Russia retaliates for sanctions by ordering 10 US diplomats to leave

RUSSIAN FOREIGN minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow will order 10 US diplomats to leave Russia in a retaliatory response to the US sanctions.

Mr Lavrov also said that Moscow will add eight US officials to its sanctions list and move to restrict and stop the activities of US non-governmental organisations from interfering in Russia

He added that while Russia has a possibility to take “painful measures” against US business in Russia, it would not immediately move to do that

The moves follow a barrage of new sanctions on Russia announced this week by the Biden administration. The US Government said this week it was expelling 10 Russian diplomats and imposing sanctions against dozens of companies and people, holding the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the cyber hacking of federal agencies.

The sweeping measures are meant to punish Russia for actions that US officials say cut to the core of American democracy and to deter future acts by imposing economic costs on Moscow, including by targeting its ability to borrow money.

Yesterday, the US treasury department said a Russian and Ukrainian political consultant shared sensitive information from Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with Russian intelligence services.

Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, has long been alleged by US officials to have ties to Russian intelligence.

The statement marks the first time the US government had directly drawn a connection between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence services.

Mr Kilimnik was one of 32 people and entities sanctioned by the

US government for interference in the 2020 election.

The revelation is all the more startling because it goes beyond any allegation made in either special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report into alleged Russian interference or in an even more damning and detailed document released last year by the US senate intelligence committee.

Both those investigations were unable to determine what Mr Kilimnik did with the data and whether he shared it further.

Officials say that for the 2020 poll, Mr Kilimnik had sought to promote the bogus narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.

Mr Kilimnik was a key but mysterious figure in Mr Mueller’s investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.

A business associate of Manafort’s who worked closely with him, even managing his firm’s office in Kyiv, Mr Kilimnik is mentioned by name 156 times in the Mueller report.

He was also indicted alongside Manafort on witness-tampering allegations, but has not appeared in the US to face those charges. The FBI has offered a $250,000 (£181,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.

A key episode examined by Mr Mueller involved Manafort’s decision to share campaign polling data with Mr Kilimnik – something prosecutors say Manafort lied about when questioned.

According to statements provided by Mr Mueller, Manafort briefed Mr Kilimnik on internal campaign data and messaging and they discussed battleground states in August 2016 at the Grand Havana Club in New York.

Manafort briefed Mr Kilimnik on internal campaign data and messaging.