Russia will not expel any US diplomats in response to sanctions imposed by Washington for hacking the US election, in a move aimed at spurning the outgoing Obama administration in favour of president-elect Donald Trump.
President Vladimir Putin made the announcement despite foreign ministry proposals for the expulsion of 35 US diplomats as a riposte to the similar move by Washington on Thursday.
Depicting his decision as a refusal to be drawn into tit-for-tat exchanges with President Barack Obama, Mr Putin focused on working with Mr Trump. “Reserving our right to respond, we will not stoop to a ‘kitchen’ level of irresponsible diplomacy and we will take further steps to rebuild Russian-American relations based on the policy carried out by the administration of President Donald Trump,” he said.
Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, had proposed to the Kremlin that Russia respond by expelling 35 US diplomats from Moscow and St Petersburg and bar US diplomatic staff from a warehouse and dacha used by the embassy. But Mr Putin rejected the proposal.
“We will not create problems for American diplomats. We will not expel anyone,” he said. “We will not ban their families and children from using their familiar holiday locations during the New Year holidays. Moreover, I invite all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas tree [celebrations] in the Kremlin.”
The Russian president’s move seeks to prevent a downward spiral that could hamper a turnround in the bilateral relationship after Mr Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
The Obama administration imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia on Thursday in retaliation for cyber attacks that the CIA says targeted the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
The US measures targeted Russia’s two main intelligence services, expelling 35 alleged Russian operatives. They will also shut down two compounds used by Russian diplomats.
Mr Trump has questioned blaming the cyber attacks on Russia, calling on the US “to move on to bigger and better things”. But he also announced a meeting next week with intelligence officials “in order to be updated on the facts of this situation”.
“Putin’s reaction effectively communicates he feels Obama’s done, can be ignored and that Trump [is] already making US foreign policy,” tweeted David Rothkopf, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine.
