The Russian government announced on Friday that it would expel ten U.S. diplomats and ban the entry of eight current and former U.S. officials, in what it said was retaliation for the long-awaited series of sanctions imposed by the administration on Thursday. of Biden.
Officials banning Moscow include National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, FBI Director Chris Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, National Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas, the director of the Home Affairs Council. United States, Susan Rice, and the director of the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons, Michael. Carvajal, according to a statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The list also includes U.S. officials who have left the government: former President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, and former Central Intelligence Director R. James Woolsey, who served in the Clinton administration.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, told a news conference that Moscow would also impose restrictions on the activities of US non-governmental organizations on its territory, and called Washington’s measures “hostile.” and “not provoked.”
The relatively measured response, however, suggested that Russia was heeding President Biden’s repeated calls to avoid “a cycle of escalation and conflict.”
In public statements to the White House on Thursday, President Biden said he “chose to be proportionate” in an effort to forge a “stable and predictable” relationship with Moscow. Biden said he told the Russian president his direct communication was “essential” and proposed an in-person summit in a European country this summer.
“Our teams are discussing that possibility right now,” Biden said.
On Thursday the administration announced economic sanctions on 32 people and entities in response to Russian actions, he said they were “against US sovereignty and interests,” including Moscow’s interference in the 2020 presidential election. He expelled ten Russian officials from Washington, DC, formally attributed the SolarWinds espionage campaign to the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service, and announced a strengthened cyber defense partnership with Western allies.
In public statements to the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, U.S. intelligence officials said Russia was probably waiting for an answer. Haines stated that “there will probably be a certain amount of tit by tat,” but said the intelligence community had assessed Moscow as not wanting a direct conflict with the U.S.
Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the accumulation of military troops on the Ukrainian border and in Crimea by Russia had given Moscow a chance to carry out a limited attack, though his intentions were unclear.
“They have placed themselves in a position where they are given options,” he said. “If they decide to retaliate in some way, they have several different force matrices in Crimea and Ukraine, where they could attack and do something like message to Ukraine in the United States or the NATO alliance.”