Trump Halts Russia Sanctions Package, Orders It Repackaged as a Gift Basket and Hand-Delivered to Moscow
The US president has suspended a sanctions package against Russia and ordered it rebuilt as a ceremonial gift basket, to be carried to Moscow by a delegation of senators walking the entire route on foot.
President Trump has suspended a sanctions package against Russia and ordered it repackaged as a ceremonial gift basket, to be hand-delivered to Moscow by a delegation of senators walking the entire route on foot. The White House described the suspension as «a gesture of extraordinary personal diplomacy» and confirmed that the basket, woven from decommissioned tariff schedules, left Washington on Monday morning.
The delegation is expected to cross the Atlantic by cargo ship, then continue overland through six countries, pausing at each border so that the basket can be formally presented, unwrapped, admired and rewrapped by local mayors. A senior administration official said the president personally inspected the ribbon and insisted it be tied «the way a winner ties it.»
In Paris, the announcement arrived during a third consecutive night of unrest, and the interior ministry has now requisitioned every available delivery van in the country to shadow the delegation in case the basket needs to be moved faster. «We are not escorting a basket,» a ministry spokesman said. «We are escorting the concept of a basket.»
Berlin, meanwhile, has scheduled coalition talks around the delegation's projected arrival, with negotiators agreeing to pause every time the walkers are shown on television. The basket is due in Moscow in time for the first snowfall, where it will be received by officials who have already begun rehearsing their expressions of surprise.
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