All posts tagged: Kremlin

Kremlin refuses to confirm if Assad is in Russia

Kremlin refuses to confirm if Assad is in Russia

Published by Sam

The Kremlin declined, on Monday, December 9, to confirm reports that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had fled to Moscow, adding that it was “surprised” by the rebel takeover. “As for Mr Assad’s whereabouts, I’ve got nothing to tell you,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. On Sunday, Russian news agencies had reported that Assad and his family were in Moscow, allegedly according to a Kremlin source, hours after he fled the country as Islamist-led rebels entered Damascus. “Assad and members of his family have arrived in Moscow,” the source was reported to have told the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies. “Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” he added. Peskov said that if Russia granted asylum to Assad and his family, this would be a decision taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Of course such decisions cannot be taken without the head of state, and it’s his decision,” Peskov said. He said there was no meeting with Assad on Putin’s agenda. Russia has given shelter to several ousted leaders, including former Ukrainian president …

Russian army sends wolves to the front to help counter threat from Ukraine drones | World | News

Russian army sends wolves to the front to help counter threat from Ukraine drones | World | News

Published by Sam

Vladimir Putin’s army is turning to wild animals in a desperate bid to try and counter the threat from Ukrainian drones. Army chiefs are pondering using wolves to help detect the approach of the deadly UAVS. Troops say the animals have a good sense of smell, are sociable and active, and can warn of danger in advance. Russian commanders have decided to run an experiment to see if wolves can make a difference. Two tamed wolves have been dispatched to Ukraine to serve with a unit that is fighting there. A Russian news agency reported: “The predators can hear the approach of drones and warn of danger in advance. “They will help Russian soldiers carry out combat missions in the [war] zone.” The two females were rescued from the Siberian region of Khakassia and raised by wolf-tamer Aleksandr Konchakov. In a video, he can be seen feeding ice cream to one of the wolves, called Vysota. He said: “The puppies were simply brought to me by hunters without a mother. “They have excellent intuition and …

Microsoft report details Russia disinformation campaign against Harris

Microsoft report details Russia disinformation campaign against Harris

Published by Sam

Mashabuba | Getty | Getty Images The video was seen millions of times across social media but some viewers were suspicious: It featured a young Black woman who claimed Vice President Kamala Harris left her paralyzed in a hit-and-run accident in San Francisco 13 years ago. In an emotional retelling from a wheelchair, the alleged victim said she “cannot remain silent anymore” and lamented that her childhood had “ended too soon.” Immediately after the video was posted on Sept. 2, social media users pointed out reasons to be wary. The purported news channel it came from, San Francisco’s KBSF-TV, didn’t exist. A website for the channel set up just a week earlier contained plagiarized articles from real news outlets. The woman’s X-ray images shown in the video were taken from online medical journals. And the video and the text story on the website spelled the alleged victim’s name differently. The caution was warranted, according to a new Microsoft threat intelligence report, which confirms the fabricated tale was disinformation from a Russia-linked troll farm. The tech giant’s report released Tuesday …

Russia to withdraw troops from Armenia’s border – POLITICO

Russia to withdraw troops from Armenia’s border – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

Asked whether the withdrawal of the Russian border guards, formally part of the country’s FSB security service, had been discussed at the meeting, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said “yes,” according to state newswire TASS. On Sunday, long convoys of Russian military vehicles were seen leaving Armenia’s border regions, heading toward the capital, Yerevan. Dozens of Russian military vehicles were spotted leaving Armenia’s Syunik and Vayots Dzor provinces Sunday. | Gabriel Gavin/POLITICO Relations between Moscow and the former Soviet republic have hit historic lows in recent years. The Russian-led CSTO military alliance, of which Armenia is a member, refused requests from Yerevan to intervene when Azerbaijan began an offensive against the country in September 2022. Pashinyan has also accused Russian peacekeepers, deployed to Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region following a war in 2020, of abandoning their posts when Azerbaijani troops launched an offensive to conquer the territory, sparking a mass exodus of its 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents. Armenia’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that the country will no longer make financial contributions to the CSTO, after having …

Putin’s a ‘Nazi,’ Zelenskyy says as Russia intensifies attacks on energy grid ahead of Victory Day – POLITICO

Putin’s a ‘Nazi,’ Zelenskyy says as Russia intensifies attacks on energy grid ahead of Victory Day – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

For decades, Moscow’s annual May 9 parade has been not so much a memorial to victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, as a carefully choreographed show of might and power. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin has intensified attacks on Ukraine ahead of Victory Day to help its propaganda efforts — seeking to give Putin something to boast about in his annual speech on Red Square. This year, Russia’s forces were ordered to capture Ukraine’s strategic city of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region ahead of May 9. While they have yet to succeed in that task, the Russians have taken advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of weapons and troop exhaustion to rapidly gain territory, taking control of several small villages in the Donetsk region. Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Wednesday’s attacks were aimed mainly at civilian energy infrastructure, targeting power generation and electricity transmission facilities in the Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions. “The enemy wants to deprive us of the ability to sufficiently generate and …

Vladimir Putin’s ‘nervous’ speech as he’s sworn in as Russian President | World | News

Vladimir Putin’s ‘nervous’ speech as he’s sworn in as Russian President | World | News

Published by skeptic

She says he vacillated through multiple states during the heavily choreographed performance, during which he was pictured in his office looking at his papers before walking along the Kremlin’s long corridors, pausing at one point to look at a painting, on the way to his inauguration. His guard of honor waited in the sleet and rain for hours, in temperatures hovering just above freezing, while Putin made the brief journey to the Grand Kremlin Palace in his Auras limousine. James says the former KGB officer, 71, went “from humble during the religious ceremony to smiling and more buoyant as he walked past the crowds, although the ending of the non-verbal narrative saw him in his most familiar display recently as he made his speech: that of aggressive arousal as he spoke of ‘Our plans will make us stronger’ and that ‘Together we will win.’” Russia continues to gain ground in eastern Ukraine two years in, but President Volodymyr Zelensky has recently avoided a fresh attempt on his life by two Russian operatives who planned to …

Steven Seagal and other famous faces spotted at Kremlin palace

Steven Seagal and other famous faces spotted at Kremlin palace

Published by Sam

Vladimir Putin began his fifth term as Russian president at a palace in Moscow in front of a crowd of faces – including actor Steven Seagal and the leader of a biker gang. “We are a united and great people and together we will overcome all obstacles, realise all our plans, together we will win,” he said after being sworn in on Tuesday. Follow latest: Plot to ‘kill Zelenskyy’ stopped At the ceremony in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Mr Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on. A number of famous faces were in the crowd waiting to see the Kremlin leader sworn in once again. They included: American actor (and now Russian citizen) Steven Seagal The US actor, known for films such as Under Siege and On Deadly Ground, is an ally of Mr Putin. In 2018 he was appointed as Russia’s special envoy to the US. Head of the Chechen Republic, and Putin ally, Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Kadyrov has …

Russian president sworn in for 5th term in Kremlin ceremony

Russian president sworn in for 5th term in Kremlin ceremony

Published by skeptic

Russian state TV broadcast the one-hour ceremony live, accompanied by enthusiastic commentary, showing Putin walking out of his office in the Kremlin as he got into a car for a short drive to the ceremony as snow fell on Moscow. He then walked the red carpet of the Kremlin’s historic halls to the applause of hundreds of guests, made up of cabinet ministers, parliamentarians and celebrities, including American actor Steven Seagal, who has supported Putin for years. Asked by NBC News for his impression of the event Seagal replied: “the best.” The Russian leader stopped to shake a few hands before he took to the stage to renew his oath to the Russian people. “I want to bow to our heroes, participants in the special military operation, everyone who is fighting for the Motherland,” Putin said, using the Kremlin’s term for his war in Ukraine. As he vowed that Russians alone will determine the fate of the country, Putin — in power as either president or prime minister since 2000 — also said that Moscow …

Kremlin accuses David Cameron of ‘direct escalation’ over weapons for Kyiv

Kremlin accuses David Cameron of ‘direct escalation’ over weapons for Kyiv

Published by skeptic

Moscow has accused David Cameron’s of a “direct escalation” after the foreign secretary said Ukraine can use British weapons to strike targets inside Russia. “The Kremlin considers British foreign minister David Cameron’s statement about Kyiv’s right to use British weapons to attack Russian targets dangerous,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, has said. “This is a direct escalation of tensions around the Ukrainian conflict, which could potentially pose a danger to European security.” Lord Cameron earlier promised £3 billion of annual military aid to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes”, adding that Britain had no objection to its weapons being used inside Russia. “Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself,” he said. His comments put Britain on a more hawkish footing towards Russia – at least publicly – than the United States, which stipulates that any weapons it supplies to Ukraine should only be used within Ukraine’s internationally-recognised borders rather than against targets inside Russia …