Put more screws on Russia..

Russia punches back at sanctions, tells US to cut diplomats

Kremlin doesn’t wait on White House decision to retaliate against bill passed by US Congress.

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

The Kremlin swiftly retaliated Friday against new sanctions approved by the U.S. Congress, ordering a cut in the number of American diplomats in Russia and suspending use by U.S. diplomats of a beach house and storage facilities in Moscow, according to a statement by the foreign ministry.

In hitting back so quickly, Russia did not even wait to see if U.S. President Donald Trump might veto the legislation by Congress, apparently calculating that, even if he disagreed with the bill, the political climate in Washington would make a veto virtually impossible.

A special prosecutor is investigating allegations of collusion between Russia and Trump’s election campaign and also potential obstruction of justice by Trump himself in the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

In its statement, the Russian foreign ministry said the new sanctions approved Thursday by the U.S. Senate in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote “once again confirms the extreme aggressiveness of the United States in international affairs.”

The EU and individual European countries have expressed alarm at the prospect of new, unilateral sanctions by Washington, and over the potential impact of the new measures on European companies, particularly in the energy sector. Until now, the U.S. and European allies had coordinated their efforts to punish Russia for its invasion and annexation of Crimea and military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

In its statement, the Russian foreign ministry seemed to make efforts to highlight the division among Western powers, saying: “The U.S. arrogantly ignores the positions and interests of other states.”

In the statement, Russia insisted that it has done “its utmost to normalize bilateral relations” and called the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election “a far-fetched pretext.”

The foreign ministry also accused the U.S. of violating diplomatic protocol, particularly in its seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds in New York and Maryland that the U.S. said were being used by Russian intelligence.

As part of its retaliation, the foreign ministry said the U.S. would have to reduce its diplomatic personnel in Moscow and at consulates across Russia to a total of 455 — the same number of Russian personnel in the U.S. — by September 1. It was not immediately clear how many U.S. officials were currently in the country.

The dacha that Russia is blocking is a house located in Serebryany Bor, a popular recreation and swimming area along the Moscow River in the Russian capital.