Russia on Friday reacted to sanctions proposed by the United States by ordering Washington to reduce its embassy staff to 455 and prohibiting the use of some properties, BBC reported. On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin had said that his country would retaliate if the latest round of sanctions by the United States against Moscow were approved and made into law.
Washington has been asked to restrict its diplomatic staff to 455 in Moscow, the same number as Moscow’s embassy staff in the United States.
Putin, who was on a visit to Finland, said the new sanctions were unreasonable. Moscow said it was taking over a vacation property and a warehouse owned by US diplomats.
“The US is stubbornly taking one crudely anti-Russian step after another, using the utterly fictitious pretext of Russian interference in its internal affairs,” BBC quoted Moscow’s statement on Friday.
“We are exercising restraint and patience, but at some moment we’ll have to retaliate,” said the Russian president, according to Reuters. “It’s impossible to endlessly tolerate this boorishness towards our country.” He added that the time and type of their response will depend on the final version of the draft law, which is now being debated in the US Senate.
The proposed bill – if passed by the House of Representatives and not vetoed by President Donald Trump – will hit various companies and sectors of the Russian economy. The new Bill also bars President Donald Trump from easing sanctions on Russia without approval from Congress. The sanctions are reportedly a response to Russia’s suspected cyber attacks during the 2016 US presidential election.
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