Russia to expel 10 US diplomats responding to sanctions

Moscow will add 8 US officials to its sanctions list and move to stop the activities of US NGOs from interfering in Russia's politics

Russia on Friday responded in kind to a barrage of new US sanctions, saying it would expel 10 US diplomats and take other retaliatory moves in a tense showdown with Washington.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Moscow will add eight US officials to its sanctions list and move to restrict and stop the activities of US nongovernment organizations from interfering in Russia's politics.

He said the Kremlin suggested that US Ambassador John Sullivan follow the example of his Russian counterpart and head home for consultations. Russia will also move to deny the US Embassy the possibility to hire personnel from Russia and third countries as support staff.

The moves follow the sanctions on Russia announced this week by the Biden administration.

Read | US imposes sanctions on Russia over election interference, hacking; Moscow vows retaliation

While the US wields the power to cripple the Russian economy, Moscow lacks levers to respond in kind, although it potentially could hurt American interests in many other ways around the globe.

Lavrov noted that while Russia could take “painful measures” against American business interests in Russia, it wouldn't immediately move to do that.

Russia has denied interfering in the 2020 US presidential election and involvement in the SolarWind hack of federal agencies — the activities punished by the latest US sanctions. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned of an “inevitable” retaliation, charging that “Washington should realize that it will have to pay a price for the degradation of bilateral ties.”

The US on Thursday ordered 10 Russian diplomats expelled, targeted dozens of companies and people, and imposed new curbs on Russia's ability to borrow money. Pundits had predicted that while Moscow would respond in kind to the expulsions, it would refrain from any other significant moves to avoid a further escalation.

Russia's economic potential and its global reach are limited compared with the Soviet Union that competed with the U.S for international influence during the Cold War. Still, Russia's nuclear arsenal and its leverage in many parts of the world make it a power that Washington needs to reckon with.

Aware of that, President Joe Biden called for de-escalating tensions and held the door open for cooperation with Russia in certain areas. Biden said he told Putin in Tuesday's call that he chose not to impose tougher sanctions for now and proposed to meet in a third country in the summer.

Lavrov said the summit offer was being analyzed.

While the new US sanctions further limited Russia's ability to borrow money by banning US financial institutions from buying Russian government bonds directly from state institutions, they didn't target the secondary market.

“It's very important that there're no sanctions on secondary debt because that means that non-US persons can buy the debt and sell it to the US persons,” said Tom Adshead, director of research at Macro-Advisory Ltd, an analytics and advisory company.

Tougher restrictions would also hurt Western businesses, inflict significant economic pain on the Russian population and allow Putin to rally anti-US sentiments to shore up his rule.

Ramping up sanctions could eventually drive Russia into a corner and provoke even more reckless Kremlin action, such as a potential escalation in Ukraine, which has recently faced a surge in clashes with Russia-backed separatists in the east and a massive Russian troops buildup across the border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris on Friday to discuss the tensions with French President Emmanuel Macron. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to join them in a call later.

Fyodor Lukyanov, a top foreign policy expert who leads the Moscow-based Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, predicted Putin would likely accept Biden's invitation to join next week's call on climate change but could drag his feet on accepting the summit offer.

“There is no way to make any deals,” Lukyanov said. “There is a mutual antipathy and a total lack of trust.”

He charged that the only practical outcome of the summit could be an agreement to launch long and difficult talks on a replacement to the New START nuclear reduction agreement that Russia and the US extended in February for another five years.

Lukyanov noted that the growing US pressure will push Russia and China closer together in the long run.

“Closer cooperation with China on coordinating actions to contain the United States will develop more quickly now as the Chinese are interested in that,” he said. While Russia lacks tools for a symmetrical answer to the US sanctions, “it has ample capabilities to stimulate changes in the world order,” he added.

Konstantin Kosachev, the Kremlin-connected deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament, said that by hitting Russia with sanctions and proposing a summit at the same time, the US sought to take a commanding stance.

“Russia's consent would be interpreted as a reflection of its desire to soften the sanctions, allowing the US to secure a dominant position at the meeting, while our refusal to meet would be a convenient pretext for more punitive measures," Kosachev wrote on Facebook.

He argued that Russia should not rush to accept Biden's summit offer.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” Kosachev wrote. “I believe the saying is quite adaptable to a situation when we talk not about revenge but a due answer to aggressive action by an opponent.”

Some predicted the US sanctions could discourage Russia from cooperating with the US on international crises.