer in Prague, where a summit between Kremlin critics recently took place, contains “female sex hormones” and called the opposition officials who met there “half-wits.” On the same day, his best friend Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian Security Council and former KGB hardliner, warned of a deadly “radioactive cloud that is now moving towards Western Europe” from Ukraine. The bizarre propaganda lines —apparently meant to evoke fear among Russian exiles of cognitive decline by way of drinking beer, or death via the enriched uranium supplied to Ukraine by the West—fell flat. Putin's remarks were widely mocked on social media, while experts at Russia’s own State Atomic Agency said that “the story with the … [Read more...] about Former Moscow Officials Reveal Why They’re Laughing at Putin Now

The second in command of Ukrainian military intelligence says Kyiv’s spies are actively trying to kill Vladimir Putin —and the Russian leader is well aware of it. Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, made the admission in an interview with German publication Welt . “Putin is noticing that we are getting closer and closer to him, but he is also afraid of being killed by his own people,” Skibitsky was quoted as saying, describing the assassination of Putin as a top priority. “Many people in Russia still support this ‘special operation’ [against Ukraine], but thanks to social media and phone checks, we know that so many Russians have died now that it scares people,” he said. He said similar plans were in the works for Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin , whose mercenaries have been accused of grisly war crimes against Ukrainian troops. “Our priority is to eliminate the unit commander who orders his men to attack,” … [Read more...] about Ukrainian Spy Boss Bluntly Admits Plan to Assassinate Putin

Times are tough for both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin . Since they are two of the world’s most repulsive and dangerous people, that might be considered good news. But, not so fast. Because there is one thing that can save Trump from the dark realities of legal accountability—and it happens to also be the only thing that is likely to turn the tide in Putin’s disastrous war in Ukraine . That is the reelection of Donald Trump. Once again the interests of Trump and Putin are aligned, but this time the stakes for both are much higher than they were in 2016. That should worry us all. It should worry us a lot. Worse still, there are others for whom the 2024 election is of existential importance. It includes Trump’s close allies—who may face jail unless Trump is reelected and can pardon them. It includes extremists and their allies—who also see a Trump victory as a get out of jail (or avoid jail) free card. It includes advocates of MAGA wingnut policy views, for whom four … [Read more...] about Trump and Putin Are in Deep Trouble and Need Each Other More Than Ever

Russia is moving to take over an important natural gas joint venture, putting the investments of Shell and two Japanese energy trading companies at risk in a seizure of a significant foreign investment. A decree issued by President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday is directed toward Sakhalin-2, a project in Russia’s Far East that is a key exporter of liquefied natural gas to Japan. The Kremlin’s move raised concerns in Japan about the future of those shipments. Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas monopoly, has a controlling 50 percent stake in Sakhalin-2, followed by Shell, the European oil giant, with 27.5 percent, and Mitsui and Mitsubishi, two energy firms based in Japan with shares totaling 22.5 percent. The decree says that a new company will take over Sakhalin-2 and that the three foreign investors have one month to ask the Russian government to keep their stake in the new enterprise. Shell has previously said it plans to exit the venture as part of its efforts to pull out … [Read more...] about Putin moves to seize a large gas venture in Russia’s Far East.