Biden, ready to respond if Russia "interferes" 0:35
(CNN) -
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Russia will expel 10 diplomats from the United States as part of a series of measures aimed at responding to the broad sanctions imposed on the Kremlin on Thursday by US President Joe Biden. Lavrov, speaking at a Moscow press conference with his Serbian counterpart, described it as a "tit-for-tat response" to the Biden administration's announcement of sanctions made on Thursday to punish Moscow for its interference in the elections. of the 2020 United States, its SolarWinds cyberattack and its current occupation and "serious human rights abuses" in Crimea. Those measures include the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats in Washington, including "representatives of the Russian intelligence services",for the cyberattack and electoral interference.
Six keys about the US sanctions against Russia
Response to sanctions
“Ten diplomats were on a list that the American side gave us asking that they ensure their departure from the United States.
We will give an answer to that.
We will also ask 10 US diplomats to leave our country, "Lavrov said.
Lavrov said Russia will put eight US officials on a sanctions list, without specifying who they will be.
"Some time ago, before the package [of sanctions] recently announced by Biden, the Americans added to the sanctions list eight representatives of the structures of Russia, the leadership of Russia, including the presidential administration and the General Prosecutor's Office," Lavrov said.
“Today we will publish a list of eight officials representing the governing structures of the Washington administration.
They will also be included in our sanctions list ”.
As part of Thursday's announcement, the US also formally named Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service as the force behind the SolarWinds hack that affected the federal government and wide swaths of the private sector.
Biden said Thursday that the new sanctions announced against Russia are a proportionate response to cyberattacks against the US and interference in two presidential elections, but also stressed that "now is the time to de-escalate" tensions with the country.
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Biden said during his remarks at the White House that he told Russia's President Vladimir Putin in a call earlier in the week that he could have gone further with the measures.
Although he wanted to avoid an escalation of tensions, Biden made it clear that he will not hesitate to take more measures in the future.
"We cannot allow a foreign power to interfere in our democratic process with impunity," Biden said.
He added: "I told (Putin) that we would respond in a measured and proportionate way shortly because we had concluded that they had interfered in the elections and SolarWinds was ... totally inappropriate."
Biden imposes new sanctions on Russia in response to election interference and cyber attacks
The 10 Russian diplomats to be expelled are in Washington and New York.
They will have 30 days to leave the country, explained a US official familiar with the plans.
Asked how the United States chose the 10 diplomats to be expelled, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday that those people "were acting inconsistently with their status in the United States," and declined to elaborate. .
On the same Thursday, Lavrov said that Russia is considering more "painful" measures against US companies.
- CNN's Zahra Ullah contributed to this report.
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