#FSB [Russian Federal Security Service]

[t-jfh]

Vladimir Putin has towered over Russian politics for more than two decades. (AP Photo: Ramil Sitdikov/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo)

Putting the Moscow apartment blasts under the microscope has been dangerous work for journalists. (Reuters: Viktor Korotayev)

How Russia's secret service took control of the country's top office

People once laughed at Vladimir Putin, then buildings in Moscow started getting bombed.

By Europe bureau chief Steve Cannane in London

ABC News - November 20, 2023

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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been in jail since 2021. (AP: Pavel Golovkin)

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny (second from left) and his lawyers during his sentencing hearing at the IK-6 penal colony earlier this month. (Reuters: Evgenia Novozhenina)

Vladimir Putin's biggest rival Alexei Navalny is in 'one of the worst places in the world' — this is what it's like.

By Riley Stuart in London

ABC News - Posted 20 August 2023

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Vladimir Putin's power is under threat, and history provides some clues as to how the president could be ousted. (Reuters/Sputnik: Gavriil Grigorov)

History suggests there is a tipping point at which the Russian people will threaten their leader. (Reuters, file photo)

Vladimir Putin changed the constitution in 2020 to allow him to run for the presidency again in 2024. But a re-election would be no easy feat. (Reuters/Sputnik: Alexey Filippov)

Vladimir Putin faced an unprecedented challenge to his authority. What could his eventual end look like?

When Wagner group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion challenged his leader and former friend, he fractured the hard edge of Vladimir Putin's power.

Having created an elite of ruthless opportunists who supported him less out of conviction than self-interest, Putin must now fear the day when enough of them conclude that the risk of moving against him is outweighed by the danger of leaving him in power.

By Emily Clark

ABC News - 1 July 2023

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[collapsedsquid]

The document, written in February by an influential Moscow-based think tank close to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), lays out Russia’s maximalist demands for any end to the conflict in Ukraine. It dismisses President Donald Trump’s preliminary plans for a peace deal within 100 days as “impossible to realize” and says that “a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis cannot happen before 2026.” The document also rejects any plan to dispatch peacekeepers to Ukraine, as some in Europe have proposed, and insists on recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over the Ukrainian territories it has seized. It also calls for a further carve-up through the creation of a buffer zone in Ukraine’s northeast on the border with Russian regions such as Bryansk and Belgorod, as well as a demilitarized zone in southern Ukraine near Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. The latter would affect the Odessa region. In addition, the document discusses the need for “the complete dismantling” of the current Ukrainian government. […] The document also dismisses any potential political concessions by Ukraine — such as Kyiv’s rejection of NATO membership and the holding of elections in which pro-Russian parties would be allowed to participate — as not being far-reaching enough. “In reality, the current Kyiv regime cannot be changed from inside the country. Its complete dismantling is needed,” it says. The presence of any peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine is also dismissed as “absolutely unnecessary” since any force would be under “serious Western influence,” while U.S. plans to continue arming Ukraine after any peace deal are “absolutely unacceptable,” as is maintaining the Ukrainian army at its current 1 million-strong level.

[mariacallous]

During the night of June 1, Ukraine launched an audacious, long-planned drone operation deep in Russian territory, targeting Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet at multiple bases. Ukraine said the mission—codenamed “Spiderweb”—hit 41 bombers, with at least 13 fully destroyed. Reports suggest that Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers were hit.

Notably, Ukraine apparently chose not to target Russia’s most modern, nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers, focusing instead on the Tu-95 and Tu-22M, which have been used extensively in conventional cruise missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine reportedly deployed 117 kamikaze-style, first-person-view drones to strike multiple Russian air bases scattered across several time zones, from Murmansk near the Arctic Circle to the Amur region almost 5,000 miles from the Ukrainian border. The drones were covertly transported into Russia over many months, hidden inside wooden cabins mounted on the backs of trucks with remotely operated detachable roofs. Ukrainian intelligence operatives managed to smuggle the drones close to the air bases, and, in some cases, used unwitting Russian truck drivers to do so. Then, at the precise moment, the cabin roofs were opened remotely, allowing the drones to launch toward their objectives using commercial and open-source technology, including 4G LTE networks and ArduPilot software. Each drone had its own dedicated operator, reportedly based at a covert command center near a Federal Security Service (FSB) office inside Russia. According to Politico, Ukrainian intelligence said that some drones relied on artificial intelligence to complete their missions along preset routes when they lost signal, automatically activating their explosives as they reached and identified their assigned targets.

For all its complexity, creativity, and audaciousness, the raid’s immediate impact on Russian operations in Ukraine is likely to be limited. Russia typically employs between seven and 11 bombers per cruise missile salvo, and the loss of a dozen or more aircraft out of a total operable fleet of around 100 long-range bombers will not immediately halt cruise missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. The impact would have been greater in 2024, when Russia relied more heavily on bomber formations to strike Ukraine than it does now. With increased production of drones and ballistic missiles, air-launched cruise missiles have become less critical and are now mainly used for select high-value, stationary targets. Additionally, Ukraine might have hesitated to launch such a raid in 2024, when it was more dependent on U.S. aid and following U.S. concerns over previous attacks on elements of Russia’s nuclear deterrent.

Russia will now have to spend precious resources to harden air bases and other critical facilities by establishing robust, layered counter-drone defenses—combining electronic warfare, anti-air weapons systems, and physical barriers such as concrete hangars. This redeployment is unlikely to substantially impact air cover on the front line, however, given Russia’s relative abundance of air defense systems.

However, the long-term implications of the Ukrainian raid should not be underestimated. The Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers are no longer in serial production, and their loss reduces Russia’s capacity for long-range force projection. The reported but still unconfirmed damage to A-50 aircraft would further degrade Russian air surveillance and command-and-control capabilities, complicating Moscow’s ability to coordinate complex air operations in a future war against NATO.

Psychologically, the raid is a major blow to Russian prestige and credibility. It undermines the narrative of Russian military prowess and demonstrates Ukraine’s ability to strike at the heart of Russian military power. The operation also illustrates once again that Ukraine does not need to have an equivalent arsenal to Russia’s: Small, low-cost platforms can inflict serious damage on high-value targets.

Yet raids alone do not win wars. Ultimately, the trajectory of the war in Ukraine will be determined by how well Ukraine can continue to attrit Russian forces along the front line in the coming months, thereby changing the Kremlin leadership’s mind about whether it is worthwhile to pursue the war given the high costs and limited gains. That said, last weekend’s significant loss of hard-to-replace strategic assets far from the front may, in the best outcome, nudge the Kremlin a bit closer to seeing that the costs of the conflict are becoming too much for Russia and the regime.

While some observers have heralded this operation as the advent of a new type of warfare, its true significance lies elsewhere. What the Ukrainians have done is adapt a classic tactic of European warfare—the military raid—to the 21st century.

Once the principal form of military engagement across Europe, raiding warfare typically unfolds in several phases: covert infiltration, a surprise assault, and a swift withdrawal. Underdogs have often employed the tactic to maintain pressure on a stronger enemy. The dawn of the modern raid can be traced back to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s order to his minister of economic warfare, Hugh Dalton, to “set Europe ablaze” following the devastating defeat of British forces in France in 1940; to that end, Dalton established the Special Operations Executive for sabotage and resistance in German-occupied Europe. But history abounds with other examples of such audacious operations. In October 1757, during the Seven Years’ War, Austrian forces under Andras Hadik executed a daring raid on Berlin using a small, fast-moving contingent of mostly Hungarian hussars. Despite being outnumbered by the city’s garrison, Hadik’s troops surprised the defenders, briefly occupied Berlin, and extracted a substantial ransom before withdrawing.

Modern raids involving air power were regularly employed for the first time in World War II. In November 1940, the British Royal Navy launched a surprise attack on the Italian fleet in the harbor of Taranto, Italy, using only 21 obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplanes from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. The raid disabled three Italian battleships and damaged several other vessels, demonstrating how a small force in the air could achieve outsized operational effects. Similarly, in March 1942, British commandos assaulted the heavily defended dry dock at Saint-Nazaire, France, using a destroyer packed with explosives to deny the Germans a crucial facility for their battleships. And then there was the German Luftwaffe’s Poltava raid on the U.S. Air Force in 1944, when German fighters targeted Allied bomber formations stationed in Ukraine and inflicted heavy casualties and aircraft losses.

At its most basic level, therefore, Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb belongs to a long tradition of daring raids. It does not mark the dawn of a new age—it is simply the latest adaptation of an enduring tactical approach.

On the one hand, however, the raid illustrates that high-impact, long-distance raids are made easier by new technologies like drones. Any assumption that military assets and infrastructure deep in the rear are immune from attack was just shattered by Ukraine. Russia will now have to spend precious resources hardening air bases and other critical facilities, as well as disperse its assets to reduce their vulnerability. The need for robust, layered anti-drone defenses—combining electronic warfare, kinetic interceptors, and physical barriers—will also become an urgent priority. The distinction between the frontline and the rear has blurred.

The raid also illustrated that a non-nuclear power could raid the strategic assets of a nuclear power. The only feasible way for Kyiv to do so safely was to consciously avoid targeting certain assets. The raid’s limitations—both in terms of the targets chosen and the damage inflicted—highlight the constraints imposed by the risk of escalation. Ukraine’s restraint in targeting nuclear-capable bombers and other sensitive infrastructure serves as a reminder that, in an era of nuclear-armed adversaries, even the most successful raids must be carefully calibrated to avoid crossing invisible but potentially disastrous red lines.

Russia’s nuclear doctrine, updated in late 2024, explicitly reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to attacks on its territory by a non-nuclear state that is backed by a nuclear-armed one. Although Ukraine is not directly backed in any strict sense by a nuclear state, the presence of NATO support and the risk of Western intervention looms large in Russian strategic thinking. The Kremlin’s repeated nuclear threats—including tactical strikes, high-altitude detonations, and missiles fired on European capitals—have been a constant feature of the war, even as most of the Kremlin’s supposed red lines have been crossed without triggering nuclear use.

This dynamic creates a paradox: the more effective Ukraine’s raids, the greater the risk of a disproportionate escalation by Russia. For some observers in the West, the fear of a severe Russian reaction almost overshadows the operational success of the raid itself. This plays into a culture of Western self-deterrence in response to Russian threats, whereby Russia actively uses nuclear and conventional saber-rattling not merely in a neutral strategic context, but also as a deliberate tool to manage and constrain Western behavior.

Operation Spiderweb will enter military history as one of the more daring raids and one of the first conducted with remotely controlled strike drones. But it does not herald the dawn of a new age. Rather, it is the latest iteration of the classic raid, adapted to the realities of 21st century warfare under the nuclear threat.

[rdthoughtdaughter]

“The body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died and underwent torture in Russian captivity, was missing some internal organs, according to an investigation by the Forbidden Stories journalism network published on April 29.

An international forensic pathologist said that the missing organs may have been deliberately removed to obscure signs of suffocation or strangulation, reported Ukrainska Pravda, which took part in the investigation.

More than 40 journalists from 13 international media outlets participated in the investigation, conducting over 50 interviews with former prisoners, ex-prison guards, and human rights activists.

Roshchyna's body was handed over in late February, reportedly tagged with the number 757 and falsely identified in Russian documents as an "unidentified male."

A forensic examination in Ukraine later confirmed the body was female. Soon after, the DNA testing identified it as Roshchyna’s with 99% certainty.

Yurii Belousov, head of the war crimes department at the Prosecutor General's Office, said last week that numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment were found on the journalist's body. Experts also saw signs that Roshchyna could've been tortured with electric shocks.

According to investigators, her body showed evidence of an autopsy conducted in Russia before it was returned to Ukraine.

During the examination in Ukraine, it turned out that Roshchyna's brain, eyes, and part of the trachea had been removed, the investigation said.

A bruise on Roshchyna’s neck, along with a suspected fracture of the hyoid bone — a common indicator of strangulation — further supports this suggestion.

The journalist's body was also marked with the Russian abbreviation "SPAS" during the exchange. Journalists suggest this "total failure of the arteries of the heart," a designation that may have been used by Russian authorities to fabricate an official cause of death.

So far, the condition of the journalist's body has made it impossible to determine the exact cause of death.

Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories, with Moscow admitting her detention the following year.

Ukrainian officials confirmed Roshchyna's death on Oct. 10, 2024, but said that the circumstances were still under investigation. Russia did not hand over her body for about five months.

According to Russia, Roshchyna died on Sept. 19, 2024.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO, reported that Roshchyna had been held in at least two notorious Russian prisons: the penal colony n. 77 in Berdiansk in occupied Ukraine and the detention center n. 2 in Russia's Taganrog.

Both facilities are known for the use of torture against prisoners.

Previously, in March 2022, Roshchyna was detained for 10 days by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers while leaving Berdiansk in the direction of Mariupol. As a condition of her release, she was forced to record a video saying Russian forces had saved her life.”

Source: Kyiv Independent.

IWMF Statement on Death of Victoria Roshchyna, 2022 Courage Award Winner

“The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is devastated to learn that Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, a 2022 Courage in Journalism Award recipient, has died while imprisoned in Russia. As details emerge surrounding the circumstances of her death, our thoughts are with Victoria’s family, colleagues, and loved ones during this immensely difficult time.

Victoria disappeared on August 3, 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territory, when it is believed she was captured by Russian military forces. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed her detention in April 2024, nearly eight months later. Prior to her imprisonment, Victoria spent more than a year reporting from the front lines of Russia’s war on Ukraine as an independent journalist for outlets including Ukrayinska Pravda, Hromadske and Radio Free Europe.

Victoria’s passing is not just the loss of a remarkable woman, but of an intrepid witness to history. Regardless of her cause of death, we can say with certainty that her life was taken because she dared tell the truth. We hope her death will not be in vain: the international community must pressure Russia to cease targeting journalists and silencing press freedom.”

[darkmaga-returns]

Russia has repeatedly warned Western countries that Ukraine's US-backed so-called "IT army" would become a huge problem for Europeans, as more than 1,000 "call centers" in Ukraine are engaged in the extortion of money under fraudulent pretenses.

A sprawling criminal call center network linked to Ukraine has been busted by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

📹 RUSSIA’S FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE CRACKS DOWN ON CRIMINAL CALL CENTER The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced it has uncovered an international call center network operating in Russia on behalf of former Georgian Defense Minister and Milton Group founder Davit… pic.twitter.com/mw7DmDiyXl— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 9, 2024

Here’s What’s Known So Far:

The global criminal group operated call centers where, under the guise of making investment deals, perpetrators defrauded unwitting victims, according to the FSB statement.

Eleven individuals, including leaders and employees of the network's Russia-based offices, have been detained by security forces.

The network was led by Israeli/Ukrainian citizen Yakov Keselman, who has been detained, and Israeli/Georgian citizen David Todva, who is on the run.

Around 100,000 people across more than 50 countries, including the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, India, and Japan fell victim to the scammers, who raked in close to a million US dollars a day, according to an FSB statement.

The fraudulent scheme “operated in Russia on behalf of former Georgian Defense Minister and Milton Group founder David Kezerashvili, who is currently hiding in London.”

Kezerashvili is wanted on charges of disseminating anonymous messages upon instructions from the Ukrainian Security Service in 2022 about alleged impending attacks in Russia supposedly being planned, per the FSB.

An investigation into the criminal operation is ongoing.

Anglo-Saxon curators of the Kiev regime have sent their special services' cyber units to Ukraine to train their hackers engaged in activities against Russia, Artur Lyukmanov, the director of the Department of International Information Security of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik this January. He said that Ukraine has de facto become a NATO ground for testing methods of fighting Russia in the digital space.

Furthermore, he pointed out that Russia has repeatedly warned Western countries that Ukraine's hackers and telephone fraudsters would pose a problem for Europeans.

"According to our data, there are more than 1,000 'call centers' on the territory of Ukraine engaged in the extortion of money," Lyukmanov said.

[dertaglichedan]

Four Saboteurs, Allegedly Including An American, Killed Trying To Infiltrate Russia: Kremlin

Russia is alleging that a group of foreign military saboteurs has been killed trying to breach and attack Russian territory with Western-supplied weapons.

The country's Federal Security Service (FSB) has presented what is calling clear evidence that the heavily armed infiltrators into Russia's Bryansk region were foreign fighters, from nations including the United States, Canada, and Poland.

"FSB border guards, together with the units of Russia’s armed forces and the National Guard, thwarted an attempt to cross over the Russian state border in the Klimovsky district on Oct. 27," the Russian law enforcement body stated.

It said there were four "eliminated saboteurs" who were not Ukrainian, and possessed explosive devices along with foreign equipment and weapons.

State news agencies on Monday and Tuesday widely shared footage showing a Canadian flag and a Polish-language prayer book which some of the armed men were carrying. These items were displayed next the body of one of the alleged saboteurs.

Graphic photos and footage also featured a close-up of a tattoo of angel wings on a deceased man's arm. The FSB alleged this is evidence that he a member of the United States Army Rangers, as the tattoo featured a banner reading "Ranger" and "2d Bn"—an apparent reference to the 2nd Battalion of the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.

Russian state media has circulated the following video (warning--graphic & disturbing content):

[beardedmrbean]

A Russian court has sentenced a U.S.-Russian ballerina to 12 years in a penal colony for "high treason" after she allegedly transferred funds to a Ukrainian charity in Feb. 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country.

Los Angeles-based Ksenia Karelina was visiting family in Russia when investigators searched her phone and found that she had donated funds to a Ukrainian charity. According to a statement posted on Facebook by a spa where she previously worked, Karelina gifted $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in the U.S.

Authorities have not confirmed that figure and NBC News was not able to independently verify the sum or the nature of the alleged donation. 

The 33-year-old ballerina's sentencing is the latest in a series of detentions of citizens of Western nations in Russia and comes against the backdrop of Russia's two-and-a-half-year-long war with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has cracked down on dissent since the war began and any perceived criticism of the military is banned.

Earlier this month, Russia released four U.S. residents including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American corporate security executive Paul Whelan in the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the cold war.

Karelina’s defense lawyer, Mikhai Mushailov, said they would appeal the sentence and that he would be taking “all legally significant actions” to work toward a prisoner swap.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Karelina's donation “was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The 33-year-old "fully admitted her guilt" at a closed trial in the city of Yekaterinberg, in southwestern Russia on Wednesday, according to a press release by the Sverdlovsky Region Court.

Mushailov added that Karelina "did not presume" that her money would be redirected for anti-Russian actions.

Her sentence is accompanied by a fine of 300,000 Rubles ($3,361) and the verdict will come into force in 15 days unless appealed by the parties.

Karelina was born in Russia but was a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, having come to the U.S. to study at the University of Maryland in Baltimore before relocating to Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press.

[tomorrowusa]

Ho-hum. Another day, another unexplained death of a Russian businessman, current/former official, or dissident.

It's true that Igor Kotelnikov was on the sketchy side – he was in pretrial detention on a bribery charge. But he was 52 which is still below Russia's plummeting life expectancy. No cause of death was released by official sources.

Somebody up top may have been worried about Kotelnikov's upcoming testimony and decided to silence him once and for all. After falling out of windows, dying while in custody under mysterious circumstances seems to be a favored way for the dictatorship to get rid of people it doesn't want around.

A Russian businessman charged with bribing senior Defense Ministry officials on behalf of suppliers has died in pretrial detention, according to a member of the country's human rights council. Igor Kotelnikov, 52, died on July 8 after feeling unwell in the Moscow pretrial detention center, Yeva Merkacheva said. She did not give a cause of death but said he had been held in a part of the center that has tough conditions. "Rights defenders, examining the pretrial detention center, repeatedly noted that these cells are packed with people. [The cells] are small, hot in warm weather, cold in the winter. In addition, some detainees sit there all day," Merkacheva wrote in a column for the popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets. She said that Kotelnikov's death was not the first in such cells and that other detainees have committed suicide. Kotelnikov allegedly operated as a middleman in the bribery scheme that rocked the ministry earlier this year, leading to the arrest of former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov and two other businessmen. Kotelnikov denied the charges.

The Russian defense establishment is notoriously corrupt. Kotelnikov probably knew a lot about the sleaze.

According to the Telegram channel CHEKA-OGPU, officials from the Federal Security Service (FSB) visited Kotelnikov in detention on several occasions to encourage him to finger Ivanov. The channel claimed that when Kotelnikov refused, the FSB officials began pressuring him and later moved him to a punishment cell. CHEKA-OGPU is reportedly close to Russia’s security services. According to the Telegram channel, prison doctors said Kotelnikov should not be held in a punishment cell due to chronic illness and had him sent back. However, prison officials, allegedly under FSB pressure, had him returned, CHEKA-OGPU said. Ivanov, who oversaw the military-industrial complex for the ministry, was arrested in April on charges of taking more than 1 billion rubles ($11.4 million) in bribes from contractors. Ivanov, whose family flaunted its wealth, has denied the charges.

A reminder that this régime is admired by many Republicans in the US who are hoping for a Putin victory in Ukraine – despite the endemic incompetence and corruption in Russia's military. Russia is their model for how to run a country.

[sebastianluisortega]

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S NET WORTH 2025: A POWERFUL LEGACY

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S NET WORTH 2025: A POWERFUL LEGACY

Vladimir Putin's Net Worth 2025: The Most Powerful Man In The World.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is one of the most well-known and controversial figures on the world stage. Serving as Russia's president for several terms, Putin's career has been marked by his strongman image, political maneuvering, and significant influence over both his country and global geopolitics. In this article, we will explore Putin’s net worth, career, personal life, and the answers to some of the most pressing questions about the Russian leader.

Early Life and Career

Born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Vladimir Putin's early life was relatively modest. He was raised in a working-class family and had an interest in martial arts and sports from a young age. Putin eventually entered the KGB, the Soviet Union's security agency, where he spent a significant part of his career as an intelligence officer. His experience in the KGB laid the foundation for his future political career.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Putin entered politics. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and later serving as prime minister. In 1999, he was appointed acting president of Russia after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, and he was formally elected president in 2000. Since then, Putin has maintained a tight grip on power, winning multiple re-election campaigns and consolidating his control over Russia's political landscape.

Putin's Career

Vladimir Putin's presidency has been characterized by his attempts to restore Russia's prominence on the world stage after the fall of the Soviet Union. Under his leadership, Russia has pursued aggressive foreign policies, including military interventions in countries like Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria. Putin’s government has also cracked down on political dissent, curtailed press freedom, and stifled opposition parties, consolidating his power and maintaining a high level of control.

Domestically, Putin's policies have had mixed results. On the one hand, his leadership has brought economic stability to Russia after the turbulent 1990s, driven by a surge in oil prices and a focus on state-led capitalism. However, his reign has also been marred by allegations of corruption, human rights abuses, and a lack of democratic freedoms. Despite this, Putin enjoys significant popularity in Russia, largely due to his image as a strong leader who has restored the nation's pride.

Net Worth of Vladimir Putin

One of the most discussed topics surrounding Vladimir Putin is his net worth. Despite being the president of Russia for over two decades, Putin’s official salary and assets remain largely opaque. Putin has never openly declared his wealth, and there is little transparency about his financial holdings. However, various reports and estimates suggest that Putin is among the richest individuals in the world, although no official figure is available.

While Putin’s exact net worth remains speculative, analysts have estimated his wealth to be anywhere from $70 billion to $200 billion. Much of this wealth is believed to be derived from hidden assets, business dealings, and potential control over key industries in Russia, including energy, mining, and natural resources. Putin's wealth is often associated with his close ties to oligarchs and the country's elite, who benefit from government deals and state-backed enterprises.

One of the most famous (and controversial) symbols of Putin's wealth is his palatial estate, which is often referred to as "Putin's Palace." The mansion, located near the Black Sea, is reportedly worth billions of dollars, with some estimates placing its value at around $1 billion. The palace, which is said to be lavishly decorated and equipped with luxurious amenities, has been a subject of significant scrutiny, with accusations that it was built with corrupt government funds.

Putin's Salary as President of Russia

As the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin is entitled to an official salary. According to public records, Putin's annual salary as president of Russia is modest compared to his estimated wealth. His official salary is reported to be around 8 million rubles, which is approximately $110,000 USD. This figure is relatively low considering the power he wields and the wealth that he is suspected to have accumulated. The discrepancy between his modest salary and his enormous wealth has led many to speculate about how Putin has amassed such a fortune.

It's important to note that the salary of a president is only a small portion of his income, especially in a country like Russia, where power and influence often translate into business dealings, state contracts, and ownership of assets.

Does Putin Have a Wife?

Vladimir Putin has been married once and has two children. He married Lyudmila Shkrebneva in 1983, and the couple had two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina. However, in 2013, Putin and his wife publicly announced that they had divorced after nearly 30 years of marriage. The couple's divorce was amicable, and they reportedly continued to have a cordial relationship after their separation.

Despite being divorced, Putin's personal life continues to be shrouded in mystery. He has been linked to various women throughout his career, but he has never remarried. There have been rumors and speculation about his relationships, but Putin has been known to keep his private life out of the public eye. His lack of transparency about his personal relationships has only fueled curiosity and intrigue.

Religion of Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, and his religious beliefs play a significant role in his public image. The Russian Orthodox Church is one of the oldest and most influential Christian denominations in the world, and it holds a prominent place in Russian society. Throughout his presidency, Putin has cultivated an image of a devout Christian and has worked closely with the church to bolster his authority.

Putin’s ties to the Russian Orthodox Church are not just personal; they also serve to strengthen his political position. The church has long supported Putin’s regime, and his alignment with Orthodox Christianity has helped him gain the support of many religious Russians. His public appearances with religious leaders and his involvement in church-related events are often used to highlight his commitment to traditional Russian values and the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage.

While Putin’s religious beliefs may be genuine, many analysts argue that his connection to the church is also a political strategy. By aligning himself with the church, Putin is able to appeal to a large portion of the Russian population that values religious and cultural traditions.

Is Putin the Most Powerful Man in the World?

The question of whether Vladimir Putin is the most powerful man in the world is a matter of perspective. While Putin is undoubtedly one of the most influential leaders on the global stage, the title of "most powerful" is subjective and depends on how power is defined.

In terms of military and political influence, Putin is certainly a dominant figure. As the leader of one of the world’s largest nuclear powers, Putin has significant leverage in international affairs. His ability to shape geopolitical events, as seen in Russia’s involvement in Ukraine, Syria, and other regions, demonstrates his power. Additionally, Putin has managed to maintain a stronghold on Russia’s political system, consolidating power and suppressing opposition.

However, some would argue that other world leaders, such as U.S. presidents or Chinese leaders, hold more power in terms of global influence, economic control, and military strength. The U.S., for example, has a larger economy, a more powerful military, and greater influence over international organizations.

In conclusion, while Vladimir Putin is one of the most powerful leaders in the world, whether he is the "most" powerful depends on how one defines power and influence on the global stage.

Vladimir Putin’s net worth, career, and personal life remain topics of significant interest and speculation. As one of the longest-serving leaders in the modern world, Putin has managed to build a reputation as a powerful and often controversial figure. His estimated wealth, while not officially disclosed, places him among the wealthiest individuals on the planet. Whether it’s his rumored palace, his control over key industries, or his tight grip on political power, Putin’s fortune is intertwined with his political career.

While his personal life remains mostly private, the mystery surrounding his relationships and his devotion to the Russian Orthodox Church only adds to his enigmatic persona. Putin’s influence is undeniable, and he continues to shape both Russian and global affairs, making him one of the most prominent figures in international politics today.

[sixstringphonic]

Donald Trump Was Recruited By KGB Under Codename ‘Krasnov’: Spy Chief

Story by Times Now Digital, via MSN as of Feb. 22nd 2025

President Donald Trump was recruited by the Soviet Union's KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) back in 1987 and was also given a codename, a former intelligence officer alleged in a social media post. Alnur Mussayev, 71, revealed that he served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB in Moscow. His department was responsible for counter-intelligence support within the economy, and 'recruited businessmen from capitalist countries'.

Mussayev further added that Trump was given a codename - 'Krasnov'. The former Kazakh official wrote that in 1987 'our directorate recruited Donald Trump, a 40-year-old American businessman, under the pseudonym Krasnov'.

President Donald Trump was recruited by the Soviet Union's KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) back in 1987 and was also given a codename, a former intelligence officer alleged in a social media post. Alnur Mussayev, 71, revealed that he served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB in Moscow. His department was responsible for counter-intelligence support within the economy, and 'recruited businessmen from capitalist countries'.

Mussayev further added that Trump was given a codename - 'Krasnov'. The former Kazakh official wrote that in 1987 'our directorate recruited Donald Trump, a 40-year-old American businessman, under the pseudonym Krasnov'.

"In 1987, I worked in the 6th Department of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Department was the acquisition of spies and sources of information from among businessmen of capitalist countries. It was in that year that our Department recruited the 40-year-old businessman from the USA, Donald Trump, nicknamed "Krasnov"," Mussayev's post on Facebook read.

Neither President Trump nor the White House have responded to the explosive claims yet.

“I hope I’ll survive a third assassination attempt,” Alnur Mussayev said in a comment below his post. The 71-year-old also alleged that Trump's files have been removed from the Russia's security agency Federal Security Service (FSB).

"Today, the personal file of resident ‘Krasnov’ has been removed from the FSB. It is being privately managed by one of Putin’s close associates," the former spy chief wrote.

Donald Trump first visited Moscow in 1987, when he was a real estate developer. Politico reported that in 1985, the KGB updated a secret personality questionnaire, advising case officers what to look for in a successful recruitment operation.

Edit: I can't find any mainstream news sources reporting this (NYT, CNN, Reuters, AA, etc.) so who knows the validity at this point? But when I googled "trump krasnov" the search engine warned, "It looks like the results below are changing quickly. If this topic is news, it can sometimes take time for reliable sources to publish information."

I saw mentioned on Facebook that the story was seemingly being killed by coordinated DDoS attacks...

And there's a community content post on Daily Kos from Feb. 21st 2025:

Magic Disappearing DB Story About Spy Chief Allegations Trump Recruited as a Russian Asset in 1987.

So earlier today, the Daily Beast’s Isabel van Brugen published a bombshell story about allegations by Kazakh Spy Chief Alnur Mussayev that the KGB had recruited Donald Trump as a Soviet Asset way back in 1987 under the code name “Krasnov.”

I expected to see this story covered heavily here, but nary a peep, and within hours, it was scrubbed from both the Daily Beast’s site, as well as various other outlets on the internet. There is no retraction on the Daily Beast site, or even any acknowledgment that the story existed, and several republishers have pulled the story as well.

If you go to Google news and search “Trump Krasnov,” you may still find a couple of sites where the story, either in the van Brugen version, or under other bylines, is still up, but they are dropping like flies.

Now I am as against CTs, hoaxes, etc. as anyone, so I will take no stance as to the truthfulness of the accusations laid out in the van Brugen and other articles, but I also have to say that the speed at which this is being memory holed is rather breathtaking.  Pressure from the DOJ, perhaps? If this story has actually been debunked anywhere rather than simply disappeared, please add a cite in the comments, and I will be more than happy to update this story to reflect it.

Incidentally, FWIW, van Brugen did publish another story earlier today that detailed Anthony Scaramucci’s speculation that Trump may be a Russian asset that is still currently up on the DB site. It will be interesting to see if that one eventually gets yanked, as well.

The purported FB post by Alnur Mussayev that generated this story:

www.facebook.com/...

In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the USSR KGB in Moscow. The most important direction of the work of the 6th Administration was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries. It was that year that our administration recruited a 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald Trump under the pseudonym "Krasnov". (Machine Translation)

So, at this point, who knows? But it's worth keeping an eye on to see how it plays out.

[follow-up-news]

Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top military and political figures, Ukraine’s state security service said Tuesday. Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were detained on suspicion of enacting the plan drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, a statement said. The colonels were recruited before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the statement. It quoted the head of the State Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, as saying the plot foresaw an attack before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term on Tuesday. Maliuk said that he personally oversaw the top-secret operation to track the plot. Ukrainian claims of Russian efforts to kill Zelenskyy aren’t new. Zelensky said in 2022 there has been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him, and now the war with Russia has stretched into its third year.

[mariacallous]

Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna has died in Russian captivity, the Ukrainian authorities confirmed on Thursday. She was 27.

Roshchyna was captured by Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents while reporting from Russian-occupied territory in August 2023.

According to Petro Yatsenko, the head of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the circumstances of Roshchyna’s death are still unclear. Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchyshyn reported that the Russian authorities had informed the journalist’s family that she died while being transferred between prisons, though he later deleted the post.

Andriy Yusov, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, told the Ukrainian outlet Suspilne that Roshchyna was included on the list for an upcoming prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine. Yatsenko later confirmed this to Hromadske, adding, “The fact that she was transferred from Taganrog to Moscow was a stage of her preparation for release.”

Update: Later on Thursday, the Ukrainian news outlet Grati reported that Roshchyna’s father received a letter from the Russian Defense Ministry dated October 2, 2024, stating that the journalist died on September 19. It also said that her body will be handed over to the Ukrainian authorities “as part of an exchange of bodies of detained individuals.” The letter didn’t mention the circumstances or cause of her death.

Roshchyna’s arrest last year was her second time being captured by Russian forces. In March 2022, FSB agents arrested her in Russian-occupied territory and kept her in custody for 10 days. During her detention, the agency forced Roshchyna to record a video saying she had no complaints about her prison conditions and that Russian forces had “saved her life.” The second time she was arrested, nine months passed before the Russian authorities confirmed to Roshchyna’s family that she was in their custody.

Roshchyna worked as a freelance reporter for various outlets including Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Svoboda, and Hromadske, where she used to be on staff. She received the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award in 2022.

[darkmaga-returns]

Russian President Valdimir Putin’s limousine has been destroyed in a massive explosion, according to reports.

The vehicle exploded near Moscow’s Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters.

The official limousines erupted in flames following the large explosion.

The vehicle, believed to be part of Putin’s official motorcade, was seen engulfed in flames shortly after what is thought to have been an explosion originating from the car’s engine.

The Aurus limousine, a luxury vehicle frequently used by Putin, quickly became fully consumed by the fire.

Witnesses reported that black smoke filled the air as the fire spread.

Staff from nearby restaurants rushed outside to assist in trying to extinguish the flames before emergency services arrived at the scene.

Video footage from the incident shows significant damage to the rear of the car, where the fire was most intense.

The incident comes just days after Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky made a stunning “prediction” about Putin.

[beardedmrbean]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Moscow freed a Russian American convicted of treason in exchange for a Russian German man jailed on smuggling charges in the U.S., a prisoner swap that was completed Thursday as the two countries met to repair ties.

Ksenia Karelina is “on a plane back home to the United States,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media platform X. She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. U.S. authorities have called the case “absolutely ludicrous.”

Arthur Petrov was released as part of a swap in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, according to the Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia’s main security and counterintelligence agency. Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 at the request of the U.S. on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia and extradited to the U.S. a year later.

Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine. Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the U.S. carried out in the last three years — and the second since President Donald Trump took office and reversed Washington’s policy of isolating Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.

CIA director John Ratcliffe hailed “the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort.” The CIA also emphasized that “the exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship.”

Meanwhile, Russian and U.S. diplomats met in Istanbul for a second round of talks on normalizing embassies’ work following the first such meeting in February. The State Department said the delegations “exchanged notes to finalize an understanding to ensure the stability of diplomatic banking for Russian and U.S. bilateral missions.”

It said the U.S. reiterated its concerns about the Russian ban on hiring of local staff, “the key impediment to maintaining for stable and sustainable staffing levels at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.”

Alexander Darchiyev, Russia’s ambassador to Washington who led Moscow’s delegation in the talks, praised their “positive atmosphere” and noted the parties agreed to continue discussions to facilitate diplomats’ travel. He added that the Russian side also pushed for a quick return of its diplomatic property seized by U.S. authorities.

In February, Russia released American teacher Marc Fogel, imprisoned on drug charges, in a swap that the White House described as part of a diplomatic thaw that could advance peace negotiations. That same month, Russia released another American just days after arresting him on drug smuggling charges.

Karelina, a former ballet dancer also identified in some media as Ksenia Khavana, lived in Maryland before moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year.

The FSB accused her of “proactively” collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv’s forces. The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity aiding Ukraine.

Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said on Instagram that she had been in touch with her family since her release.

“I am overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia,” Karelina’s fiancé, Chris van Heerden, said in a statement. “She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”

He thanked Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case.

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said on X that “President Trump and his administration continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families.”

The exchange was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Karelina was headed to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss her case.

The United Arab Emirates’ state-run WAM news agency released photos of Karelina boarding a plane and one of her standing next to Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the U.S.

The FSB, which said President Vladimir Putin had pardoned Karelina before the swap, released a video showing her being escorted to a plane somewhere in Russia. The footage then featured of what appeared to be the scene of exchange at the Abu Dhabi airport, with Petrov walking off a plane and shaking hands with Russian officials on the tarmac.

The same video showed Petrov undergoing medical checkups on a flight to Russia. “I have no particular complaints, just a bit tired,” he said.

Petrov was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of involvement in a scheme to procure microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical components for the country’s weapons industries. He was facing a 20-year prison term in the U.S.

Abu Dhabi was the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainian who fled there after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

By 1999, Yeltsin was visibly ill and frequently intoxicated, and the problem of succession became acute. Elections were needed to replace him; from the perspective of the oligarchs these needed to be managed and the outcome controlled. A successor was needed who would allow Yeltsin’s family (in both the normal sense of his relatives and in the Russian sense of friendly oligarchs) to stay alive and maintain their wealth. “Operation Successor,” as the challenge was known in the Kremlin, had two stages: finding a new man who was not a known associate of Yeltsin, and then inventing a fake problem that he could then appear to solve. To find his successor, Yeltsin’s entourage organized a public opinion poll about favorite heroes in popular entertainment. The winner was Max Stierlitz, the hero of a series of Soviet novels that were adapted into a number of films, most famously the television serial Seventeen Moments of Spring in 1973. The fictional Stierlitz was a Soviet plant in German military intelligence during the Second World War, a communist spy in Nazi uniform. Vladimir Putin, who had held a meaningless post in the East German provinces during his career in the KGB, was seen as the closest match to the fictional Stierlitz. Having enriched himself as the assistant to the mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, Putin was known to the Kremlin and thought to be a team player. He had worked for Yeltsin in Moscow since 1998, chiefly as head of the Federal Security Service (FSB, the former KGB). When appointed Yeltsin’s prime minister in August 1999, Putin was unknown to the larger public, so not a plausible candidate for national elected office. His approval rating stood at 2%. And so it was time to generate a crisis that he could appear to solve. In September 1999, a series of bombs exploded in Russian cities, killing hundreds of Russian citizens. It seemed possible that the perpetrators were FSB officers. In the city of Ryazan, for example, FSB officers were apprehended by their local colleagues as suspects in the bombings. Though the possibility of self-terrorism was noticed at the time, the factual questions were overwhelmed by righteous patriotism as Putin ordered a new war against the part of Russia deemed to be responsible for the bombings: the Chechen republic of southwestern Russia, in the Caucasus region, which had declared independence in 1993 and then fought the Russian army to a standstill. There was no evidence that Chechens had anything to do with the bombings. Thanks to the Second Chechen War, Putin’s approval rating reached 45% in November. In December, Yeltsin announced his resignation and endorsed Putin as his successor. Thanks to unequal television coverage, manipulation of the vote tally, and the atmospherics of terrorism and war, Putin was accorded the absolute majority needed to win the presidential election of March 2000. The ink of political fiction is blood.

Timothy Snyder, The Road To Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America

Think about Crocus City Hall.

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

On February 27, 2015, Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov, pictured above with his daughter, Zhanna Nemtsova, was gunned down in Moscow, right front of the Kremlin. Although the Russian government prosecuted Chechens for the killing of Nemtsov, they never identified the person that ordered the murder, nor did they release the full tape of Nemtsov's death during the trial.

Nemtsov was known and admired inside and outside of Russia for fearlessly challenging Putin's dictatorship. He wrote reports on government corruption which, as Russia scholar Dr. Knight wrote in Orders to Kill, caused enormous panic.

He challenged Putin's fraudulent "election" results, exposing how millions of votes were stolen. He encouraged the United States to sign the Magnitsky Sanctions into law in 2012, punishing the murderers of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other corrupt henchmen.

He condemned Putin's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. He exposed how, despite Putin loudly claiming the opposite, Russia was continually sending mercenaries into eastern Ukraine to stir up provocations.

It was this last damning investigation that undoubtedly contributed to Nemtsov's murder. Shortly after he was killed, FSB agents raided his property and removed his computer. His girlfriend was unlawfully detained by FSB agents, as she was the only witness to the murder. The security cameras that are usually always on were switched off for the time it took to accost Nemtsov and shoot him four more times.

As is always the case with the Russian terrorist regime of Vladimir Putin, the authorities further denigrated Nemtsov's dignity by spreading alternative theories for Nemtsov's death. One of these was that Islamic terrorists had murdered Nemtsov in revenge for Nemtsov condemning the Charlie Hebdo massacre of January 2015. The fact that such a claim was obviously implausible didn't matter: all that mattered was convincing the average Russian that nobody could tell the cause.

I won't go into the details about the Chechens who were prosecuted and imprisoned for Nemtsov's death. The Russian legal system is the crucible of criminality in that country. Nothing that Russian lawyers, judges, or government investigators say can be trusted if they are adjudicating a politically sensitive case. Every Russian knows that their legal system waits for "a call from upstairs" to decide the outcome of politically sensitive cases.

As far as I am concerned, the true culprits of Nemtsov's murder are Russia's own security services. This is what Russia scholar David Satter established in his own article. In it, he exposed damning details from the only available tapes of Nemtsov's death, the fact that one of the killers appeared to be speaking to an FSB agent named Gennady Kornienko, the fact that those seen walking ahead of Nemtsov on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge quickly jumped onto a platform to avoid being shot, and how the lawyer Zaurbek Sadakhanov requested an interrogation of Putin in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, and one of the responses was a vicious beating by unknown men. Sadakhanov subsequently fled Russia for his own safety.

Most importantly, Satter exposes key evidence that Putin had planned the murder of Nemtsov three years in advance.

All of this information will therefore sound shockingly familiar, following the Kremlin's murder of Nemtsov's political ally, Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, on the 16th of February 2024. When Nemtsov was murdered, Navalny had been sent to prison on politically motivated charges. He was forbidden from attending Nemtsov's funeral, but later attended a memorial march for the fallen Russian politician.

We now know that Russia's federal security services planned their August 2020 poisoning of Navalny as far back as 2017, when they began following him intensively. The same three year time gap. Like Nemstov, Navalny had discussed the possibility of being murdered by the Kremlin, even after he recovered from what turned out to be a Novichok poisoning. Nemtsov's ally, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was to mysteriously fall ill and almost die on two occasions, in March 2015 and in 2017, with many of the same FSB agents assigned to Navalny also following Kara-Murza.

Following the August 2020 poisoning, the Kremlin again circulated alternative theories. Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyev loudly discussed the lithium tablets that Navalny took, when there is no evidence that such tablets cause this reaction. Even more insultingly, Russian authorities suggested that Navalny might have cooked the Novichok and eaten it himself.

We can reach several conclusions from this information.

First, that Russia has an active state program dedicated to the murder of its own citizens. This includes the FSB, the military intelligence agency (GRU), and is covered up by Russia's Investigative Committee, federal judges, lawyers, and the prison system. This program undoubtedly costs millions, if not billions of roubles.

Second, that the Russian government plans in advance who is to be murdered. Such targets may experience scare tactics such as assaults, burglaries, or kidnapping in advance, before Russian agents receive a direct order to kill.

Third, the Russian government knows full well that many will blame Putin for the killings. In order to maintain confusion, it acts even pre-emptively to circulate alternative theories about the killing. Such are directed at Putin's followers and apathetic Russians. But those connected to the murder victim understand that this is a warning.

Fourth, the Russian government conspires to frustrate any independent investigation by fabricating a legal progress to investigate its own murders. This is again designed to cause confusion by suggesting that if Putin had committed the killings, he wouldn't want to be involved in the investigation. In fact, such investigations are not designed for identifying the real culprits, but for fabricating a case against culprits that the government has already shown. More importantly, the investigation helps the government murderers hide their tracks. Hence why, in Satter's article above, one of the Chechens recanted his testimony, saying it had been given under torture.

Fifth, the Russian government uses campaigns of threats and violence against anyone who doesn't accept the official narrative and digs deeper. These include random assaults, burglaries, and stalking.

Sixth, Russian propagandists on RT, Channel One, and NTB are fully aware that the Russian government is responsible for these murders. Their job is to confuse the public with alternative theories. In return, they receive high salaries, luxury houses, and extended airtime.

It should be clear by now that Russia under Vladimir Putin is a terrorist state. Each and every one of these murders is an act of domestic terrorism, to silence dissent, punish "traitors", and demoralise and fragment the remaining opposition.

It should also be clear by now that Putin has no political legitimacy whatsoever. To call him "president", when he acts to systematically eliminate his opposition, is to render the word meaningless. Putin has never won any democratic challenge without criminality, and his rise to power was entirely predicated on frustrating investigation into his predecessor's corruption.

Many outside Russia do not realise that Boris Nemtsov was on the rise under Yeltsin's administration. He was incredibly popular with his constituency, and known for being courteous under pressure. In a debate with the Russian demagogue and bigot, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Nemtsov remained calm, while Zhirinovsky got so worked up that he threw a glass of liquid over Nemtsov.

By all rights, Nemtsov deserved to become Russia's Prime Minister and maybe even president; in his book, he recalled his secretary telling him that she had spoken with a Vladimir Putin. Like many Russians in the late 1990's, the woman had no idea who Putin was.

Nemtsov would be relegated to the opposition, working as the head of the Yabloko Party. His collaboration with Alexei Navalny seems to have begun in the 2010s.

Nemtsov outlived several Russians who died in violent and mysterious ways. In November 1998, he was profoundly shocked when Russian liberal politician, Galina Starovoitova, was assassinated in St Petersburg outside her apartment. She had been followed home by an FSB agent on the night of her murder. The sole witness was visited repeatedly by Vladimir Putin while in hospital. Nemtsov called Starovoitova one of the most intelligent politicians in the Russian politics.

When renowned Novaya Gazeta journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, was murdered in October 2006, Nemtsov later called for a memorial to be erected in her honour.

It was clear to Nemtsov that he lived a dangerous life. David Satter notes that Nemtsov was warned about the possibility of assassination while in Oslo in 2012. His mother also warned him, and Nemtsov discussed his own and his mother's respective during a magazine interview. The late American Senator John McCain, again warned Nemtsov when the Russian was in the USA to campaign for sanctions against the murderers of Sergei Magnitsky and those upholding Putin's dictatorship. Nemtsov refused to stay away from Russia, saying he was fighting for his country.

Nemtsov's immense bravery and firm belief in personal freedom and the rule of law cost him his life. Putin simply could not stand to have such a threat to the terrorist state he had built since 1999. For a while, he tolerated Nemtsov as opposition, until Nemtsov became more and more emboldened, especially by lobbying for Magnitsky Sanctions with the American-British financier, Bill Browder, in 2012. These represented a direct threat to Putin's finances, without which he could not consolidate his dictatorship. It's no coincidence in my view that Satter traces plans to murder Nemtsov back to that same 2012.

Are we to stand by and continue to watch this terrorist, Vladimir Putin, murder his opposition again and again? It's time for Russia to face unprecedented pressure in response to the murder of Alexei Navalny this month. Russia must face interrogation at international criminal courts. The international arrest warrant on Putin must be expanded, and be kept permanent.

There must be no welcome back for Russia after the war in Ukraine ends if Putin and his terrorist state are still in power. Foreign countries must publicise all of the political murders Putin has committed, backed with damning evidence the Kremlin cannot deny. All Russians involved in these murders must face sanctions, including asset confiscation. They must never be allowed to set foot in Western nations.

Widespread acknowledgement that Putin is a terrorist will isolate the Kremlin and make the dictator lose face internationally. This will make it harder for Putin to command any respect in Russia.

Nemtsov said that it took a long time for change to come to Russia, and wanted that change to come peacefully. Foreign nations cannot force regime change in Russia, nor should they attempt this. But foreign nations should not provide any legitimacy for Russia's terrorist regime, nor harbour agents of that terrorist regime in their own countries. This is why Nemtsov fought for the United States to apply financial sanctions on Russian criminals.

We have a duty to continue Nemtsov's work and hold this government of terrorists accountable.

Вечная память Борису Ефимовичу!