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US expels 35 Russian diplomats, closes two compounds over election hacking

Washington: The US has expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in response to the Russian government's "aggressive harassment" of American diplomats and cyber operations aimed at the US election.

The move labels diplomats from the Russian embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco as "persona non-grata" and is part of a series of actions announced on Thursday, local time, to punish Russia.

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US Senators weigh in on Russia sanctions

US Republican Senators criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Obama administration prepared to announce a series of retaliatory measures against Russia for hacking the US election.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Russian diplomats would be given 72 hours to leave the United States. Access to the two compounds will be denied to all Russian officials as of noon on Friday, the official added.

"All Americans should be alarmed at Russia's actions." President Barack Obama said in a statement issued from Hawaii where he is on holidays.

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The measures are the first since the US had planned to punish Russia for the hacking of US political institutions and individuals and leaking information to help President-elect Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.

Obama said the data thefts and cyber leaks could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government.

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He said the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security would be releasing declassified technical information on the cyber activities and warned of more to come. "These actions are not the sum total of our response," he said.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, has called for better relations with Russia. It was not clear if he would be able to immediately overturn the measures, but one senior US official said Trump could reverse the executive order and allow Russian intelligence officials back into the US once he takes office, but that "would be inadvisable".

"We believe these steps are important because Russia is not going to stop," a White House spokesman said after the announcements. "We have every indication that they will interfere in democratic elections in other countries, including some of our European allies".

The retaliation pits Trump against Republican lawmakers who are influential on Capitol Hill on defence and foreign policy and had called for the White House to respond with even sharper elbows. Some have issued dire assessments of what the Kremlin-backed hacking means for the US, and suggested they would join with Democrats to propose even stiffer penalties on Russia.

By aligning with Democrats, rather than backing the incoming Republican president, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain and others are signaling just one of a number of areas that could leave Trump's early months dominated by Republican infighting.

Trump suggested this week that the hacking matter should be put to rest. But McCain says Russia's actions "threaten democracy".

"I'm going after Russia in every way we can go after Russia," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CNN this month. "I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay a price."

The State Department has long complained that Russian security agents and traffic police have harassed US diplomats in Moscow, and US Secretary of State John Kerry has raised the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

"By imposing costs on the Russian diplomats in the United States, by denying them access to the two facilities, we hope the Russian government re-evaluates its own actions, which have impeded the ability and safety of our own embassy personnel in Russia," the official said.

The US 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.

The measures also include sanctions against nine Russian state entities and individuals including cyber companies associated with them. Among those targeted were officials of GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, which cyber security experts in the US have linked to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and party officials through a group they have nicknamed APT 28 or Fancy Bear.

To impose the penalties US will expand a 2015 executive order issued by Obama, widening his ability to impose economic penalties due to a cyber attack.

The hackers leaked the pilfered emails in a bid to damage the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according US intelligence agencies. She lost to Republican Trump who has repeatedly scoffed at the finding that Russia was behind the cyber attacks.

The moves will ratchet up tensions with Russia less than a month before Trump's inauguration. The President-elect, who has said the hacking could have been the work of "somebody sitting in a bed some place," told reporters on Wednesday that "we ought to get on with our lives".

They also raise the possibility of an escalating cycle of finger-pointing and retaliation between Washington and Moscow despite Trump's pledge to seek better relations with Putin. The Russian government, which has denied responsibility for the hacking, has vowed to respond to any new sanctions with unspecified counter-measures.

The actions may be matched by covert countermeasures intended to warn Russia that the US is able to breach its most sensitive computer systems, while preserving public deniability.

"If I want to just quietly take out their capability and send a very sneaky message and not an overt message, I would probably do a covert action," Bob Stasio, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former chief of operations at the National Security Agency's cyber operations centre, said in advance of Thursday's announcement.

Immediately after the announcement, Moscow said the sanctions were counterproductive and would harm a restoration of bilateral ties, the Interfax news agency reported citing Konstantin Dolgov, Foreign Ministry commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Konstantin Kosachyov, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament called the decision to expel Russian diplomats "the death throes of political corpses".

A Kremlin spokesman than added Russian retaliation will be "adequate". In a conference call with reporters, Peskov said the measures would harm relations between Moscow and Washington and doubted their effectiveness.

The Russian embassy in the UK tweeted the move was "lame" and a "Cold War deja vu".

The Russian embassy in the US quoted Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying countermeasures and official statements would come on Friday.

Commenting before the Obama administration's announcement, Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer said if the government has any proof of foreign interference in the election, it should make that evidence known. "Right now we need to see further facts based on what we do know and what's in the public domain," Spicer said.

The Trump transition team released a letter this month to Trump from Putin in which the Russian leader offered holiday greetings and said he hoped to work more cooperatively with the incoming administration.

"A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct," Trump said in a statement released alongside the December 15 letter. "I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path."

Reuters, Bloomberg, McClatchy

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