Tag: vladimir putin

German chancellor with Nazi family past likens Putin to Hitler

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose grandfather was a member of the Nazi Party, has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.

Merz’s maternal grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny, served as mayor of Brilon in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia from 1917 to 1937. Initially a member of the conservative Center Party, Sauvigny joined Hitler’s NSDAP after the Nazis came to power in the early 1930s.

Speaking at a Christian Democratic Union conference in Munich on Sunday, Merz accused Putin of seeking to restore the borders of the Soviet Union.

“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop. Just as the Sudetenland was not enough (for Hitler) in 1938, Putin will not stop either,” Merz said, referring to the moment when Britain and France allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia.

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Putin ‘sends top general to Venezuela along with troops tasked with training up President Maduro’s forces’ as US considers attacking South American country

Vladimir Putin has sent one of his top generals to Venezuela, along with troops tasked with training Nicolás Maduro’s forces, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official. 

The revelation comes as the US continues to amass a huge military presence in the region, with Donald Trump considering an attack on the South American country. 

Ukraine’s Lt General Kyrlo Budanov has said that Colonel General Oleg Makarevich is leading Russia‘s ‘Equator Task Force’, a group of more than 120 personnel who are coaching the Venezuelan army on everything from infantry tactics to drone use. 

Budanov claims that the Russian mission was already in place before the United States dramatically increased its number of equipment and personnel close to Venezuela. 

The Ukrainian spy chief spoke as Trump‘s administration maintains a large number of US warships, aircraft and troops close to Venezuelan waters. 

Washington says the deployment is aimed at drug traffickers, but it is also part of a campaign to pressure Maduro to resign. Trump’s senior advisers, including defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, are said to be presenting him with options for military operations. 

Budanov argued that Makarevich and his men would not leave if the United States launched an attack. 

He told The War Zone: ‘I think they will be behind the scenes and officially, Russia will try to speak to the US because their units are in Venezuela. It’s just a game.’  

He described the Russian contingent as ‘military advisors and also teachers,’ and said they were providing training for infantry units, UAV operators and special forces. He added that the task force was also helping Venezuela gather signals intelligence.

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Putin aide accuses WaPo of ‘truth distortion’

Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev has accused the Washington Post of “truth distortion” over a quote wrongly attributed to him, and demanded the outlet apologize.

In an article on Saturday about Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the US, the outlet suggested that a recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, shifted Washington’s stance on the Ukraine conflict.

The Washington Post cited Dmitriev as saying: “Zelensky’s tour summed up in one sentence: Putin outmaneuvered everyone again.” It claimed that Dmitriev made the remark on Telegram.

In a post on X on Saturday, Dmitriev expressed outrage that the line – which he had reposted from another news channel – was attributed to him.

“Another eye-opening case of truth distortion from the fake @washingtonpost,” he wrote. “I reposted a post from a Telegram channel – yet your article attributed those quotes to me. That’s like blaming users for retweets.”

Dmitriev demanded that the outlet correct the attribution immediately, issue an apology, and launch an internal probe.

Later in the day, the outlet issued a correction, admitting that a previous version of its article had “incorrectly attributed” the quote to Dmitriev. The presidential aide thanked the WaPo on X for acknowledging the error, but asked the paper to issue a formal apology and publish both the apology and the correction “in the next print edition.”

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Putin Says Russia ‘Very Actively’ Developing New Nuclear Weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 10 that Russia is “very actively” developing and testing new nuclear weapons and that Moscow may soon make a formal announcement about the progress of its latest strategic systems.

Speaking to reporters after a summit in Tajikistan, Putin said the development of new weapons was proceeding successfully and that Russia’s nuclear deterrent capabilities are now more advanced than those of any other nuclear power.

“I believe that we will have an opportunity to report about the new weapons that we announced a while ago,” Putin said, according to Russian state media Tass.

“These weapons are being developed and undergoing tests. The tests are proceeding successfully.

“The novelty of our nuclear deterrence capabilities is higher than in any other nuclear-weapon state—and we are actively developing it all. We are developing what I mentioned earlier, in previous years—we are working to finalize it.”

The remarks follow Moscow’s recent offer to voluntarily maintain the warhead limits set by the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) if the United States does the same. The treaty, signed in 2010 and extended by five years in 2021, is the last remaining major arms-control accord between Washington and Moscow. It limits each side to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 deployed long-range missiles and bombers.

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Putin claps back at Trump’s ‘paper tiger’ comment

Following accusations from President Donald Trump that Russia is a “paper tiger” in the war against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not hold back.

“We are fighting against the entire bloc of NATO and we keep moving, keep advancing and feel confident and we are a paper tiger; what NATO itself is?” Putin said. “A paper tiger? Go and deal with this paper tiger then.”

The fiery comments come as the White House is considering approving a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Tomahawk cruise missiles that would allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia.

During a forum of international foreign policy experts in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said this request would bring a “new stage of escalation” between Russia and the U.S.

However, he added that with the missiles, not much would change in their air defenses.

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Putin accuses France of piracy

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced France’s detention of an oil tanker that it claims carried Russian cargo as “piracy,” noting the seizure took place in neutral waters without justification.

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, Putin argued that investigators were searching for “military cargo, drones, or something of that kind,” but insisted “none of that is there, never was, and never could be.”

Media reports have suggested the investigation may be linked to unidentified drones spotted near Danish airports and military sites last month. There have been suggestions that the UAVs may have been Russian, an accusation Moscow has denied.

Putin also noted that the tanker was sailing under a foreign flag with an international crew, questioning whether it had any connection to Russia at all.

The vessel in question, the Boracay, is sanctioned by the EU and was sailing under a Benin flag when French naval forces boarded it last week. It remains anchored near Saint-Nazaire, with its captain and first mate in custody as prosecutors investigate “serious irregularities.”

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Putin compares ideology of modern West to USSR

Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn a parallel between the Soviet Union and the present-day US and EU, accusing them of imposing their own political systems on other countries.

Speaking at a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, the president suggested that political systems which force their own values on others don’t last.

“The Soviet Union once erred by imposing its system. Then, the United States has taken up that baton. The EU has also distinguished itself,” Putin said.

“A nation that respects its own tradition, as a rule, does not encroach on the traditions of others,” the Russian president concluded.

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Their Fathers’ Organs Were Stolen in China: The Xi–Putin Hot Mic Opens Fresh Wounds

Grief and shock hit 19-year-old Han Yu at once as she walked into a room filled with police.

Center in the throngs lay the lifeless body of her father, who had been in perfect health two months before the Chinese authorities threw him into jail.

Even with makeup, traces of suffering were evident. There was tissue missing from under his left eye and bruises around his chin. Black stitches led downward from his throat.

The police yelled and pushed Han out when the teen tried to unbutton her father’s clothes and check how big the incision was.

A few other relatives managed to lift his shirt up and saw that the cut went all the way to the abdomen. They pressed down on his stomach. There were no organs. It was all ice.

What did they do with the organs?

Fast forward 21 years, and the sense of horror recurred when she saw the hot mic moment of Chinese leader Xi Jinping musing with Russian President Vladimir Putin about continual, multiple transplants leading to longevity.

“Earlier, people rarely lived to 70, but these days at 70 you are still a child,” Xi said through a translator in Russian at a massive military parade in Beijing commemorating World War II on Sept. 3.

Putin replied through his interpreter in Mandarin: “As biotechnology advances, human organs can be continuously transplanted, allowing us to become younger and younger, perhaps even achieve immortality.”

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Putin Says Curbing NATO Enlargement Crucial to Ukraine Peace Deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 1 that the issue of NATO’s eastward enlargement has to be tackled for there to be a sustainable peace deal in Ukraine.

Putin was speaking after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Tianjin, China.

Putin said the crisis in Ukraine was partly due to “the West’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO,” which he said “poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.”

He said that the 2014 revolution in Ukraine was a “coup” in which “the country’s political leadership that opposed NATO membership was removed from power.”

“In order for a Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, the root causes of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have repeatedly mentioned before, must be eliminated,” he said.

Putin Calls for ‘Fair Balance’

Putin also called for “a fair balance in the security sphere” to be restored.

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine—which has expressed interest in joining NATO—and its forces now control a fifth of the country, including Crimea and large swathes of the south and east of Ukraine.

Just days before the invasion, Putin delivered a speech describing the potential accession of Ukraine to NATO as “a direct threat to the security of Russia.”

In the wake of the Russian invasion, Finland and Sweden both waived policies of neutrality they had held for decades and joined NATO in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

NATO now has 32 members, including a string of countries that were once part of the Soviet Union—such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—or were part of the Moscow-dominated Warsaw Pact alliance during the Cold War—such as Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Apart from Ukraine, two other countries—Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina—have applied for NATO membership.

The alliance’s website states, “NATO’s door remains open to any European country in a position to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership, and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

During NATO’s 2008 summit in Bucharest, alliance leaders said in a declaration: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”

But after NATO’s summit in The Hague in June, there was no mention of Ukrainian membership in the declaration issued, which stated simply, “Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours.”

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Did Putin Give the US Permission to Encircle Venezuela?

The contagion of war is spreading like wildfire. Venezuela has been feuding with the United States since 2019, when all communication came to a standstill. In recent weeks, the US placed a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and has accused him of aiding the world’s top drug traffickers. The US has sent thousands of illegal Venezuelan migrants back to Venezuela despite pushback from the government. Tensions have boiled over after Trump visited with Putin.

Did Putin give Trump the green light to move in on Venezuela? Deep ties with Russia have protected Venezuela, but all alliances can come to an end with the proper incentives. On Monday, over four and a half MILLION Venezuelan troops were deployed after it was announced that US warships were circling Venezuela. “This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory — militias that are prepared, activated and armed,” Maduro announced on state television. “The empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela’s peace and tranquility,” Maduro continued.

Maduro was indicted in 2020 during Trump’s first term under suspicion of narco-terrorism. The US placed a $15 million bounty on Maduro, which was later raised to $25 million under Biden but powerful people are protecting the Venezuelan president.

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