, Columnist
Congress Slaps Putin With More Sanctions. Does He Actually Care?
A Q&A with the Defense Department's former Eastern Europe point person, Evelyn Farkas, on the Russian tyrant's real goals in Ukraine, Syria and beyond.
In his sphere of influence?
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Here's a question for Cold War geeks out there: Has there ever been a period -- even, say, the Cuban Missile Crisis -- during which Russia was on the front pages for such a sustained period of time as it has been since Donald Trump took office?
In this week's twist, Congress passed a new sanctions bill that would largely prohibit President Donald Trump from easing pressure on the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by ordering the U.S. to send home many of its diplomatic officials and seizing a U.S. warehouse and country house near Moscow. It's a petty move, equaled in pettiness by the Barack Obama administration's seizure of Russian diplomatic properties in Maryland and New York.