President-elect Donald Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for not retaliating for sanctions imposed Thursday by U.S. President Barack Obama. The sanctions were for interference by Russian intelligence agencies in November's U.S. national election.
"Great move on delay (by V. Putin)," Trump tweeted Friday. "I always knew he was very smart!"
"We will not create problems for American diplomats. We will not expel anyone," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin. "As it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to respond in kind. Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible 'kitchen' diplomacy but will plan our further steps to restore Russian-U.S. relations based on the policies of the Trump administration," the statement continued.
A U.S. State Department official said in response, "We have seen President Putin's remarks. We have nothing further to add."
Trump should be careful about cozying up to Putin, says Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Ariel Cohen.
"It’s all so wink-wink, nod-nod to Trump, [to] say ‘Hey, Donald, I’m here to have good relationship with you. Come here and let's do something new and different,’" Cohen told VOA. "How long will it take? People pointed out George W. Bush and Obama tried to have good relations with Putin and failed."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had suggested retaliatory action against the U.S., along with banning U.S. embassy personnel from using a country house and warehouse in the Moscow area.
Obama imposed sanctions on two intelligence agencies, expelled 35 Russian agents and closed two Russian compounds inside the United States. Russia immediately denounced the sanctions as unlawful and threatened to retaliate.
Obama called his actions "a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior."
Obama's action coincided with the release Thursday of that blamed Russia's intelligence agencies for hacks intended to influence the 2016 election and provided technical details, including samples of malicious computer code said to have been used in their cyber hacking campaign.
Analyst Cohen says the sanctions are too little too late. "These are massive attacks on American political system and I would expect the White House to respond in a tougher way and much earlier."
Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!
Among the actions ordered by Obama are sanctions against nine Russian individuals and entities: the GRU—Russia's military intelligence agency; the FSB—its foreign intelligence service; four GRU officers, and three companies that provided material support to the GRU.
In addition, Evgeniy Bogachev and Aleksey Belan were sanctioned. The Treasury Department calls them "notorious criminals" who are responsible for the cyber theft of more than $100 million dollars from U.S. banks, companies and other American firms.
Thirty-five Russian government officials in Washington and in the consulate in San Francisco were given 72 hours to leave the United States for "acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status and consular activities."
Russian officials also will be denied access to what the U.S. State Department calls two Russian government-owned recreational compounds in Maryland and New York. This is after U.S. diplomats in Moscow were harassed and physically assaulted.
"In addition to holding Russia accountable for what it has done, the United States and friends and allies around the world must work together to oppose Russia's efforts to undermine established international norms of behavior and interfere with democratic governance," Obama said in announcing the sanctions.
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, criticized Friday the U.S. sanctions decision, saying it affects Russian children who used the compounds that have been ordered closed.
"I think it's quite scandalous that they chose to go after our kids," Churkin said. "They know full well that those two facilities which they mention in their notes, they are vacation facilities for our kids. And this is Christmas time. This is vacation time for our schools from the first of January to the 10th of January. This is the time when the kids go to those two facilities. So to block our access to them just while the holidays were starting, you know, to me was rather cynical of them. So here go their family values.”
Putin, for his part, has invited all children of U.S. diplomats accredited in Russia to holiday parties at the Kremlin.