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More than eight months into the war which began after Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, the UK defense ministry said in its latest assessment of the conflict that Russian forces have likely started deploying “barrier troops” or “blocking units” to deal with their own retreating soldiers who are unwilling to fight “due to low morale.” “These units threaten to shoot their own retreating soldiers in order to compel offensives and have been used in previous conflicts by Russian forces,” the British defense ministry said Friday....

Russian officers and soldiers with first-hand war experience have likely routinely mocked Shoigu for his “ineffectual and out-of-touch leadership” as Russian progress has slowed, the U.K.’s defense ministry said in an intelligence update on Twitter. Shoigu, who is 67 and originally from Russia’s remote Tuva region, became the Kremlin’s minister of emergency situations around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He is the longest-serving minister in the Russian government....

Russia’s February 24 invasion has raised concerns about potential impacts the military conflict could have on the global oil supply, due in part to Russia’s role as one of the world’s top oil producers. Those concerns have translated into increasing prices at the pump across the U.S., with some states reporting increases of more than 30 cents in the past week for a gallon of regular unleaded. Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told reporters during a Facebook Live event on Friday that high oil prices reported this week mean gas price increases “will likely continue” in the days ahead....

Skilling pets are special pets that allow players to show off their prestige and are obtained while training. There are currently 28 skilling pets in total, one for each skill RuneScape 3. Like in Pokémon, players can collect all of these pets to earn the “Jack of All Trades” title to show off to other players. This list has ranked all of RuneScape’s skilling pets by their appearance and details on how to obtain them....

With the dynamic point guard being a fashionable fellow, the world has been on the edge of its seat waiting to see what protective mask he will sport. A few hours before the game, we caught a glimpse. MORE: NBA masks have changed for the better | Westbrook suffers gruesome injury | Green can dunk just as well without shoes This could’ve been a lot more exciting had the NBA not introduced strict face mask rules....

With 0.7 seconds remaining in the half between the Thunder and Jazz on Sunday, Westbrook found himself standing on the baseline waiting to inbound the ball. With time running out and nothing opening up, he did the most Westbrook thing possible by throwing the ball off Rodney Hood’s back, sprinting inbounds and launching a midrange jump shot over Jeff Withey, who stands at 7-0. MORE: Kidd compares Curry to Jordan | Irving’s close to return | James makes good on bet with Green...

MORE: Russell Wilson’s 10 worst games | Wilson’s tears, like Seahawks, can’t be held back | Body double makes six figures The best example of the impact of the “Clutch” trait was when Tim Tebow acquired it during the 2011 season. Tebow struggled until the final minutes of games and then somehow would pull them out in the end. The “Clutch” trait represented a way to reflect that in Madden....

“I wasn’t going to take six to eight [weeks],” Wilson said during his Thursday media availability. “That wasn’t in my mind.” MORE: Why Odell Beckham Jr. is signing with Rams Wilson blew away that initial projection, as he is now on track to play Sunday against the Packers. The 32-year-old told reporters that he suffered a tendon rupture, a dislocation and multiple fractures when Rams star Aaron Donald smacked his hand on a third-quarter throw in Seattle’s 26-17 loss, but now he is feeling “pretty dang close” to 100 percent....

The country’s total confirmed cases has overtaken that of Spain, just a day after it overtook the total infections in Italy and the U.K. The latest spike marks Russia’s 10th consecutive day of more than 10,000 daily new cases, including 11,656 new cases recorded on Monday, its highest increase since the outbreak began, according to figures published on the website of the Russian government. Over half of the country’s cases and deaths are in Moscow, the Russian capital....

Vladimir Saldo spoke on Russian state TV program Solovyov Live on Tuesday, while giving an update on Ukraine’s counteroffensive, as authorities announced that more people would be forcibly evacuated. Saldo was cited by Russia’s state-run news agency Tass as saying that some 1,500 people would be recruited into a new territorial defense battalion in the Kherson region. “There are many who want to defend their native land,” Saldo said, adding that a a territorial defense headquarters will be created....

Lyon - Russia advanced to the semifinals of the rugby sevens Grand Prix Series here today with a convincing 19-7 win over Scotland. Russia have steam-rolled the opposition in the competition thus far, winning four of their five matches in the two-day opening round. They beat Germany, Italy, Portugal and Scotland by a combined score of 110-26. A 14-17 loss came at the hands of the hosts France, who finished atop Pool B with a 5-0 record....

Addressing a promotion and award ceremony on Wednesday for officers and prosecutors at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin offered his congratulations for those being recognized for accomplishments “critical to the state.” Of the utmost important tasks, he explained, are “to reliably protect Russia and our fellow citizens from external and domestic threats, to clearly anticipate potential risks and challenges and to improve their performance gradually and consistently.” “Your key priority is the development of the Russian Armed Forces,” Putin said....

New infections have more than doubled their daily amount over the past month, going from 9,000 per week in early June to over 20,000 this week. The Moscow area and St. Petersburg account for nearly half of those new cases. On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “No one wants any lockdowns.” He added that the coronavirus situation in a number of the country’s regions is “tense.” For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:...

The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MOD) assessment comes amid reports that measures that have restricted Russia’s access to components were affecting its war effort as Moscow turns to Iran to supply drones, and reportedly North Korea, for ammunition and weapons. Last week, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down a Russian “Kartograf” reconnaissance drone in the Mykolaiv region and in its latest assessment of Russian losses, the Ukrainian armed forces said on Tuesday that Moscow had lost 867 UAVs....

On Monday, a report from the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) said a “moderate explosive eruption” of Klyuchevskoy was ongoing, and that explosions of ash between 16,400 and 23,000 feet “could occur at any time.” The aviation code of the volcano, which informs of the risk posed to aircraft, was listed as orange, the second highest warning level. An orange code means the ash cloud produced by the eruption has the potential to impact flights....

So why is his new book titled “The New Cold War: The Future of Russia and the Threat to the West” (272 pages. Palgrave Macmillan)? Partly because it’s a meticulously constructed indictment of Putin’s strong-arm tactics at home and his increasingly aggressive tone in dealing with any country that tries to question his actions. And partly because Lucas is appalled by what he sees as the West’s deliberate blindness when it comes to Russia....

Lavrov gave an interview with four major Russian radio stations on Friday morning, a day after the U.S. threaten to halt the opening of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if Russia was to launch an incursion into Ukraine. Asked about how Russia would respond to Western sanctions, Lavrov said: “The Americans were told … that the package of sanction that was just mentioned, which is accompanied by a complete shutdown of those financial and economic systems that are controlled by the West, it will be tantamount to breaking off relations....

“The draft agreement is not ready for submission to a meeting at the top,” Medinsky said on Telegram. “I repeat again and again: Russia’s position on Crimea and Donbas remains UNCHANGED.” The chief negotiator noted that Ukraine began to approach peace talks in a realistic way as the Eastern European country agreed that it would remain neutral, won’t hold nuclear weapons, reject hosting military bases, and won’t join a military bloc, Reuters reported....

The Ukraine staff said in its daily briefing that Russia is using its Rosgvardiia force to shoot would-be surrenders “to maintain military discipline and prevent the spread of panic among personnel.” Rosgvardiia is the national guard composed of about 340,000 soldiers mostly employed to handle internal conflicts within Russia. Rosgvardiia troops reportedly shot six Russian soldiers who’d intended on deserting, the report read. U.K. intelligence reported in early November 2022 that Russia began deploying such troops along the Russia-Ukraine border as “barrier soldiers” to prevent Russian soldiers from retreating by the threat of shooting them....

The warning by the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv Wednesday for crisis talks ahead of another diplomatic push to stave off the prospect of a Russian invasion of its neighbor. On Friday, Blinken is expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva, after negotiations between Moscow and the West last week ended in deadlock. In a Facebook post Tuesday night, the Russian mission in Washington said if the U....