U.S. Scrambles to Fix Russia Damage

U.S. leaders scrambled to get back in Russia’s good graces Wednesday after being exposed as extremely distrustful of its leaders, as fallout from WikiLeaks’ publishing of some 3,500 diplomatic cables continued. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally made “several dozen” calls to her foreign counterparts to try to repair the damage—but it could be harder to achieve with Russia. One cable called Moscow a “kleptocracy” under former Mayor Yuri Luzkhov, and accused Medvedev of overseeing a “system in which it appears that almost everyone at every level is involved in some form of corruption or criminal behavior.” In an interview that aired Wednesday on CNN’s Larry King Live, Putin called Gates “deeply misled” and said the U.S. had made mistakes as well.