31 July, 2017
A Russian official on Sunday said the order to remove USA diplomats from Russia was "retaliation" for the Senate's approval of increased sanctions last week - and promised more payback for similar actions in the future.
"We will work closely with our friends and Allies to ensure our messages to Russia, Iran, and North Korea are clearly understood".
The legislation bars Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russian Federation unless the US Congress agrees and provisions were included to ease concerns that the president's push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.
Russia also said Friday that it's seizing two US diplomatic properties, much like the USA shut down two Russian diplomatic compounds under the Obama Administration.
It also said it would seize a Moscow compound used by USA diplomats as well as a U.S. diplomatic warehouse.
Washington vowed Saturday it would "work closely with our friends and Allies" after United States lawmakers passed sanctions on Russian Federation that upset some European nations fearful that it could hit their businesses.
However, in terms of general relations, Putin said: "We have waited long enough, hoping that the situation would perhaps change for the better".
The US Senate voted nearly unanimously yesterday to slap new sanctions on Russian Federation, putting President Donald Trump in a tough position by forcing him to take a hard line on Moscow or veto the legislation and infuriate his own party. Meanwhile, we saw the U.S. law enforcers just taking completely unacceptable measure on private property that belongs to a foreign state.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by telephone that Russia was ready to normalize relations with the United States and to cooperate on major global issues.
But the United States intelligence community's conclusion that Putin interfered in the U.S. elections to get Trump elected, as well as a number of ongoing investigations into whether his campaign team colluded with Moscow, have made any concessions to Russian Federation politically toxic.
The sanctions target human- rights abusers, suppliers of weapons to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and those undermining cyber security, among others, reported The New York Times.
Asked about the potential for additional sanctions against Washington, Putin described the reduction in diplomatic staff as "painful" and said he now opposes further measures. It said it is ordering the US Embassy to limit the number of embassy and consular employees in the country to 455 in response to approval of a new package of sanctions by the US Congress.
Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed the new sanctions as "creating unfair competitive advantages for the USA economy".
Signing the bill into law will send an inexperienced and undisciplined White House into an escalating confrontation with Russian Federation at a time when safeguards to reduce tensions have eroded and domestic pressure in both countries will make it hard to reverse course.
In an appearance on ABC's "This Week", Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attempted to paint Russia as a victim and warned that there would be retaliation if the USA pursues "further deterioration".
In an interview Sunday on Russian TV, Putin said he is opposed to any additional retaliatory actions against the US, at least "as of today", Reuters reports.
Moscow said it would cut the US diplomatic corps even further if the USA decides to expel more Russian diplomats. But faced with near-total consensus among Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the White House blinked, saying this week that Trump was "reviewing" the bill.
