UPDATE 3: Russia not to expel 35 US officials in retaliation–Putin

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MOSCOW, Dec 30 (PRIME) -- Moscow will not expel 35 U.S. officials in retaliation against newest anti-Russian actions of Washington, but Russia still has a right to work out a proper answer in line with current international practice, President Vladimir Putin said in a statement Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia should expel 31 U.S. diplomats of its embassy in Moscow and four officials of the consulate general in St. Petersburg in retaliation for new U.S. sanctions, as the U.S. accusations ungrounded and Russia should not leave the actions without response.

Putin said that Moscow leaves a right to retaliate, but will not downgrade itself to the level of “kitchen” diplomacy. The steps of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama are “provocative and are aimed at further destabilization of the Russian–U.S. relations,” he said.

“This obviously contradicts the basic interests of both Russian and American peoples. Taking into account the special level of responsibility of Russia and the U.S. for keeping the global peace, (the decisions) also hurt the whole system of international relations,” Putin said.

Russia will base its further steps on the policy of President-elect Donald Trump. “We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats. We will not expel anyone. We will not block their families and children from using familiar places of rest during New Year holidays,” he said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the new sanctions an “anti-Russian agony” of the Obama administration in his Twitter blog.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova was more explicit in her comment of the sanctions, calling the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama a bunch of losers in foreign policies in a Facebook post: “We have been saying this for several years in a row: the people who resided in the White House for eight years are not the administration, they are a bunch of losers in foreign policy, resentful and dimwitted. Obama has admitted this officially today.”

Washington slapped sanctions against nine Russian entities and officials over cyberattacks during the U.S. presidential elections and has declared 35 Russian diplomats non grata, ordering their expulsion until Sunday noon.

Obama said, “I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners.”

Obama said that the black list over the cyberattacks comprises Russia’s Chief Intelligence Directorate and the Federal Security Service, four officials of the services and three companies which provided support to the cyber-operations by Russian intelligence.

CNN reported that a shutdown of a school for children of U.S., U.K. and Canadian diplomats in Moscow was the first visible counteraction against the sanctions. The channel sources also said that Russia closed access to the U.S. ambassador residence on the Serebryany Bor Island.

But Zakharova denied information about the school, “This is a lie. The White House seems to have gone round the bend altogether and has started to fantasize about sanctions against its own children.”

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