US vice-president Mike Pence spoke out against what he described as “the spectre of aggression” from Russia, the day after Moscow said it would expel hundreds of US embassy staff in retaliation for US sanctions.
Mr Pence, who threw America’s weight behind Nato after meetings with leaders of the three Baltic states that neighbour Russia, ratcheted up US rhetoric on July 31 as observers waited to see how the US would react to diplomatic expulsions reminiscent of the cold war era.
