Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said his government would not resort to a tit-for-tat response to Washington’s expulsion of Moscow staffers and imposition of sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies, AP reported. His statement follows reports stating that the Russian Foreign Ministry had asked him to expel 35 United States diplomats in response to Washington’s sanctions.
The United States has alleged that the Kremlin, under the direct instructions of Putin, hacked into the accounts of Democratic Party organisations and its candidates in the run up to the 2016 United States presidential elections.
Putin said, “While we reserve the right to respond, we will not drop to this level of irresponsible diplomacy. We will take steps to help resurrect Russian-American relations based on the policies that the administration of Donald Trump will pursue.” The Russian president also extended New Year greetings to the US President Barack Obama, President-elect Donald Trump and the American people.
The Russian Embassy in the US tweeted saying that President Vladimir Putin urged for “stable bilateral relations” that will benefit citizens of both countries. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, on Twitter, said, “It is regrettable that the Obama administration, which started out by restoring our ties, is ending its term in an anti-Russia agony.”
President Barack Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, had said Russia’s actions should alarm all Americans. “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 behaviour,” he had said.
Moscow has also asked whether the new sanctions had the approval of the US President-elect Donald Trump, who has been a vocal supporter of Putin. Trump will take oath of office on January 20.
Russia has denied involvement in the hacking, which led to the release of more than 20,000 emails and documents by WikiLeaks. The documents had revealed that top officials at the democratic committee had secretly planned to undermine Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign during the Democratic primaries.
Trump, however, has repeatedly expressed scepticism that any such attack had taken place. “I don’t believe they [Russia] interfered,” he told TIME for its Person of the Year 2016 issue.
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