The News And Times

  Selected Articles - The News And Times The Greatest Secret Of The Soviet Union – Book Review Twenty-five years ago, after the fall of the Soviet Union, an academic at the University of Warwick began work in the Russian archives to map the sophisticated regime that made the Soviet Union the most secretive state that ever existed. A new book, based on decades of research, describes the complex layers of secrecy within the Soviet Union, what... posted 9m ago   via   eurasiareview.com   The Russian Orthodox Church Has A Kremlin Spy Network — And Now It's Spreading Abroad WARSAW — Several countries have accused members of the Russian Orthodox clergy of collaborating with Russian security services, pushing Kremlin policy inside the church and even recruiting spies from within. On Sept. 21, Bulgaria deported Russian Archimandrite Vassian, guardian of the Orthodox parish in Sofia, along with two Belarusian priests. In a... posted 11m ago   via   worldcrunch.com   Putin’s top ally Dmitry

  Putin to ramp up defence spending as war drags on 'at expense of economy' posted at 07:35:04 UTC   via   express.co.uk Russia’s defence spending is set to surge next year - UK's MoD (Image: GETTY) The British Defence Ministry reported that Russia is set to dramatically increase its defence spending in 2024, a worrying sign Moscow is preparing to continue its fight in  Ukraine  for years to come. Mentioning documents "apparently leaked from  Russia ’s Finance Ministry", the UK's MoD said in its latest intelligence update shared on X, formerly Twitter, that " Russia ’s defence spending is set to surge to approximately 30 percent of total public expenditure in 2024.". The assessment continued: "The ministry proposes a defence budget of 10.8 trillion roubles, equivalent to approximately 6 percent of GDP and a 68 percent increase over 2023." Russia , Britain's MoD believes, can bear the brunt of a similar level of defence spending through