Among the suggestions put forth to Russian President Vladimir Putin by the foreign ministry and other agencies is to expel 35 American diplomatic personnel.
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President-elect Donald Trump accused President Barack Obamaon Wednesday of throwing up “inflammatory” roadblocks during the transition of power and his administration of treating Israel with “total disdain”, further straining the veneer of civility between the incoming and outgoing leaders.
The decision came as a surprise; tit-for-tat expulsions are common diplomatic practice and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had suggested hours before Putin’s announcement that Russian Federation would oust 31 American diplomats.
“These actions were taken to respond to Russian harassment of American diplomats and actions by the diplomats that we have assessed to be not consistent with diplomatic practice”, an official said. “We will not create problems for USA diplomats”.
“We will not expel anyone”.
“Any action against Russian diplomatic missions in the USA will immediately bounce back on United States diplomats in Russia”.
Putin appeared to aim at playing a long game and at making a barbed reminder that Obama is a lame duck.
Trump’s comments about Obama come as he announced that Sprint will bring back 5,000 jobs to the United States from overseas, while another company, OneWeb, hires 3,000 employees.
Separately, the Russian embassy to the United Kingdom tweeted a visual gag calling the Obama presidency a lame duck.
President-elect Donald Trump takes questions Wednesday alongside boxing promoter Don King, who was among guests for a dinner. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, also denied on Friday reports that Russian Federation would close the Anglo-American School of Moscow.
During a Wednesday evening press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said of the Russian hacks, “We ought to get on with our lives”. He even invited the children to USA diplomats in the USA to attend a New Year’s celebration at the Kremlin.
New Year’s Eve has been the main holiday in Russian Federation since Soviet times.
Some of the steps are expected to name individuals associated with a Russian disinformation campaign that USA intelligence officials say used hacked information from mostly Democratic Party organizations and officials to attack the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. “And clearly the Obama administration has not yet dissuaded them from attempting to breach our cybersecurity systems, or harass our diplomats in Moscow”, McConnell said in a statement.
Yet Mr Trump stoked the greatest controversy over the issue of Russia’s alleged hacking of emails belonging to Hillary Clinton’s top adviser and members of the Democratic National Committee. The president cautioned against “the urge to turn inward” and the need to “resist the urge to demonize those who are different”, remarks some thought were aimed partly at Trump. While the USA has thus far refused to recognize the annexation of Crimea, Trump has hinted in the past that he may be prepared to do so.
The lawmakers on Wednesday reaffirmed the US commitment to the Baltics, saying the relationship with the three former Soviet states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – “will not change” under the new administration. Access to the two compounds, which are used by Russian officials for intelligence gathering, will be denied to all Russian officials as of noon on Friday.
The senator called the sanctions a measure of “vengeance and retaliation”.
But he added that Russian Federation would not act “in haste” and alluded to the upcoming change at the helm of the US.
President-elect Donald Trump hailed the promised addition of 8,000 jobs to the USA and commented on Israel and his relationship with President Barack Obama in a series of exchanges with journalists on the front steps of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
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The Republican previously failed to acknowledge intelligence agencies’ assertion that Vladimir Putin was directly involved in the hacking plans, with his latest comments coming in response to discussions over the U.S. imposing sanctions on Russian Federation over the hack.
