BY MATTHEW LEE, WASHINGTON — A Russian military cargo plane bearing a load of urgently needed medical supplies landed in New York’s JFK airport this week.
It was an odd twist in the U.S.-Russia rivalry.
Russia touted it as a magnanimous aid contribution to a struggling country in need – its old Cold War rival.
But the State Department insisted it was a commercial transaction: that the U.S. had paid Russia for the supplies and they were certainly not a gift.
Yet President Donald Trump on Thursday referred to the shipment as “aid,” and said the United States had accepted “a very nice offer” from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
