Are all ties to Russia now sinister, or some just business?

MOSCOW — Disclosures of connections between Russia, Donald Trump and his big business advisers have cast an ominous cloud over the White House. But experts say some of the connections are just the expected result of doing business in Russia, a nation whose major corporations often are controlled by the Kremlin. In the latest example, a shipping company partly owned by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has transported liquefied petroleum gas for a Russian gas giant. Questions are being raised as to whether that’s a relationship that’s tainted. After all, Russia is accused of trying to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.

Shipping analysts note that Ross’ company is one of the few that can transport LPG in Russia’s brutally cold winters. They say this looks like plain old business.