United States President-elect Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday amid the US elections hacking row and said that he was "very smart" for not retaliating to America's decision of expelling Russian diplomats.
Also read: Donald Trump knows who's behind US election hacking...it's those damn computers!
After Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday recommended the expulsion proposal of 35 US diplomats to Putin in a retaliatory move, the Russian leader said that he would not hit back on the United States.
On Thursday, President Obama's administration had declared 35 Russian diplomats persona non grata and gave them 72 hours to leave the country for alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The US also shut down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York, and imposed sanctions on two of its intelligence services — GRU and FSB. The sanctions are the strongest ever taken by the US against an alleged state-sponsored cyber attack.
Lavrov had recommended a proposal to Putin that sought that other American diplomats in Russia should not be allowed to use embassy country house and warehouse. Putin, however, said that Russia reserved the right to retaliate and said "we will not expel anyone."
"Further steps towards the restoration of Russian-American relations will be built on the basis of the policy which the administration of President D. Trump will carry out," Putin added.
In response to Putin's statements, Trump took to Twitter to praise his move, and said, "Great move on delay (by V Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!" Trump posted the tweet while he was on vacation in Florida.
Several US intelligence agencies have stated that there was a clear involvement of Russia, particularly Putin, in the hacking of the Democratic Party's emails. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia was intervening in the US elections and was attempting to assist Republican candidate Donald Trump win the presidency.
The Russian efforts reportedly included hacking the emails of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairperson John Podesta. The emails were later provided to WikiLeaks, which made them public.
However, Lavrov called the hacking allegations "baseless" and the foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, launched an attack at the Obama administration, calling them "foreign policy losers."
The US President on Thursday said that Americans should "be alarmed by Russia's actions," adding that more action will be taken against Russia.
Meanwhile, US President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the allegations of Russian involvement, saying, "I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it." He shares a close relationship with the Russian leader.
