Free Russia Report

This channel has been kept free of donation requests - for a reason Nonetheless I'll break with this standard now in publishing Timothy Snyders text about how to help Ukraine in now the fifth and worst winter - also for a reason. The Long Ukrainian Winter by Timothy Snyder Dear Friends, Russia’s full-scale of invasion began four years ago. It began in winter, and so this winter is the fifth. And, for civilians, the worst. The Russian war effort is struggling in the field. Territorial gains are minimal and come at huge cost. What Russia can do is launch ballistic missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in order to force Ukrainians to endure the freezing cold. Russia also simply targets Ukrainian workers at their factories and Ukrainians generally in their homes. Sadly, we in North America and Europe share some responsibility in this. The Ukrainians are fighting well enough that we do not have to fight. And so it is all too easy to accept this war, the bloodiest since 1945, as simply part of the status quo. And so we -- the EU and the US alike -- have taken far too long to cut off Russian gas and oil from world markets. The US government has stopped all military aid to Ukraine -- what continues are shipments of US arms to Ukraine that are purchased by Europeans, as well as European arms shipments. Even though the Ukrainian need is great and the Europeans are paying for everything, the United States has been slow to make deliveries. We are not sending the Ukrainians the air defense they need to protect themselves. This is one reason millions of people are in the cold, and why civilians die almost every day. The major policy of the Trump administration has been to use the word “peace.” But Trump has been unable to muster a policy that would change Russia’s incentives. He has difficulty even presenting the war as a war, rather than as a misunderstanding about real estate; his administration issues official statements that praise Russia for its desire for peace, even as the offensives continue missiles fall. Trump has put pressure on Ukrainians, who, unlike the Russians, have to fight. For Russia, this is an ego war, a war by a dictator for his own legacy. For Ukraine, this is a war of national sovereignty and physical survival. Read more and take action 🙏❤️ https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-long-ukrainian-winter

The Bill of Wrongs A Cult Constitution by Timothy Snyder 1. Congress shall make no law denying the Cult of all-wise Trump, or limiting the exercise thereof; or abridging His sole Freedom to define Truth, which includes his Self-Given Power to defraud, slander, and censor; the right of the people to assemble in worship of all-wise Trump, and to sacrifice Enemies for His Truth, shall in no wise be hindered; petitions to all-wise Trump for a redress of grievances shall take the form of gold Bullion. 2. A personal Militia, being necessary to the security of a Cult, the right of the Servants of all-wise Trump to keep and bear Arms, and to execute thereby his chosen Enemies, shall not be infringed. 3. The Soldiers of all-wise Trump shall, in time of peace or war, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner. 4. No right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, can be asserted, and no Warrants shall issue before Intrusion and Extraction by the Servants and Soldiers of all-wise Trump, who may, for His part, keep whatsoever documents as he may wish by his Close Stool, until such time as arrangement for their Sale be reached with a Foreign Power. 5. All-Wise Trump, by his auric Corpus Immune, shall not be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, by any Court, nor shall He be presented an indictment of a Grand Jury, including in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in his personal Militia; nor shall all-wise Trump be subjected to indignant reference to previous crimes, especially those of a paedophilic or felonious Character; nor shall He be deprived of His private property, however acquired; nor shall it be taken for public use. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, those accused by all-wise Trump shall enjoy no right to a fair trial. 7. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, all-wise Trump shall collect one Half of any Settlement. 8. Excessive bail shall be required, and excessive fines imposed, and cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, when so ordered by all-wise Trump. 9. The exclusion in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to imply any retention of other rights by the people. 10. No powers are reserved to the States, except such as temporarily conferred by all-wise Trump for the purpose of affording the Appearance of Election; any powers not expressly delegated to all-wise Trump are implicitly reserved to Him, or to his Successor, who shall be selected by the wealthiest White Men of the Cape Colony. (This is a Satire, although less so than one might wish, given the ease of imagining it in the worthy pouches of our Originalists and Oligarchs.) TS, 26 January 2026.

A reminder: Members are encouraged to share the news they found most interesting - and important in the chat: https://t.me/+jFRMFUpcxQwwNmFh ... not referring to flashy click-bait news copied by a thousand channels

Some reporting by the chat members will continue for the moment in the chat: https://t.me/+jFRMFUpcxQwwNmFh

I've been asked for recommendations of English channels, but I'm really not the right person to address as I scoured the Ukrainian, russian and ruZZian sources. Here's a channel I can recommend: https://t.me/MorgothsDarkness Mostly war videos, but also news and they fact-check.

Okay, a last one, because it's so funny.: Former Trump US National Security Adviser announced Trump's capitulation to Putin Trump has shown weakness in resolving the war in Ukraine because he has followed Russia's lead, his former national security adviser John Bolton said. He drew attention to the concessions to the Kremlin, which the new White House administration actually announced its readiness for. According to Bolton, it is unacceptable to allow Russia to "encroach on the sovereignty of Ukraine, involve US enemies such as North Korea in its war, and then betray the Ukrainians by agreeing to the loss of their territories without security guarantees or the prospect of joining NATO." "By making these and other concessions even before the start of negotiations, Trump actually surrendered to Putin," Bolton stated. He noted that Russia's military actions were "deplorable," but Trump still "justifies Putin's decision to invade." Bolton believes that such a position harms national security interests, which "will go far beyond Central Europe, and this is clearly understood" by US adversaries in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region. To prevent this, Washington "must unequivocally support Ukraine and all NATO allies assisting Kyiv": "It is not in our national interest to allow the Kremlin's unprovoked aggression to prevail. Shame on the Trump administration," Bolton concluded. He also commented to CNN, saying that after such a start of dialogue with the United States on Ukraine, "the Kremlin drinks vodka directly from the bottle," because "it was a great day for Moscow." Can't say that the man is wrong. https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2025/02/13/eks-sovetnik-ponatsbezopasnosti-ssha-zayavil-okapitulyatsii-trampa-pered-putinim-a155112

Dear subscribers I am shutting down the Report Group project, as it doesn't work out. The Ukraine Report is already closed and will be deleted. As well as Israel Report and Free Russia Report. Thank you for your time and wish you the best

Just shooting out the last posts.

domestic gas prices increasing

prices lower than tomorrow

medals

Russia’s military spending soars, surpassing all of Europe’s defense budgets combined — The Financial Times — Meduza https://meduza.io/en/news/2025/02/13/russia-s-military-spending-soars-surpassing-all-of-europe-s-defense-budgets-combined-the-financial-times

Chinese one-child policy in reverse 😵‍💫 another mad suggestion https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2025/02/12/vpravitelstve-prizvali-biznes-zastavlyat-sotrudnikov-rozhat-detei-a154999

Rosenberg on how trump has handed putin a diplomatic win https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ed3nk3n6ro

Galleoti on trump-hegsgeth statements. A very good day for putin; a bad day for Ukraine and international democratic community https://youtube.com/watch?v=giVMY5LHBjA&si=kLmxzyxDCe0NZO5f

Aaaaaaand ..... we also have this about the 2025 harvest: Kindly reported by Interfax ... According to him, there is a whole range of factors that lead to a decrease in the harvest. Among them, he, in particular, named the decline in the technological efficiency of grain production. "This is already a fact - a lower yield with the same level of sowing," he said. The quotas for seed imports also raise concerns. "We got the last harvest under conditions when quotas for imported seeds had just been introduced. Everyone knew that they would be, so we dragged in as many seeds as possible and formed reserves. This year there are no reserves ( of imported seeds - IF ), the safety margin has melted away sharply," said the head of the union. "In the seed fund, priority is definitely given to domestic genetics. And it simply gives a 20-30% lower yield." @freerussia_report

Another region running out of money In the Saratov region, patients with diabetes mellitus, oncology and cardiovascular diseases risk being left without preferential medicines in the next six months. 3 billion rubles are not enough to purchase drugs for them, said the head of the regional Ministry of Health Vladimir Dudakov at a meeting in the regional Duma, 164.ru reports. Money allocated from federal and regional budgets will be enough only for a few months: diabetics will be provided with medicines until May, cancer patients - until July, and "heart patients" - until August. @freerussia_report

A new first Russian criminal organisations using FPV drones to kill their rivals Well, why not? Progress in russia includes all and everything. @freerussia_report

"It will last no more than six months." Former Russian Finance Minister stated that the National Welfare Fund is almost completely exhausted The funds of the National Welfare Fund of Russia, which were actively spent on patching up budget "holes" after the start of the war, will only be enough to finance state expenditures for six months in the event of a serious drop in oil prices. This is the assessment given in a column for RBC by the former Minister of Finance, former Chairman of the Board of the FC Otkritie Bank Mikhail Zadornov. He points out that the volume of liquid assets of the fund — currency and gold in accounts at the Central Bank — as of February 1 had fallen to 3.8 trillion rubles, or less than 2% of GDP. Pre-war it was 7.4% of GDP. The money from the fund, which the government had been saving for years at the expense of the budget's oil and gas super-revenues, went to finance the defense order and large-scale budget expenditures, which gave the economy a stimulus of 10% of GDP over three years, or 20 trillion rubles. But as a result, the government has almost no reserves left, while military and war spending continues to grow: in 2025, they will amount to 13.2 trillion rubles, +22% than 2024, twice the 2023 figure, and almost four times more than in pre-war 2021. Balancing the budget can only happen after the end of the war. And reducing the budget deficit is “a key factor in defeating inflation,” which “is increasingly felt by the population and businesses.” Pre-war, the NWF held $113.5 billion in liquid assets, but by early 2025, only $37.5 billion remained. The Z-regime spent two-third ($76 bn) in 3 years, using 6.5 trillion rubles to cover the budget deficit and pouring hundreds of billions of rubles into state corporations that needed bailouts from sanctions and funds for the Kremlin’s mega-projects. @freerussia_report

Again horses and bicycles... The Z-channel Dontstopwar published another video about the difficulties with transport at the front, asking "What does the ban on personal transport in the SMO lead to?" @freerussia_report