Russia to expel 35 US diplomats in a retaliatory move after US imposes hacking sanctions

Russia on Thursday said that it plans to expel at least 35 United States diplomats in a retaliatory move after the US removed 35 Russian officials in a move to punish the nation for interfering in 2016 US presidential elections.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he has recommended the expulsion proposal to President Vladimir Putin. Lavrov also said that other American diplomats in Russia should not be allowed to use embassy country house and warehouse.

Donald Trump knows who's behind US election hacking...it's those damn computers!

On Thursday, President Obama's administration had declared 35 Russian diplomats persona non grata and gave them 72 hours to leave the country for alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The US also shut down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York and imposed sanctions on two of its intelligence services GRU and FSB. The sanctions are the strongest ever taken by the US against a state-sponsored cyber attack.

According to reports, Lavrov has proposed to remove 31 US diplomats from the US embassy in Moscow and four others from the country's consulate in St Petersburg. However, there was no confirmation whether Putin had accepted the foreign ministry's proposal of expelling the US diplomats, the Guardian reported.

Several US intelligence agencies have stated that there was a clear involvement of Russia, particularly Putin, in the hacking of the Democratic Party's emails. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia was intervening in the US elections and was attempting to assist Republican candidate Donald Trump win the presidency.

The Russian efforts reportedly included hacking the emails of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairperson John Podesta. The emails were later provided to WikiLeaks, which made them public.

However, Lavrov called the hacking allegations "baseless" and the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, launched an attack at the Obama administration calling them "foreign policy losers."

The US President on Thursday said that Americans should "be alarmed by Russia's actions," adding that more action will be taken against Russia.

Meanwhile, US President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the allegations of Russian involvement saying, "I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it." He also shares a close relationship with the Russian leader.