Russia

A Bugatti car, a first lady and the fake stories aimed at Americans

A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation that is increasingly targeting the US election, a BBC investigation can reveal.

A former Florida police officer who relocated to Moscow is one of the key figures behind it.

It would have been a bombshell report – if it were true.
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, allegedly bought a rare Bugatti Tourbillon sports car for 4.5m euros ($4.8m; £3.8m) while visiting Paris for D-Day commemorations in June. The source of the funds was supposedly American military aid money.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Disinformation", Russia

Putin dreams of Third Rome. It will be a Second Mecca

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is Putin’s ally

Six months after invading Ukraine in 2022, Putin signed a decree reinstating the Soviet-era “Mother Heroine” award, given to women with ten children. The first winner was Medni Kadyrova, wife of the Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov. Who is he trying to fool?

In 1991, the Soviet Union had 120 mosques. Within twenty years, they built 8,000.

These are the numbers that make Vladimir Putin sleepless, together with the massacre against the churches and synagogue in Dagestan.

In the next 15 years, a very probable scenario will be one in which in the largest metropolitan areas of Russia – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg – the majority of the population will be made up by the Muslim community.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Russia

Russia can no longer ignore the Islamist threat

Even by its own standards of wildness and restlessness, what happened in the Republic of Dagestan on Sunday stands among the most brazen atrocities in the Russian Federation since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Gunmen mounted what appear to have been coordinated attacks in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, and the historic Caspian city of Derbent, targeting Orthodox churches and synagogues. They killed more than 20 people, including 15 police officers and an Orthodox priest. The Russian authorities immediately designated the attacks as acts of terrorism.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia

Putin and Kim Jong-un pledge ‘new multi-polar world’ at North Korea summit

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are sharing their “innermost thoughts” at a summit in North Korea, at which they have resolved to build “a new multi-polar world” and to unite against the US-led international order.

The two leaders will spend the day together in ceremonial events and face-to-face discussions during which they are expected to sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty”. It will formalise a friendship which has already resulted in North Korean munitions being fired by Russian troops on the battlefields of Ukraine.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNorth Korea, Russia

Russian forces end prison siege, kill ISIS hostage-takers

Russia’s special forces killed several men linked to the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group who took two guards hostage at a detention center in the southern city of Rostov, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said Sunday.

“The criminals were eliminated,” Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement, describing how a “special operation” had taken place to free the hostages.

“The employees who were being held hostage were released. They are uninjured,” the statement continued.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Russia

Russia to send combat vessels to Caribbean to project ‘global power’, US official says

Russia plans to send combat vessels into the Caribbean region this summer as part of naval exercises that will probably include port calls in Cuba and possibly stops in Venezuela, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

“As part of Russia’s regular military exercises, we anticipate that this summer, Russia will conduct heightened naval and air activity near the United States. These actions will culminate in a global Russian naval exercise this fall,” the official said.

The US does not see the move involving a relatively small number of vessels and planes as threatening, but the US Navy will monitor the exercises, the official told a small group of reporters.

h/t DS

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, USA

When killers like Putin and Xi hint at nuclear annihilation, take heed

After a recent summit between new partners China and Russia, General Secretary Xi Jinping and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin issued an odd one-sentence communique: “There can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be fought.”

No one would disagree, even though several officials of both hypocritical governments have previously threatened their neighbors with nuclear attacks.

But still, why did the two feel the need to issue such a terse statement — and why now?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", Russia

What the China-Russia axis really means for the West

The marriage of convenience between Moscow and Beijing is a product of American decline.

The West has been sent into a wild panic by the prospect of a China-Russia alliance. Since last week, when Russian president Vladimir Putin brought a large, high-powered delegation to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing, the Western media have been suffering from a neurotic spasm.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", Russia

U.S. Intelligence Warning to Moscow Named Specific Target of Attack

The U.S. warning to Russia ahead of a terrorist attack near Moscow was highly specific: Crocus City Hall was a potential target of the Islamic State, according to U.S. officials.

The warning had the right venue but imprecise timing, suggesting that the attack could come within days. Indeed, the public warning by the United States Embassy on March 7 warned of potential terrorist attacks in the next two days.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam and violence, Russia, USA

Who really committed the Moscow terror attack?

Whenever an apparent terrorist attack occurs, one’s first thought is ‘who was responsible?’

In a reasonable country, one starts with the facts. But Russia is not a reasonable country. Indeed, since the terrible massacre which claimed 137 lives, the Kremlin’s first instinct was to pump out every conceivable conspiracy theory under the sun.

The first was that Kyiv was responsible, later extrapolated to include the Western intelligence services, such as MI6. This is despite the fact that, in private, it would appear that very few of the Russian elite believe that Ukraine or the West bear any responsibility. There are even reports that Putin himself is unconvinced by what his propaganda spews.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, terrorism

Is there a conspiracy behind the Moscow terrorist attack?

Last weekend’s terrorist attack in Moscow has renewed debate about the capabilities and reach of Islamic State (IS) but also who, exactly, was behind the killing of at least 139 people at Crocus City Hall.

Much of the media coverage has so far focused on Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an Afghanistan-based IS contingent that was likely involved in the atrocity. But this should not be misunderstood as a separate entity: IS’s “provinces”, such as ISKP, all take their cue from the “centre” in Iraq and Syria.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Russia

Was Russia right to torture the Moscow attackers?

The court appearance of the four men accused by Russia of carrying out the Moscow massacre of 137 innocent concert goers at the Crocus City Hall venue told its own grim story. All the suspects bore marks of torture: one was wearing a bandage on his ear, following reports that it may have been at least partially severed and forcibly fed to him during his interrogation; another was semi-conscious and appeared to be missing an eye. Meanwhile, a video did the rounds seemingly showing one of the men’s genitals hooked up to an electricity generator.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Russia

The barbarism of the Moscow terror attack

More than 130 killed, more than 140 injured – that is the grim toll of an attack by gunmen on the Crocus City Hall in the north-western suburbs of Moscow on Friday evening. Responsibility was quickly claimed by an Islamic State affiliate, with the United States endorsing that attribution as credible. The US also made it known that it had warned Russia, via some of the few channels still open between the two countries, of a pending terror attack, although Russia appeared not to have acted on the tip.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Russia

Russian forces torture Moscow terror suspect by hooking his genitals up to 80v battery leaving him foaming at the mouth – and feed another his own EAR

Shamsuddin Fariddun

Footage of Russian forces torturing the men they arrested over the Moscow terror attack emerged tonight, with one man given electric shocks to his genitals and a second forced to eat his own ear.

One image shows a suspect named as Shamsuddin Fariddun foaming at the mouth as he lies on a gym floor with his trousers pulled down and wires attached to his groin area. At the other end they are attached to a military radio powered by an 80-volt battery.

Separate video sees another man, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, having his ear severed and then spitting it out as he is forced to eat it.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Russia