BY BBC
Russia has promised to respond to the expulsion of 35 of its diplomats from Washington, amid a bitter dispute over alleged Russian interference in the recent US presidential election.
A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin’s reaction would cause the US “significant discomfort”.
The foreign ministry said Russia’s response would be announced on Friday.
Russia has denied any hacking involvement and called the US action “ungrounded”.
Under the US action taken on Thursday:
- Thirty-five diplomats from Russia’s Washington embassy and its consulate in San Francisco were declared “persona non grata” and given 72 hours to leave the US with their families
- Two compounds said to have been used by Russian intelligence services in New York and Maryland will be closed
- Sanctions were announced against nine entities and individuals including two Russian intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSB
President Barack Obama had vowed action against Russia amid US accusations that it directed cyber-attacks on the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Emails stolen from her campaign manager and from the servers of the Democratic National Committee – some containing embarrassing information for Democrats – were released during the election campaign through the Wikileaks website.
Moscow has made it clear it will hit back. The Kremlin has promised an “appropriate response” to the US sanctions; the Russian foreign ministry says there will be Russian “counter-measures”.
In the tradition of the Cold War, tit-for-tat is the likely reaction. That would mean Russia expelling a similar number of American diplomats.
An unconfirmed report by CNN says Moscow may respond by shutting down a school attended by diplomats’ children.
US officials contacted by AFP news agency said they were aware of reports that the city’s Anglo-American School faced closure as retaliation but could not confirm them.
An unnamed source in the school was quoted as telling a Moscow newspaper, MK (in Russian), that it had received no official notification of closure.
Reacting to Thursday’s announcement from the US, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Undoubtedly, commensurate reaction based on the principle of reciprocity will cause significant discomfort to the American side in the same areas.”
But he hinted Russia might wait until Donald Trump, who has played down the hacking claims, became president.
“These decisions were taken by President Obama, but Trump will become the head of state in three weeks’ time,” Mr Peskov said. “Of course, this factor will certainly be taken into account one way or another.”
Separately, the Russian embassy to the UK tweeted a visual gag calling the Obama presidency a lame duck.
