Axios

Lithuania, among the bravest of the former Soviet states surrounding prickly Russia, has poked a finger directly in the Kremlin's eye by buying a shipment of American liquefied natural gas, defying Moscow's energy stranglehold on the region. The shipment Monday could not have been economically advantageous, given that Russian gas supplies are right next door, but Lithuania calculated that the political dividends made it a shrewd deal.

Why it matters: The move suggests that, three years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Baltic states remain resolved to putting up a strong front against Moscow.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia announced Monday it will stop issuing nonimmigrant visas to Russians for 8 days from Wednesday. A State Department official told Axios "we are forced to suspend" them as "a result of the Russian government-imposed cap" on U.S. embassy staff in Russia.

The U.S. State Department said this is not retaliation for that cap, per the AP, it is just a reflection of the fact that fewer employees on the ground leads to a reduction in capacity. A quarter of a million Russian tourists visited the U.S. last year, Russian tourism officials reported.

For consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekatinburg, and Vladivostok, the suspension is in place "until further notice," the official said.

The backdrop: In July, Vladimir Putin ordered the U.S. to cut its embassy staff by 755 in response to a fresh round of sanctions passed by Congress over Russia's election meddling.

After the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker east of Singapore early Monday, leaving 10 sailors missing, the chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, ordered an "operational pause" across the entire Navy, per NBC News.

What it looks like: A one-day safety stand-down for each fleet, which would be staggered over a couple of weeks, a source told CNN.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also confirmed the Navy will be investigating the recent naval accidents in Asian waters, per the AP. This year alone there's been four such accidents involving U.S. warships, per CNN.

The backdrop: About a dozen sailors are facing punishment for the June collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a freighter off the coast of Japan, and some will be relieved from duty, per USAToday.