Russian soldiers call the practice a sacrifice to Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch from Slavic folklore who feasts on her victims.

The Kremlin has been in a state of high alert for some time, and President Putin has been eager to reassert Russia's nuclear threat to the West.

Russia was forced to downsize its celebration parades honouring the navy on Sunday amid security threats from continuing Ukrainian drone attacks, Kremlin officials said.Annual parades of Russian warships to mark the Navy Day were cancelled in St Petersburg,

Russian heavy metal and goth music fans in Russia could face prison after Vladimir Putin banned "satanists". The Kremlin's top court has outlawed the "international satanism movement" as an extremist and terrorist group - despite no such group existing.

On July 22, U.S. and Canadian jets under NORAD command intercepted a formation of two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers and two Su-35 fighters after they entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.

Putin's summer offensive is stalling as Ukraine puts up a heroic defense leaving Russia resorting to teens to fill the ranks

Lithuania, a tiny Nato nation of just two million people on Russia's doorstep, is said to be drawing up war plans for a possible invasion from Mad Vladimir Putin's forces

Austria's Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in an interview with Die Welt that Trump was ready to "hand over" Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Putin chose to keep fighting.