In an unprecedented move, the White House has enforced several sanctions against Russia in retaliation to the alleged hacks by state-sponsored Russian hackers in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential elections.

Russia’s involvement has been described by the U.S. administration as “Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities”.

Here are the sanctions imposed by President Obama’st has been described by the U.S. administration as “Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities”.

Here are the sanctions imposed by President Obama’s office:

Election interference sanctions against four Russian individuals and five Russian entities, including Russian intelligence agencies GRU and the FSB.

The US has ordered 35 Russian diplomats to leave the country.

Two Russian-owned compounds in the United States are being closed.

A damning statement by the White House read:

Russia’s cyber activities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in U.S. democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the U.S. government. These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Separately, two Russian individuals were named and sanctioned by the United States for the alleged misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information through cyber-enabled means. The two individuals have previously been sought by the FBI.

Furthermore, the State department declared 35 Russian government officials from the Russian Embassy in Washington and the Russian Consulate in San Francisco “persona non grata.” The individuals and their families were given a 72-hour deadline to leave the United States.

Russia’s response was that it will respond to any “hostile steps” taken by the US, in kind.

As reported by CNN, Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that there will be “no alternative to reciprocal measures.”

The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom released a tweet from its official social media account, calling President Obama’s administration “hapless”.

President Obama expels 35 ?? diplomats in Cold War deja vu. As everybody, incl ?? people, will be glad to see the last of this hapless Adm. pic.twitter.com/mleqA16H8D — Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) December 29, 2016

It wasn’t long before Russia’s Foreign Ministry proposed expelling 35 American diplomats in response to the sanctions by the United States.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated:

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and their colleagues from other agencies have proposed that President Vladimir Putin proclaim 31 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the US Consulate service in St. Petersburg as persons ‘non-grata.

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