Russia

The Washington Post reports: Accounts pushing Kremlin propaganda are using Twitter’s new paid verification system to appear more prominently on the global platform, another sign that Elon Musk’s takeover is accelerating the spread of politically charged misinformation, a nonprofit research group has found. The accounts claim to be based outside of Russia, so they can pay for verification without running …

“Look at what they are doing in the West. They distort historical facts, do not stop their attacks on Russian culture, on the Russian Orthodox Church. The West is perverting the family, the national identity. “They are making pedophilia the norm in their lives, and priests encourage same-sex marriage. Forgive them Father, they know not what they do. “The Anglican …

“You look at the lies that Americans are being told by President Biden, by Mitch McConnell, by these warmongers in both parties selling this lie that this is about defending freedom and democracy. They are the ones who are undermining our democracy. They are the ones who are denying the American people our constitutional right to have a say in …

Reuters reports: President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty with the United States that limits the two sides’ strategic nuclear arsenals. “In this regard, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty,” Putin told lawmakers towards the end of a …

Yahoo News reports: A leaked internal strategy document from Vladimir Putin’s executive office and obtained by Yahoo News lays out a detailed plan on how Russia plans to take full control over neighboring Belarus in the next decade under the pretext of a merger between the two countries. The document outlines in granular detail a creeping annexation by political, economic …

Axios reports: The Biden administration has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity during the war in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said in her speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. The Biden administration has already accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. But it’s the first time the U.S. has formally concluded that Russian …

The New York Post reports: A high-ranking Russian defense official in the war against Ukraine was found dead Wednesday after falling from a 16th-floor window in an apartment building. Marina Yankina, 58, was discovered by a passerby at the entrance of a high-rise on Zamshina Street in St. Petersburg, Russian news Telegram channel Mash reported. She is believed to have …

“I think both the Russian people and the government would like to see this thing end. They’d like to negotiate an end to it. But they’re certainly not going to walk into a negotiation where they’re told, well, you have to accept guilt, quote unquote, for the war, which they really didn’t start. “And then they’re not going to give …

The Washington Post reports: As Russian troops stormed into Ukraine last February, sending millions of Ukrainians fleeing for their lives, thousands of other Russians raced to pack their bags and leave home, fearing the Kremlin would shut the borders and impose martial law. Some had long opposed rising authoritarianism, and the invasion was a last straw. Others were driven by …

From the State Department: Do not travel to Russia due to the unpredictable consequences of the unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment and the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the Embassy’s limited ability …

The BBC reports: Notorious Russian army captain and mercenary Igor Mangushev has died in hospital, days after he was shot in the head at close range in occupied Ukraine, his friends have said. He commanded an anti-drone unit in occupied Luhansk. He took to a stage last summer holding a man’s skull. In a video posted on social media in …

The Washington Post reports: Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday that it was likely Russian President Vladimir Putin personally signed off on a decision to supply long-range antiaircraft missiles systems to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine before they shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew. However, while the prosecutors said they had documented “strong …

Politico Europe reports: The U.S. supports blocking Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympics unless it is “absolutely clear” that they are not representing their respective countries, the White House announced on Thursday. As Russia continues to wage its almost yearlong war in Ukraine, a handful of Ukrainian allies have called on the International Olympic Committee to ban all …

Posted this morning to Trump’s Truth Social account: Remember in Helsinki when a 3rd rate reporter asked me, essentially, who I trusted more, President Putin of Russia, or our “Intelligence” lowlifes. My instinct at the time was that we had really bad people in the form of James Comey, McCabe (whose wife was being helped out by Crooked Hillary while …

Axios reports: Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims in a new BBC documentary that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile during an “extraordinary” phone call before the Ukraine invasion. “He threatened me at one point, and he said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute’ or …

Media Matters has the transcript: SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I don’t wanna America in these long, protracted conflicts, Bill. BILL O’REILLY (GUEST): Well, neither do I, because — you got to be careful with this. Because you’ve got an unstable dictator with nuclear weapons. You’ve got to be careful with this. HANNITY: How do — how do you be careful, Bill? …

The Washington Post reports: Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and a senior security official in President Vladimir Putin’s administration, said Saturday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should perform a ritualistic suicide by disembowelment to repent for what Medvedev called servitude to the United States. Medvedev’s remarks were in response to a joint statement Friday by President Biden and Kishida, …

Axios reports: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky declared in a pre-recorded video message at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night that while the war against Russia’s invading military “is not over” yet, “the tide is turning.” “The First World War claimed millions of lives,” said Zelensky. “The Second World War claimed tens of millions of them. There will be no Third …

Reuters reports: Russia’s government extended support to a legislative amendment that would classify maps that dispute the country’s official “territorial integrity” as punishable extremist materials, the state-owned TASS news agency reported on Sunday. The amendment to Russia’s anti-extremism legislation stipulates that “cartographic and other documents and images that dispute the territorial integrity of Russia” will be classified as extremist materials, …

The Insider reports: The Ukrainian military is warning that Putin is planning to mobilize up to half a million new troops in preparation for a new offensive in Ukraine. Speaking to the German news site T-Online, Andriy Chernyak, a Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service representative, said that they believe the mobilization will be announced on January 15, after the Orthodox Christian …