agencies
Russian President Vladimir Putin today said that Russia will not expel any US diplomats in response to Washington’s decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats from the country. Indicating that the ball was in the court of the next US administration, Putin said Moscow reserves the right to retaliate based on the policies pursued by the administration of president-elect Donald Trump.
Earlier, Russian news agencies had erroneously reported that Moscow has announced plans to expel 35 American diplomats from the country. It was later clarified that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had proposed expelling U.S. diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to Washington’s move, which President Putin did not accept.
The US state department yesterday, declared the 35 Russian diplomats from the Washington DC embassy and the consulate in San Francisco “persona non grata”, and gave them and their families 72 hours to leave the US. The President also ordered sanctions against nine Russian individuals and two Russian intelligence services.
U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organizations before the Nov. 8 presidential election. They further say that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Russia has however, denied any involvement and called the U.S. decision unfounded.