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Putin
Photo: AFP

Putin: we will not expell US diplomats

After outgoing US President Barack Obama issued American sanctions on Russia due to reported evidence that it had interfered in the US elections to sway public opinion in favor of Trump, the Russian FM hints that it may ban US diplomats from Russia as a response; Putin denies this.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has disavowed his foreign minister's statments suggesting that Russia expell 35 US diplomats in response to a new round of US sanctions against Moscow.

 

 

US President Barack Obama on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, as American political sites and email accounts were hacked. Thirty-five Russian diplomats were ordered to leave the US in 72 hours and two facilities closed.

 

Putin (L) and Obama (Photo: EPA) (Photo: EPA)
Putin (L) and Obama (Photo: EPA)

 

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised remarks on Friday that the Foreign Ministry and other agencies have suggested that President Vladimir Putin order expulsion of 31 employees of the US embassy in Moscow and 4 diplomats from the US consulate in St. Petersburg from Russia. Another suggestion that he supports is to bar US diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse in the south of Moscow.

 

However, the Russian president said that he regrets that the Obama administration is leaving office in such a manner, and that he will decide on further actions after seeing how the Trump administration behaves.

 

The Kremlin spokesman said late Thursday that it would be up to Putin to draft retaliatory measures.

 

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called a new round of US sanctions against his country "anti-Russian death throes."

 

US President Barack Obama on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia's interference in the US presidential election by hacking American political sites and email accounts. The Kremlin said late on Thursday that it was considering retaliatory steps.

 

The Russian Embassy ot the UK has been niggling the US for several weeks, as well, calling Obama's administration a "lame Duck" and saying that it awaits the moment Trump will take office.

 

While he was president in 2008 – 2012, Medvedev focused on improving US-Russia ties in what became known as the "reset" policy. He voiced disappointment with the new round of sanctions on Friday.

 

"It is sad that the Obama administration that began its life by restoring ties ends it with anti-Russian death throes. RIP," Medvedev said on Twitter.

 

Medvedev visited the United States in 2010 and sent his first tweet during a visit to Twitter's headquarters in the Silicon Valley.

  

The United States is unleashing a string of sanctions and other punitive measures against Russia amid allegations it engaged in cyber-meddling in the US presidential campaign, putting pressure on President-elect Donald Trump not to let Moscow off the hook after he takes office.

 

Russia's government threatened retaliation and continued to deny US accusations that it hacked and stole emails to try to help Trump win. Trump said the US should move on, but in a sign he was no longer totally brushing off the allegations, he planned to meet with US intelligence leaders next week to learn more.

 

A month after an election the US says Russia tried to sway for Trump, President Barack Obama on Thursday sanctioned the GRU and FSB, leading Russian intelligence agencies the US said were involved. In an elaborately coordinated response by at least five federal agencies, the Obama administration also sought to expose Russia's cyber tactics with a detailed technical report and hinted it might still launch a covert counterattack.

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.30.16, 13:08
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