• Russia said that new U.S. sanctions forced it to order the dismissal of 755 American Embassy employees.

Though most are likely to be Russian nationals, it’s the harshest such move since 1986, and one that our analyst said underscored President Vladimir Putin’s bad bet on warmer relations with a Trump administration.

Vice President Mike Pence assured the Baltic States of American support against the threat of Russian aggression, telling the NATO allies during a trip there that “an attack on one of us is an attack on us all.”