- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
US silent on whether Macron's Russia visit helped ease Ukraine crisis
The French president's visit to Russia this week drew a chorus of cautiously optimistic comments about averting an invasion of Ukraine but the United States has stayed conspicuously reticent about the diplomatic mission.
Since Emmanuel Macron met Monday with President Vladimir Putin to try to defuse the crisis on the Russia-Ukraine border, US officials have either remained silent or even sounded skeptical about what European countries have called progress in averting war.
US officials have openly expressed doubt about what Macron said were assurances he obtained from Putin to the effect that there will be no further Russian escalation.
Russia now has more than 100,000 troops and a vast array of weaponry and other material assembled on the border with its pro-Western neighbor, with the US and European countries fearing it could invade.
"Certainly, if there was diplomatic progress, we would welcome that but we will believe it when we see it with our own eyes at the border," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday while major US news outlets highlighted statements from the Kremlin that could temper France's upbeat tone.
The day after the Macron trip, as if to downplay any promise Russia may have made to France, the Pentagon said Russia continued to beef up its forces on the border.
On Thursday, Moscow rolled its tanks across Belarus for live-fire drills that drew an ominous warning from NATO. Russia also sent six warships through the Bosphorus for planned naval drills on the Black Sea and the neighboring Sea of Azov.
Kyiv has condemned both actions.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told MSNBC on Thursday that major military maneuvers launched in Belarus by that country's forces and others from Russia amount to "in our view, an escalation, not a de-escalation."
- Coordinated messages -
Washington at first largely avoided even commenting on Macron's visit, saying it wanted to hear directly from the French president.
That partially changed on WednesdaywhenPresident Joe Biden spoke by telephone with Macron and their foreign ministers followed on Thursday. But US statements released afterward said very little.
A White House communique simply noted the two leaders talked about Macron's meetings in Russia and also Ukraine.
The State Department did not even allude to the Macron visit. It referred more broadly in a statement to "joint efforts by NATO Allies, EU partners, G7 members, and other partners to address Russia's continued military build-up on Ukraine's borders."
Still, the United States insists there is unprecedented coordination with its allies in this crisis, and French and other European diplomats readily agree: Biden and Macron have spoken on the phone three times in eight days.
"The United States welcomes these initiatives because they allow for sending more messages to Moscow, insofar as they are coordinated beforehand and there will be no dissonance among allies," said Pierre Morcos, a French researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Western countries are united in the threat of severe economic sanctions against Russia if it does invade Ukraine, although, Morcos said, "Paris tries to stress the diplomatic route and invest all it can in it."
"For now, the United States has cautiously supported Macron's effort at diplomacy. But skepticism runs high, as Washington believes Putin is determined to invade either way," wrote Celia Belin, a French researcher at the US think tank Brookings Institution.
In an article published Thursday on the website of the journal Foreign Affairs, Belin said that "in contrast to the United States and other Western powers, Macron has suggested that Russia is 'legitimate' in stating that its security needs should be discussed."
She said this reflects a French desire for renewed dialogue with Russia and a retooling of Europe's security architecture so it relies less on the United States.
But Macron, Belin said, "must tread lightly in order not to appear to be opening a rift among allies at a time when unity is the best deterrence against Russia."
A.Rodriguezv--AMWN