Lavrov, who spoke at a news conference in Moscow with his Serbian counterpart, described the measures as a “response” to the Biden administration’s announcement of sanctions on Thursday to punish Moscow for its interference in the elections. of the US 2020, its SolarWinds cyber attack. and their continued occupation and “grave human rights abuses” in Crimea.
These U.S. sanctions included the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats in Washington, including “representatives of the Russian intelligence services,” for cyber piracy and electoral interference.
“Ten diplomats were on a list handed to us by the American side asking us to make sure they left the United States. We will give an answer for that. We will also ask ten U.S. diplomats to leave our country,” Lavrov said. dit.
Lavrov said Russia will also place eight U.S. officials on a sanctions list later Friday, without specifying who the recipient would be.
U.S. officials will be sanctioned
“Some time ago, before the package [of sanctions] recently announced by Biden, the Americans added eight representatives of Russian structures, the Russian leadership, including the presidential administration and the Attorney General’s Office, to the list of sanctions, “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. ”
Lavrov said the Kremlin will immediately go against U.S. nonprofits and said, “We will restrict and end activities in our territory of American foundations and non-governmental organizations, which in fact directly interfere with our internal political life. “.
Russia is also considering more “painful” measures against U.S. companies, Lavrov said, framing them in response to sanctions the United States imposed on Russian sovereign debt and added that, for now, the Kremlin maintains these steps “in reserve”.
The Biden administration prevents US financial institutions from participating in the primary market of bonds issued by the Russian central bank and other leading financial institutions. U.S. financial institutions were not big buyers of Russian bonds, but their withdrawal from the market as potential buyers will still have an impact, said Gary Hufbauer, a former Treasury official and senior member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“For obvious reasons, we don’t have comparable levers of influence on this scale in the United States,” Lavrov said Friday, adding that “our experts” believe the Russian economy can handle it. “In any case, we have found and will find a way out of any situation. But we also have the opportunity to take painful action against American business. We will keep them in reserve,” Lavrov warned.
Biden said Thursday that sanctions against Russia were a proportionate response to cyberattacks against the U.S. and interference in two presidential elections, but also stressed that “now is the time to slow down” tensions with the country.
Trying to avoid climbing
As part of Thursday’s announcement, the United States formally designated Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service as the force behind the SolarWinds hacking that affected the federal government and large areas of the private sector.
During remarks at the White House, Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a call Tuesday that he could have gone further. Biden said that while he wants to avoid escalating tensions, he made it clear to Putin that he would not hesitate to take further action in the future.
“We cannot allow a foreign power to interfere with impunity in our democratic process,” Biden said.
He added: “I told (Putin) that we would soon respond in a measured and proportionate manner because we had concluded that they had interfered in the election and that SolarWinds was … totally inappropriate.”
The ten Russian diplomats who are being expelled are based in Washington, DC and New York, and will have 30 days to leave the country, a U.S. official familiar with the plans said. Asked how the United States chose the ten diplomats to be expelled, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday that those people “acted inconsistently with their state in the United States” and refused to provide more. details.
This story has been updated with additional reports.