President Obama slapped Russia with new penalties Thursday in retaliation for meddling in the USA presidential election, targeting five people and four Russian organizations the administration says were involved.
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“I always knew he was very smart!”
On Thursday, President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russian Federation as punishment for the cyberattacks on the 2016 presidential election that the USA intelligence community unanimously agreed Russian Federation was.
Obama ordered sanctions against two Russian intelligence services, the GRU and the FSB, plus companies which the US says support the GRU.
President-elect Donald Trump has rejected the US intelligence community’s assessment that Russian Federation hacked into Democratic Party computer networks and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The Obama administration’s actions come after revelations that Russian Federation interfered in the November presidential election, although senior administration officials cautioned on a call with reporters Thursday that there is no evidence suggesting Russian Federation was able to interfere with the actual vote.
After Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday recommended the expulsion proposal of 35 U.S. diplomats to Putin in a retaliatory move, the Russian leader said that he would not hit back on the United States.
Sanctions were also imposed against another intelligence agency and three Russian companies that allegedly helped facilitate the cyberattacks.
A State Department official confirmed that one of two Russian compounds the US will shut down is in Centreville, Maryland.
He added that, while Russian Federation has “the right to retaliate”, the government will not expel any us diplomats or declare any retaliatory measures at this time.
News reports, later denied by Russian officials, claimed that Moscow was going to close the Anglo-American School, where the children of us diplomats study.
Trump’s scepticism over Russia’s alleged attempts to “erode faith in US democratic institutions”, as the government puts it, is consistent with his conciliatory approach to Russo-US relations, and comes in a week where domestic battlelines are being drawn via worldwide allegiances.
Vladimir Putin has taken the dramatic step to close an Anglo-American day school in Moscow just hours after President Obama announced tough new sanctions against the country.
Moscow denies the hacking allegation.
The president-elect made the comments while standing alongside boxing promoter Don King, who was waving a fist full of flags next to Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“This is all about Russian politics”.
President Obama promised action against Russian Federation after investigators discovered the nation hacked usa officials to meddle with the election. “If the United States has clear proof of anybody interfering with our elections, we should make that known and put it out there”.
“All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions”, Obama said in the statement.
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After years of weakness that have invited and encouraged Russian aggression, the actions by President Obama are long overdue, said Senator Marco Rubio. On Friday, Putin said he would not expel USA diplomats nor impose sanctions. The 35 expelled diplomats were called “intelligence operatives” but not linked to the hacking.
