31 July, 2017
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the US would have to cut its embassy and consulate staff in Russia by 755.
As President Donald Trump prepares to sign the Russia sanctions legislation, which easily cleared Congress last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov threatened further retaliation against the US Sunday morning.
The Kremlin had previously said it would not impose any sanctions on the US until Trump signs the bill.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the United States will have to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 under new sanctions from Moscow. Skeptical lawmakers are looking to limit the executive power's leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The legislation puts Trump in a hard position.
Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the upper house of Russia's parliament, said further "asymmetric" responses to the U.S. move are possible.
Trump hasn't threatened to reject the bill even though Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other senior administration officials had objected to a mandated congressional review should the president attempt to ease or lift the sanctions on Russian Federation.
Before Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, Sen.
With near unanimous support in both chambers of Congress, this legislation sends a strong signal to Iran, Russia and North Korea that USA will stand firm and united in the face of their destabilising behaviour, said Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Therefore, we suggest our American counterparts bringing the number of diplomatic and technical staff at the US Embassy in Moscow, the consulates general in St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok, into strict correspondence with the number of Russian diplomats and technical staff now working in the United States, until September 1, 2017", read the statement.
In addition to the ouster of personnel, the ministry also suspended U.S. access to a recreation retreat and warehouse in Moscow, effective August 1. Moscow is also barring Americans from using two diplomatic facilities. Trump's communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, had suggested Thursday that Trump might veto the bill and "negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians". But late Wednesday he announced that he sees "a path forward on legislation to sanction Iran, Russia and North Korea" following "very productive discussions".
The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them.
Russian Federation is open to cooperating with the USA on various issues, including terrorism and cybercrime, but instead it "only hears unfounded accusations of meddling in US domestic affairs", he said. The sanctions also apply to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps security force and major economic force.
Putin, at a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, also spoke about Obama's order last December to seize Russian diplomatic property in the United States and to expel 35 Russian diplomats.
