USSR

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – In a dusty workshop in northern Lithuania, a dozen men are transforming hundreds of wheel rims into potbelly stoves to warm Ukrainians huddled in trenches and bomb shelters. As the sparks subside, one welder marks the countertop: 36 made that day. Hours later, they’ve reached 60.

The Kremlin’s refusal to declare a state funeral reflects its uneasiness about the legacy of Gorbachev, who has been venerated worldwide for bringing down the Iron Curtain but reviled by many at home for the Soviet collapse and the ensuing economic meltdown that plunged millions into poverty.

Pope Francis praised the recently deceased Mikhail Gorbachev as a visionary statesman Wednesday, underscoring his key contribution to Russian progress.

The Latvian government has gone ahead with the demolition of a Soviet-era war memorial in the capital city of Riga this week, the latest Soviet monument to be destroyed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured the shattered remains of the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world’s largest aircraft, as Russian troops retreat from the Kyiv (Kiev) region.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – A drone that apparently flew undetected over several NATO countries all the way from the Ukrainian war zone crashed overnight on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, triggering a loud blast but causing no injuries, Croatian authorities said Friday.

Ireland’s Minister for the Environment appears to have momentarily forgotten who exactly the arch-nemesis of the western world is this week, telling reporters that Europe needs to stop importing fuel from the ‘USSR’.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) argued that China poses a bigger threat to the world than the Soviet Union did during the Cold War. Host David Asman asked, “Is

Lawmakers from Russia’s nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) on Monday submitted a bill that would declare the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 to be “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th Century.”

Viktor Orbán drew battle lines against the Hungarian left, their international backers in the European Union and foreign press, and Big Tech in a passionate, wide-ranging speech commemorating the 1956 uprising against the country’s then-communist puppet government.

A flag of the Soviet Union (USSR), a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and other material was found at the home of an arrested man.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán believes it is the “calling” of Europe’s conservative former Soviet satellite states to bring their “uncompromising” tradition of anti-communism into the “common store” of Western values.

Prosecutors in Russia confirmed this week that they would investigate a Russian state circus performance involving a monkey dressed as a Nazi and goats wearing swastikas.

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has accused the European Union of wielding a “propaganda bludgeon” against his country like the communist regime of old. 

MOSCOW (AP) — The president of Azerbaijan is promising that Christian churches will be protected when the strongly Muslim country takes possession of areas formerly controlled by Armenians.

KALBAJAR, Azerbaijan (AP) — In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbours had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has pushed back on claims that conservative-led Central European countries defying Brussels on migrant quotas and other globalist policies survive on EU funds, saying simply: “Like hell we do!”

A court in a German city has ruled that the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) will be allowed to erect a statue of Vladimir Lenin, the mass-murdering founder of the Soviet Union.

Former Brexit Secretary and Tory leadership candidate David Davis has branded Boris Johnson’s decision to involve China in Britain’s 5G network the government’s “worst intelligence decision since MI6’s recruitment of Kim Philby.”

“I see these phonies, the do-nothing Democrats, they said today that Putin wants to be sure that Trump gets elected,” Trump said. “Here we go again.”

PRAGUE (AP) – The Iron Curtain was more than just a figure of speech: Communist regimes set up thousands of miles of heavily-guarded, electrified barbed wire fencing to completely isolate Eastern Europe from the West.

BERLIN (AP) – The U.S. Embassy in Berlin unveiled a statue of Ronald Reagan on Friday at a site overlooking the location of the former president’s iconic speech imploring the Soviet Union to remove the Berlin Wall.

More people in Russia have positive feelings about the Soviet Union than their current President Vladimir Putin, according to a recent survey from the non-governmental polling organization Levada Center.

The Lithuanian Holocaust has lessons for us as we confront the convergence of extreme left and right in their hatred of Jews, often through anti-Israel rhetoric.

European populists have warned that the EU has the same “goal” as the former Soviet Union, which is to reduce the power of the nation-state.

The simple reason that Joe Biden must run for President of the United States is that almost all the other Democratic candidates are so radical that only Biden can stop the party from taking itself — and perhaps the country — off a cliff.

Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetery, London, has been defaced with anti-Communist graffiti, branding the dead thinker an “architect of genocide”.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that the European Union does not understand post-Communist eastern countries, as the bloc bears down on Poland over sovereignty.

Jeremy Hunt, the British minister responsible for foreign affairs, has ruffled feathers by pointing out the punitive negotiations tactics increasingly employed by the European Union bear striking resemblances to another imperialistic power that at one time aspired to govern European nations, and punished harshly those who wished to leave.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, while fielding questions from supporters on Friday, said he is a mean salad maker and would prevent the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union if he could travel back in time.

A former Czechoslovakian spy has claimed that Jeremy Corbyn was paid by Communist secret police to inform on Britain.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Foreign Ministry says the nation’s permanent representative to the European Union has stepped down and the resignation has been accepted.

Although China, with its huge Treasury bond holdings, was seen during the Obama administration as having a strong hand in trade negotiations, President-elect Trump is aggressively communicating that the need for access to U.S. consumers is China’s weakness.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a Soviet spy in Damascus in the 1980s, Israel’s Channel 1 television reported Wednesday, citing information it said was included in an archive smuggled out of the USSR.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Moscow Monday evening to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, marking the fourth parley between the two leaders over the past year.

Russia has forbidden the sale of Poland’s “Communist Monopoly” board game that allows players to transport themselves back to the USSR.