Reuters

Sanctions On Russia To Be Lightened

The Trump administration appeared to loosen U.S. sanctions Thursday that the Obama administration had imposed against Russia in response to its cyberattacks in the 2016 presidential election. The Treasury Department published a license that authorizes certain transactions between U.S. companies and the FSB, Russia’s security service and for the importation, distribution or use of “certain […]

Aljazeera

Russia Leads Syrian Peace Talks

Astana, Kazakhstan –  Key players in the war in Syria are due to meet on Monday in Astana to begin talks aimed at consolidating a nationwide ceasefire and potentially paving the way towards a political settlement. The talks, organised by Russia, Turkey and Iran, come weeks into a countrywide ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Ankara […]

CIA Chief Rips Trump

WASHINGTON — The outgoing CIA director charged on Sunday that Donald Trump lacks a full understanding of the threat Moscow poses to the United States, delivering a public lecture to the president-elect that further highlighted the bitter state of Trump’s relations with American intelligence agencies. John Brennan’s pointed message on national television came just five […]

ANDREW HARNIK/AP

Senate To Investigate Trump’s Communication With Putin

The chairmen of the Senate Intelligence Committee has launched a bipartisan effort to probe communications between the Kremlin and members of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. “We believe that it is critical to have a full understanding of the scope of Russian intelligence activities impacting the United States,” Burr and Warner, who serve as the […]

Gary Cameron/Reuters

Trump Camp In Frequent Communication With Russian Ambassadors

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is aware of frequent contacts between President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia’s ambassador to the United States, including on the day President Barack Obama hit Moscow with sanctions in retaliation for election-related hacking, a senior U.S. official said Friday. One day after Obama announced the sanctions […]

REUTERS

Leaked Snowden Documents Lend Credence To Russian Hacking

U.S. intelligence officials appear certain that Russia was responsible for interfering in the presidential election — though they haven’t fully detailed how they know. But a classified document leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden reveals that they’ve tracked Russian hacking before and that the information they gleaned may have helped this time around. Russian […]

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Presidential Transition Turns Adversarial Between Trump And Obama

President Barack Obama and his successor Donald Trump are making moves that tread on each other’s turf and complicate the other’s agenda, creating one of the messiest White House transitions in recent years. Since Election Day, Mr. Obama has taken some of the most far-reaching actions of his eight-year presidency, leaving Mr. Trump to manage […]