HONOLULU/WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over their involvement in hacking US political groups in the 2016 presidential election.
The measures, taken during the last days of Obama’s presidency, mark a new post-Cold War low in US-Russian ties which have deteriorated over Ukraine and Syria.
Allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed efforts to intervene in the US election process by hacking mostly Democrats have made relations even worse.
“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm US interests in violation of established international norms of behaviour,” Obama said in a statement from vacation in Hawaii.
It was not immediately clear whether President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and nominated people seen as friendly toward Moscow to senior administration posts, would seek to roll back the measures once he takes office on Jan. 20.
The Kremlin, which denounced the sanctions as unlawful and promised “adequate” retaliation, questioned whether Trump approved of the new sanctions. Moscow denies the hacking allegations.
US intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organisations and operatives ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.
US intelligence officials also say that the Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Trump, a Republican, defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump has rejected that conclusion and said on Wednesday that “we ought to get on with our lives,” when asked about possible tough sanctions for the cyber attacks.
Should Trump seek to overturn Obama’s measures, he would likely encounter wide bipartisan Congressional opposition.
US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said Russia “has consistently sought to undermine” US interests and the sanctions were overdue.
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said they intended to lead effort in Congress to “impose stronger sanctions on Russia.”
The actions on Thursday were the strongest response by the Obama administration to Russia’s cyber activities, however, a senior administration official acknowledged that Trump could reverse them and allow Russian intelligence officials back into the United States once he takes office. He said that would be “inadvisable”.
“We believe these steps are important because Russia is not going to stop,” one official said. “We have every indication that they will interfere in democratic elections in other countries, including some of our European allies,” the official said.
