America's most sweeping expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War may have seemed like a dramatic escalation in Washington's response to Moscow, but the groundwork for a more confrontational U.S. posture had been taking shape for months — in plain sight.
While President Donald Trump's conciliatory rhetoric toward Moscow has dominated headlines, officials at the U.S. State Department, Pentagon and White House made a series of lower-profile decisions over the past year to counter Russia around the world — from Afghanistan to North Korea to Syria.
The State Department earlier in March announced plans to provide anti-tank missiles to Ukraine to defend against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Trump's predecessor as president, Barack Obama, had declined to do so over fears of provoking Moscow.