President Vladimir Putin castigated the United States Friday for bringing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats amid allegations of Russian meddling in the American presidential election, but said no U.S. diplomats will be ousted in reprisal for Washington’s moves in the wake of hacking attacks.

In a burgeoning controversy surrounding complaints from the Obama administration about a cyber assault against America’s political system, the White House on Thursday unleashed a string of sanctions and coupled them with an order that 35 Russians be expelled.

In a statement Friday on the Kremlin’s web site, Putin referred to the sanctions as a “provocation aimed to further undermine Russian-American relations.” But he also said that Moscow would not be ousting American diplomats.

“The Russian diplomats returning home will spend the New Year Holidays with their relatives and dear ones,” Putin said. “At home. We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats. We will not expel anybody.”

The diplomatic confrontation between Washington and Moscow, which had been festering even before the Nov. 8 presidential election elevated Donald Trump to the presidency, puts pressure on the billionaire businessman not to let Russia off the hook after he takes office on Jan. 20.

Russia’s government had threatened retaliation, and it continues 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 plans to meet with U.S. intelligence leaders next week to learn more.

Putin’s statement came hours after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested a tit-for-tat expulsion in televised remarks. He said early Friday that Russia’s foreign ministry and other agencies had suggested that Putin order expulsion of 31 employees of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg. Another suggestion is to bar American diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow.

But in the web site remarks, Putin said, Russia would not prevent the families and children (of diplomats) from using the customary rest and leisure facilities and sites during the New Year holidays. “Moreover, I am inviting all children of US diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas parties in the Kremlin,” he said.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered sanctions against 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.

“All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,” said Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii. He added, “Such activities have consequences.”

He said the response wasn’t over and the U.S. could take further, covert action — a thinly veiled reference to a counterstrike in cyberspace the U.S. has been considering.

Yet the sanctions could easily be pulled back by Trump, who has insisted that Obama and Democrats are merely attempting to delegitimize his election.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged earlier Friday that Washington has become immersed in “anti-Russian death throes.”

Medvedev, who focused on improving U.S.-Russia ties when he was president from 2008-2012, called the latest diplomatic breach “sad” in a Twitter post.

As part of the punishment leveled against Moscow, the U.S. kicked out 35 Russian diplomats, in response to Russia’s harassment of U.S. diplomats. They also shut down Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland that U.S. officials said were being used for intelligence.

It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack, and more comprehensive than last year’s sanctions on North Korea after it hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment. The new penalties add to existing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which have impaired Russia’s economy but had limited impact on Putin’s behavior.

Russia called the penalties a clumsy yet aggressive attempt to “harm Russian-American ties.” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take into account the fact that Trump will soon replace Obama as it drafts retaliatory measures.

U.S. relations with Russia have suffered during Obama’s years in office as he and Putin tussled over Ukraine, Edward Snowden and Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, took to Facebook to call the Obama administration “a group of foreign policy losers, angry and ignorant.”

It was unlikely the new sanctions, while symbolically significant, would have a major impact on Russian spy operations. The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets and block Americans from doing business with them. But Russian law bars the spy agencies from having assets in the U.S., and any activities they undertake would likely be covert and hard to identify.

“On its face, this is more than a slap on the wrists, but hardly an appropriate response to an unprecedented attack on our electoral system,” said Stewart Baker, a cybersecurity lawyer and former National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security official.

Indeed, senior Obama administration officials said that even with the penalties, the U.S. had reason to believe Russia would keep hacking other nations’ elections and might well try to hack American elections again in 2018 or 2020. The officials briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

Though the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report on “Russian malicious cyber activity” — replete with examples of malware code used by the Russians — it still has not released a broader report Obama has promised detailing Russia’s efforts to interfere with U.S. elections.

The report has been eagerly anticipated by those hoping to make it politically untenable for Trump to continue questioning whether Russia was really involved. But U.S. officials said those seeking more detail about who the U.S. has determined did the hacking need look only to the list of sanctions targets, which includes the GRU head, his three deputies, and two Russian nationals wanted by the FBI for cybercrimes.

The move puts Trump in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office, and U.S. officials acknowledged that Trump could use his executive authorities to do so. Still, they suggested that building the case against Russia now would make it harder for Trump to justify easing up.

U.S. allegations of hacking have ignited a heated debate over Trump’s approach to Russia and his refusal to accept the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia’s government was responsible and wanted to help him win. Though U.S. lawmakers have long called for Obama to be tougher on Russia, some Republicans have found that position less tenable now that Trump is floating the possibility of closer ties to Moscow.

“While today’s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia was trying to help Trump when hackers connected to the government breached Democratic Party computers and stole tens of thousands of emails that were then posted on WikiLeaks, some containing embarrassing information about Democrats. Clinton aide John Podesta’s emails were also stolen and released publicly in the final weeks of the campaign.</s>President Vladimir Putin resisted a call Friday to expel U.S. diplomats in response to a new round of election-related sanctions against Russia.

The move goes against the advice of Putin's foreign minister and signaled the Russian leader's apparent willingness to wait until the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump to restore wounded U.S.-Russia relations.

In a potential tit-for-tat action, Sergey Lavrov earlier Friday called for the expulsion of 35 U.S. diplomats and the closure of two facilities in Moscow after Washington on Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence officials, expelled 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being spies and shut down two Russian facilities in the United States over evidence Russia interfered in this year's presidential election.

"We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats," Putin said in a statement. "We will not expel anybody." Putin said the fresh U.S. measures contravened "the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American people."

In a further mark of apparent appeasement, the Russian president invited the children of U.S. diplomats in Russia to a New Year's Eve party in the Kremlin.

Lavrov called for the expulsion of 31 employees at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four in the U.S. consulate in Saint Petersburg. He added that the foreign ministry submitted a proposal to Putin to bar U.S. diplomats from using two facilities in Moscow — a vacation house and a warehouse.

He said that claims by President Obama's administration that Russia was behind cyber-attacks that targeted the U.S. election were "groundless."

"The outgoing U.S. administration of Barack Obama accusing Russia of all mortal sins, trying to blame us for the failure of its foreign policy initiatives, among other things, has put forward additional accusations without any grounds whatsoever that the Russian state was behind attempts to meddle in the U.S. election campaign, which led to the defeat of the democratic candidate," he said in a speech. "We, of course, cannot leave insults of this kind unanswered."

But the lack of a response Friday does not mean Russia will not take any counter-measures. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, promised late Thursday that Russia would "cause serious discomfort to the American side" as a result of the sanctions.

The last time the U.S. expelled Russian diplomats on this scale was in 2001, when 51 were ejected for spying.

The dispute is another example of an increasingly frosty diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Washington that has suffered major setbacks during Obama's tenure and recalled Cold War-era animosity over differences over Moscow's support for separatists in Ukraine and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

After Lavrov's comments, the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted an image of a hand, apparently located in the U.S., throwing a boomerang bearing the words "Anti-Russian Sanctions" toward Russia. The tweet added: "MFA: American people humiliated by its own President," referring to the ministry of foreign affairs.

President-elect Donald Trump has called the hacking claims "ridiculous" and said Americans should "get on with their lives." That view does not appear to be widely supported by the majority of Democratic and Republican politicians.</s>President Vladimir Putin castigated the United States Friday for bringing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats amid allegations of Russian meddling in the American presidential election, but said no U.S. diplomats will be ousted in reprisal for Washington's moves in the wake of hacking attacks.

In a burgeoning controversy surrounding complaints from the Obama administration about a cyber assault against America's political system, the White House on Thursday unleashed a string of sanctions and coupled them with an order that 35 Russians be expelled.

In a statement Friday on the Kremlin's website, Putin referred to the sanctions as a "provocation aimed to further undermine Russian-American relations." But he also said that Moscow would not be ousting American diplomats.

"The Russian diplomats returning home will spend the New Year Holidays with their relatives and dear ones," Putin said. "At home. We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats. We will not expel anybody."

The diplomatic confrontation between Washington and Moscow, which had been festering even before the Nov. 8 presidential election elevated Donald Trump to the presidency, puts pressure on the billionaire businessman not to let Russia off the hook after he takes office on Jan. 20.

Russia's government had threatened retaliation, and it continues 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 plans to meet with U.S. intelligence leaders next week to learn more.

Putin's statement came hours after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested a tit-for-tat expulsion in televised remarks. He said early Friday that Russia's foreign ministry and other agencies had suggested that Putin order expulsion of 31 employees of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg. Another suggestion is to bar American diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow.

But in the website remarks, Putin said, Russia would not prevent the families and children (of diplomats) from using the customary rest and leisure facilities and sites during the New Year holidays. "Moreover, I am inviting all children of US diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas parties in the Kremlin," he said.



President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered sanctions against the GRU and FSB, leading Russian intelligence agencies the U.S. said were involved. In an elaborately co-ordinated 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.

"All Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions," said Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii. He added, "Such activities have consequences."

He said the response wasn't over and the U.S. could take further, covert action -- a thinly veiled reference to a counterstrike in cyberspace the U.S. has been considering.

Yet the sanctions could easily be pulled back by Trump, who has insisted that Obama and Democrats are merely attempting to delegitimize his election.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged earlier Friday that Washington has become immersed in "anti-Russian death throes."

Medvedev, who focused on improving U.S.-Russia ties when he was president from 2008-2012, called the latest diplomatic breach "sad" in a Twitter post.

As part of the punishment levelled against Moscow, the U.S. kicked out 35 Russian diplomats, in response to Russia's harassment of U.S. diplomats. They also shut down Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland that U.S. officials said were being used for intelligence.

It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack, and more comprehensive than last year's sanctions on North Korea after it hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment. The new penalties add to existing U.S. sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine, which have impaired Russia's economy but had limited impact on Putin's behaviour.

Russia called the penalties a clumsy yet aggressive attempt to "harm Russian-American ties." Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take into account the fact that Trump will soon replace Obama as it drafts retaliatory measures.

U.S. relations with Russia have suffered during Obama's years in office as he and Putin tussled over Ukraine, Edward Snowden and Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, took to Facebook to call the Obama administration "a group of foreign policy losers, angry and ignorant."

It was unlikely the new sanctions, while symbolically significant, would have a major impact on Russian spy operations. The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets and block Americans from doing business with them. But Russian law bars the spy agencies from having assets in the U.S., and any activities they undertake would likely be covert and hard to identify.

"On its face, this is more than a slap on the wrists, but hardly an appropriate response to an unprecedented attack on our electoral system," said Stewart Baker, a cybersecurity lawyer and former National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security official.

Indeed, senior Obama administration officials said that even with the penalties, the U.S. had reason to believe Russia would keep hacking other nations' elections and might well try to hack American elections again in 2018 or 2020. The officials briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

Though the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report on "Russian malicious cyber activity" -- replete with examples of malware code used by the Russians -- it still has not released a broader report Obama has promised detailing Russia's efforts to interfere with U.S. elections.

The report has been eagerly anticipated by those hoping to make it politically untenable for Trump to continue questioning whether Russia was really involved. But U.S. officials said those seeking more detail about who the U.S. has determined did the hacking need look only to the list of sanctions targets, which includes the GRU head, his three deputies, and two Russian nationals wanted by the FBI for cybercrimes.

The move puts Trump in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office, and U.S. officials acknowledged that Trump could use his executive authorities to do so. Still, they suggested that building the case against Russia now would make it harder for Trump to justify easing up.

U.S. allegations of hacking have ignited a heated debate over Trump's approach to Russia and his refusal to accept the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia's government was responsible and wanted to help him win. Though U.S. lawmakers have long called for Obama to be tougher on Russia, some Republicans have found that position less tenable now that Trump is floating the possibility of closer ties to Moscow.

"While today's action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia was trying to help Trump when hackers connected to the government breached Democratic Party computers and stole tens of thousands of emails that were then posted on WikiLeaks, some containing embarrassing information about Democrats. Clinton aide John Podesta's emails were also stolen and released publicly in the final weeks of the campaign.</s>Moscow: Russia on Friday moved to expel 35 US diplomats in a tit-for-tat response after President Barack Obama unleashed a barrage of punishment against Moscow over alleged election interference.

Obama's broadside over cyber attacks sent ties between Russia and the United States already at their worst since the Cold War to a fresh low less than a month ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking charge.

The outgoing US leader on Thursday gave 35 alleged Russian "intelligence operatives" based at the country's embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco 72 hours to leave the country, and hit Russia's military and domestic intelligence agencies with sanctions.

"We of course cannot leave these stunts unanswered. Reciprocity is the law in diplomacy and international relations," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a televised statement, dismissing the US allegations as "groundless".

Lavrov said his ministry had asked President Vladimir Putin to declare 31 employees at the US embassy in Moscow and four at the country's consulate in second city Saint Petersburg personae non gratae.

Russia is also seeking to ban US diplomats from using a holiday home and warehouse in Moscow, Lavrov said, after Obama ordered the closure two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland.

Making good on a promise to punish Putin's government for allegedly trying to tilt the 2016 election in Trump's favour, Obama on Thursday unveiled a broad range of steps against Moscow including the diplomat expulsions.

US intelligence 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.

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 Kremlin has repeatedly rejected the US accusations of cyber-interference and spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Obama administration of trying to "definitively destroy US-Russia relations which have already reached a low."

Relations between Washington and Moscow have slumped to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, and Obama has previously imposed sanctions over Russia's actions in Syria and Ukraine.

Peskov said ahead of Lavrov's announcement that Putin would take into account the fact Obama only has some three weeks left in office when responding, insisting Moscow would try not to act like a "bull in a china shop" in the hope of normalising ties once Trump takes charge.

The moves by Obama could also raise further tensions with his successor Trump, who has expressed his admiration for Putin and desire to improve ties with Russia.

Trump has questioned whether Russia really tipped the electoral scale, painting Obama's accusations as a thinly veiled effort by a Democratic president to delegitimise a Republican victory.

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.

Obama has pointedly stated that "all Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions."

Obama has also linked the fresh sanctions to harassment of US diplomats in Moscow, which Washington described as "unprecedented" in the post-Cold War era.

US officials played down the impact that sanctions against the GRU and the FSB could have on intelligence-sharing on issues like counterterrorism, saying cooperation was already limited.

Both agencies will face sanctions, along with four GRU officers including agency chief Igor Korobov.

In addition, the US Treasury slapped sanctions on two individuals, Evgeniy Bogachev and Aleksey Belan, for "involvement in malicious cyber-enabled activities."

The sanctions freeze any assets they may have in the United States and blocks US companies from doing business with them.

The US government is also declassifying technical information on Russian cyber activity to help companies defend against future attacks.

"The United States and friends and allies around the world must work together to oppose Russia's efforts to undermine established international norms of behaviour and interfere with democratic governance," Obama said.

That reflects growing concerns that Russia could target upcoming elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands.</s>Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed to Mr Putin that Moscow expel 35 US diplomats and ban US diplomatic staff from using two facilities in Moscow, his ministry said.

This followed President Barack Obama's decision to expel the 35 Russian diplomats suspected of spying and to impose sanctions on the two Russian intelligence agencies over their alleged involvement in hacking US political groups in the 2016 presidential election.

Mr Lavrov said the allegations that Russia interfered in US elections were baseless.

Mr Putin rejected Mr Lavrov's plan. "We will not expel anyone," he said in a statement. He also said he saw the sanctions as another step to undermine relations between Moscow and Washington, and he regretted that the Obama administration was ending its term in such a way.

Russian officials have portrayed the US sanctions as a last act of a lame-duck president and suggested that Mr Trump could reverse them when he takes over the White House in January.

Earlier, Russian Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev said the Obama administration was ending its term in "anti-Russia death throes".

"It is regrettable that the Obama administration, which started out by restoring our ties, is ending its term in an anti-Russia death throes. RIP," Medvedev, who served as president in 2009 when Obama tried to improve Russia-US relations, wrote on his official Facebook page.

The US sanctions also closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland that the administration said were used by Russian personnel for "intelligence-related purposes".

Russian diplomats leave US quietly

In small convoys of vehicles, Russians have departed two countryside holiday retreats outside Washington DC and New York City without fanfare, ordered out by President Obama who claims the premises are linked to spying.

The Russians were given until noon (local time) on Friday to vacate the compounds in Centreville, Maryland, and in Upper Brookville on Long Island in New York state. By early afternoon, trucks, buses and black sedans with diplomatic licence plates had left.

"The premises have been vacated and it's under control of the government," Elliot Conway, the mayor of Upper Brookville, told reporters soon after the deadline, when a total of six vehicles had driven away from the Russian compound there.

"They've been quiet neighbours," Mr Conway said, adding he had never met anyone who lived at the estate set in rolling countryside about 40km from Manhattan.

In Maryland, about a dozen vehicles left the sprawling waterfront estate, watched by officials from the US State Department. Some passengers smiled and waved as they rode away from the compound, which is located in a wooded farm area with winding narrow roads.

Mr Obama abruptly ordered the closures on Thursday, saying the compounds had been "used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes".

It was part of his response, including the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies, to what US officials have called cyber interference by Moscow in the 2016 US presidential election campaign. The Kremlin has denied the hacking allegations.

The closures echoed the old days of tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

When the Russians came to Maryland

When Soviet officials bought the compound in Centreville to be used as a country retreat for diplomats posted to the US capital, it rattled residents of the bayside Maryland town. It was 1972, in the deep chill of the Cold War.

People were suspicious of the Soviets and "thought they were spies ... It was the folklore of Centreville," said Joe Dawkins, who works locally in agriculture.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept an office in Centreville for a time, residents said. The FBI office closed years ago, they said, and over time neighbours in this community of about 4500 people got used to Russian-accented officials shopping at the liquor store, hunting nearby and dining at a popular Irish pub, O'Shucks.

The Russian government maintained the compound after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Property records show the Russian government owns an estate on Town Point Lane in Centreville valued at US$8 million for tax purposes.

Neighbours said the Russians were a lively bunch, seen water-skiing in summer and known for throwing a large, annual Labour Day party. Each May, to celebrate Russia's Victory Day, marking the defeat of the Nazis in World War II, the compound hosts a soccer tournament for diplomats from former Soviet republics.

George Sigler, a Centreville councilman, said he had visited the compound several times for a semi-regular regatta held jointly by the Russians and a sailing club in nearby Annapolis. There, Mr Sigler said, he socialised with diplomats, including a former Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov.

"We were all talking the same language, they were all my age," said Mr Sigler, a former marine who at one point in his service defended US embassy compounds. "All of us drank way too much vodka."

Once, just hours after Mr Sigler admired the quality of the vodka served at the compound, Mr Ushakov had a bottle of it dropped off at the town hall, Mr Sigler said.

A senior US law enforcement official said the US government had long known the compound was used by Russia for intelligence operations, but had not previously seen it as an immediate threat.

In Centreville, from the dock of a vacation house he and his wife stay in, Austin Haase, 31, has a clear view of the Russian estate. In summers past, he saw Russians enjoying water sports, Mr Haase said.

Mr Haase said he doubted the place was used for intelligence gathering. "It's more a slap in the face [to the Russians], like they're taking away their toys," he said.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, accused the Obama administration of targeting Russian diplomats' children by closing compounds that he said would be used by families over the Christmas and New Year school holidays.

"It's quite scandalous that they chose to go after our kids, you know? They know full well that those two facilities...they're vacation facilities for our kids. And this is Christmas time," Mr Churkin told reporters when asked about the compounds.

Reuters</s>Russia will not expel anyone in response to U.S. sanctions, Putin says

MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would not expel anyone in response to Washington's decision to throw out 35 suspected Russian spies and sanction intelligence agencies it believes were involved in computer hacking in the 2016 presidential election.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier proposed expelling 35 U.S. diplomats after outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the expulsions and sanctions on Thursday.

But Putin said he would wait for the actions of President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, before deciding on any further steps in relations with the United States.

"We will not expel anyone," Putin said in a statement on Friday. "While keeping the right for retaliatory measures, we will not descend to the level of 'kitchen', irresponsible diplomacy."

He even invited the children of U.S. diplomats to a party in the Kremlin.

It was not clear whether Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and nominated people seen as friendly toward Moscow to senior administration posts, would seek to roll back the measures which mark a new post-Cold War low in U.S.-Russian ties.

Russian officials have portrayed the sanctions as a last act of a lame-duck president and suggested that Trump could reverse them when he takes over the White House.

"Further steps towards the restoration of Russian-American relations will be built on the basis of the policy which the administration of President D. Trump will carry out," said Putin.

In a separate message of New Year congratulations to Trump, he said Russia-U.S. relations were an important factor for maintaining global safety and stability.

The U.S. sanctions also closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland that the administration said were used by Russian personnel for "intelligence-related purposes".

However, a former Russian Foreign Ministry employee told Reuters that the facility in Maryland was a dacha used by diplomatic staff and their children.

Lavrov also proposed banning U.S. diplomats from using a dacha in Moscow's prestigious waterfront park area, Serebryany Bor.

But Putin said Russia would not prohibit U.S. diplomats and their families from their usual vacation spots. "Moreover, I invite all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas party in the Kremlin," he said.

Obama, a Democrat, had promised consequences after U.S. intelligence officials blamed Russia for hacks intended to influence the 2016 election. Officials pointed the finger directly at Putin for personally directing the efforts and primarily targeting Democrats.

Washington put sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSB, four GRU officers and three companies that he said "provided material support to the GRU's cyber operations".

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was more outspoken in his criticism. "It is regrettable that the Obama administration, which started out by restoring our ties, is ending its term in an anti-Russia death throes. RIP," he wrote on his official Facebook page.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the Obama administration "a group of embittered and dimwitted foreign policy losers".

Obama said Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions in the U.S. election.

"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," he said in a statement from Hawaii, where he is on vacation.

The sanctions were the strongest response yet by the his administration to Russian cyber activities. However, a senior administration official acknowledged that Trump could reverse them and allow Russian intelligence officials back into the United States once he takes office.

Trump has brushed aside allegations from the CIA and other intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the cyber attacks. He said on Thursday he would meet with intelligence officials soon. "It's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things," Trump said in a statement.

"Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation," he said, without mentioning Russia.

U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organizations and operatives before the Nov. 8 presidential election. U.S. intelligence officials say the Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told Fox News he did not condone foreign governments hacking U.S. institutions.

"It's wrong and it's something we don't agree with," Priebus said. "However, it would be nice if we could get to a place where the intelligence community in unison can tell us what it is that has been going on and what the investigation was and what it has led to so that we can respond."

Obama said the State Department declared as "persona non grata" 35 Russian intelligence operatives and was closing the two Russian compounds. The 45-acre complex in Maryland includes a Georgian-style brick mansion, swimming pool, tennis courts and cottages for embassy staff.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters the expulsions would come from the Russian embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco.

The Russians have 72 hours to leave the United States, the official said. Access to the two compounds will be denied to all Russian officials as of noon on Friday.

The State Department has long complained that Russian security agents and traffic police have harassed U.S. diplomats in Moscow, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has raised the issue with Putin and Lavrov.

The U.S. official declined to name the Russian diplomats who would be affected, although it is understood that Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, will not be one of those expelled.

Obama said the actions announced on Thursday were just the beginning.

"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia's aggressive activities. We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized," Obama said.

A report detailing Russia's interference in the 2016 election as well as cyber attacks in previous election cycles would be delivered to Congress in the coming days, he added. (Additional reporting by Dustin Volz, Yeganeh Torbati, Eric Beech and Nikolai Pavlov in Washington and Katya Golubkova and Svetlana Reiter in Moscow; Writing by Anna Willard; Editing by David Stamp)</s>The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia would harm relations between Moscow and Washington.

Dmitry Peskov said Putin would order an “appropriate” retaliation to the sanctions, which included the expulsion of 35 diplomats.

READ MORE: Obama orders sanctions against Russia over US election hacking, expels 35 diplomats In a conference call with reporters, Peskov said Moscow doubted the effectiveness of the measures as the current U.S. presidential administration was stepping down in three weeks. In addition to the expulsions, Washington closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in response to what it called a campaign of harassment by Russia against American diplomats in Moscow.</s>President Vladimir Putin resisted a call Friday to expel U.S. diplomats in response to a new round of election-related sanctions against Russia.

The move goes against the advice of Putin's foreign minister and signaled the Russian leader's apparent willingness to wait until the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump to restore wounded U.S.-Russia relations.

In a potential tit-for-tat action, Sergey Lavrov earlier Friday called for the expulsion of 35 U.S. diplomats and the closure of two facilities in Moscow after Washington on Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence officials, expelled 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being spies and shut down two Russian facilities in the United States over evidence Russia interfered in this year's presidential election.

"We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats," Putin said in a statement. "We will not expel anybody." Putin said the fresh U.S. measures contravened "the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American people."

In a further mark of apparent appeasement, the Russian president invited the children of U.S. diplomats in Russia to a New Year's Eve party in the Kremlin.

Lavrov called for the expulsion of 31 employees at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four in the U.S. consulate in Saint Petersburg. He added that the foreign ministry submitted a proposal to Putin to bar U.S. diplomats from using two facilities in Moscow — a vacation house and a warehouse.

He said that claims by President Obama's administration that Russia was behind cyber-attacks that targeted the U.S. election were "groundless."

"The outgoing U.S. administration of Barack Obama accusing Russia of all mortal sins, trying to blame us for the failure of its foreign policy initiatives, among other things, has put forward additional accusations without any grounds whatsoever that the Russian state was behind attempts to meddle in the U.S. election campaign, which led to the defeat of the democratic candidate," he said in a speech. "We, of course, cannot leave insults of this kind unanswered."

But the lack of a response Friday does not mean Russia will not take any counter-measures. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, promised late Thursday that Russia would "cause serious discomfort to the American side" as a result of the sanctions.

The last time the U.S. expelled Russian diplomats on this scale was in 2001, when 51 were ejected for spying.

The dispute is another example of an increasingly frosty diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Washington that has suffered major setbacks during Obama's tenure and recalled Cold War-era animosity over differences over Moscow's support for separatists in Ukraine and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

After Lavrov's comments, the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted an image of a hand, apparently located in the U.S., throwing a boomerang bearing the words "Anti-Russian Sanctions" toward Russia. The tweet added: "MFA: American people humiliated by its own President," referring to the ministry of foreign affairs.

President-elect Donald Trump has called the hacking claims "ridiculous" and said Americans should "get on with their lives." That view does not appear to be widely supported by the majority of Democratic and Republican politicians.</s>MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin castigated the United States on Friday for imposing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats amid allegations of Russian meddling in the American presidential election, but said no U.S. diplomats will be ousted in reprisal for Washington’s moves in the wake of hacking attacks.

In a burgeoning controversy surrounding complaints from the Obama administration about a cyberattack against America’s political system, the White House on Thursday unleashed a string of sanctions and coupled them with an order that 35 Russians be expelled.

Putin on Friday, however, said that Moscow would not be ejecting American diplomats in response to what he described as “provocation aimed at further undermining Russian-American relations.”

“The Russian diplomats returning home will spend the New Year holidays with their relatives and dear ones,” Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin website. “We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats. We will not expel anybody.”

The diplomatic confrontation between Washington and Moscow, which had been festering even before the Nov. 8 presidential election elevated Donald Trump to the presidency, puts pressure on the billionaire businessman not to let Russia off the hook after he takes office on Jan. 20.

Russia’s government had threatened retaliation, and it continues 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 plans to meet with U.S. intelligence leaders next week to learn more.

Putin’s statement came hours after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested a tit-for-tat expulsion in televised remarks. Another suggestion is to bar American diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow.

But in his statement published on Friday Putin said that Russia will not bar the diplomats’ “families and their children from using their favorite places of recreation during the holidays.”

“Moreover, I am inviting all children of U.S. diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas parties at the Kremlin,” he said.

Russians celebrate both Christmas and New Year’s Eve but New Year’s eve has been the main holiday in Russia since Soviet times.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered sanctions against the GRU and FSB, the Russian intelligence agencies the U.S. said were involved in the hacking attacks. 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.

“All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,” said Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii.

Yet the sanctions could easily be pulled back by Trump, who has insisted that Obama and Democrats are merely attempting to delegitimize his election.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged earlier on Friday that Washington has become immersed in “anti-Russian death throes.”

Medvedev, who focused on improving U.S.-Russia ties when he was president from 2008-2012, called the latest diplomatic breach “sad” in a Twitter post.

U.S. relations with Russia have suffered during Obama’s years in office as he and Putin tussled over Ukraine, Edward Snowden and Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, took to Facebook to call the Obama administration “a group of foreign policy losers, angry and ignorant.”

As part of the punishment leveled against Moscow, the U.S. kicked out 35 Russian diplomats, in response to Russia’s harassment of U.S. diplomats. They also shut down Russian recreational compounds in New York and Maryland that U.S. officials said were being used for intelligence.

It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack, and more comprehensive than last year’s sanctions on North Korea after it hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment. The new penalties add to existing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Senior Obama administration officials said that even with the penalties, the U.S. had reason to believe Russia would keep hacking other nations’ elections and might well try to hack American elections again in 2018 or 2020. The officials briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.

Though the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report on “Russian malicious cyber activity” it still has not released a broader report Obama has promised detailing Russia’s efforts to interfere with U.S. elections.

The report has been eagerly anticipated by those hoping to make it politically untenable for Trump to continue questioning whether Russia was really involved.

The move puts Trump in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office, and U.S. officials acknowledged that Trump could use his executive authorities to do so. Still, they suggested that building the case against Russia now would make it harder for Trump to justify easing up. Putin mentioned on Friday that Russia will be taking steps in the bilateral relations depending on what President-elect Donald Trump will do once he’s sworn in.</s>Moscow on Friday announced retaliatory measures against the US State Department’s decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats and close two compounds used by Russian intelligence operatives.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at least 35 US diplomats will be expelled from the country, Russian news agencies reported. They include 31 diplomats based in Moscow and 4 others working at the US consulate in St. Petersburg.

US diplomats will also be banned from entering a dacha and warehouse in Moscow, Lavrov added. The measures are expected to be approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We cannot leave such actions without a response. Reciprocity is the law of diplomacy and international relations,” Lavrov said.

Washington announced its measures on Thursday, stating they were enacted as a reprisal for Moscow’s involvement in undermining the US presidential elections through cyberattacks.

The sanctions against Moscow target the Russian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), which allegedly hacked information with the intent to interfere in the US election with the help from the Federal Security Service (FSB).

However, Lavrov on Friday dismissed the allegations of cyber-interference, saying they were baseless. Moscow has consistently denied its involvement in cyber attacks that targeted the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

On Thursday, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a statement following a joint analysis of Russia’s alleged malicious cyber activity during the elections.

“The intelligence community is confident the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations, and that the disclosures of alleged hacked emails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks are consistent with the Russian-directed efforts,” it said.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday said additional retaliatory measures will likely be made, although some may not be publicized. US-Russia relations have soured since Moscow’s illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in an internationally condemned referendum.
After 35 Russian diplomats are expelled from the United States, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recommends expelling 35 American diplomats. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects Lavrov's recommendation and expresses a desire to restore relations between the two countries.