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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (aka Vlad The Destroyer) - Page 1  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Putin, Russia, Russian, Russians
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While Vladimir Putin’s army has reclaimed some areas in Russia’s Kursk region that were previously taken by Ukrainian forces, soldiers are also taking the opportunity to loot from local residents.

The Russian president sent 50,000 troops to the region after Ukraine made a surprise breakthrough along the border last summer, and Kyiv still controls part of the area.
Story by John Varga & John O'Sullivan

In a shocking display of lawlessness, Russian troops embarked on a widespread looting spree in Kursk, stealing vehicles and vandalizing homes. Approximately 50,000 soldiers have been deployed to the Ukraine border region in an effort to reclaim lost territory.

However, the redeployment has seemingly been exploited by the troops to enrich themselves at the expense of local residents. Upon returning to their village, Korenevo residents discovered their properties had been broken into and ravaged by Putin's marauding soldiers.

Despite Ukrainian forces - who President Zelensky says have a 'victory plan' - nearing the village, they did not enter or capture it. Instead, Russian forces took up defensive positions and evacuated most of the locals.
Hackers left a chilling message on the Kremlin's Yunarmiya (Young Army) website, urging Russians to "kill" Vladimir Putin on what is being called a "humiliating" breach of security
By John O'sullivan, Audience editor John Varga & Will Stewart

Hackers have left a chilling message on the Kremlin's Yunarmiya (Young Army) website, urging Russians to "kill" Vladimir Putin. The 1.6 million-member organisation, often likened to the Hitler Youth movement, is utilised by the Kremlin to indoctrinate and militarise Russian children.

A split image posted on the site targets the Russian dictator and his brutal war in Ukraine. One half of the image features a Russian Lada car, with accompanying text that reads: "Trade your brat [of a husband] for a home-made Lada." This refers to compensation packages given to the wives and families of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.

Russia's economy is nearing burnout as the country diverts a significant portion of its financial resources to the conflict in Ukraine, which has now lasted over two years.
Story by John Varga

Vladimir Putin heralded the onset of a new "world order" at the BRICS summit, as he steps up his confrontation with the West.

The Russian President is hosting a three-day summit with leaders from 36 countries in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan.

Russia has long resented what it perceives as US and Western hegemony in global affairs.

One of Putin's key foreign policy goals has been to undermine Western political, military and economic influence by creating what he calls a "multipolar world".

At the BRICS summit on Wednesday, Putin restated his determination to hobble the West.

"The process of forming a multipolar world order is underway, a dynamic and irreversible process," Putin said.
Story by John Varga & Emily Hodgkin

The leader of a Russian private militia has openly called for the military to topple Vladimir Putin, marking what could be the most significant threat of rebellion the Kremlin has encountered since last year's Wagner mutiny.

Georgy Zakrevsky, who founded Paladin PMC, a group similar to the now-defunct Wagner militia and with loose ties to the Kremlin, has made a scathing attack on Putin in a video message.

Paladin PMC, which boasts about 300 fighters, has been involved in conflicts globally, including in Syria and Africa.

In his video outburst, Zakrevsky held Putin personally responsible for the military blunders in Ukraine.

He further accused Putin of being the root cause of Russia's economic and societal problems, calling on the military to overthrow the tyrannical leader and liberate the nation, reports the Express.

"Our country is not just on the brink of disaster or already right next to it, our country is already in trouble - in big trouble," Zakrevsky declared.

Mathematician and philosopher Immanuel Niven's statements are supported by a close analysis of Russia's economic situation.

According to the mathematician, the "Putin system" is beginning to collapse, exactly what he predicted mathematically already in March: "The announced drastic tax increases in Russia (the highest tax increases in the history of modern Russia) as well as Putin's recently published slogans (according to which "everyone must work as if they were at the front") are dramatic signs that the toxicity of the Russian war economy is reaching a critical level."
Intelligence officials suspect Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek of colluding with the far-right Freedom Party on Moscow’s behalf.
Matthew Karnitschnig

VIENNA — The coup began with the sound of a doorbell.

Just after 8 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2018, Austrian police Commander Wolfgang Preiszler pressed the buzzer at the headquarters of the country’s domestic intelligence service and held his ID up to the security camera.

Within minutes, dozens of his colleagues armed with Glock pistols and a battering ram fanned out through the building in bullet-proof vests and balaclavas, seizing confidential data stored on the agency’s servers and sensitive documents lying on desks.

The incursion — pitting the police against the spy service, known as the BVT — unleashed a firestorm that shattered Austria’s reputation in the intelligence world and led to the agency’s closure.

More than six years later, the true scope of what transpired that day is only now coming into focus. Intelligence officials tell POLITICO that new evidence suggests the raid was part of a Moscow-led operation to discredit Austria’s spy services in order to rebuild them with new leadership under the Kremlin’s influence. Crucial to that effort, they say, was the junior partner in the government coalition at the time: the far-right, pro-Russia Freedom Party (FPÖ), which today is the most popular party in the country.

Last month, Austrian prosecutors revealed that the men believed to have laid the groundwork for the action were Russian agents directed by Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former chief operating officer of the collapsed payment processing firm Wirecard, who authorities say works for Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.
Story by Front Page Detective

A gripping new documentary released by the team of the late dissident Alexei Navalny has levied accusations against Russian President Vladimir Putin, implicating him in the murders of 17 politicians, journalists and activists.

Broadcast on Navalny LIVE, and reaching an audience of approximately 3.3 million followers, the feature branded Putin as a “brutal killer” and “mass murderer,” and claimed he was directly responsible for the assassinations of numerous prominent critics and investigators over the past couple decades, the Daily Mail reported.

The documentary's release intensifies the mounting pressure on Putin to explain the sudden death of Russian opposition leader Navalny, who passed away at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, just weeks before the president's reelection bid.

The documentary asserts that further killings are likely because of the apparent impunity Putin's regime enjoys.
Navalny's team, committed to carrying on their leader's legacy of challenging state corruption, maintains that Putin orchestrated Navalny's demise, alleging a deliberate poisoning attempt in 2020.
Alexei Navalny’s team, as well as the Russian authorities, have not confirmed the whereabouts of his body
Tom Watling, Stuti Mishra, Matt Mathers

Vladamir Putin believes that he is “untouchable” after years of an iron grip on Russia, the wife of jailed opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza has said, as she accused the autocrat of murdering Alexei Navalny.

Speaking to the BBC, Evgenia Kara-Murza said: “All that impunity that lasted for decades has led [Putin] to believe he’s somehow untouchable.”

It comes as an independent Russian newspaper cited an anonymous source claiming that Mr Navalny’s body had been delivered to the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital.

The unnamed source, identified as an experienced paramedic, said the body was bruised and had been transported from the nearby town of Labytnangi.
Story by Альона Сонько

Prigozhin commended Putin's efforts to build a personal relationship of trust with African leaders during the summit. "What our president did, he did a very important thing, this is the second forum, and during this forum and certainly in other meetings with most of the African leaders, a personal relationship of trust was built, for Africans it is very important – trust in one word," Prigozhin said.

While several publications, including Reuters, acknowledged the difficulty of verifying the audio, a voice resembling Prigozhin's could be heard under the French translation. The phone interview was uploaded on YouTube but had only garnered 1,400 views as of late July 28.
Story by Mark Almond

It is tempting to see Vladimir Putin’s pompous Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg as his attempt to distract attention at home and abroad from the situation in Ukraine. But that would be too simplistic an interpretation. Rather, this conference is part of a revolution in African geopolitics that represents one of the biggest threats to European and American geostrategic interests in the modern era.

While it is true that not as many African heads of state have attended in person this year as last time, Putin has been able to bask in sympathy from those who did make the trip. Moreover, the West’s intense focus on Ukraine’s counter-offensive and the minutiae of Kremlin internal politics means that we have overlooked what is happening in the vast Sahel region.

For Sub-Saharan Africa has become an arena of Russian intervention against Western allies and interests. To take one recent example, this week’s military coup in the Sahel by army officers in Niger toppled a pro-Western elected president who had hosted the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken just months ago. As in neighbouring Mali, the military junta’s supporters appear openly sympathetic to Russia.
Story by Allison Quinn

As Russia’s defense minister marveled at banned ballistic missiles alongside North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, the Kremlin on Thursday ramped up efforts to court allies with a summit appealing to African leaders.

With just 17 heads of state from 54 African nations in attendance, Vladimir Putin announced at the “Russia-Africa” summit in St. Petersburg that Moscow would provide up to 50,000 tons of grain to six African countries for free—to replace the Ukrainian grain exports whose delivery Moscow blocked by pulling out of a grain deal.

“We are expecting a record harvest this year. In the coming months, we will be ready to supply Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea with 25,000-50,000 tons of grain free of charge. We will also provide free shipping for this product,” Putin said.
Story by Tom Sanders

Vladimir Putin was snubbed by African leaders at a key summit in St. Petersburg on Thursday, heaping fresh humiliation on the Russian president. Just 17 heads of state will take part in the second Russia-Africa summit this week – less than half of the 43 who attended the first in 2019.

The other 32 African nations will be represented by senior government officials or ambassadors. Low turnout for the event has prompted the Kremlin to blame western powers undercutting with ‘outrageous’ interference as it seeks out diplomatic allies in its standoff with Ukraine.
Story by htan@insider.com (Huileng Tan)

Russian President Vladimir Putin passed an order to seize the local operations of the Western food and beverage giants Danone and Carlsberg after people close to his regime expressed interest in the assets, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed people close to the Kremlin's decision. Moscow appointed Yakub Zakriev — Chechnya's agriculture minister and a nephew of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov — as the new head of Danone, the Russian business-news outlet Vedomosti reported Tuesday.

The regime installed the businessman Taimuraz Bolloev as the head of Carlsberg's subsidiary in Russia, per the news outlet. The FT said Bolloev was "a longtime friend of Putin." Russia seizing the local operations of Danone and Carlsberg was not the first time the country took control of Western firms. In April, Moscow took control of the subsidiaries of Germany's Uniper and Finland's Fortum.
Story by Tom Sanders

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s recently uncovered calendar exposes his extensive network within the Russian government and the challenge it poses for Vladimir Putin in purging his inner circle of his influence. The calendar, first obtained earlier this year by Business Insider, covers events until 2021 and has gained renewed significance following Prigozhin’s recent failed mutiny, prompting a call for re-analysis.

‘If Putin intends to clean ranks of potential Wagner loyalists, he has his work cut out for him,’ the publication wrote. Despite gaps during Wagner’s significant operations, such as the 2014 Ukraine invasion and the 2020 US election, the document provides a detailed account of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s daily activities, encompassing everything from medical appointments to dietary supplement routines.
Story by Richard Burkard

Three Russian military leaders are missing, two weeks after a rebellion by the Wagner Group. A British tabloid listed them this weekend: Valery Gerasimov, Chief of General Staff, Gen. Sergey Surovikin and Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the Deputy Defense Minister.

The Moscow Times claims Gerasimov still is the titular director of Russian armed forces. But a Colonel-General now reportedly has overall responsibility for the incursion into Ukraine. Surovikin, dubbed “General Armageddon” for some of his military actions, has vanished completely. Kremlin officials are not commenting on him. The head of Ukraine’s Institute for the Future said Thursday that Surovikin and his deputy are under arrest, according to The New Voice of Ukraine.
Story by Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns said on Saturday that the armed mutiny by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had shown the corrosive effect on Russia of President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. "It is striking that Prigozhin preceded his actions with a scathing indictment of the Kremlin's mendacious rationale for the invasion of Ukraine and of the Russian military leadership's conduct of the war," Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, said in a lecture to Britain's Ditchley Foundation in Oxfordshire, England.
Story by Aaron Johnson

After narrowly thwarting a civil war, Vladimir Putin escaped an attempted assassination thanks to Russian secret service members, RadarOnline.com has learned. Since Putin ordered the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin leader grew increasingly paranoid about being assassinated. The 70-year-old's greatest fear manifested into reality on Friday — and security service guards were said to be responsible for saving the ruthless leader's life. According to the Kremlin's security agency, Federal Protection Service (FSO) members thwarted a plan to kill Putin. The failed assassination attempt allegedly centered on an unnamed bridge that Putin and his motorcade were expected to travel over.
By The Associated Press

Russian government troops withdrew from the streets of Moscow and people flocked to parks and cafes Sunday following a short-lived revolt by mercenary forces that weakened President Vladimir Putin and raised questions about his ability to wage war in Ukraine. The march on the capital by Wagner troops led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the late-night deal that eventually halted it severely dented Putin’s reputation as a leader who is willing to ruthlessly punish anyone who challenges his authority. That may open the door for others who are unhappy with Putin’s two-decade grip on power, especially after his ill-fated invasion of Ukraine.

Under terms of the agreement, Prigozhin will go into exile in Belarus but will not face prosecution and his forces won’t either. Neither Putin nor Prigozhin has been heard from since the deal, reportedly brokered by Belarussian President Aleksander Lukashenko, was announced Saturday night. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the weekend’s events as “extraordinary,” recalling that 16 months ago Putin appeared poised to seize the capital of Ukraine and now he has had to defend Moscow from forces led by his onetime protege.
Story by Mark Almond

With Nato’s vital summit in Vilnius looming, Turkey’s President Erdoğan is distracting Western attention from the brutal war in Ukraine by manufacturing a crisis over admitting Sweden into the alliance. It’s an issue that has already begun to paralyse European security, leaving Stockholm vulnerable and playing directly into the bloodied hands of Vladimir Putin.

Everyone – including officials in Ankara – can see that Sweden meets the criteria for joining Nato. The problem is that Erdoğan, emboldened by an unprecedented third election victory, is more intent than ever on pursuing policies that challenge not only the West, but the very democratic and human rights principles that the alliance is there to defend. This is a man who prosecutes his rivals and gets them banned from politics. Now, though, he’s taking this brand of authoritarianism to a new level, demanding that Sweden extradite named opponents before it can join.

We can debate the rights and wrongs of Sweden’s asylum policy for Kurds. But can any advocate of the rule of law agree to let a foreign government decide whom it should expel from its territory?
Story by Alexander Motyl

Russia’s destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam is, above all, a sign of desperation from President Putin. The Russians know they’re losing the war. They know they won’t be able to withstand the forthcoming Ukrainian counter-offensive.

And they are now engaging in a watery version of a scorched earth policy that, they hope, will stall the offensive by diverting Kyiv’s attention and resources from killing Russian soldiers to saving Ukrainian civilians.
That may work for a few days, but its major effect will be to harden Ukrainian resolve to drive the genocidaires from their land. Make no mistake about it. The destruction is unquestionably Russia’s doing.
Story by nrennolds@insider.com (Nathan Rennolds)

Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely never the elite Soviet spy that the world has been led to believe, an investigaton by the German news outlet Der Spiegel has revealed.

Stories of Putin's exploits as an intelligence officer during the 1980s vary, and it is an era somewhat shrouded in mystery, as he has never commented on the period himself.

But many stories have painted him as a heroic figure, who, among other things, single-handedly defended the KGB's offices from looters and carried out top-secret secret missions such as meeting with members of the Red Army Faction, a terrorist group that wreaked havoc in West Germany and committed a series of kidnappings and assassinations.
Story by lovePROPERTY team

Does Putin have a secret bunker?
Putin is renowned for extreme vigilance when it comes to his personal safety – whether that's reportedly enforcing a no-fly zone over his alleged $1.4 billion palace or conducting meetings at a super-long table in an attempt to avoid coronavirus. Now, according to an investigation carried out by Business Insider, it appears he may have gone one step further and built secret tunnels and a bunker beneath his rumored Black Sea mega-mansion. A Russian contractor, Metro Style, shared plans of the tunnels to their website in the early 2010s, but there are other clues too... Click or scroll on to find out more.
Six infamous Dagger missiles were shot down by U.S. Patriot defenses in one incredible night that changes the calculus of Putin’s threat to Ukraine.
Marcel Plichta

Russian officials must be reeling in utter disbelief after Ukraine claimed six of their most sophisticated missiles were blasted out of the sky in an incredible night of drama over Kyiv. When Ukraine’s Defense Express outlet reported that just one Kh-47 “Dagger” missile had been shot down with a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system earlier this month, it prompted fury in Russia.

On Saturday, U.S. officials told CNN that the Russian missile attack on May 5 was targeting the Patriot itself. Russian officials called the interception “wishful thinking”—even as Ukrainian and U.S. officials made statements to the contrary. The Kremlin had believed these weapons were all but “unstoppable.”

Those Russian claims were left in disarray early Tuesday when a further six Kh-47s were reportedly shot down in a single night. In one of the most intense aerial assaults on the capital since the war began, Ukrainian air defenses took down 18 missiles that were targeting the city.
Story by Dave Malyon

Amid tighter security than usual and a lower military turnout, Vladimir Putin took to the podium and blamed the West for the war in Ukraine in his speech. Despite the significant losses and embarrassment suffered by Russia's military on the battlefield, Putin - whom the Sun reported as "Panicky" - assured the audience of an imminent victory.

He used the opportunity to accuse Western nations of forgetting their victory against Germany in the Second World War and referred to his actions against Ukraine as "sacred." In a symbolic gesture highlighting the impact of Putin's losses, a solitary relic of a World War II tank, a T34, appeared in the procession. This lone tank was followed by ten armored jeep-like vehicles.
Story by David Wetzel

Some are calling Russia President Vladimir Putin's speech during Victory Day one of the most blasphemous in world history. Putin referred to a Western enemy that he claims is conspiring against his country and is responsible for what's going on in Ukraine.

He also claimed that his so-called heroic troops are standing up against a new structure of Nazism that is erupting all over Eastern Europe. On top of that, Putin has distrust happening within his own country.
Story by Alex Henderson

Militarily, economically and politically, the Ukraine invasion has been a major drain for Russia — not unlike the Soviet Union's Afghanistan invasion during the 1980s. Nonetheless, President Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of backing down. In a scathing article published by the Daily Beast on May 1, journalist A. Craig Copetas emphasizes that Putin is feeling increasingly desperate as the war drags on.

"He's ignited a dumpster fire kindled with more than 200,000 dead Russian soldiers, whose death march on Ukraine doubled the size of his border with NATO, torched his profitable global energy markets, and recycled him as a Chinese subordinate," Copetas observes. "He's produced the country's largest budget hole since the 1990s and achieved the highest number of sanctions ever leveled against a country…. Vladimir Putin is keen on autocratic traditions and enthusiastic about keeping his Kremlin spick-and-span, but with so much crap piled up inside his fortress after the invasion of Ukraine, arresting critics and assassinating political foes, the one day of traditional spring-cleaning from the beginning of Putin's reign is no longer enough."
Story by David Wetzel

If Russian President Vladimir Putin is assassinated, the country could descend into chaos, a former CIA analyst said. Paul Goble said the potential for an assassination of the leader would likely cause Russia to break up into several mini states.

This is all a result of the Russians' disastrous outcome in Ukraine, where more than a year after invading the country is having trouble making progress. Goble said experts and analysts are now even more "open" to the notion of Russia breaking up into a splintered state, causing the end of the Russian Federation.
Story by insider@insider.com (Christopher Woody)

When Russian President Vladimir Putin assumed power in 1999, the Russian military had gone through a decade of post-Soviet decay. Over the next 20 years, Putin and his military leaders rebuilt that force into one capable of a range of operations around the world, with advanced warships and aircraft and well-armed troops — all backed up by the world's largest nuclear arsenal.

In his book, "Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine," Mark Galeotti, a scholar of Russian security affairs who has studied the country since the final years of the Cold War, documents how Russia under Putin reformed and revamped the military and put it to the test in combat in Europe and the Middle East. In the interview below, which has been edited lightly for clarity, Galeotti describes those reforms, what they achieved, and how Putin has squandered the military he built in a devastating war in Ukraine.
Story by insider@insider.com (John Haltiwanger)

Last May, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top diplomat unexpectedly downplayed the significance of Finland joining the NATO alliance — the possibility of which previously led Moscow to repeatedly threaten the Nordic country. Putin said at that time that Finland joining NATO didn't pose an "immediate threat" to Russia.

The Kremlin is, however, shifting its tone now that it is a done deal and warning Finland it will have to take unspecified action in response. "Naturally, this forces us to take countermeasures to ensure our own tactical and strategic security," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a press briefing, per the Moscow Times.
Story by Peter Suciu

The official social media account of NATO's Allied Command Transformation (@NATO_ACT) shared a simple photo of the Finnish flag alongside the NATO flag in a social media post on Thursday evening. It officially welcomed the Nordic nation to the international military alliance.

"All #NATO member countries have ratified Finland’s membership; the Alliance is stronger, and #Finland will help improving #NATO's stability and security in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe. Welcome, Finland! #WeAreNATO," @NATO_ACT tweeted.

Finland will become a formal member of NATO within days, following a unanimous vote by the Turkish Parliament that ratified the accession. The Turkish vote, which occurred just minutes before midnight in Ankara, came after months of delay.

"All 30 NATO members have now ratified Finland's membership. I want to thank every one of them for their trust and support. Finland will be a strong and capable Ally, committed to the security of the Alliance," Finnish President Sauli Niinistö also via a post on social media.
Story by Alexander Motyl

A tape-recording of a recent conversation between two members of the Russian elite has gone viral on Russian social media. Yosif Prigozhin, a music producer, and Farkhad Akhmedov, a billionaire oligarch, allegedly discussed Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in the most unflattering way.  Prigozhin claims the conversation was stitched together from a variety of recordings; Akhmedov has refrained from commenting. A source in the Russian secret service claims the exchange is genuine. Judge for yourselves from several choice quotes.

Akhmedov: “ won’t save , he is responsible for everything. We have a republic, a federation, a presidential country. The President will answer for all this. For everything.… f-cked us, our children, their future, their fate.”
Reuters

AMSTERDAM, March 17 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during its one-year invasion of its neighbour.

The ICC arrest warrants "have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel. She added that Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty underpinning the world's permanent war crimes tribunal. In its first warrant for Ukraine, the ICC called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Putin's $329M spy jet is reportedly blasted by pro-Ukraine Belarusians
Front and central parts of the AWACS Beriev A-50U aircraft as well as the radar antenna were damaged from two explosions at the Machulishchy air base near Minsk, Belarusian anti-government organization BYPOL claimed. 'Partisans... confirmed a successful special operation to blow up a rare Russian plane at the airfield in Machulishchy near Minsk,' tweeted Viacorka. 'This is the most successful diversion since the beginning of 2022.' The Beriev A-50, which has the NATO reporting name of Mainstay, has airborne command and control capabilities and can track up to 60 targets at a time. The distinctive plane carries a fiberglass dome more than 33ft in diameter, housing rotating antenna of the Shmel radar complex. Its long-range radar detection system has been used to pinpoint bombing targets inside Ukraine.
Tim McNulty

The Kremlin's mouthpiece once told a Moscow threat audience that any Russian leader to authorise an attack on Ukraine would be a "criminal." Vladimir Solovyov is now one of Vladimir Putin's chief propagandists for the invasion of Ukraine, but footage from 2008 shows him arguing that a war between Ukraine and Russia should, and would, never happen. "Let me put it this way - there will never be any war between Russia and Ukraine. "Because any person who attempts in full seriousness to undertake such an act is a criminal.
John Bacon, USA TODAY

The announcement came hours after Putin signed laws annexing the Zaporizhzhia region. Earlier in the day, Energoatom chief Petro Kotin said he will be running the Russian-held plant from the capital Kyiv. The plant has been the focus of deep global concern. Both sides blame each other for bombings that have damaged parts of the plant and threaten to trigger a catastrophe, international nuclear experts warn.

"The need for a Nuclear Safety and Security Protection Zone (NSSPZ) around #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is now more urgent than ever," tweeted Rafael Grossi,  director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The plant's Ukrainian director was kidnapped Friday and released this week by Russian forces who occupy the facility. Ukrainian workers continue to operate the plant, which halted power generation last month.
Kyiv’s troops pushed forward Monday, threatening a major new breakthrough and forcing Russian soldiers to retreat from territory the Kremlin claimed to have annexed.
By Rhoda Kwan

Ukrainian forces appeared to make sweeping new gains Monday, piling pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin faced growing domestic unease over the state of its struggling military and the chaotic efforts to reinforce it. Kyiv’s troops were pushing forward in the country’s east and south, threatening a major new breakthrough and forcing Putin's soldiers to retreat from territory he claimed to have annexed in a grand ceremony last week.

Moscow has matched its annexation claims with a call-up of reservists and new nuclear threats, a broad intervention that has not only threatened to escalate its clash with Ukraine’s Western allies, but also expose domestic vulnerabilities. Russian lawmakers Monday ratified the illegal annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions: Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. But while the Kremlin said it had not yet determined where the borders for its newly claimed land would be established, the areas under its control were being rapidly pushed back.
By Jonathan Landay

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A defiant Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia's annexation of a swathe of Ukraine in a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony, promising Moscow would triumph in its "special military operation" against Kyiv even as some of his troops faced potential defeat. The Russian president's proclamation of Russian rule over 15% of Ukraine - the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two - was roundly rejected by Western countries, with the United States and Britain announcing new sanctions.

It comes as Russian forces in one of the four regions being annexed face being encircled by Ukrainian troops after Putin ordered a massive mobilisation drive to get hundreds of thousands of Russian men to the front. In one of his toughest anti-American speeches in more than two decades in power, Putin signalled he was ready to continue what he called a battle for a "greater historical Russia", slammed the West as neo-colonial and as out to destroy his country, and without evidence accused Washington and its allies of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
The mass exodus out of Russia shows no signs of easing as hundreds of thousands of Russians scramble to flee across Russia's borders. In Georgia, the mass exodus of men, alone or with their families or friends began shortly after President Vladimir Putin called for 300,000 more troops. Since then, cars have been forming long, snaking lines. The mass exodus comes on the heels of what the White House is calling a sham referendum in occupied parts of Ukraine. Putin is expected to use the results to declare the regions are now part of Russia as early as this Friday.
Sam Meredith

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ultimatum to the West drastically increases the risk of a nuclear conflict, analysts and campaigners warned, with world leaders denouncing what they describe as “reckless” and “irresponsible” threats. Speaking in a rare televised address Wednesday, Putin called up extra forces for the war in Ukraine and warned that if the territorial integrity of Russia was threatened, the Kremlin would “certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It is not a bluff.” It was widely interpreted as a threat that Putin is prepared to use nuclear weapons to escalate the war following a string of Ukrainian successes. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday doubled down on the Kremlin’s nuclear posturing, saying that any weapons in Russia’s arsenal could be used to defend its territories — including strategic nuclear weapons.
By Tiffany Terrell | Raw Story

Halfway through his invasion of Ukraine's sixth bloody month, Russian President Vladimir Putin's grip on power in Moscow is imploding as scores of Kremlin officials are calling upon the 69-year-old autocrat to quit. Putin had anticipated his February 24th "special military operation" to be a cakewalk through the Russian-controlled East into the Ukrainian capitol of Kyiv. But with the aid of a Western coalition led by the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's unshatterable resistance campaign has decimated Putin's combat forces and depleted his military's offensive capabilities.

More than 30 Russian municipal deputies have signed a petition calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s resignation. “We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President Vladimir Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens,” a translation of the petition reads. “We demand the resignation of Vladimir Putin from the post of President of the Russian Federation!” In the open letter to Putin, deputies from Moscow's Lomonosovsky district recalled that Putin's leadership began with "good reforms" but that as time marched onward, “everything went wrong.” Even Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin’s key ally in Chechnya, has started lobbing criticism at Russia’s military.
By Brandon Gage | AlterNet

Halfway through his invasion of Ukraine's sixth bloody month, Russian President Vladimir Putin's grip on power in Moscow is imploding as scores of Kremlin officials are calling upon the 69-year-old autocrat to quit. Putin had anticipated his February 24th "special military operation" to be a cakewalk through the Russian-controlled East into the Ukrainian capitol of Kyiv. But with the aid of a Western coalition led by the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's unshatterable resistance campaign has decimated Putin's combat forces and depleted his military's offensive capabilities. Casualties have climbed into the tens of thousands. Numerous allegations of genocide committed against Ukrainian civilians have flooded international watchdog organizations. The global economy has suffered major setbacks. Europe quivers on the brink of potentially multiple atomic disasters. And Moscow's finest are either bogged down or on the run.
Yvonne Lau

Last week, the world’s seven most advanced economies agreed to impose a price cap on what they’d pay for Russian oil in a bid to hamper Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying the price cap is a “stupid” idea. Russia will simply “freeze” European countries if Western nations impose a price cap on Russian oil, Putin said at an economic forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday, arguing that it will simply drive up worldwide energy prices and deprive Europe of the energy it sorely needs. Countries that import Russian energy “are in no position to dictate their will. Let them come to their senses,” he said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, global energy prices have soared owing to trade and production disruptions. Yet the Kremlin has raked in $157 billion in the past six months from fossil fuel exports—with EU nations importing 54% of this amount—according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. The West aims to reduce Russia’s energy revenues through a price cap, while hoping to avoid a supply crunch in an already tight market.
By Felix Light

Sept 1 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is to miss the funeral of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, denying the man who failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet empire the full state honours granted to Boris Yeltsin. Gorbachev, idolised in the West for allowing eastern Europe to escape Soviet communist control but unloved at home for the chaos that his "perestroika" reforms unleashed, will be buried on Saturday after a public ceremony in Moscow's Hall of Columns.

In a meeting with new military graduates, the Russian president spoke about Moscow’s newly tested SARMAT RS-28 intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Satan 2. Putin said: ‘It is planned that the first such complex will be put on combat duty by the end of the year'
The Russia China new world order if you defy us we will attack you.

Zaina Alibhai

Vladimir Putin has issued a thinly-veiled threat to former Soviet Union countries – warning they could share the same fate as Ukraine for defying Russia. The Russian President made clear he would not hesitate to take the same action against them should they turn against the Kremlin, and would no longer ‘be allies’ with the country. Mr Putin’s comments followed those of the president of Kazakhstan, who had described the pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas as ‘quasi-states territories’. As Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sat metres away from him at the St Petersburg Economic Forum, he claimed Kazakhstan – which left the USSR in 1991 – was part of ‘historic Russia’. ‘What is the Soviet Union? This is historic Russia,’ Mr Putin said, before praising Kazakhstan as a brotherly nation.
Kate Buck·Breaking News Editor, Yahoo News UK

Russia's army could be on the verge of collapse in the Ukraine, amid claims Vladimir Putin has seen the reported 30,000 dead troops as 'a price worth paying'. Putin ordered Kremlin troops into Ukraine on 24 February, but despite Western intelligence suggesting he anticipated an easy victory, has now spent almost 100 days waging war. Now a confidential report seen by The Mirror, written by a "top UK analyst on Russia" has claimed Putin still believes he can win a "partial victory" - despite those inside the Kremlin telling him the invasion has been a disaster. According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as of 31 May, 30,500 Russian soldiers have so far been killed.
Ret. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling joins Ana Cabrera to discuss reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is making tactical military decisions in Russia's months-long war in Ukraine.
By Eileen AJ Connelly

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “very ill with blood cancer,” an oligarch close to the Kremlin said in a secret recording obtained by New Lines Magazine. The type of cancer was unspecified, New Lines reported in a story discussing myriad rumors about Putin’s health. “The recording represents rare testimony by someone with proven ties to the Russian government that its fanatical dictator may well be seriously unwell,” the magazine stated of the comments made during a mid-March discussion with someone described as a “Western venture capitalist.” “He absolutely ruined Russia’s economy, Ukraine’s economy and many other economies — ruined [them] absolutely,” the unnamed oligarch said of Putin on the tape. “The problem is with his head. … One crazy guy can turn the world upside down.”
Editorial

Support for membership in Finland and Sweden shows the Russian president’s assault on Ukraine has only strengthened the alliance. In 2019, Emmanuel Macron declared that Nato was becoming “braindead”. The French president’s warning was prompted by fears that the US, under Donald Trump, could no longer be relied upon to come to the defence of Nato allies. Mr Trump last month confirmed that he had threatened not to defend them against Russia. Fewer than three years on from Mr Macron’s warning, the alliance is reinvigorated. Members have increased defence spending significantly, though only eight out of 30 met the target of 2% of GDP last year. Finland and Sweden, long resistant to joining, are knocking on the door. Nothing has done more for Nato solidarity and expansion than Vladimir Putin’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, observed: “There is a before and after 24 February.”
By Matt Egan, CNN Business

New York (CNN Business) David Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Programme, is pleading with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reopen Ukraine's Black Sea ports before global calamity strikes. "Millions of people around the world will die because these ports are being blocked," Beasley told CNN during a conference on Thursday. Asked what he would say directly to Putin, the UN official said: "If you have any heart at all for the rest of the world, regardless of how you feel about Ukraine, you need to open up those ports." Vital shipments of agriculture from Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of the world, are stuck in the war-torn nation because the port of Odessa and neighboring ports have been blocked by Russian officials.
By Haley Ott

London — As Ukrainian authorities and the international community work to meticulously collate mounting evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials of World War II-era Nazi officials told CBS News that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "certainly" a war criminal. Benjamin Ferencz, now 102, fought in some of the most significant battles of World War II. He was a young lawyer, recently graduated from Harvard Law School, when he was assigned to a unit tasked with gathering evidence of the Nazi's war crimes in Europe. "It was horror. It was incredible and indescribable. My job was to get into the concentration camps as they were being liberated, so by the time I got there, the SS was fleeing. The American army was chasing them, and the ground was covered with dead people, some of them still partly alive, pleading with their eyes for help. All of them looked like they were starving. It was not only an unforgettable experience, it was completely traumatic, and I always have that picture," Ferencz told CBS News.
By Gerrard Kaonga

Rumors about a potential replacement for Russian President Vladimir Putin were sparked due to his actions during the Victory Day Parade in Moscow on May 9. Videos of Putin speaking to a man during the parade have begun circulating on social media with some speculating that this man would one day replace the Russian leader. Ukrainian race car driver Igor Sushko shared the clip, which has over 45,000 views, on his Twitter page. He claimed that the man Putin was speaking to was named Dmitry Kovalev. "The young man with whom Putin had a long and frank conversation on Red Square is the head of the presidential administration department Dmitry Kovalev," he tweeted. Newsweek has not been able to independently verify if this is the true identity of the man. In his tweet, Sushko also said that the identity was still unconfirmed at this time.
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