The Trump administration on Monday evening stopped short of imposing fresh sanctions on Russia as punishment for its election meddling, providing further ammunition for critics who say the White House colluded with the Kremlin.

The announcement came soon after the director of the CIA warned that Russia would interfere in this year’s mid-term elections.

Last year Democrats and Republicans passed a bill authorising the administration to use sanctions to both punish Moscow and to prevent future meddling.

Congress set a January 29 deadline to introduce new measures or explain why it had not done so.

On Monday evening Heather Nauert, State Department spokeswoman, indicated that the mere threat of sanctions had been sufficient and no further action was needed.

"Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defence sales," she said.

"Since the enactment of the ... legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defence acquisitions."

The statement sparked immediate anger that Mr Trump was either hiding something or failing to take the threat seriously.