Author: Matthew Lee
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Blinken says WSJ reporter ‘wrongfully detained’ by Russia
BRUSSELS • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he has “no doubt” that Russia has wrongfully detained an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was arrested last week on spying allegations. However, Blinken said a formal determination of Evan Gershkovich’s wrongful detention has not yet been made, something that would elevate…
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Blinken says WSJ reporter ‘wrongfully detained’ by Russia
BRUSSELS • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he has “no doubt” that Russia has wrongfully detained an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was arrested last week on spying allegations. However, Blinken said a formal determination of Evan Gershkovich’s wrongful detention has not yet been made, something that would elevate…
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Blinken: Russia must immediately free 2 detained Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone call between the diplomats since the Ukraine war, to immediately release a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained last week as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, the State Department said Sunday. In the call with Russian…
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U.S., Russia stop sharing nuke data under faltering New START
WASHINGTON • The United States and Russia have stopped sharing biannual nuclear weapons data under the faltering New START treaty, the last arms control pact between the two countries, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Department said the U.S. had offered to continue providing this information to Russia even…
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U.S. to send Ukraine longer-range bombs in latest turnaround
WASHINGTON • After months of agonizing, the U.S. has agreed to send longer-range bombs to Ukraine as it prepares to launch a spring offensive to retake territory Russia captured last year, U.S. officials said Thursday, confirming that the new weapons will have roughly double the range of any other offensive weapon provided by America. The…
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U.S. poised to approve Abrams tanks for Ukraine
WASHINGTON • In what would be a reversal, the Biden administration is poised to approve sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Tuesday, as international reluctance to send tanks to the battlefront against the Russians begins to erode. The decision could be announced as soon as Wednesday, though it could take months or…
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Strykers, Bradleys likely in huge U.S. aid package for Ukraine
WASHINGTON • The U.S. is finalizing a massive package of military aid for Ukraine that U.S. officials say is likely to total as much as $2.6 billion. It’s expected to include for the first time nearly 100 Stryker combat vehicles and at least 50 Bradley armored vehicles to allow Ukrainian forces to move more quickly…
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U.S.-China ties on a precipice after Pelosi visit to Taiwan
WASHINGTON • U.S.-China relations are teetering on a precipice after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Pelosi received a rapturous welcome in Taipei and was applauded with strong bipartisan support in Washington, despite the Biden administration’s misgivings. But her trip has enraged Beijing and Chinese nationalists and will complicate already strained ties even after…
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Russia releases U.S. Marine vet in surprise prisoner exchange
WASHINGTON • Russia and the United States have carried out an unexpected prisoner exchange in a time of high tensions, trading on Wednesday a Marine veteran jailed by Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America. The deal involving Trevor Reed, an American imprisoned for nearly three years, would…
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Madeleine Albright honored by Biden, other world leaders
WASHINGTON • A veritable who’s who of Washington’s political and foreign policy elite gathered Wednesday to pay their last respects to the late Madeleine Albright, a child of conflict-ravaged Europe who arrived in the U.S. as an 11-year old girl and became America’s first female secretary of state. The trailblazing diplomat and champion of her…