News about Nikita Khrushchev

Weekend Magazine has put together a list of 50 of the best podcasts you need to listen to over summer. Some include historical podcasts such as The Last Soviet and The Prince, and crime podcasts like Vishal, The Missing Cryptoqueen and Serial.

A blip on a radar screen signals the start of a nuclear war. When the country's most potent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches at 4.03 a.m. outside Pyongyang's capital, a massive cloud of fire erupts just feet off the ground. Its popularity is the reason for its ascension. Sensors from the US Defense Department's satellite systems detect the fire from the missile's hot exhaust, which is 22,300 miles above Earth. The system alarm goes off: Ballistic Missile Launch, Alert!

He died peacefully at home surrounded by family,' the Magnum agency, where he was a mainstay, founded in 1947, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. On Wednesday, he died in Manhattan, New York. No further information about his death has been released. 'His images have influenced generations of photographers and inspired generations of photographers,' Magnum Photos president Cristina de Middel said,'because of the shifts in the market and trends.' Top right: Erwitt's most popular Marilyn Monroe portrait. Pictured bottom right: The photo of the 1959 encounter between then-Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Richard Nixon

Kyiv hasn't commented on whether or not it is behind a slew of drone attacks on Russian soil, but Zelensky characterized it as the "natural process" of war "returning to Russia" on Sunday. Its most recent strike in Moscow City this morning affected an office block in the capital's main city's IQ quarter, which houses the ministry of economic growth, the digital ministry, and the ministry of industry and trade. As attacks on Russian soil rise, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak (inset) said that citizens in Russia's capital are 'rapidly getting used to a fully fledged war.' Nina Khrushcheva, the great-granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and a New York professor of international affairs, told the BBC that the strikes in Moscow exposed "the cracks" in Vladimir Putin's regime.

The frogman (left and right) disappeared after diving into Portsmouth harbour to illegally look into the workings of a Soviet warship (inset), which had brought Russian President Nikita Khrushchev to the United Kingdom on a goodwill visit. Suggestions that he may have been killed or captured, or even defected to the Soviet Union are among the theories that have attempted to clarify his destiny. During Khrushchev's visit, the Admiralty and MI6 made a botched attempt to mask the disastrous venture, leaving then Prime Minister Anthony Eden, who had ordered intelligence chiefs not to carry out spy missions during his visit. However, a respected scholar has stated in a recent podcast that Prince Philip's uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten (top right with Prince Philip in 1965), may not have been at the forefront' of the Royal Navy's activities.

A video of long-defunct T-54B and T-55A tanks on a train traveling through Russia, evidently destined for the frontlines of the conflict has surfaced. It comes after Putin searched museums and storage depots for recently uncovered T-62 battle tanks, which stopped production 12 years ago. The geriatric T-54 was created by Stalin after the Second World War in 1946, but Putin seems to be sending war an old version from the 1950s, which is roughly the same age as the tyrant. Putin is fond of boasting about the military's prowess. However, his armies have been revealed as being outdated both tactically and technologically.

The collision between a Russian plane and an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea is the latest in a string of military encounters between the two countries. Following a 'unsafe and unprofessional intercept' in international airspace by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets, the American MQ-9 surveillance drone was downed early on Tuesday. History is littered with horrific standoffs between US and Russian forces, from the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War to airborne attacks in the 21st century. Although most do not bring tensions to a boiling point, some of these encounters have changed history. Here are a few of the other notable close encounters between the two militaries led by Moscow and Washington in the 20th and the 21st Centuries.

In a video that has appeared in Russia, the outdated Soviet-era T-62s (shown left and figures correct) has been seen being'modernized' in a Chita, Siberia round-the-clock factory. The drive to retrofit the ageing tanks highlights the desperation of his military machine, as Ukraine is supplied with the most modern Western tanks. Some of the tanks being restored at the 103rd Plant may have been 60 years old, dating from the time Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev were ruling the USSR.

Montana is renowned for its deserted plains, wild river canyons, and its position as home to one of the nation's three publicly known large-scale nuclear missile silos. So when a suspicious Chinese spy balloon was seen loitering in the air of the 'big sky state,' analysts predicted the most likely target: Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has been dubbed America's 'doomsday' base. 'Montana plays a vital national security role by housing nuclear missile silos at Malmstrom AFB,' state senator Steve Daines wrote in a letter to the Pentagon on Thursday, triggering the alarm.'

On state television behind a Mercedes (left), Putin was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, asking about where the attack took place and analyzing the bridge's state. When walking down the bridge, he was seen wearing his £2,600 Lora Piana coat. He wore the same coat at a concert on March 18 on the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, with commentators noting the price as Russian wages dropped due to sanctions. In a surprise attack in October, the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia to annexed Crimea, was blitzed as a way to reduce Russian supply lines to the peninsular. Footage of the Russian president's journey was released on the same day as an airbase for nuclear bombers was struck in Saratov, killing two Tu-95 planes, and another air base in Ryazan was also struck in a suspected drone attack.

Putin's 'grandiose rhetoric' about a 'new world order,' according to Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international relations at New York's The New School, indicates that he is poised for a global conflict. During a big foreign policy address last night (left), Putin joked about nuclear unrest, and Khrushcheva said that Russians are amassing radiation pills and preparing for something disastrous, because no one knows what their leader will do next. Putin was asked to tell an audience at the Valdai Discussion Club that the world is not on the brink of nuclear warheadship, and that he would respond with a long pause. A smirking Putin replied as host Fyodor Lukyanov pointed out that his silence was 'alarming.' Top right, a Russian nuclear missile was launched during a demonstration last week, and a tank is launched in Ukraine.

Max Hastings' superb reconstruction of the Cuban Missile Crisis reads like a thriller as the thrilling drama of Cold War power politics unfolds behind closed doors in Washington, Moscow, and Havana. President John Kennedy and his advisors were in almost continuous session in the White House when the Americans first detected missiles carrying nuclear warheads on the ground in Cuba.

GYLES BRANDRETH: Because I have met her - because, at close quarters, I have observed her as she carried out a range of her official duties - people often ask me, leaning forward, narrowing their eyes: 'What was the Queen really like?' My answer disappoints them. 'Very nice,' I say. Quite normal, actually; very straightforward; much as you might have expected.' We wonder how fortunate we have been. Elizabeth II was neither eccentric nor quixotic, and her husband was as honest and straightforward as the day goes. If there is one word that sums up Elizabeth II, it is 'dutiful.' Her life was fueled by passion. She was a dutiful daughter and a dutiful queen.

GYLES BRANDRETH: Because I have met her - because, at close quarters, I have observed her as she carried out a range of her official duties - people often ask me, leaning forward, narrowing their eyes: 'What was the Queen really like?' My answer disappoints them. 'Very nice,' I say. 'Rather normal, actually; very straightforward; as you'd expect.' I wonder if we should remember how fortunate we have been. Elizabeth II was neither eccentric nor quixotic, and her husband was as honest and straightforward as the day goes. If there is one word that sums up Elizabeth II, it is 'dutiful.' Her life was fueled by passion. She was both a dutiful daughter and a dutiful Queen.

Despite the fact that the last incarnation of the Soviet Union was largely criticized by Kremlin hardliners for failing to prevent the demise of the Soviet Union following the Cold War, Vladimir Putin's spin doctors expressed'sympathies' over Mikhail Gorbachev's death aged 91. Gorbachev died "after a lengthy and complicated illness," according to Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti news agencies, but gave no other details. He had been suffering from long-term kidney disease and was on dialysis for the past, and had been tied to a clinic during the Covid pandemic. Despite being in office less than seven years, Gorbachev introduced a string of reforms that culminated in dramatic changes, including the reunification of Germany, the demise of Stalin's empire, the independence of Eastern European nations, including Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic republics from decades of Russian domination, as well as the break of the nuclear war with Europe. Putin's spokesperson said in a tweet that the President - who has sluggishly called the demise of the USSR the 'largest geopolitical disaster' of the twentieth century - has expressed "deep sympathy" for Gorbachev's death.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who was mocked by Vladimir Putin and Russian nationalists for causing the Cold War and failing to prevent the Soviet Union from crashing at the age of 91, according to Russian news agencies. According to the Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti news agencies, the former Soviet leader died "after a long and difficult illness." During the pandemic, Gorbachev had been suffering from long-term kidney disease and dialysis and was confined to a clinic. The USSR's last president forged a series of arms reduction agreements with the United States and Western powers, including Britain, to destroy the Iron Curtain that had divided the European continent since the Second World War, and bring about Germany's reunification.

Mikhail Gorbachev (left, with Ronald Reagan), like final Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus and Soviet predecessor Tsar Nicholas II before him, oversaw the demise of a once-mighty empire. The eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, who died at the age of 91, did not fight his reformist faction until 1991's dissolution of the communist nation. Gorbachev resigned shortly after taking over and a single year after winning the country's first presidential election.