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US expels 35 Russian diplomats as punishment for election interference White House sanctions Russia over election hacking
(35 minutes later)
Dozens of diplomats have been expelled from Russia's US embassy in retaliation for alleged interference in the American presidential election. The Obama administration announced a round of sanctions against Moscow on Thursday over its alleged hacking to influence November’s election.
President Barack Obama also imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services.   President Obama issued an executive order against six Russian individuals and five Russian entities.
  "These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," the president said in a statement.
The State Department kicked the 35 diplomats out of the embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco, giving them and their families 72 hours to leave the US.  "Russia's cyber activities were intended to influence the election, erode faith in US democratic institutions, sow doubt about the integrity of our electoral process, and undermine confidence in the institutions of the US government," his statement read. "These actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
They were declared persona non grata for acting in a "manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status."  The president also hinted that this is only the first of the White House’s official responses to the alleged hacks and that it would retaliate out of the public eye.
President Obama said Russians will no longer have access to two Russian government-owned compounds in the United States, in Maryland and in New York.  "These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities," he said. "We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized."
Officials in Moscow have repeatedly denied the Obama administration's accusation that the Russian government was trying to influence the US presidential election.  House Speaker Paul Ryan agreed with the Obama administration on Thursday by saying the sanctions were overdue.
But both the CIA and the FBI have concluded that Russia's goal was to help Donald Trump win, MrTrump has dismissed this as ridiculous.  “Russia does not share America's interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world,” he said in a statement. “It serves as a prime example of this administration's ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world.”
Just an hour after the announcement, Russian officials responded to the sanctions with a promise to retaliate. 
“You understand that responses will be cleaned and the American Embassy in Moscow, and, apparently, the consulate,” Vladimir Jabbarov, TASS First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council's international affairs committee, told reporters.
Meanwhile, Russian foreign ministry official Konstantin Dolgov called the sanctions futile and counterproductive.
“Any anti-Russian sanctions are futile and counter-productive,” he told the Interfax news agency. “I can only perepodtverdit that hysteria sanctions demonstrates a complete lack of orientation in space of the outgoing US administration.”
“Such unilateral steps are pursuing the aim of damage relations and complicate their recovery in the future.”