World leaders condemned the attack Thursday, with the U.S. and its allies promising severe sanctions, even as Russian forces remained on the move across Ukraine.
The Russians claim a U.S. submarine was operating in an area where Russia's Pacific fleet was conducting an exercise in Russian Federation national waters near the island of Urup in the Kuril archipelago. The U.S. Navy denied there was any encounter between the two forces.
The U.S. ambassador to Russia on Monday visited a former Marine who is imprisoned for assaulting police officers in Moscow, calling his conviction a mockery of justice.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday harshly criticized the United States decision to send armored vehicles and combat troops into eastern Syria to protect oil fields, calling it “banditry.”
Among those Russia returned was Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, whose conviction for preparing terrorist attacks was strongly denounced abroad, and 24 Ukrainian sailors taken with a ship Russian forces seized last year.
Russia and the United States voiced hope Tuesday that badly strained relations could begin to improve despite wide differences on multiple fronts and deep mutual suspicion deepened by Russian meddling in American elections.