U.S. government

Russia asked 10 U.S. diplomats to leave the country in retaliation for Washington's expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats over alleged malign activity and suggested the U.S. ambassador return home for consultations.

The United States on April 15 imposed a broad array of sanctions on Russia, including curbs to its sovereign debt market, to punish it for interfering in last year's U.S. election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other alleged malign actions.

Poland on Thursday said it had expelled three Russian diplomats, following a similar move by the United States, over what Warsaw called "hostile actions" by Moscow.

Turkey's Halkbank on April 12 urged a U.S. appeals court to dismiss a case over alleged violations of sanctions on Iran.

Arguing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Halkbank lawyer Simon Latcovich said US prosecutors have no jurisdiction over the bank, as it is immune under the U.S.' Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

The United States on March 2 imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials in a coordinated action with the European Union as U.S. intelligence concluded that Moscow orchestrated the near fatal poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, declaring that "democracy has prevailed" and summoning American resilience and unity to confront the deeply divided nation's historic confluence of crises.

A British judge has rejected the United States' request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying it would be "oppressive" because of his mental health.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that extradition would be "oppressive" because of Assange's mental health.

A British judge has rejected the United States' request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying it would be "oppressive" because of his mental health.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said on Jan. 4 Assange was likely to commit suicide if sent to the U.S.

The U.S. government said it would appeal the decision.

The hacking group behind the SolarWinds compromise was able to break into Microsoft Corp and access some of its source code, Microsoft said on Dec. 31, something experts said sent a worrying signal about the spies' ambition.

The Turkish defense minister on Dec. 22 said his country bought Russian missile defense system in line with national interests as Moscow responded positively and Turkey made its planning accordingly.