The 35 Russian diplomats expelled from the United States by President Barack Obama have arrived in Moscow, TASS Russian News Agency reports.
Last week Obama accused the Russian diplomats of having participated in an alleged Kremlin-orchestrated cyber attack to influence the US presidential election against the Democrat Hillary Clinton and to help the Republican Donald Trump, who will assume the presidency on January 20.
The diplomats left the US with their families on Monday, a senior State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity told EFE.
Obama had given the Russian diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, and also ordered the closure of the Russian government's two compounds in New York and Maryland.
The US also announced economic sanctions involving the asset freezing of Russia's two top intelligence agencies: Main Intelligence Directorate and the Federal Security Service.
These have been Obama's heaviest sanctions during his eight years of government in response to the cyber attacks allegedly perpetrated by foreign hackers.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly denied his involvement and that of his government in cyber attacks, announced that he would not expel any US diplomat in retaliation for the sanctions, although he reserved "the right to take measures in response" in the future.
President-elect Trump praised the decision as "very smart".
He has previously said Americans "ought to get on with our lives" rather than sanction Russia.
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