While Donald Trump continues to seethe over the Russia investigation that James Comey refused to drop and the expanding collusion probe now overseen by Robert Mueller, his administration is quietly cracking down on Moscow as relations between the two countries continue to sour. For months, the president clashed with the U.S. intelligence leaders over their conclusion that Kremlin operatives oversaw a campaign to swing the 2016 election in his favor, and frustrated congressional leaders with his continued overtures to Vladimir Putin. But as the White House retreats from commenting on the Russia affair, diverting questions about the investigation to Trump’s lawyers, other U.S. agencies have stepped into the void.

Some of the actions being taken by the U.S. government appear to stem from Mueller’s F.B.I. investigation: on Monday, RT, the American arm of the state-owned Russia Today, reported that its parent company had been ordered by the Department of Justice to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a World War II-era law that would effectively label RT content as Russian propaganda. Yahoo News reported that the D.O.J. is also investigating Sputnik, another Kremlin-controlled media organization, which could also be compelled to register under FARA. In an interview with Yahoo News, Andrew Feinberg, the former White House correspondent for Sputnik, said he was interviewed by the F.B.I. about the company’s structure. “They wanted to know where did my orders come from and if I ever got any direction from Moscow,” Feinberg said. “They were interested in examples of how I was steered towards covering certain issues.”

But the U.S. countermeasures aren’t limited to those stemming from Mueller’s probe. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said all government agencies must stop using Kaspersky Lab products within 90 days, fearing that the Moscow-based cybersecurity company might be susceptible to Kremlin influence. “The Department is concerned about the ties between certain Kaspersky officials and Russian intelligence and other government agencies, and requirements under Russian law that allow Russian intelligence agencies to request or compel assistance from Kaspersky and to intercept communications transiting Russian networks,” Homeland Security said in a statement, according to Reuters. (Kaspersky Labs responded that “the accusations are based on false allegations and inaccurate assumptions.”)

These quiet moves—the public face of a larger, ongoing counterintelligence effort—follow a period of escalating tit-for-tat diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia. After Congress forced Trump’s hand in signing a bill that leveled a new set of retaliatory sanctions against Moscow for its election meddling, Putin ordered the U.S. to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 in July. Shortly after, the State Department directed Russia to close three diplomatic sites, located in Washington D.C., New York City, and San Francisco. This week, the Russian government retaliated again, stripping U.S. diplomats of their parking spots in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, according to Russian media.

The rapid deterioration of relations between the two countries is remarkable, given Trump’s repeated promises to improve U.S.-Russia relations. On the campaign trail, Trump frequently praised Putin’s leadership, and members of his team aggressively lobbied the G.O.P. to weaken its stance toward Ukraine. Former national security adviser Mike Flynn was ultimately fired over communications with a Russian official in which he reportedly discussed U.S. sanctions before Trump took office—one of several efforts by members of the administration to ease economic ties. Putin was apparently ready to reciprocate: in the third month of Trump’s presidency, Russia presented a proposal to the White House that outlined “the full normalization of relations between the United States and Russia across all major branches of government,” according to BuzzFeed News. But the effort subsequently stalled. “Moscow systematically advocated for a resumption of the dialogue, for an exchange of opinion and for attempts at finding joint solutions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, CNN reports. “But, unfortunately, it saw no reciprocity.”

Peskov’s remarks echo Putin’s lament at the U.S.’s continued reluctance to restore diplomatic relations. Earlier this month, the Russian president specifically criticized Rex Tillerson for the ongoing tensions. Putin said that it seems the former ExxonMobil C.E.O. “has fallen in with bad company” since he awarded him the Russian Order of Friendship in 2013, though he said that he maintains “hope that the wind of cooperation and friendship will blow him onto the right track in the end.”