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David R. Sands

David R. Sands

dsands@washingtontimes.com

David R. Sands covered numerous beats, including international trade, banking, politics and Capitol Hill, and spent eight years on the foreign desk as senior diplomatic correspondent. He has authored The Times' weekly chess column since 1993.

Articles by David R. Sands

Viktor Orban delivers his annual state of the nation speech in Varkert Bazaar conference hall of Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Feb 12, 2022. He is preparing with his right-wing party FIDESZ for the upcoming elections on April 3. (AP Photo/Anna Szilagyi)

Putin’s friends in Europe turn on him after invasion

Some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's few sympathetic partners in Europe turned on him sharply Thursday in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, dimming further the Kremlin's hopes of creating new divides in the West as it responds to the crisis.

February 24, 2022
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, center, participates in a media conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, and European Council President Charles Michel at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb 24, 2022. NATO envoys met in emergency session Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a large-scale attack on Ukraine as the 30-nation military organization prepares to bolster its defenses in allies neighboring both countries. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO plans Friday virtual summit to coordinate Russia response

The NATO military alliance will hold an emergency virtual summit Friday to coordinate its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while issuing new orders giving NATO commanders greater freedom to redeploy troops quickly to Eastern Europe.

February 24, 2022
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media after Friday prayers, in Istanbul, Friday, Aug. 20, 2021. The European Union should assist Afghans both inside Afghanistan and in neighboring countries in order to avoid a new migration wave, Erdogan told Greece's Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a telephone call Friday. Erdogan and Mitsotakis discussed developments in Afghanistan in a rare call as both countries raise concerns about a potential major influx of people fleeing the Taliban.(Turkish Presidency via AP, Pool)

Turkey’s Erdogan calls Russian moves against Ukraine ‘unacceptable’

Turkey, whose control of access to the Black Sea could play a critical role in the crisis in Ukraine, rejects Russia's recognition of two breakaway Ukrainian enclaves as "unacceptable," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Tuesday.

February 23, 2022
Acholonu-Frenkel after 52. Qe2.

D.C.’s storied role as an incubator of Black chess in America

'As a matter of fact, one can claim the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area was the cradle for Black chess in America." Local writer and two-time D.C. chess champion Gregory Kearse made that claim in a seminal 1998 article for Chess Life, which noted that the thriving local area chess scene in the 1960s helped develop the first officially rated African American chess masters.

February 22, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has convened top officials to consider recognizing the independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. Such a move would ratchet up tensions with the West amid fears that the Kremlin could launch an invasion of Ukraine imminently. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin orders troops to ‘protect’ breakaway Ukrainian provinces

Defying warnings from the U.S. and its allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway enclaves in neighboring Ukraine as independent states and authorized Russian troops to cross into Ukrainian territory as a "peacekeeping" force.

February 21, 2022
President Joe Biden speaks the about the long-delayed cleanup of Great Lakes harbors and tributaries polluted with industrial toxins at the Shipyards, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, in Lorain, Ohio. Cleanup will accelerate dramatically with a $1 billion boost from Biden's infrastructure plan. (AP Photo/Ken Blaze)

‘Very high’ chance of invasion soon, Biden says

President Biden and his top aides unleashed a new volley of warnings Thursday that the Kremlin is preparing for a military invasion of neighboring Ukraine, perhaps in the next few days, as the administration brushed aside Russian protestations to the contrary.

February 17, 2022
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Blinken defends U.S. info blitz predicting Russian military action

Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched a scathing attack Thursday on what he said were Russian preparations for a possibly imminent invasion of Ukraine, saying the Biden administration has issued a blitz of warnings in recent weeks about potential Russian provocations as a way to head off war.

February 17, 2022
Ukrainian troops patrolled the front line Monday while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov advised President Vladimir Putin to keep negotiating with Western nations about Moscow's security demands. Meanwhile, the Biden administration was preparing for war. (Associated Press)

U.S. bangs the drum on Ukraine as Putin weighs options

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave one of the first signs on Monday that he is considering easing back from a massive military buildup around Ukraine, but the Biden administration remained highly skeptical and continued to warn that an invasion of Ukraine could be imminent.

February 14, 2022
Ukrainian servicemen check their equipment during an exercise in a Joint Forces Operation controlled area in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. A peace agreement for the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has never quite ended is back in the spotlight amid a Russian military buildup near the country's borders and rising tensions about whether Moscow will invade. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

State Department toughens warning on travel to Ukraine

The State Department on Thursday raised its threat level warning for Americans traveling to Ukraine and urged all American citizens in the country to leave, citing the potential for Russian military action against its neighbor as well as the continuing threat of COVID-19.

February 10, 2022
One of three Russian ships sails through the Dardanelles or Canakkale to cross the Bosphorus, Istanbul. on their way to the Black Sea, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. Three more Russian navy ships are sailing through Turkey Wednesday en route to join military drills in the Black Sea. Russia's Defense Ministry said six large landing ships were moving from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea where they will take part in the exercises already underway. (IHA Photo via AP)

Ukraine says Russian naval drills are choking off trade

Ukrainian officials said Russian naval drills off its Black Sea coast are disrupting trade and hurting the economy, even as Russian and Belarusian forces began 10 days of major military exercises close to Ukraine's northern border.

February 10, 2022