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☆ Ukraine appears to be attacking Russia's oil and gas industry with small, cheap drones that can bypass its air defenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Several oil and gas facilities in Russia have caught fire in recent weeks following suspected drone attacks. Russia's air defense systems have proven to be less effective against small drones. AdvertisementUkraine appears to be targeting Russia's oil and gas industry with small, cheap drones as it seeks to disrupt Russian supply lines. Ukraine is likely targeting the facilities in an attempt to disrupt Russia's military operations. AdvertisementWhy Ukraine is able to embarrass Russia's air defense systemsRussia's air defense systems have proven to be less effective against small drones as they struggle to detect them.

Persons: —, Lapenko, Vladimir Putin's, Vladimir Putin, Samuel Bendett Organizations: Service, New York Times, Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, Getty, RBC, Center for Naval Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Tuapse, Klintsy, Ukrainian, Moscow, Baltic Ust, St, Petersburg, Lake Valdai, Valdai

☆ Ukraine says it flew a drone over Putin's woodland palace, evading its heavy defenses
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine launched a drone attack on a St Petersburg oil terminal on Thursday, per multiple sources. AdvertisementUkraine sent a drone flying over President Vladimir Putin's palace at Lake Valdai during an attack on a St Petersburg oil depot, a military source claimed on Friday. Set next to Lake Valdai, halfway between Moscow and St Petersburg, the vast woodland complex is considered one of Putin's favorite boltholes. The strike, Kamyshin said, showed that St Petersburg was now "within reach of Ukrainian forces," per the Kyiv Independent's translation. "We are able to produce something that flies and costs $350 per item, something that flew to St Petersburg this night," he said.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin's, Oleksandr Kamyshin, couldn't, Alina Kabayeva, Vladimir Putin, Alina Kabaeva, Sasha Mordovets, Navalny.com Kamyshin, Baza, Kamyshin, Ukraine's Organizations: RBC, Service, Kyiv Independent, St, Moscow Times, Russia's Ministry of Defence, Popular, Russian Telegram, Economic, Pentagon Locations: Ukraine, St Petersburg, Valdai, Russia, Lake, Ukrainian, Moscow, Russian, Petersburg, Baltic, Leningrad, Davos, Switzerland

☆ Putin's new nuclear-powered cruise missile, one of his so-called 'super weapons,' is unnecessary but not totally useless, nuclear weapons expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

If it works, the weapon's utility is debatable, and a nuclear weapons expert said it's likely for political show. The weapon isn't much of an addition beyond the nuclear strike options Russia already has in its arsenal, a nuclear weapons expert told Insider. Will it have "the ability to bypass interception lines" and be "invulnerable to all existing and future missile defense and air defense systems" as he has claimed? The missile, essentially a very-long range cruise missile, can't be intercepted by missile defense systems that are designed to counter ICBMs, meaning it could theoretically penetrate key enemy air defenses to strike its target. The agreement was designed to limit the use anti-ballistic missile systems intended to defend against nuclear attacks.

Persons: Putin, it's, —, Vladimir Putin, Pavel Podvig, Podvig, haven't, George W, Bush, Sergei Karpukhin Organizations: Service, RIA Novosti, Ministry of Defense, Russian, Russian Navy, US, Technology, Ballistic, National Missile Defense, Putin Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Sochi, Ukraine, Avdiivka, Crimea

☆ Fact Check: Video shows Putin criticizing former Canadian speaker, not Trudeau
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video showing Russian President Vladimir Putin criticizing former speaker of the Canadian House of Commons Anthony Rota for praising Yaroslav Hunka, a veteran who served in a Nazi unit during World War Two, has been cropped to falsely claim that Putin was insulting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Justin Trudeau just got called an idiot by Vladimir Putin,” read a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The video shows Putin delivering his annual speech to the Moscow-based think tank Valdai Discussion Club in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Oct. 5. Putin called the Canadian parliament's standing ovations to honor Hunka "disgusting," and said it showed Moscow was right to "denazify" Ukraine, Reuters reported. Vladimir Putin insulted Anthony Rota, not Justin Trudeau.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Anthony Rota, Yaroslav Hunka, Putin, Justin Trudeau, “ Justin Trudeau, ”, Hitler, Hunka, Rota, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trudeau, Read Organizations: Canadian, of, Nazi, Twitter, Canadian Nazi, Canada, Russia, Nazi Waffen SS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russian, Sochi, Canada, Canadian, Ukraine

☆ Analysis: Putin banks on wavering support for Ukraine, amid a race against time
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Last week, President Joe Biden signed into law a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown, but funding for Ukraine was a casualty of the brinksmanship on Capitol Hill. The Biden administration emphasizes that that the American public’s support for Ukraine remains strong. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walks down the White House colonnade to the Oval Office with President Joe Biden during a visit to the White House in Washington, DC, on September 21. In his remarks at Valdai, he clearly implied that Russia intends to outlast the West over Ukraine. Paraphrasing Putin, Mylovanov said that the Kremlin believes that “Ukraine will have one week left to LIVE once Western supplies are over.

Persons: Donald Trump, he’d, Vladimir Putin, Putin, ”, “, Joe Biden, Biden, Kevin McCarthy, Volodymyr Zelensky, Kevin Lamarque, —, Robert Fico, Fico, Ukraine —, Wolfgang Schwan, Rob Bauer, brazenly, Tymofiy Mylovanov, Putin’s Valdai, Mylovanov, Wagner Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Ukraine, Capitol, White, Pentagon, of, Republican, Trump, European Union, NATO, Russia, Anadolu Agency, Warsaw Security, Royal Netherlands Navy, Committee, Kyiv School of Economics Locations: Ukraine, Ukrainian, Washington, Washington ,, United States, Europe, Slovakia, EU, Russian, Bakhmut, Russia, Siberia, Eastern Siberia, Valdai, West, Brussels, Hroza, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s

☆ Putin's plan to wear down support for Ukraine in a war of attrition seems to be working, though it's not risk-free
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Putin is seeking to wear down Western support for Ukraine with a war of attrition. AdvertisementAdvertisementAt the Valdai Club conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gloated over the potential impact of Western support for Ukraine ebbing. Meanwhile, Ukraine's economy is struggling under the weight of the conflict and it is heavily dependent on Western aid. Wagner fighters deployed in Rostov-on-Don REUTERS/StringerPutin faces threats of his ownBut there are also risks for Putin in an attrition strategy. AdvertisementAdvertisementA notable series of successes could lead to a new wave of public support for Ukraine, and damage Putin's internal credibility.

Persons: Putin, —, Vladimir Putin gloated, Kevin McCarthy, Joe Biden's, George Beebe, Beebe, Wagner, Don, Stringer Putin, –, Lawrence Freedman, Yevgeny Prigozhin Organizations: Ukraine, Putin, Service, Valdai, Republicans, Don REUTERS, King's College London, New Statesman Locations: Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, Russia, Kyiv, Europe, Rostov, Russian, —, Moscow, Lviv

The announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov added new fuel to tensions between Russia and the United States over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and arms control disputes between the world's largest nuclear weapons powers. Ulyanov, Moscow's envoy to the CTBTO, said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that "#Russia plans to revoke ratification (which took place in the year 2000) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty." "The aim is to be on equal footing with the #US who signed the Treaty, but didn't ratify it. While the United States signed but did not ratify the treaty, it has observed a moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions since 1992 that it says it has no plans to abandon. The spokesperson said Russia should reach an "equal footing" with the United States "by not wielding arms control and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric in a failing attempt to coerce other states."

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Sergei Guneev, Washington, Mikhail Ulyanov, Ulyanov, Robert Floyd, Floyd, Francois Murphy, Alex Richardson, Angus MacSwan, Alexander Smith Organizations: Sputnik, REUTERS, Acquire, Comprehensive, Treaty Organization, United, U.S . State Department, Party, Washington, Russian, Russian Federation, Conference, Disarmament, Thomson Locations: Sochi, Russia, Moscow, States VIENNA, WASHINGTON, United States, Ukraine, Ban, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Vienna, U.S

A specialist works at the site of a crash of the private jet linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin in the Tver region, Russia, on August 24. "There was no external influence on the plane; it is an established fact," the Russian leader claimed. The mutiny was suddenly called off in a deal that required the Wagner chief and his fighters to relocate to Belarus. There is no concrete evidence that points to Kremlin involvement and, officially, the cause of the crash is unknown. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials and US President Joe Biden have suggested Putin may have been behind the crash.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Anton Vaganov, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Prigozhin, Joe Biden, Jessie Yeung, Lauren Said, Moorhouse Organizations: Reuters Investigators, Wagner Locations: Tver, Russia, Russian, Sochi, Belarus

☆ Putin says Russia got its troubled nuclear-powered cruise missile to work after years of failure and a deadly disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Chris Panella | Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Putin says Russia tested an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile. AdvertisementAdvertisementRussian leadership claims the country tested one of its new "super weapons," specifically the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, and it purportedly worked. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the latest test of the cruise missile at the Valdai International Discussion Club, Russian state media reported on Thursday. Russia conducted a "successful test" of the "Burevestnik nuclear-powered global-range cruise missile," Putin said, per an AP translation of his remarks. The one-of-a-kind cruise missile has had a troubled history.

Persons: Putin, —, Vladimir Putin, didn't, SERGEI GUNEYEV, Moscow, Donald Trump Organizations: Service, The New York Times, Russian Navy, Ukraine's, Sputnik, Getty, New York Times, CNBC, NATO, State Department Locations: Russia, Russian, Sochi, Moscow, United States, Nenoksa

☆ Putin says Russia has tested next-generation nuclear weapon
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 5, 2023. Putin, who has repeatedly reminded the world of Russia's nuclear might since launching his invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, said no one in their right mind would use nuclear weapons against Russia. He noted that the United States had not ratified the treaty that bans nuclear tests, whereas Russia had both signed and ratified it. In February, Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START treaty that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side can deploy. I think no person of sound mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia."

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Grigory Sysoyev, Putin, Sergei Karaganov, Karaganov, Mark Trevelyan, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Sputnik, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Duma, Military, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Sochi, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Soviet Union, United States, Russia's, Russian, Western, U.S, Europe

☆ Putin repeats assertion that Russia did not start war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the crew of the Alyosha T-80 tank, which destroyed a Ukrainian armoured convoy on the Zaporizhzhia direction in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/ File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOct 5 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday reiterated his position that Russia did not start the war in Ukraine but launched what it calls a "special military operation" to try to stop it. In his yearly speech to the Valdai Discussion Club, being held in Sochi, Putin said Russia, the world's largest country by area, had no need to take territory from Ukraine. He said the conflict was not therefore imperial or territorial but about the global order, and that the West, which had lost its hegemonic power and always needed an enemy, had lost touch with reality. Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Klimentyev, Putin, Vladimir Soldatkin, Guy Faulconbridge, Alexander Marrow, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Kremlin, Sputnik, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Kremlin, Sochi

CNN —Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Thursday that it was not an “external” attack that crashed the plane carrying Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin in August, but hand grenades within the aircraft. Speaking at the Valdai Forum in Sochi, Putin said the “chairman of the investigative committee just reported a few days ago that the fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of the victims. A wreckage of the private jet is seen near the crash site in the Tver region, Russia, August 24, 2023. In June, Prigozhin and his Wagner troops seized key military sites and marched toward Moscow, where the Kremlin had deployed heavily armed troops to the streets. Peskov has denied claims that the Kremlin might have been involved in the plane’s demise, calling such speculation an “absolute lie.”

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, ” Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Stringer, ”, Prigozhin’s, Dmitry Peskov, Joe Biden, I’m, Peskov Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Reuters Locations: Sochi, Moscow, St . Petersburg, Tver, Russia, St Petersburg, Belarus

CNN —Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia has successfully carried out a test of a new generation of nuclear-powered cruise missile. State news agency RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying the “last successful test of the Burevestnik, a global-range cruise missile with a nuclear installation, a nuclear propulsion system, has been conducted.”Putin was speaking at the Valdai Forum in Sochi. The program to develop the Burevestnik was announced by Putin in March 2018 as part of a broader initiative to develop a new generation of intercontinental and hypersonic missiles. Among them were the Kinzhal ballistic missile and the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle. “It is a low-flying stealth missile carrying a nuclear warhead, with almost unlimited range, unpredictable trajectory and ability to bypass interception boundaries,” Putin said then.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Novosti, Putin, ” Putin, Alexei Leonkov Organizations: CNN, Federal Assembly, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles Locations: Russia, Sochi, U.S

☆ Putin Holds Out Possibility That Russia Could Resume Nuclear Testing
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

By Guy FaulconbridgeMOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held out the possibility that Russia could resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than three decades and might withdraw its ratification of a landmark nuclear test ban treaty. The Kremlin chief said there was no need to change Russia's nuclear doctrine however, as any attack on Russia would provoke a split-second response with hundreds of nuclear missiles that no enemy could survive. "I think no person of sound mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia," Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. He noted that the United States had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty but not ratified it while Russia had signed and ratified it. In February, Putin suspended Russia's participation in the New START treaty that limits the number of nuclear weapons each side can deploy.

Persons: Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Sergei Karaganov, Karaganov, Margarita Simonyan, UKRAINE Putin, Russia's, Guy FaulconbridgeEditing, Andrew Osborn, Andrew Heavens Organizations: Kremlin, State Duma, Inside, RT, United Nations, Soviet Union, United, Cuban Missile, West Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Black, Sochi, West, United States, Inside Russia, Ukraine, Siberia, Ban, Soviet Union, UKRAINE, Afghanistan, Ukrainian

A glossy brochure made by Zircon itself shows a luxurious gym and spa on wheels designed for Putin, the Dossier Center says. The room itself, documents from the Dossier Center suggest, is outfitted to help prevent the use of listening devices. The train is painted to look like an ordinary Russian Railways train. “There is a ghost train on the railways of our country,” one trainspotter wrote alongside an image of what appears to be Putin’s train he posted on rutrain.com. It is through the image of those domes that we know that Putin’s train carries the ordinary external markings of a Russian train.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, ”, “, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Zircon, –, Dmitry Pegov, Oleg Klimentiev, ” Pegov, Oleg Ateistovich, ” CNN’s, Gleb Karakulov, Karakulov, ” Karakulov, trainspotter, trainspotters, Abbas Gallyamov, ” Gallyamov, Putin's, Gallyamov, Wagner, It’s Organizations: CNN, Transportation Administration, Kremlin, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, WDR, Service, Russian Railways, “, Dossier, Zircon Service, Federal Security Service, FSO Locations: Ukraine, Mykolaiv, Moscow, London, Russian, Russia, Valdai, St . Petersburg, Kerch, Crimea, Israel

☆ Opinion: Welcome to the ‘looking-glass’ world of Putin’s Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Opinion Daniel Treisman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Welcome to the weird, through-the-looking-glass world of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where everything is its opposite and almost nothing is what it seems. That may hold as well for the still-murky fate of last month’s mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group. Daniel TreismanWorse yet for the Kremlin, Prigozhin’s claim — coming from a diehard nationalist — will seem quite believable to many Russians. In this looking-glass world, the president has no time for politics. After the war started, Navalny offered a 15-point program for ending it and rebuilding a democratic Russia.

Persons: Daniel Treisman, “, ”, Vladimir Putin’s, mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Prigozhin, Putin, Alexey Navalny, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Orwell, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Emmanuel Macron, Navalny, Angela Merkel Organizations: University of California, CNN, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, Russian, Putin, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Los Angeles, Moscow, Belarus, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Belarusian, Minsk, St . Petersburg, Kremlin, Russian, Melekhovo, Vladimir, Russia, Kara, Rostov, Sochi, Ukraine, Dagestan, Crimea, “

☆ Putin is so paranoid about being tracked, he travels in a secret grey train that stealthily blends in with other Russian locomotives, says a former elite Russian security officer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vladimir Putin rides in a train because planes can be tracked, said an FSO officer who defected. The train is indistinguishable from other Russian trains "for stealth purposes," the officer said. His account aligns with previous reports that Putin secretly travels in trains to avoid being tracked. "Same as all the other Russian Railways trains — grey with a red stripe," he said. Karakulov said his team started equipping the train for Putin's operations in 2014 or 2015, per the Dossier Center.

☆ A Russian trainspotter who became obsessed with taking photographs of Putin's 'ghost train' now lives in exile: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A trainspotter spent years tracking Putin's secret train, which he reportedly uses to get around. Mikhail Korotkov told The Washington Post that in 2021, he felt like he was being watched. Mikhail Korotkov, 31, spent years tracking, photographing, and blogging about Putin's armored train, which he reportedly uses to travel inconspicuously around the country. But the 31-year-old was also careful to not be too public about his hobby, telling the Post that he did not post all the pictures of Putin's train online. He now lives in Sri Lanka, but told The Post that he is "ready to move around the world."

☆ Putin has a secret brood of children being raised in luxury comparable to Russian tsars, report claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Putin has several young children with his rumored girlfriend, Alina Kabaeva, Proekt reported. He built a 13,000-square-foot mansion for them close to his main residence in Valdai, Proekt said. It is unclear how many children the couple share exactly, though Proekt reported they are all under the age of 18. In the summers of 2021, and 2022, a small karting track was set also up for the children, the outlet said. Putin's other childrenOver the years, Putin has fought hard to keep his children, and rumored girlfriends, from the spotlight.

☆ Several of Putin's homes have been connected to railway lines with secret stations built nearby for his armored train: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Putin's main residences have been connected to a secret railway line, Proekt reported. Putin has been regularly using an armored train to travel between his homes, according to reports. The engineer also claimed to have seen Putin's special train traveling on the route on at least one occasion, per Proekt. Trainspotters have previously reported sightings of what is believed to be Putin's secret train in motion, according to images shared on a Russian train travel message board. Details of the supposed secret railway line and stations follows a report by the Dossier Center, a group that tracks the activity of Kremlin associates, which said Putin has been using a special armored train to travel between his homes since 2021.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

☆ World faces most dangerous decade since WWII, Putin says as he blasts West for 'dirty' game
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the world faced the most dangerous decade since World War II as Western elites scrambled to prevent the inevitable crumbling of the global dominance of the United States and its allies. “The historical period of the West’s undivided dominance over world affairs is coming to an end,” Putin, Russia’s paramount leader, told the Valdai Discussion Club during a session entitled “A Post-Hegemonic World: Justice and Security for Everyone”. Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai Discussion Club forum on Thursday. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war, while the West has imposed the most severe sanctions in history on Russia, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of natural resources. The Russian leader blamed the West for stoking recent nuclear tensions, citing remarks by former British Prime Minister Liz Truss about her readiness to use London’s nuclear deterrent if the circumstances demanded it.

☆ Putin — who has jailed critics and rivals — took a nonsensical detour in his major foreign policy speech to rail against 'cancel culture'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Putin delivered a nonsensical speech about Western "cancel culture" on Thursday in Moscow. What began as commentary about Russian foreign policy quickly transitioned to a rant. "The so-called cancel culture is basically a cancellation of culture that annihilates everything that is alive and creative. This is not the first time Putin has railed against cancel culture throughout his eight-month-long unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, he also lashed out against cancel culture in a recent rant about gender fluidity.

☆ Putin says West is playing dangerous geopolitical game
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Putin: West is playing a dangerous gamePutin: West will have to talk to RussiaPutin: scolds West for arrogant colonialismRussia is not the West's enemyMOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin scolded the West on Thursday for playing what he cast as a "dangerous, bloody and dirty" geopolitical game, but said the United States and its allies would ultimately have to talk to Russia. "Power over the world is what the so-called West has put on the line in its game - but the game is dangerous, bloody and I would say dirty," Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club. Quoting a 1978 Harvard lecture by Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Putin said the West was openly racist and looked down on other peoples of the world. "Confidence in their infallibility is a very dangerous state," Putin said, adding that Russia would never accept the West trying to tell Russia how to act. Still, speaking to experts from 44 different countries, Putin said that Russia did not consider itself an enemy of the West.

☆ Russian forces "preparing to work under radioactive contamination" - Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday that it had prepared its forces to work in conditions of radioactive contamination, after Moscow accused Ukraine of planning to detonate a "dirty bomb" - something Kyiv has strongly denied. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Western defence ministers on Sunday that Moscow believed Ukraine was preparing to detonate such a bomb - a device using conventional explosives packed with radioactive material to spread contamination over a wide area. Ukraine wanted to paint Russia as a "nuclear terrorist", he said. Kirillov concluded: "Work has been organised by the ministry of defence to counter possible provocations from the Ukrainian side: forces and resources have been put in readiness to perform tasks in conditions of radioactive contamination." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by ReutersOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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