Julie Kelly Commentary: Navalny’s Death Demonstrates Selective Outrage over Political Prisoners

Joe Biden wasted no time before shuffling to a White House podium last Friday to denounce the sudden death of Alexey Navalny, the celebrated anti-Kremlin activist.

According to Russian officials, Navalny, 47, lost consciousness after taking a walk at the Arctic penal colony where he had been serving a 19-year prison sentence for allegedly inciting “extremist” activities and other offenses. An outspoken foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny won fans around the world including Hollywood celebrities and government leaders of all political persuasions.

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Putin Signs Decree Bringing Ukrainian Territory Under Russian Rule

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to inaugurate the annexation of four Ukrainian territories in a ceremony at 3 p.m. local time Friday.

Separatist leaders from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern Ukraine and the self-styled Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics agreed at a ceremony in Moscow to recognize the results of Russian-backed referendums in the breakaway territories, Forbes reported. The Kremlin said it will consider any attack on the annexed territories a direct attack on Russia, urging Kyiv to return to the negotiating table to avoid a catastrophic escalation in the war.

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Congressman Burchett: Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal ‘Gave Vladimir Putin the Green Light to Invade Ukraine’

Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) on Tuesday argued that President Joe Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal laid the foundation for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has reached a boiling point amid weeks of increasing tensions. In an address to Russian citizens, Putin recognized the “independence” of two regions in Ukraine. Following the speech, he ordered troops into the regions to keep “peace.”

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Commentary: Biden Has Given Putin a Huge Win on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

For years, Democrats and their cable news echo chamber conjured up and broadly disseminated the most lurid and patently ludicrous rumors about former President Donald Trump being a corrupted and (literally) compromised agent of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. Democratic talking heads ultimately tried in vain to distance themselves from this sordid oeuvre‘s most far-fetched talking points, such as the infamous “pee video kompromat” from the discredited Steele dossier. But for four years, Democrats’ unquenchable obsession with the “Russiagate” hoax pervaded, distorted and sullied our politics.

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Putin, Other Leaders To Wait Until ‘Legal Procedures’ Are Completed Before Congratulating Biden

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not congratulate President-elect Joe Biden, a top Kremlin spokesman said Monday.

“Anticipating your possible question about Putin congratulating the U.S. president-elect, I want to say the following: we consider it correct to wait for the official summing up of the results of the elections,” said Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

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Scientists Uneasy as Russia Approves First Coronavirus Vaccine

Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people.

President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministry’s approval and said one of his two adult daughters already was inoculated. He said the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to the coronavirus, although Russian authorities have offered no proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness.

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Critic of Trump Ukraine Policy, Co-Author of Infamous 2016 ‘Ukraine Plank’ Joins Trump Administration

President Donald J. Trump nominated Ilan L. Berman, a critic of his Ukrainian policy and one of the three authors of the proposed Ukraine plank to the 2016 Republican Platform that was cited as proof of the Russian Collusion Hoax, to be a member of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board for a term of three years, according to an Aug. 3 statement from the White House. Berman is the senior vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, as well as a  member of the associated faculty at Missouri State University’s Department of Defense & Strategic Studies. Berman also fed the hysteria over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence over Trump in the early days of his administration. Ok, tweeps, a bit of personal news… https://t.co/kgvD8dpWNc — Ilan Berman (@ilanberman) August 3, 2020 Berman stoked rumors Trump gave Putin green light in Ukraine Berman, who is considered a regional expert regarding the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, wrote in a Feb. 6, 2017 column “Trump’s Ukraine Dilemma” for U.S. News & World Report there was reason to believe that Trump in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, gave the Russians the green light to ramp up…

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