Russia

Russia detains 11 suspects after Moscow concert hall shooting leaves at least 115 dead; ISIS claims responsibility

Eleven people have been detained after gunmen stormed a concert hall in Moscow and opened fire on the crowd, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said four people among those detained were directly involved in the attack.

They were stopped in the Bryansk region of western Russia, “not far from the border with Ukraine,” it said.

At least 115 people were killed in Friday’s attack, including three children, authorities said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia

U.S. says ISIS was responsible for the deadly attack in Moscow.

A branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility on Friday for the attack in Moscow that killed at least 40 people and injured about 100 others, and U.S. officials confirmed the claim shortly afterward.

The United States collected intelligence in March that Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, the branch of the group based in Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on Moscow, according to officials. ISIS members have been active in Russia, one U.S. official said.

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

Mass shooting and explosion reported at concert hall near Moscow

A renowned Moscow region concert venue and shopping centre is on fire on Friday evening, following reports of a mass shooting incident.

At least three gunmen, wearing combat fatigues, burst into Crocus City Hall and fired automatic weapons, injuring dozens of patrons and killing a significant number of them, according to Russian media.

Twitter – #Moscow

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, WTF?

Russia wants compensation for the Nazi siege of Leningrad

Moscow is evoking German war crimes in its row over Ukraine — but it’s not the only country with demands

Berlin has rejected a demand by Moscow that it should acknowledge the 900-day siege of Leningrad as genocide and pay compensation for 1.1 million people who died at the hands of the German army.

In a response to a diplomatic note sent by Russia, the German foreign ministry said the blockade of what is now St Petersburg between September 1941 and January 1944 was a “terrible war crime that the German Wehrmacht brought on Leningrad and its population” but fell short of calling it a genocide. It said the German government had emphasised this repeatedly and was maintaining this legal opinion.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGermany, Russia, WW II, WW II History

Russian ‘mole’ a catastrophe, says German spy chief

Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has suffered “grave reputational damage” and lost the trust of some western partners after one of its senior officers was outed as an alleged Russian spy, the organisation’s chief has said.

The Federal Intelligence Service (BND), which loosely speaking combines the roles of MI6 and GCHQ in the UK, has been dragged into a Berlin court to address one of the most serious breaches of secrecy in its 70-year history.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", Espionage, Germany, Russia

Russia and China plan nuclear power unit for the moon

China and Russia are planning to install a nuclear power unit on the surface of the moon by the middle of the next decade, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency has said.

Beijing and Moscow announced plans in 2021 to build a permanently manned research station on the moon’s south pole. The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project aims to establish a basic outpost in the next few years before completing construction in the 2030s.

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

Revealed: how Putin plans to flood West with migrants

Russia using militias in Africa to ‘weaponise’ flows of people in attempts to influence elections

Russia is using private militias to control and “weaponise” immigration into Europe, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Kremlin has influence over a number of the main routes into the continent and border police are warning that, with the arrival of spring, Russia is likely to “intensify” its efforts to move migrants.

It has been widely feared that Vladimir Putin is using the tactic to destabilise Europe.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, Europe, Russia

Putin Loves Biden

Putin says Biden is ‘predictable,’ not a characteristic that a president should be known for.

Russian President Vladimir Putin loves to mock the United States and everything we do. His poker-faced announcement that he has endorsed Joe Biden in the 2024 election was more than just mockery. Putin’s statement was a factual condemnation of Biden’s presidency.

Putin said he prefers Old Joe over former president Trump because Joe is an old school politician with more experience than Trump.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, USA

How did Navalny die? Body found ‘bruised’ in mortuary

Russian medical workers discovered bruising on Navalny’s body consistent with him being restrained while suffering a seizure, a new report has said.

Novaya Gazeta, a highly regarded opposition newspaper, said that it had managed to contact an inmate at IK-3, who said that a “mysterious commotion” had erupted at the prison the night before news of Navalny’s death broke.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia

What Happens Now That Putin Has Crossed Biden’s Navalny Red Line?

It was in June of 2021 that Joe Biden promised that the “consequences” if opposition figure Alexi Navalny died in Vladimir Putin’s custody “would be devastating for Russia.” Biden didn’t qualify his statement. Rightly enough, he made no bones about how Russia’s foremost opposition figure would have to succumb to trigger an American response. Only that Moscow must take the utmost care of Navalny while he was in their custody, or else. Well, on Friday, following several years of imprisonment, mistreatment, and conspicuous poisonings, Russian authorities revealed that Navalny had mysteriously died. So, now what?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, USA

U.S. Has New Intelligence About Russia’s Nuclear Capabilities

The United States has informed Congress and its allies in Europe of new intelligence about Russian nuclear capabilities that could pose an international threat, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Officials said that the new intelligence was serious — but that the capability was still under development, and Russia had not deployed it. Consequently, it did not pose an urgent threat to the United States, Ukraine or America’s European allies, they said. The information is highly classified, and officials said it could not be declassified without cutting off its source.

A current and a former U.S. official said the new intelligence was related to Russia’s attempts to develop a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon. ABC News reported earlier that the intelligence had to do with such a capability. Current and former officials said the nuclear weapon was not in orbit.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, USA

NATO Military Chief Warns of War with Russia in Coming Decades: ‘Tectonic Plates of Power Are Shifting’

The Military Committee chairman of NATO warned of the possibility of a regional war with Russia in the coming decades in comments to military leaders during a NATO meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

“We have to realize it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [NATO] are preparing for a conflict with Russia,” Admiral Rob Bauer said. “But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, Russia