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on September 21, 2025
Tens of thousands of flag-waving Russians packed out Moscow's Luzhniki World Cup stadium on Friday as the despot attempted to drum up support for his stalled invasion of Ukraine, peddled debunked claims about why the war started and shilled a false narrative of Russia's battlefield 'success'.
Financial records appear to show shipments of laptops, mobile phones and microchips have been repeatedly sent from a business registered at the unassuming property in Enfield, North London, since Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine began last year.
Several Telegram channels critical of the Kremlin reported that students and employees of state institutions in a number of regions were ordered by their superiors to attend rallies and concerts marking the Crimea anniversary.
In his speech, Putin quoted the Bible's book of John, praising his troops in Ukraine. 'The words from the sacred scripture come to my mind: "There is no greater love than if someone laid down his life for his friends,"' he said.
Meanwhile, amid the termination of her conservatorship, Spears famously told the court in June that she wanted to 'get married to my boyfriend [Sam] and have a baby' but that the 'conservatorship told me I can't do that.'
The event was heavily anti-Western and filled with Soviet nostalgia, as Russian authorities ramped up patriotism in response to being hit by massive international sanctions for Putin's Ukraine campaign, which has stalled thanks to fierce resistance.
Merlion is owned by three Russian oligarchs who appear in Forbes' list of 200 wealthiest Russians with a combined net worth of £1.6 billion. Two of them have been sanctioned by Ukraine for ‘material or financial support' for the war.
They show that a large volume of high-end microchips, telecoms equipment and servers, which have the potential to support Russian infrastructure, have been shipped through other countries, largely China, avoiding sanctions.
In December 2021, the European Union accused the group of 'serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings,' and of carrying out 'destabilizing activities' in the Central African Republic, Libya, Syria and Ukraine.
Some Russian media have alleged Wagner's involvement in the July 2018 killings of three Russian journalists, who were shot dead in the Central African Republic while investigating the group's activities there.
Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that the company was using its access to gold and other resources in Africa to fund its operations in Ukraine.
Moscow has not concealed a programme under which it has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied areas, but presents this it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
"Now the fifth rescue mission is nearing its completion. It was special regarding the number of children we managed to return and also because of its complexity," said Mykola Kuleba, the founder of the Save Ukraine humanitarian organisation that helped arrange the rescue mission.
Earlier this month, she posted a picture of the pair of them on Sam's birthday, penning alongside the snap: 'Happy Birthday to my Fiancé … I love you so much ❤️ … I want a family with you … I want it all with you !!!!'
Meanwhile, whoever set up a live stream of the event on YouTube did not turn the comment section off, meaning thousands of negative comments towards the event - written in Russian - flooded the page, as did blue and yellow heart emojis - the colours of Ukraine's flag.
For more on Apple's latest, check out our roundup of all the features iOS 15.4 will bring to your iPhone. Here's everything announced at Apple's recent event, including the new iPad Air and the new green color options for iPhone 13 models. Plus, is the iPhone SE 2020 still a good buy in 2022?
Putin used the rally to peddle falsehoods about why the war started and to shill a narrative of Russia's battlefield success, speaking of 'how our guys are fighting during this operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other'
Speaking in front of banners that read 'For a world without Nazism' and 'For Russia' - with the letter 'Z' in each picked out in bold - he said: 'Sevastopol [capital of Crimea] did the right thing when they put up a barrier to neo-Nazis and radicals, which is already happening on other territories.
The terrifying group went viral in 2022 after a video of members beating a deserter to death with a sledgehammer spread online, has allegedly offered to help Haiti's embattled government take on violent gangs, the documents detailed.
Pregnancy? While some fans may have enjoyed Spears' Instagram post, others may be stuck thinking about the meaning behind one of her recent enigmatic posts which showed a close-up on a very pregnant stomach
Speculation: Britney posted the video alongside the caption 'Mommy … get me out of here!!!!!!' without any explanation, and though she didn't confirm she was expecting, it didn't stop her fans from going wild in the comments