President Barack Obama had vowed action against Russia amid US accusations that it directed cyber-attacks on the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Emails stolen from her campaign manager and from the servers of the Democratic National Committee - some containing embarrassing information for Democrats - were released during the election campaign through the Wikileaks website.
And now Moscow has made it clear it..
will hit back. The Kremlin has promised an "appropriate response" to the US sanctions; the Russian foreign ministry says there will be Russian "counter-measures".
In the tradition of the Cold War, tit-for-tat is the likely reaction. That would mean Russia expelling a similar number of American diplomats.
But Moscow knows that in three weeks' time President Obama will be vacating the White House. America's new president, Donald Trump, has called for better relations with Moscow. He has nominated people for senior positions in his administration who are seen as friendly towards Moscow. Rex Tillerson, his nominee for secretary of state, once received an award from President Putin himself.
Will that soften Moscow's response? Or will Russia hit back just as hard?
A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin's reaction would cause the US "significant discomfort".
The foreign ministry said Russia's response would be announced on Friday.
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