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When it was definitively proven that Russia interfered in the presidential elections of 2016, an appropriate retaliatory response was developed in Congress by both Houses. In a bi-partisan and overwhelming vote of 98-2 by the Senate and 419-3 in the House, US lawmakers decided to punish Russia with sanctions that take aim at Russia’s energy and defense sectors.
Seriously peeved, Russia decided to enact its own punishing edict against the United States, ordering 755 members of the American diplomatic team to remove themselves from Russian soil.
In response to the Russian demand, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that he will be taking a course of action to retaliate. What that action will be has not yet been decided, but Tillerson promises it will be announced before September 1.
Tillerson met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergy Lavrov in the Philippines on Sunday morning before his announcement that he was planning an answer to the Russian eviction of US embassy staff. The secretary said that the Russians have expressed interest in ending violence now going on in Eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have been stationed ever since the 2014 revolution that overthrew the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
