The US sanctions bill is a timebomb for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

In Russia, propaganda-generated hope springs eternal, and no more so than at the news agency Tass. Europe is wising up to the fact that its sanctions policy against Russia is “senseless and futile”, was the quote on Monday from Sergei Zheleznyak, a member of the state Duma’s international affairs committee. You have to hand it to Russia: it pursues some goals relentlessly.