After 6-month delay, Russia prepares retaliation for U.S. sanctions, expulsions

In this Dec. 30, 2016, file photo, a fence encloses an estate in the village of Upper Brookville in Oyster Bay, N.Y., after the Obama administration closed the compound for Russian diplomats in response to charges of Russian interference in U.S. elections. .

Six months after shrugging off President Obama's last-minute round of U.S. sanctions, Russia is preparing to retaliate for the U.S. expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and seizure of two Russian dachas, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Obama had imposed the measures in December in response to charges of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

"The response measures are being prepared, which, as you understand, will not be decided only in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Maria Zakharova told Rossiya-1 television channel, according to Interfax.

The Russian move comes barely three weeks after the U.S. Senate voted 97-2 to approve even more sanctions, which must first be OK'd by the House and signed by President Trump to take effect.

The bill would create a congressional review process if the executive branch eases current sanctions and imposes new sanctions in a number of categories, including "malicious cyber activity" on behalf of the Russian government.

The December sanctions included not only the expulsion of the Russian diplomats and their families but also the seizure of two suburban dachas used by the Russian mission to the United Nations and the Russian embassy in Washington. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Russian response " will have a very solid base of elaboration, and they know this very well; we have repeatedly talked about this."

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin had ruled out expelling anyone immediately in retaliation for the U.S. moves, saying, according to the RIA news agency, that he would consider the actions of then President-election Trump when deciding on how to respond.

While calling the U.S. measures "unfriendly" and regrettable, Putin said he was offering New Year greetings to the departing President Obama. 

 "My season's greetings also to President-elect Donald Trump and the American people," he said. He also invited the children of U.S. diplomats in Moscow to a Christmas party in the Kremlin.

The unexpected gesture by Putin came under scrutiny after reports surfaced that Mike Flynn, who was set to become Trump's national security adviser, had met with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at the time the sanctions were announced and purportedly stressed that relations with Moscow would change under Trump.

Shortly after taking up his new position, Flynn was fired when it became known that he had initially denied publicly — and to Vice President Pence — that the issue of sanctions had come up in his talks with Kislyak.

The long-serving Russian ambassador is finishing his second stint as envoy to Washington.