“Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?” by Will Hurd (R-Texas), The New York Times, July 19 (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/opinion/trump-russia-putin-republican-congress.html)
… Somehow many Americans have forgotten that Russia is our adversary, not our ally, and the reasons for today’s tensions go back much farther than the 2016 election. For more than a decade, Russia has meddled in elections around the world, supported brutal dictators and invaded sovereign nations — all to the detriment of United States interests. Mitt Romney had it right in 2012 when he told President Barack Obama that Russia was “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”
…Russia is an adversary not just of the United States but of freedom-loving people everywhere. Disinformation and chaos is a Russian art form developed during the Soviet era that Russia has now updated using modern tools. The result has been Russian disinformation spreading like a virus throughout the Western world. From elections in Britain, France and Montenegro to invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, Moscow has pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at spreading disorder and expanding Russian influence in states formerly under the heel of Soviet Communism. These efforts weaken our allies and strengthen those who seek to undermine the democratic order that has helped prevent another world war in Europe since 1945.
Moreover, the threat of Russian meddling in United States elections is not behind us. Just last week, Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, cautioned that “the warning lights are blinking red” that Russia and other adversaries will undertake further cyberattacks on our digital infrastructure. …
“A Siberian Prisoner Spoils Putin’s Extravaganza,” Editorial, The New York Times, June 18 (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/opinion/russia-world-cup-oleg-sentsov-putin.html):
In the midst of hosting the World Cup soccer extravaganza, the last thing Vladimir Putin wants to be reminded of is human rights, Crimea or Ukraine. That’s a good reason to raise the case of Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker who has been on a hunger strike for more than a month in a remote Siberian penal colony, to remind the Russian president that his costly sport show does not wipe away his government’s crimes. …
The case has raised an international outcry. Prominent film directors, Russian and international, declared their support for Mr. Sentsov; the European Union called the case a “breach of international law and elementary standards of justice”; …the European Parliament passed a resolution demanding the immediate release of Mr. Sentsov and the other Ukrainian prisoners. …The State Department has also spoken out on behalf of Mr. Sentsov…
The Kremlin …maliciously claimed that Mr. Sentsov’s bruises were not torture marks but a result of his “sadomasochism.” Kremlin-allied media have cast aspersions on his filmmaking and, of course, have claimed that Western protests over his incarceration are a ploy to undermine Russia’s World Cup tournament.
No, no and no. Mr. Putin’s regime alone is responsible for the assaults on Ukraine, for Mr. Sentsov’s torture and phony trial and for whatever shadow Russia’s actions cast over the soccer games.
Mr. Sentsov is risking his life to draw attention to all this. He and the truth he proclaims deserve the full support of the West…