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The last time there was an openmayoral election in New York City,an independent committee spentroughly $900,000 to help takedown the presumptive front-run-ner, paving the way for Bill de Bla-sio’s victory.

Eight years later, another on-slaught of barely regulated moneyis heading New York’s way, with

super PACs poised to play an out-size role in the race for mayor, themost important election in recentcity history.

Business-friendly organiza-tions have already raised millions

of dollars. At least one candidate,Raymond J. McGuire, has a dedi-cated super PAC. And now pro-gressive groups are getting in onthe act, creating their own superPACs to supplement their on-the-ground and social media efforts.

The rising tide of independentspending highlights the fierce de-bates unfolding across the politi-cal spectrum about how to man-age the city’s post-pandemic re-

Outside Cash Plays Outsize Role in Mayor’s RaceBy DANA RUBINSTEIN

and KATIE GLUECKBig Spending Highlights

Stakes in New York

Continued on Page A17

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia —In its foreign policy, Russia tendsto favor the hard power of militarymight and oil and gas exports. Butin recent months, the Kremlin hasscored a sweeping diplomatic winfrom an unexpected source: thesuccess of its coronavirus vaccine,Sputnik V.

While the United States and Eu-ropean countries have considered

or implemented bans on vaccineexports to deal with shortages athome, Russia has earned plauditsby sharing its vaccine with coun-tries around the world in an ap-parent act of enlightened self-in-

terest.So far, more than 50 countries

from Latin America to Asia haveordered 1.2 billion doses of theRussian vaccine, buffing the im-age of Russian science and liftingMoscow’s influence around theworld.

Yet, in Russia things are not al-ways what they seem, and this ap-parent triumph of soft-power di-plomacy may not be all that the

Russia Buffs Image by Offering to Share VaccineBy ANDREW E. KRAMER Promise May Come at

Cost to Nation’s Own

Continued on Page A6

SAN ANTONIO — Carrol An-derson spent much of his life inSoutheast Texas, where the mostfeared natural disasters spin upfrom the Gulf of Mexico during thewarm months of hurricane sea-son. But last week, Mr. Anderson,a 75-year-old who breathed withthe help of oxygen tanks, knewthat a different kind of storm washeading his way.

To prepare, he ordered a freshsupply of oxygen that his step-daughter said never arrived.There was a spare tank, however,in the pickup outside his one-story

brick house in Crosby, Texas, justnortheast of Houston.

So when Mr. Anderson, anArmy veteran who went by Andy,was found dead inside his truck onTuesday, his stepdaughter figuredhe had gone outside to retrieve it.His main tank, back in the house,runs on electricity, and the powerhad gone out the night before as adeadly cold descended on much of

Texas.While the final tally could be

much higher, Mr. Anderson wasamong at least 58 people who diedin storm-affected areas stretchingto Ohio, victims of carbon monox-ide poisoning, car crashes, drown-ings, house fires and hypother-mia.

In Galveston County, along theTexas Gulf Coast, the authoritiessaid two residents had died fromexposure to the cold and one per-son from possible carbon monox-ide poisoning. Four other deathsremained under investigation andwere possibly linked to the frigidweather.

Judge Mark Henry, the county’s

Brutal Cold Kills Texans in Beds, Yards and CarsThis article is by Giulia McDon-

nell Nieto del Rio, Richard Faussetand Johnny Diaz.

Carbon Monoxide, Fireand Exposure RaiseToll of Power Crisis

Continued on Page A14

A deep freeze in places like Austin, Texas, above, on Wednesday, caused misery and led to deaths.TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

NASA

The first pictures from NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars showed its “pool table flat” landing spot in the Jezero Crater. Page A12.New Eyes on the Red Planet

WASHINGTON — Republicansare struggling to persuade votersto oppose President Biden’s $1.9trillion economic rescue plan,which enjoys strong, bipartisansupport nationwide even as it ismoving through Congress withjust Democratic backing.

Democrats who control theHouse are preparing to approvethe package by the end of nextweek, with the Senate aiming tosoon follow with its own party-linevote before unemployment bene-fits are set to lapse in mid-March.On Friday, the House BudgetCommittee unveiled the nearly600-page text for the proposal,which includes billions of dollarsfor unemployment benefits, smallbusinesses and stimulus checks.

Republican leaders, searchingfor a way to derail the proposal, onFriday led a final attempt to tar-nish the package, labeling it a“payoff to progressives.” The bill,they said, spends too much and in-cludes a liberal wish list of pro-grams like aid to state and localgovernments — which they call a“blue state bailout,” though manystates facing shortfalls are con-trolled by Republicans — and in-creased benefits for the unem-ployed, which they argued woulddiscourage people from lookingfor work.

Those attacks have followedweeks of varying Republican ob-jections to the package, including

G.O.P. FacingUphill Battle

On StimulusBy EMILY COCHRANEand JIM TANKERSLEY

Continued on Page A12

President Biden used his firstpublic encounter with America’sEuropean allies to describe a newstruggle between the West andthe forces of autocracy, declaringthat “America is back” while ac-knowledging that the past fouryears had taken a toll on its powerand influence.

His message stressing the im-portance of reinvigorating alli-ances and recommitting to de-fending Europe was predictablywell received at a session of theMunich Security Conference thatMr. Biden addressed from theWhite House.

But there was also pushback,notably from the French presi-dent, Emmanuel Macron, who inhis address made an impassioneddefense of his concept of “stra-tegic autonomy” from the UnitedStates, making the case that Eu-rope can no longer be overly de-pendent on the United States as itfocuses more of its attention onAsia, especially China.

And even Chancellor AngelaMerkel of Germany, who is leav-

ing office within the year, tem-pered her praise for Mr. Biden’sdecision to cancel plans for a with-drawal of 12,000 American troopsfrom the country with a warningthat “our interests will not alwaysconverge.” It appeared to be a ref-erence to Germany’s ambivalenceabout confronting China — a ma-jor market for its automobiles andother high-end German products— and to the continuing battlewith the United States over theconstruction of the Nord Stream 2gas pipeline to Russia.

But all three leaders seemed torecognize that their first virtualencounter was a moment to cele-brate the end of the era of “Amer-ica First,” and for Mr. Macron andMs. Merkel to welcome back Mr.Biden, a politician whom theyknew well from his years as a sen-ator and vice president.

And Mr. Biden used the momentto warn about the need for a com-mon strategy in pushing back atan Internet-fueled narrative, pro-moted by both Presidents Vladi-mir V. Putin of Russia and Xi Jin-ping of China, that the chaos sur-

BIDEN REAFFIRMSALLIANCES’ VALUEFOR U.S. POLICIES

COMBATING AUTOCRACY

European Leaders OfferSome Pushback, but

Welcome Message

This article is by David E. Sanger,Steven Erlanger and Roger Cohen.

President Biden on Friday.ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A9

NAIROBI, Kenya — ErikPrince, the former head of the se-curity contractor BlackwaterWorldwide and a prominent sup-porter of former President DonaldJ. Trump, violated a United Na-tions arms embargo on Libya bysending weapons to a militia com-mander who was attempting tooverthrow the internationallybacked government, according toU.N. investigators.

A confidential U.N. report ob-tained by The New York Timesand delivered by investigators tothe Security Council on Thursdayreveals how Mr. Prince deployed aforce of foreign mercenaries,armed with attack aircraft, gun-boats and cyberwarfare capabili-ties, to eastern Libya at the heightof a major battle in 2019.

As part of the operation, whichthe report said cost $80 million,the mercenaries also planned toform a hit squad that could trackdown and kill selected Libyancommanders.

Mr. Prince, a former NavySEAL and the brother of BetsyDeVos, Mr. Trump’s educationsecretary, became a symbol of theexcesses of privatized Americanmilitary force when his Black-water contractors killed 17 Iraqicivilians in 2007.

In the past decade he has re-launched himself as an executivewho strikes deals — sometimesfor minerals, other times involv-ing military force — in war-addledbut resource-rich countries,mostly in Africa.

During the Trump administra-tion, Mr. Prince was a generousdonor and a staunch ally of thepresident, often in league with fig-ures like Steve Bannon and RogerStone as they sought to under-mine Mr. Trump’s critics. And Mr.Prince came under scrutiny fromthe Trump-Russia inquiry over hismeeting with a Russian banker in2017.

Mr. Prince refused to cooperatewith the U.N. inquiry; his lawyerdid not respond to questions aboutthe report. Last year the lawyer,Matthew L. Schwartz, told TheTimes that Mr. Prince “had noth-ing whatsoever” to do with mili-tary operations in Libya.

The accusation that Mr. Princeviolated the U.N.’s arms embargoon Libya exposes him to possibleU.N. sanctions, including a travelban and a freeze on his bank ac-counts and other assets — thoughsuch an outcome is uncertain.

The report raises the questionof whether Mr. Prince played onhis ties to the Trump administra-tion to pull off the Libya operation.

It describes how a friend andformer business partner of Mr.Prince traveled to Jordan to buysurplus, American-made Cobrahelicopters from the Jordanianmilitary — a sale that ordinarilywould require American govern-ment permission, according to

TRUMP ALLY SAIDTO VIOLATE BANON LIBYAN ARMS

EX-HEAD OF BLACKWATER

Weapons Went to MilitiaSeeking to Oust

Government

By DECLAN WALSH

Continued on Page A8

The first-year guard Paige Bueckershas led the Huskies back to the No. 1ranking in women’s basketball. PAGE B7

SPORTSSATURDAY B7-10

A Prodigy Propels UConnTourists may fly again in the spring orsummer, but airlines fear profitablebusiness travelers could stay away for ayear or longer. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

Airlines Waiting for Normal

Joaquín Orellana, a Guatemalan com-poser, builds special instruments onwhich to play his works. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

New Tools for New SoundsJoyce Fernandes, an ex-domesticworker, is prompting “uncomfortable”dialogue. The Saturday Profile. PAGE A7

INTERNATIONAL A7-10

Author Bares Brazil’s Racism

Nations for and against the 2015 Irannuclear deal reacted cautiously to Pres-ident Biden’s bid to re-engage. PAGE A9

Muted Response on Iran Talks

Ted Cruz’s getaway to Cancún was onlythe latest episode in a career that hasleft him reviled by Democrats and someRepublicans. Political Memo. PAGE A14

More Fuel for Cruz Detractors

Jamelle Bouie PAGE A18

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

Serena Williams’s wave after losingstirred retirement talk. She won’t go outthat way, Kurt Streeter writes. PAGE B8

Don’t Be Sure This Is Farewell

Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that agroup of drivers for the company areentitled to worker benefits. PAGE B1

Uber Is Dealt a Major Defeat

After a song by an unknown gainsattention on the app, a trend-hoppingremix usually isn’t far behind. PAGE C1

TikTok Tunes, Made to Go ViralThe New York governor lashed out atcritics of the state’s handling of nursinghomes during the pandemic. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-6

Cuomo Says Lives Were SavedAn indictment against nine Oath Keep-ers is the most significant effort so far toprove far-right extremists worked to-gether before the Jan. 6 attack. PAGE A13

Militia Members Are Charged

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,975 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2021

Senator Joe Manchin III said he wouldoppose Neera Tanden, the president’sbudget office nominee, potentiallyderailing her confirmation. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A11-17

Budget Nominee in Peril

Today, clouds and sunshine, windy,cold, a flurry, high 36. Tonight,evening flurries, partly cloudy, low22. Tomorrow, mostly sunny, cold,high 36. Weather map, Page B12.

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