Russia is keen to disrupt, weaken or even divide NATO and one way of encouraging that might be to convince the U.S. that war is coming with the alliance in Europe and to ask America if it wants to be dragged into it. This especially matters as Trump's incoming administration forms its policies toward NATO and Russia.

Russia has detained an Uzbek citizen who investigators believe placed the bomb inside an electric scooter which killed General Igor Kirillov on the instructions of Ukraine’s security service, the Investigative Committee said today.