Kremlin

Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency has published an article declaring that Russia is facing a new 'special military operation', which the author Alexander Nosovich claims 'will be very short'. The announcement comes through Kremlin-controlled propagandists, echoing the language Moscow used when launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and is drawing alarm over what new military campaign Russia may be signalling.

BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg examines Russia's presidential election, which the Kremlin frames as part of its broader confrontation with the West, coining the phrase a 'special election operation' in reference to its war in Ukraine. His reporting highlights deepening pessimism among ordinary Russians, with little doubt about the outcome, widespread apathy toward politics, and growing anxiety about the economy and the country's future under Vladimir Putin.

Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin, the former Russian militant and Kremlin critic currently imprisoned, has warned that Russia inevitably faces a 'terrible future' after Vladimir Putin. He claimed the country risks disintegrating and falling into the hands of figures like the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, whom he described as 'sullen, cocaine-addicted gangsters with sadistic, perverted tendencies.'

A U.S.-based data-extraction firm accused of being secretly run from Russia has reportedly worked on EU-backed projects and sold its services to European law enforcement agencies, according to documents reviewed by POLITICO. The revelations raise questions about how a company with alleged Kremlin links gained access to European public-sector contracts and security work.

Lithuania is drawing up plans for a possible 'new short special military operation' that Kremlin propagandists have threatened against it. According to Delfi, Lithuania and Poland are coordinating an international evacuation plan for residents of the Baltic states. Lithuanian National Crisis Management Centre director Vilmantas Milkintas is involved in the preparations, reflecting growing concern in the Baltics about Russian aggression spilling over.

Commenters are marking day 1,677 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, denouncing what they call daily terror, killing and destruction ordered by the Kremlin. Posts branding Putin a monster ask who gives the orders to kill and destroy each day and why, reflecting continuing anger across Europe over the ongoing war and its civilian toll.

Viktor Baranets, a pro-Kremlin military observer known for supporting Russia's invasion narrative, has said "things are going badly" at the front. He admitted that in the Krasno-Limansky direction the Russian army is not advancing victoriously but is in places retreating and abandoning populated areas. The statement is striking because Baranets is normally a staunch defender of official Russian war messaging.