Russia unveiled its initial response to proposed new U.S. sanctions Friday, ordering Washington to cut its diplomatic staff and seizing two U.S. properties on its soil, sinking relations between the two powers to new lows.The move came a day after the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of expanded economic sanctions to punish Moscow for interfering in last year’s presidential election and the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The measure passed 98-2 in the Senate, having earlier passed by 419-3 in the House of Representatives Tuesday, despite objections from the White House and top European Union officials.The ball is now in President Donald Trump’s court: Does he approve or veto the sanctions? Trump has long called for improved ties with Russia, and has cast doubt on Russia’s role in the 2016 election hack — despite the U.S. intelligence community’s unequivocal position that the hack was a coordinated Russian campaign, and congressional investigations examining contacts between Trump’s team and the Kremlin.But with near unanimous support for the sanctions in both the House and the Senate, Trump may be pressured to give his approval. Even if Trump vetoes the sanctions, the bill can still become law if two-thirds of both the House and Senate vote to override the president’s decision.Announcing the measures Friday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of “stubbornly taking one crudely anti-Russian step after another, using the utterly fictitious pretext of Russian interference in its internal affairs.” Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier dismissed the proposed U.S. sanctions as the product of “anti-Russian hysteria.”Russia’s actions mirror sanctions imposed by outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama in December, when he expelled 35 Russian diplomats and seized two U.S. properties used by the Russians in response to meddling in the election. The Russian order, which gives the diplomats until Sept. 1 to leave the country, will reduce the number of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to 455, the same number Moscow has in the U.S.“Any new unilateral actions by the U.S. authorities to reduce the number of our diplomats in the United States will be met with a mirror response,” read the foreign ministry’s statement.Putin surprised observers with his response to Obama’s sanctions at the time, saying he would not reciprocate in kind, in the hope that relations between the countries would improve under Trump’s incoming administration. But despite the warm words exchanged between the two leaders in Hamburg earlier this month, chilly relations have yet to thaw.
Advertisement