White House spokesman Raj Shah began Monday’s daily press briefing by extending the country’s “deepest sympathies to the Russian people” for a fire in Siberia before pivoting to “the expulsion of dozens of Russian intelligence officers, and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle” on President Trump’s orders.
It’s symbolic of the delicate dance the White House has done on Russia. The Trump administration is full of Russia hawks and has frequently taken a hard line against Moscow on substantive policy matters — bombing a Russian client in Syria, arming Ukraine, securing commitments from NATO allies to increase their defense budgets, and adding new low-yield nuclear weapons programs.
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