Russia, US, in a rare move, join to help polar bears

MOSCOW—With relations between Russia and the United States increasingly frosty because of entrenched disagreements over Syria, child adoptions, missile systems and other issues, the two countries have quietly joined forces to help polar bears. Russia and the United States, two of the five countries where polar bears live, are now the main allies pushing for greater protection for the bears under a global treaty on endangered species, which is being reviewed this week at a conference in Bangkok. Russia’s decision to cooperate with the United States not only defies a recent wave of antiAmericanism here but it also reverses Moscow’s opposition to a similar US proposal at the endangered species conference three years ago.