Tensions with Putin have sparked fears of a new Cold War (Picture: Getty)

It’s hardly big news that the US and Russia don’t get on.

Today the US gave a group of Russian diplomats three days to get out of the country and closed down access to compounds in New York and Maryland.

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It’s all very tense and the world is watching on with great fear that we are getting into another Cold War.

But the Russian Embassy in the UK has responded with something that could be seen to be a bit infantile – a picture of a duck with the word ‘lame’ written across it.


It’s in reference to the fact that within a couple of weeks there will be a new president and they’re accusing Obama of being a lame duck.

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 the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyber attack.



‘All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,’ Mr Obama said in a statement released while he was on holiday in Hawaii.

He added: ‘Such activities have consequences.’

Mr Obama ordered sanctions against two Russian intelligence services, the GRU and the FSB, plus companies which the US says support the GRU.

The cyber security firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the theft of its emails determined earlier this year the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.

The president also sanctioned Lt Gen Korobov, the head of the GRU, and three of his deputies.

Other individuals sanctioned include Alexei Belan and Yevgeny Bogachev, two Russian nationals who have been wanted by the FBI for cyber crimes for years.

Mr Obama said the hacking ‘could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government’, a contention the US has used to suggest Russian president Vladimir Putin was personally involved.

Although the White House announced at the same time it was kicking out Russian officials and closing facilities, it said those were responses to other troubling Russian behaviour: harassment of US diplomats by Russian personnel and police.

The 35 Russian diplomats being kicked out are intelligence operatives, Mr Obama said.

The state department said they were being declared ‘persona non grata’, and they were given 72 hours to leave the country.

The two compounds being closed down are recreational facilities owned by Russia’s government, one in Maryland and one in New York, the US said.

The White House said Russia had been notified that it would be denied access to the sites starting at noon on Friday.

Russian officials have denied the Obama administration’s accusation that the Russian government was involved at the highest levels in trying to influence the US presidential election.

US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia’s goal was to help Donald Trump win – an assessment Mr Trump has dismissed as ridiculous.

The move puts the president-elect in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office.