Putin Says No U.S. Diplomats Will Be Expelled

Putin Says No U.S. Diplomats Will Be Expelled

US President-elect Donald Trump has praised Vladimir Putin after he ruled out a retaliation for Barack Obama’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats over alleged US election hacking claims.

Mr Putin said his government would instead wait to see how relations developed under the incoming president, Donald Trump.

Mr Trump tweeted: “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!”

Mr Putin had earlier said Russia would not stoop to “irresponsible diplomacy”.

Washington expelled 35 diplomats over hacking related to the US election.

But Moscow denies any involvement.

Mr Trump emphasised his statement on the row by pinning his tweet to the top of his account.

It was unclear exactly what he was referring to with the term “delay”.

Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016

Earlier, Mr Putin castigated the United States for bringing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats, but said no US diplomats will be ousted in reprisal for Washington’s moves in the wake of hacking attacks.

In a burgeoning controversy surrounding complaints from the Obama administration about a cyber assault against America’s political system, the White House unleashed a string of sanctions and coupled them with an order that 35 Russians be expelled.

In a statement on Friday on the Kremlin’s web site, Mr Putin referred to the sanctions as a “provocation aimed to further undermine Russian-American relations.”

But he also said that Moscow would not be ousting American diplomats.

“The Russian diplomats returning home will spend the New Year holidays with their relatives and dear ones,” Mr Putin said. “At home. We will not create problems for US diplomats. We will not expel anybody.”

The diplomatic confrontation between Washington and Moscow, which had been festering even before the November 8 presidential election elevated Donald Trump to the presidency, puts pressure on the billionaire businessman not to let Russia off the hook after he takes office on January. 20.

Russia’s government had threatened retaliation, and it continues to deny US accusations that it hacked and stole emails to try to help Mr Trump win. Mr Trump said the US should move on, but in a sign he was no longer totally brushing off the allegations, he plans to meet with US intelligence leaders next week to learn more.

Mr Putin’s statement came hours after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested a tit-for-tat expulsion in televised remarks. He said early on Friday that Russia’s foreign ministry and other agencies had suggested that Mr Putin order expulsion of 31 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the US Consulate in St. Petersburg. Another suggestion is to bar American diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow.

But in the web site remarks, Mr Putin said, Russia would not prevent the families and children (of diplomats) from using the customary rest and leisure facilities and sites during the New Year holidays.

“Moreover, I am inviting all children of US diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas parties in the Kremlin,” he said.

US President Barack Obama ordered sanctions against the GRU and FSB, leading Russian intelligence agencies the US said were involved.

In an elaborately co-ordinated response by at least five federal agencies, the Obama administration also sought to expose Russia’s cyber tactics with a detailed technical report and hinted it might still launch a covert counter-attack.

“All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,” said Mr Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii. He added, “Such activities have consequences.”

He said the response wasn’t over and the US could take further, covert action — a thinly veiled reference to a counterstroke in cyberspace the US has been considering.

Yet the sanctions could easily be pulled back by Mr Trump, who has insisted that Mr Obama and Democrats are merely attempting to delegitimise his election.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged earlier that Washington has become immersed in “anti-Russian death throes.”

Mr Medvedev, who focused on improving US-Russia ties when he was president from 2008-2012, called the latest diplomatic breach “sad” in a Twitter post.

As part of the punishment levelled against Moscow, the U.S. kicked out 35 Russian diplomats, in response to Russia’s harassment of US diplomats. They also shut down Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland that US officials said were being used for intelligence.

It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack, and more comprehensive than last year’s sanctions on North Korea after it hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The new penalties add to existing US sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which have impaired Russia’s economy but had limited impact on Mr Putin’s behaviour.

Russia called the penalties a clumsy yet aggressive attempt to “harm Russian- American ties.” Mr Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take into account the fact that Trump will soon replace Mr Obama as it drafts retaliatory measures.

US relations with Russia have suffered during Mr Obama’s years in office as he and Mr Putin tussled over Ukraine, Edward Snowden and Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, took to Facebook to call the Obama administration “a group of foreign policy losers, angry and ignorant.”

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 was unlikely the new sanctions, while symbolically significant, would have a major impact on Russian spy operations. The sanctions freeze any US assets and block Americans from doing business with them. But Russian law bars the spy agencies from having assets in the US, and any activities they undertake would likely be covert and hard to identify.

“On its face, this is more than a slap on the wrists, but hardly an appropriate response to an unprecedented attack on our electoral system,” said Stewart Baker, a cybersecurity lawyer and former National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security official.

Indeed, senior Obama administration officials said that even with the penalties, the US had reason to believe Russia would keep hacking other nations’ elections and might well try to hack American elections again in 2018 or 2020.

The officials briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity. Though the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report on “Russian malicious cyber activity” — replete with examples of malware code used by the Russians — it still has not released a broader report Mr Obama has promised detailing Russia’s efforts to interfere with US elections. The report has been eagerly anticipated by those hoping to make it politically untenable for Mr Trump to continue questioning whether Russia was really involved. But US officials said those seeking more detail about who the US has determined did the hacking need look only to the list of sanctions targets, which includes the GRU head, his three deputies, and two Russian nationals wanted by the FBI for cybercrimes.

The move puts Mr Trump in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office, and US officials acknowledged that Mr Trump could use his executive authorities to do so. Still, they suggested that building the case against Russia now would make it harder for Mr Trump to justify easing up.

US allegations of hacking have ignited a heated debate over Mr Trump’s approach to Russia and his refusal to accept the assessment of US intelligence agencies that Russia’s government was responsible and wanted to help him win.

Though US politicians have long called for Mr Obama to be tougher on Russia, some Republicans have found that position less tenable now that Mr Trump is floating the possibility of closer ties to Moscow.

“While today’s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan.

US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia was trying to help Mr Trump when hackers connected to the government breached Democratic Party computers and stole tens of thousands of emails that were then posted on WikiLeaks, some containing embarrassing information about Democrats.

Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta’s emails were also stolen and released publicly in the final weeks of the campaign.