US President Barack Obama has "ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government's aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations aimed at the US election" (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN) 
 
 Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama on Thursday unleashed a barrage of retaliatory measures against Moscow for meddling in the US election, imposing sanctions on two intelligence agencies, expelling 35 agents and shuttering two Russian compounds inside the United States. 
 
 Making good on a promise to punish Vladimir Putin's government for allegedly trying to tilt the 2016 election in Donald Trump's favor, Obama unveiled a broad range of steps that will inflame tensions with both Moscow and the president-elect. 
 
 US intelligence had concluded that a hack-and-release of Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton staff emails was ordered by the Kremlin and was designed to put the Republican real estate mogul in the Oval Office. 
 
 "I have ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government's aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations aimed at the US election," Obama said in a statement. 
 
 Trump said that while he believes the US should "move on to bigger and better things," he would meet with intelligence leaders next week for a briefing on the situation. 
 
 In response to the hacks -- dubbed "Grizzly Steppe" by US officials -- Obama announced sanctions against Russia's military intelligence agency, known as GRU, and the FSB -- the KGB's successor. 
 
 The 35 Russian intelligence operatives -- based at the Russian embassy in Washington and the consulate in San Francisco -- have been declared "persona non grata" and ordered to leave the country within 72 hours. 
 
 US officials also moved to close two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland. 
 
 The latter facility, a summer house a short drive from the US capital, was once featured in a Washington lifestyle magazine and was described as a stately home surrounded by lush gardens on the banks of the Chester River, with an "impressive collection of German and Hungarian porcelains." 
 
 The US government said it is now used "for intelligence-related purposes." 
 
 Obama warned of further covert actions. 
 
 "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 US interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," he said. 
 
 Those warnings, officials said, included a personal message from Obama to Putin when the two leaders met briefly in Hangzhou, China in September. 
 
 - Russian reprisals? - 
 
 Moscow quickly rejected US accusations of cyber-interference as "unfounded," and vowed to retaliate. 
 
 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Obama administration of trying to "definitively destroy US-Russia relations which have already reached a low." 
 
 He said Moscow would "react in an adequate manner based on the principles of reciprocity." 
 
 US officials said they were aware of reports that Moscow may have ordered the closure of the Anglo-American School in the Russian capital -- attended by many children of diplomats -- but they could not confirm those reports. 
 
 Trump has questioned whether Russia really tipped the electoral scale, painting Obama's accusations as a thinly veiled effort by a Democratic president to delegitimize a Republican victory. 
 
 While Trump has already received intelligence briefings about the election and substantial evidence is in the public sphere, his pledge to meet with intelligence chiefs could provide a face-saving opportunity to further soften his stance. 
 
 Obama pointedly stated that "all Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions." 
 
 - Could Trump change course? - 
 
 The timing of his actions leave Trump and Moscow in a difficult position. 
 
 Any attempt by the mogul-turned-politico to reverse Obama's sanctions once he takes office on January 20 would be widely seen as condoning Russian interference. 
 
 That proposition was further complicated by Obama linking the sanctions to harassment of US diplomats in Moscow, which Washington described as "unprecedented" in the post-Cold War era. 
 
 "These are executive actions," said a senior Obama administration official. 
 
 "If a future president decided that he wanted to allow in a large tranche of Russian intelligence agents, presumably a future president could invite that action. We think it would be inadvisable." 
 
 Trump's fellow Republicans are also limiting his room for maneuver, increasingly distancing themselves from his pro-Russian stance. ||||| President Barack Obama blames the "highest level of the Russian government for hacks," as he speaks during a news conference, Friday, Dec. 16, 2016, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (Susan Walsh/AP) 
 
 The Obama administration announced sweeping new measures on Thursday in retaliation for what U.S. officials characterized as Russian interference in this fall’s presidential election, ordering the removal of 35 Russian government officials and sanctioning state agencies and individuals tied to the hacks. 
 
 The FBI and CIA have concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump win the White House. Thursday’s announcement comes several weeks after President Obama promised to respond to Russian hacking with both public and covert actions,“at a time and place of our own choosing.” 
 
 [Here’s what you need to know about Russia’s election hacking] 
 
 The president said the new actions followed repeated warnings to the Russian government and were “a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests” contrary to international norms. 
 
 Obama said Americans should be “alarmed” by Russian actions, which he said included the interference in the election and harassment of U.S. diplomats overseas. “Such activities have consequences,” he said in a statement. 
 
 (The Washington Post) 
 
 The new measures include sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies, three companies that are believed to have provided support for government cyber operations, and four Russian cyber officials. The administration will also shut down Russian-owned facilities in Maryland and New York that Obama said where used for intelligence activities and would declare 35 Russian operatives “persona non grata,” meaning they would be required to leave the United States. 
 
 [Read the executive order released by the White House] 
 
 The State Department said it is taking action against these 35 individuals in response to Russia’s interference in the U.S. election and to the harassment of U.S. diplomats overseas over the last four years. 
 
 “The harassment has involved arbitrary police stops, physical assault, and the broadcast on State TV of personal details about our personnel that put them at risk,” according to a statement from State Department spokesperson Mark C. Toner. 
 
 Obama also suggested Thursday the United States may undertake covert activity in response to Russian activities. 
 
 “Any anti-Russian sanctions are fruitless and counterproductive,” said Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry official in charge of democracy and human rights, according to Interfax. “Such one-sided steps have the goal of damaging relations and complicating their restoration in the future.” 
 
 The Obama administration’s announcement culminates months of vigorous internal debate over whether and how to respond to Russia’s unprecedented election-year provocations, ranging from the hacks of the Democratic National Committee to the targeting of state electoral systems. 
 
 (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post) 
 
 U.S. officials believe that a military spy agency in Russia hacked into the Democratic National Committee and stole emails later released by WikiLeaks. Emails hacked from the account of John Podesta, who chaired Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, were also made public, and state electoral systems were targeted. 
 
 The cyber-intervention was aimed primarily at Democrats, U.S. officials concluded. 
 
 [Obama administration is close to announcing measures to punish Russia for election interference] 
 
 Russia has denied involvement in attacks related to the election and promised to retaliate against any new sanctions. 
 
 President-elect Donald J. Trump has already suggested that the United States should drop its effort to retaliate against Russia, telling reporters this week that “we ought to get on with our lives.” Trump has also cast doubt on U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia was behind the hacks. 
 
 As part of the new measures, the administration has amended a 2015 executive order allowing the president to respond to foreign cyberattacks. Because that order was intended primarily for attacks against infrastructure or commercial targets, officials adapted the order to cover attempts to undermine the electoral process. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Putin to Democratic Party: You lost, get over it 
 
 Obama says ‘we will’ retaliate against Russia for election hacking 
 
 FBI in agreement with CIA that Russia aimed to help Trump win White House 
 
 Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world ||||| This image provided by the FBI shows the wanted poster for Evgeniy Bogachev. In a sweeping response to election hacking, President Barack Obama sanctioned Russian intelligence services and their top officials,... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the tensions between the United States and Russia over hacking attacks in the US elections (All times EST) 
 
 5:30 a.m. 
 
 Russia's foreign minister has suggested expelling 35 U.S. diplomats in response to a new round of U.S. sanctions against Moscow. 
 
 U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, as American political sites and email accounts were hacked. Thirty-five Russian diplomats were ordered to leave the U.S. in 72 hours and two facilities closed. 
 
 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised remarks on Friday that the foreign ministry and other agencies have suggested that President Vladimir Putin order expulsion of 31 employees of the U.S. embassy in Moscow and 4 diplomats from the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg. Another suggestion is to bar U.S. diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse in the south of Moscow. 
 
 The Kremlin spokesman said late Thursday that it would be up to Putin to draft retaliatory measures. 
 
 4:1 5 a.m. 
 
 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called a new round of U.S. sanctions against his country "anti-Russian death throes." 
 
 U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential election by hacking American political sites and email accounts. The Kremlin said late on Thursday that it was considering retaliatory steps. 
 
 When he was president in 2008-2012 Medvedev focused on improving U.S.-Russia ties in what became known as the "reset" policy. He voiced disappointment with the new round of sanctions on Friday. 
 
 "It is sad that the Obama administration that began its life by restoring ties ends it with anti-Russian death throes. RIP," Medvedev said on Twitter. 
 
 Medvedev visited the United States in 2010 and sent his first tweet during a visit to Twitter's headquarters in the Silicon Valley. 
 
 3:09 a.m. 
 
 The United States is unleashing a string of sanctions and other punitive measures against Russia amid allegations it engaged in cyber-meddling in the U.S. presidential campaign, putting pressure on President-elect Donald Trump not to let Moscow off the hook after he takes office. 
 
 Russia's government threatened retaliation and continued to deny U.S. accusations that it hacked and stole emails to try to help Trump win. Trump said the U.S. should move on, but in a sign he was no longer totally brushing off the allegations, he planned to meet with U.S. intelligence leaders next week to learn more. 
 
 A month after an election the U.S. says Russia tried to sway for Trump, President Barack Obama on Thursday sanctioned the GRU and FSB, leading Russian intelligence agencies the U.S. said were involved. In an elaborately coordinated 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 counterattack.
– In retaliation for Russia's election-influencing hacking, the Obama administration is kicking 35 Russian intelligence operatives out of the US, the New York Times reports. The operatives, who Reuters refers to as diplomats, are part of the Russian embassy in Washington DC and the Russian consulate in San Francisco. They'll have 72 hours to leave the country. The White House also placed new sanctions on Russia's FSB and GRU intelligence agencies, according to AFP. The agencies are believed to have been involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee and others. Finally, the administration is closing Russian compounds in Maryland and New York believed to be used for intelligence purposes. The Times calls it the "strongest American response ever taken to a state-sponsored cyberattack." Obama calls the response both "necessary and appropriate." "I have ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government's aggressive harassment of US officials and cyber operations aimed at the US election," Obama said in a statement. The State Department says US officials in Moscow are regularly harassed by Russian security agents and traffic police; Thursday's actions are in response to that on top of election-related hacking. The move puts the onus on Donald Trump to lift the sanctions when he takes office, officially signalling that US intelligence agencies can't be trusted. When asked about the situation Wednesday, Trump said: "The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what is going on."