Vladimir Zakharov/Getty Images(MOSCOW) — Russia’s retribution against President Barack Obama’s sanctions is beginning to take root.
The country’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, proposed Friday in televised remarks that president Vladimir Putin expel 35 U.S. diplomats: 31 from the American embassy in Moscow and four from the American consulate in St. Petersburg.
It is up to Putin to draft such retaliatory measures.
ABC News had previously reported, citing a U.S. official, that Moscow had ordered the the shutdown of the Anglo-American School of Moscow — chartered by the American, British, and Canadian embassies in Moscow — but a U.S. embassy official in Moscow said the school had not been shuttered. Russia’s foreign ministry also denied the school’s closure.
Lavrov’s proposed measures are in response to the White House’s announcement Thursday that “a number of actions in response to the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber-operations aimed at the U.S. election” are being enacted.
Additional proposed measures are expected though: Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page Thursday, “there will be official statements, counter-measures” announced on Friday.
Echoed Dimitry Peskov, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s press secretary: “We will certainly response adequately…and it will be determined in line with decisions adopted by the Russian President.”
Peskov warned, “there is no doubt that Russia’s adequate and mirror [sic] response will make Washington officials feel very uncomfortable as well.”
Russia has denied interfering in the presidential election.
The “actions” Obama spoke of in his statement include the expulsion within 72 hours of 35 Russian intelligence operatives, and the sanctioning of five Russian entities and four individuals for an alleged cyberassault on Democratic political organizations during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Obama also said that the State Department is also shutting down two massive Russian recreational compounds, in Maryland and New York, which U.S. officials say are also used for intelligence purposes.
“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior,” Obama said.
But Peskov has slammed the sanctions as “groundless, illegal from international law point of view” and “aimed directly at undermining” Russia-U.S. bilateral relations.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.