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Column inches, leaders and links to Washington and Moscow (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cities

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'washington and moscow' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'column inches leaders and links' is the wordplay.
'leaders' suggests taking the first letters.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'links' becomes 'ties' (tying is a kind of linking).
The initial letters of 'column inches' is 'ci'.
'ci'+'ties'='CITIES'

'to' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cities that I've seen before include "Densely-populated urban areas" , "Dickens novel, 'A Tale of Two ......'" , "Large Urban areas" , "urban centres" , "Densely populated urban areas" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).
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