Russia to expel 10 US diplomats in retaliation against sanctions

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday said that Moscow will request for 10 U.S. diplomats to leave the country in response to a slew of sanctions the Biden administration announced against the country.

According to Lavrov, Russia is also set to sanction eight U.S. officials and prevent U.S. nongovernmental organizations from interfering in the country’s politics, The Associated Press reported.

He also stated that while Russia could move to take “painful measures” against American businesses in the country, it is not currently acting on that.

The move comes after President Biden signed an executive order blocking American financial institutions from lending funds to or purchasing bonds from Russia’s Central Bank, National Wealth Fund or Ministry of Finance after June 14.

In addition to the financial sanctions, the Biden administration announced that it will be expelling 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington and sanctioning six Russian technology companies supporting Russian intelligence, as well as 32 individuals that it says were involved in Russian efforts to influence the 2020 election.

The sanctions have heightened tensions between the two countries as Biden attempts to open communication to establish a “stable and predictable” relationship through.

“Our objective here is not to escalate. Our objective here is to impose costs for what we feel are unacceptable actions by the Russian government,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said following the announcement of sanctions on Thursday. “We can’t predict what the impact will be, but we still believe that when there’s unacceptable behavior, we should put consequences in place.”