US lawmaker: east Med cooperation to counter Russia

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A senior U.S. lawmaker says the U.S. wants to work with Cyprus and ally Israel to buttress peace in the eastern Mediterranean and to head off Russian influence over the region’s energy reserves.
Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says the U.S. is looking for friendly nations in the region that share core democratic values in light of what he calls Russia’s “malevolent machinations.”
After meeting the Cypriot presiden