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Russia: State Duma Committee on Defence recommends the nullification of the previously passed law which exempted from mobilization fathers of at least three children.

Synopsis: The Russian T-14 'Armata' has been deployed to active duty in the Russian army but will not see combat in Ukraine. The Russians cannot afford to have their latest tank destroyed in combat. Which makes the T-14 a very expensive parade vehicle and nothing more. The video also includes footage of Russian soldiers looting a Ukrainian village. BS is called on the Russian narrative about their 2022 'Peace Deal'. Residents of Mariupol complain that Russian colonists are taking over the new apartments in the city while the 'liberated' ethnic Russians continue to live in squalor. The video ends with...

A close ally of Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov resigned unexpectedly as speaker of parliament on Wednesday, creating a vacancy in the elite at a time when Kadyrov’s health is under close scrutiny. Magomed Daudov was widely seen as one of the most influential politicians in the southern Russian region. He gave no reason for his departure.

A class disparity has emerged within the Russian military, contrasting the fates of ordinary soldiers and the privileged elite. This divide has ignited widespread anger and criticism, even among top-level troops who feel betrayed by their leadership during the ongoing battle over Ukraine.

Russian air base in Crimea that caught fire following a suspected Ukrainian missile attack hosted dozens of military aircraft central to Moscow's invasion. Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian facilities on the peninsula Moscow has occupied since 2014 and which Kyiv has vowed to recapture. Regarding the latest incident, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said there had been a massive Ukrainian missile attack over the port city overnight Tuesday. Footage on social-media channels showed flames billowing into the air at the Belbek airfield near Sevastopol. Here is the focal point of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, whose vessels...

Russian President Vladimir Putin demoted Nikolai Patrushev, a Cold War warrior who crafted the Kremlin's national security strategy, to a job overseeing the shipbuilding industry while raising two younger lieutenants to senior Kremlin jobs. -snip- Patrushev, a former KGB officer from St Petersburg where Putin was born, was moved from the heart of the modern-day politburo, where he had worked for 16 years as secretary of the Security Council, to oversee shipbuilding as a Kremlin aide. -snip- Patrushev Senior was heavily demoted," a senior Russian source told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of such public remarks....

Can Russia's main task is to achieve victory on the battlefield in Ukraine with the minimal loss of troops, incoming defence minister Andrei Belousov said on Tuesday. -snip- Belousov presented himself as a man of integrity, telling parliamentarians: "I have always been, and will be, guided by the reinforced concrete principle 'You can make mistakes (but) you can't lie'." That was a pointed comment, given that he is taking charge of a ministry embroiled in a major corruption investigation that damaged his predecessor Shoigu. The scandal widened on Tuesday with the arrest of another senior official suspected of bribery. -snip-...

Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov was arrested "on suspicion of criminal activity" just after Putin dismissed his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. A RUSSIAN general was dragged out of his bed at 5am to be taken into detention facing "criminal charges over state secrets" in Vladimir Putin's latest purge. Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov, 55, was arrested by heavily armed cops in balaclavas who smashed their way into his home using crowbars. The top MoD official was reportedly “dragged out of bed and taken away for interrogation”. The arrest of the military chief comes a day after Vladimir Putin oversaw major changes in Russia's defence,...

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia's defense minister reshuffle was a further indication of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "desperation to sustain" his invasion of Ukraine, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday. Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defense minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilize the defense budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.

A Russian commander was reportedly killed in Crimea following a Ukrainian missile strike in the region. On Monday, the Russian independent outlet Astra said on its Telegram channel that a Russian air defense base located near Mount Ai-Petri in Crimea was hit with "an early morning missile attack" by Ukrainian forces. "The commander of the military unit was killed," Astra reported. "On the mountain, there is a 'secret' military air defense base of the 3rd radio technical regiment of the Russian Armed Forces." The outlet identified the Russian military commander as Alexander Kulakov. Another Russian soldier was also killed in...

A video posted Monday on social media shows the Ukrainian military destroying 10 Russian military vehicles in a single strike. The video was posted by the 63rd Separate Mechanized Brigade on Telegram. Reportedly, five Russian BMP-1s, an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, along with five tanks, were burned in the strike. The 63rd Brigade said that at least one vehicle was a Russian T-90M battle tank. The Ukrainian defense effort reportedly occurred near Terni in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The 63rd Brigade said it destroyed the vehicles "with the help of artillery and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drops."

Gazprom, the energy giant at the heart of Russia's economy, has announced it is selling property in Moscow, one week after posting record losses linked to restricted supplies to Europe linked to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The company said on Wednesday that the properties include office and non-residential buildings, a car parking lot in the capital, and the Imperial Park Hotel and spa sanatorium and resort complex in Rogozino village, just outside of Moscow. "Gazprom is engaged in a fire sale. They had their worst year in decades, and their production has fallen precipitously, down to what it was...

Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine. -snip Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the change made sense because Russia was approaching a situation like the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when the military and law enforcement authorities accounted for 7.4% of gross domestic product (GDP). That, said Peskov, meant it was vital to ensure such spending aligned with and was better integrated into the country's overall...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed replacing his defence minister and long-term ally, Sergei Shoigu, more than two years into the Ukraine war, the upper house of parliament said on Sunday. Putin proposed Andrei Belousov, former deputy prime minister, as the new defence minister.

Intelligence chiefs have warned ministers they fear Britain and other key Ukrainian allies are being targeted by Russian saboteurs following a series of suspicious incidents in recent months. These include a wave of fires at arms factories and military-related industrial sites in the West that are supplying Ukraine. There have also been attacks on computer systems, train derailments and even jamming of satellite signals for civil air flights. Last night, a senior British security source said Western intelligence agencies feared a spate of industrial fires were connected to Moscow, saying 'the b******s' were trying to set Europe alight. 'Lots of...

Vladimir Putin wore thick make-up with his eyebrows darkened and used cheek filler when he was sworn in for a fifth term, says a security expert. -snip- Prof Anthony Glees, from the University of Buckingham, told The Mirror that Putin was “heavily made up” for the event including user filler. It comes with the Russian leader having typically tried to give a macho image of himself whether it is riding shirtless on horseback or doing judo. “The doors open and Putin ambles in, greeted by an adoring audience. He is followed by a goose-stepping presidential guard of in uniforms,” said...

An ailing warlord pal of Vladimir Putin appeared to be in a bad state when he turned up at the Russian dictator’s inauguration in Moscow today (May 7). The bloated Chechen maniac Ramzan Kadyrov, 47, struggled to walk up the steps into the Kremlin for the ceremony, and then had difficulty getting his coat off. The dad-of-15 needed help from his ally Adam Delimkhanov, 54, a Russian MP, and an aide to sort himself out. It was the first public sighting of Putin lackey Kadyrov in Moscow since reports emerged last month that he was terminally ill, suffering from “pancreatic...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued his deranged nuclear warnings to the West, warning Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that London's iconic No.10 Downing Street is on a hit list. Russian president Vladimir Putin has today ordered nuclear missile firing drills and warned not even Downing Street will be safe. He told defence minister Sergei Shoigu to prepare exercises in the near future "in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to fulfil combat missions." A Russian defence minister said it would involve land, air and naval forces. A ministry spokesperson said: "A set of measures will be taken...

A senior Ukrainian intelligence official warned about the threat Moscow poses on other nations in Europe, saying "the Russians will take the Baltics in seven days" if allies don't stand up to Russia now. The comment was made by Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR), during an interview with The Economist published on Thursday. The alarm has been sounded before about the potential of Russian President Vladimir Putin looking to start conflicts in the Baltic states. Earlier this year, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote that the Russian leader appeared to...