School, college and other closings for Monday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

President Joe Biden is ordering a new round of economic sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow's election meddling and a Kremlin-linked computer breach that penetrated numerous U.S. government networks. 

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking with CNN on Thursday, said that Biden is imposing the sanctions on Russia over the recent SolarWinds hack and election interference. 

"What President Biden is going to announce today, we believe, are proportionate measures to defend American interests in response to harmful Russia actions including cyber intrusions and election interference," Sullivan said. 

Sullivan said that in a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, Biden made clear that "his goal is provide a significant and credible response, but not to escalate the situation."

According to the White House, the latest sanctions target more than 30 Russian entities and individuals, and order 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission to be expelled from the U.S.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would wait for details from the White House before commenting in detail, but indicated that Moscow could retaliate.

"We condemn any intentions to impose sanctions, consider them illegal, and in any case the principle of reciprocity operates in this area," he said, according to Reuters.

In his interview with CNN, Sullivan reiterated Biden's intention to meet directly with Putin at an upcoming summit. 

"We believe that altogether, both the actions we are taking today and that broader diplomacy, can produce a better set of outcomes for U.S.-Russia relations," he said. 

Politics and Government News

Scott Neuman

Author

President Joe Biden is ordering a new round of economic sanctions that include restrictions on dozens of Russian entities and the expulsion of some Kremlin diplomats. 

U.S. slaps new sanctions on Russia over cyber attack, election meddling

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox