Michael Birnbaum
Monday, January 30, 2017 - 07:35
On a snowy field in southwest Poland, U.S. tanks and troops gathered on Monday to defend against a resurgent Russia that President Trump wants to befriend. The troops — part of the largest U.S. deployment to Europe since the Cold War — plan to spread across Eastern Europe, fanning into the Baltic nations, digging in to Poland and also deploying to Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Major new commitments were made in July at a NATO summit in Warsaw by then-President Barack Obama, and at the time they seemed like a bipartisan expression of support for U.S. allies at a moment of heightened fear about Russia.
Monday, November 7, 2016 - 08:46
On a recent night at this air base where NATO fighter pilots keep a constant vigil against the Kremlin, the alarms that warn that Russian planes were veering toward NATO airspace wouldn’t stop going off. Just ahead of the U.S. presidential elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be pushing his conflict with the West to new heights.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 06:43
When unidentified aircraft were speeding toward northern Estonia one recent day, British fighter jets stationed nearby scrambled to intercept them. Screaming across the country, they quickly identified the targets: two Russian fighters and a spy plane. It was just the latest confrontation between the West and Russia in a region that has fast become a tripwire for conflict between nuclear superpowers.
Friday, March 18, 2016 - 06:31
Russia could rebuild its military presence in Syria in a matter of hours and will maintain powerful air defenses in the country for the foreseeable future, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, as he boasted of a deployment that rescued Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from near defeat.
Friday, February 19, 2016 - 06:40
A meeting of the international coordinating group charged with implementing a cease-fire in Syria was cancelled Friday, Russia's foreign ministry said, delaying any reduction of hostilities and raising further questions about the workability of the truce.
Thursday, February 4, 2016 - 06:38
In a blow to hopes that Ukraine will be able to overcome a decades-long struggle with corruption and mismanagement, the country’s Western-trained economy minister resigned Wednesday, saying he had been unable to beat back corruption.
Thursday, January 14, 2016 - 06:53
Russia will ship small arms to Afghanistan next month, a top diplomat announced Wednesday, expanding Moscow’s role as the United States winds down its military mission and the Taliban and other militants appear to gain ground.
Monday, May 18, 2015 - 12:26
A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula because he said he feared NATO’s expansion. This week, U.S. tanks were cutting up the Estonian countryside just 65 miles from the Russian border in response to local fears about Russia’s expansionism.
Thursday, September 4, 2014 - 08:19
The Kremlin on Thursday underscored Russia’s opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine, warning that such a move could derail efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as leaders of the alliance gathered for a key summit in Wales.
Sunday, May 18, 2014 - 14:23
Vowing to defend ethnic Russians wherever they live, President Vladimir Putin has embarked on an aggressive campaign to rebuild the pride and assertiveness of the Russian people, which he says was lost in the breakup of the Soviet Union.