Speaking at a press conference in Moscow with his Serbian counterpart, Lavrov described the measures as a ‘tit-for-tat response’ to the Biden government’s Thursday announcement of sanctions to punish Moscow for its interference in the US election in 2020, its SolarWinds cyber attack. and its ongoing occupation and ‘serious human rights violations’ in Crimea.
The US fines included the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats in Washington, including “representatives of Russian intelligence services” for the cyber-hacking and election.
“Ten diplomats were on a list that the US side handed over to us to ensure they left the United States. We will respond to that. We will also ask ten US diplomats to leave our country,” Lavrov said. said.
Lavrov said Russia would also put eight U.S. officials on a sanctions list later Friday, without specifying who the target would be.
US officials must be approved
A while 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 prosecutor general, to the sanctions list,” Lavrov said. Today we will publish a list of eight officials representing the governing structures of the Washington government. It will also be included in our sanctions list. ‘
Lavrov said the Kremlin would take immediate action against U.S. nonprofits, saying, “We will limit and end the activities on U.S. territories and non-governmental organizations that directly interfere in our territory in our domestic political life.”
Russia is also considering more “painful” measures against US companies, Lavrov said. He cites this as a response to the US sanctions on Russian sovereign debt, adding that the Kremlin is “keeping” these steps in reserve for the time being.
The Biden government is banning US financial institutions from participating in the primary market for securities issued by the Russian central bank and other leading financial institutions. US financial institutions were not large buyers of Russian bonds, but their withdrawal from the market as potential buyers will still have an impact, says Gary Hufbauer, a former Treasury official and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“For obvious reasons, we do not have comparable levies affecting the United States of this scale,” Lavrov said Friday, adding that “our experts” believe the Russian economy can handle it. “In any case, we have found a way out and we will find it out of any situation. But we also have the opportunity to take painful measures against US affairs. We will keep it in reserve,” Lavrov warned.
Biden on Thursday said the sanctions against Russia were a proportionate response to cyberattacks against the US and interference in two presidential elections, but also stressed that now was the time to ease tensions with the country.
Try to avoid escalation
As part of Thursday’s announcement, the U.S. formally named the Russian foreign intelligence service as the force behind the SolarWinds cap affecting the federal government and large sections of the private sector.
During remarks in the White House, Biden said during a Tuesday call to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could go further. Biden said that although he wanted to avoid the escalating tensions, he made it clear to Putin that he would not hesitate to act further in the future.
“We can not allow a foreign power to interfere impunity in our democratic process,” Biden said.
He added: “I (Putin) said that we would soon respond in a measured and proportionate way because we came to the conclusion that they interfered in the election and that SolarWinds … was completely inappropriate.”
The ten Russian diplomats who are being deported are in Washington, DC and New York, and they will have 30 days to leave the country, a U.S. official familiar with the plans explained. Asked how the US selected the ten diplomats to be expelled, a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday that the individuals’ acted in a way that was inconsistent with their status in the US. ‘, and refuses to provide further details.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.