RUSSIA DESK

Moscow enjoyed fairly good relations with Paris at the time, so the deal seemed poised for success. The contract was supposed to be the biggest arms sale by any NATO country to Russia ever. The shipyard in Saint-Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast worked non-stop to have the first carrier delivered to Moscow in the fall of 2014. The second one was due to be handed over a year later. That all came crashing down in the wake of the 2014 coup in Ukraine, after Crimea voted to rejoin Russia and civil war broke out in the Donbass. The EU decided to slap Moscow with sanctions. France jumped on the bandwagon, with then-president Francois Hollande halting the delivery of the Mistrals indefinitely.

STEPHEN COHEN—Russiagate’s core allegation persists, like a legend, in American political life—in media commentary, in financial solicitations by some Democratic candidates for Congress, and, as is clear from my own discussions, in the minds of otherwise well-informed people.

PATRICK LAWRENCE—To date, U.S. threats to retaliate against construction of Nord Stream 2 have done nothing but irritate Europeans, who have ignored them, while furthering the Continent’s desire to escape Washington’s suffocating embrace. This is precisely the kind of contradiction Macron addressed when he protested that Europeans need to begin acting in their own interests rather than acquiesce as Washington force-marches them on a never-ending anti–Russia crusade.

PEPE ESCOBAR—The fine-print details of the Russia-China “comprehensive strategic partnership” as well as Russia’s push for Greater Eurasia were also discussed at length in Vladivostok. A crucial factor is that as well as China, Russia and India have made sure their trade and economic relationship with Iran – a key node of the ongoing, complex Eurasian integration project – remains.

JOHN HELMER—In 2002, celebrating the Moscow Times’ 10th anniversary, then-US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow wrote to commend Sauer’s product for its “marvelous job chronicling Russia’s transformation over the past decade.” He mentioned specifically how the Times had “recorded the dramatic showdown between President Yeltsin and the parliament.” In fact, Sauer and a string of his editorial appointees backed US policy for Russia until Yeltsin was replaced. Since then Sauer has favoured the Russian oligarchs who, openly or secretly, financed the publication.