America imposed a ban on Russia, Russia said it will answer – The US has announced sanctions against Russia and expelled 10 diplomats for talking about cyber attacks and other hostile activities.
The White House has said that the aim of these sanctions is to prevent Russia’s ‘harmful foreign activities’.
He has said in a statement that Russian intelligence agencies were behind the big hacking of ‘SolarWinds’ last year.
He has also accused Russia of interfering in the 2020 US election.
Russia has denied the allegations, saying that it will answer them.
President Joe Biden issued an order on Thursday detailing these restrictions. In these, action has been taken against 32 officials and the people of Russia.
America has taken this step at a time when there is a situation of tension between the two countries.
Last month, the US took action against seven Russian officials for poisoning Alexei Navleni, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia denies this charge.
On Tuesday, Biden called Putin in which he pledged to vigorously defend America’s national interests. He also proposed to have a meeting with Putin to identify the issues in which the two countries can work together.
The restriction
On Thursday, US President Biden described the decision to impose sanctions against Russia as ‘proportionate’.
Biden told reporters, “I made it clear to President Putin that we could have done more, but I did not do that. America does not want to start a series of tensions and conflicts with Russia.”
He also said that the way forward will come out of well-thought-out talks and diplomatic process.
The statement issued by the White House said that the new sanctions show that if Russia continues to ‘destabilize international operations’, the US will make a decision to make it a ‘strategic and economically effective price payer’.
It has once again reiterated its stand that the Russian government is behind the cyber-attacks and is trying to influence ‘free and fair democratic elections in the US and its allies.
It has specifically accused Russian foreign intelligence agency SVR of Solarwinds attacks.
The attack gave cybercriminals access to 18,000 government and private computer networks.
In December last year, the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he believed that Russia was behind this attack.
Russia’s response
Shortly after the announcement of the sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry called it ‘a hostile step’ which would increase the mercury of the conflict in a dangerous way.
The ministry said in a statement, “There will be a definite answer to such aggressive antics.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned the US ambassador.
At the same time, the European Union, NATO and Britain have issued statements in support of the US move.
What is the background of the dispute?
Joe Biden gave his first speech on foreign policy in February and said that Russia would be confronted.
He had said, the time for reversal in America is gone due to Russia’s aggressive antics.
In 2014, Biden was the Vice President of the United States at the time of Russia’s Crimea occupation, and then the Obama-Biden government was accused of doing nothing.
But in recent times Joe Biden has warned Russia for an aggressive attitude in Ukraine. Russia is increasing its military presence in the border areas there.
Earlier, Donald Trump avoided criticizing Russian President Putin.
In a report last month, American intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian President had probably instructed Trump to help him online for the second time to help in the presidential election.
But according to the Carnegie Moscow Center, despite this, Trump imposed more than 40 sanctions against Russia.
In 2018, he also expelled 60 Russian diplomats.
