Russia has reacted angrily to the US Senate’s overwhelming vote in favour of a bill introducing new economic sanctions against Russia, promising retaliatory measures.

In the interview to Rossiya 1 channel aired on July 30 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that 755 US dimplomats would have to leave Russia in retaliation for sanctions. 

The Foreign Affairs Ministry on July 28 demanded that the US diplomatic mission is cut to 455 people, on par with Russia's mission in the US and two US embassy properties in Moscow have also been taken back by the Russian state, including a dacha in the exclusive serebryany bor neighbourhood. 

While mapping out the possible additional retaliatory measures Russia could also employ in answer to the US "unprovoked sanctions" Putin highligthed regional efforts on WMD limitation, fighting terrorism, cybersecurity, and migration, as well as business cooperation in energy, aviation and space programs. However, he added that at this point he prefers "not to consider additional measures."

Earlier, accusing US lawmakers of “insolence” after they passed the bill on July 27, Putin said the sanctions are “illegal from the standpoint of international trade.”

“We have seen that over some period of time, [the United States is] trying to provoke us,” Putin said at a joint press conference in Moscow with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto, two days after the US House of Representatives also backed the bill by 419 votes to three. “We are acting with restraint and patience. But at some point we will need to answer. It’s impossible to tolerate endless insolence.”

Russia is also facing decades of low growth as long as US sanctions imposed three years ago over Ukraine stay in place, Alexei Kudrin, a veteran former finance minister and economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin warns in an interview with Reuters published on July 27.

Trump, who held talks with Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month and appeared to get on very well with him, is likely to face a major backlash if he attempts to veto the new legislation. The new sanctions bill specificially limited the president's ability to remove or reduce the sanctions unilaterally. 

The diplomatic retaliation announced by the Russian leader on July 30 exceeds the expectations, as according to sources of Russian daily Kommersant, if US President Donald Trump now signs the bill into law, only 35 of Washington’s diplomats were expected to be expelled from Russia.

The same number of Russian diplomats were expelled from the United States in December 2016 following allegations that Russia meddled in November’s presidential elections there. At the time, Russia made a point of not retaliating, hoping that relations between the two countries would improve under Trump’s presidency.

Putin and other Russian officials deny any interference in the US election, while US intelligence agencies say they have clear evidence of a coordinated Russian campaign. “It’s a great pity that Russian-US relations are being sacrificed to resolve questions of domestic politics,” Putin said on July 27, describing the allegations as “hysteria”.

Other senior Russian officials were equally indignant about the new sanctions, which target the energy sector, as well as affecting Russia’s railway, mining, metallurgical and shipping sectors.

Franz Klintsevich, the deputy chairman of the Federation Council upper chamber of parliament’s committee for defence and security, was quoted by TASS as saying that the passage of the bill by the US Senate and earlier by Congress “testifies to the degradation of power” in that country. “As a result, the prevalence of US interests has reached a degree of absurdity,” he said.

Earlier, Alexei Pushkov, the former head of the State Duma international affairs committee, now a senator, said that if Trump signs the bill, it will mean that “he is a hostage of Congress and anti-Russian hysteria”.

EU reacts to US sanctions

The passage of the bill may also create a rift between the US and the EU, as some European countries are still dependent on Russia for energy supplies and fear that the new sanctions could affect such projects as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called upon colleagues in Brussels to “stand ready to act within days” should the additional US sanctions be “adopted without EU concerns being taken into account”, the Financial Times reported on July 24, citing a note prepared for a commission meeting

European politicians have been outspoken in their condemnation of the new sanctions bill, which “will affect European countries cooperating with Russia in the energy sector, and, therefore, these restrictive measures can ultimately run counter to international law,” German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Brigitte Zypries, said in an interview over the weekend with local newspapers reports Tass. "America cannot fine German companies for doing business in another country," she said. 

The US sanctions have gone down badly with the German public too. Some 83% Germans call the US new sanctions against Russia an “incorrect “initiative taken by Washington, according to the Forsa polling group, published by Spiegel on Saturday. Only 6% of the polled support the new sanctions, while 77% of respondents say this initiative is Washington’s attempt to improve its positions in the economy.

Meanwhile, the EU is considering its own tougher sanctions against Russia over the delivery of Siemens gas turbines to Crimea by a Russian company in a move the German company says was carried out without its consent or knowledge.

There is initial backing to a German proposal to blacklist several more Russian nationals and companies, but no final decision has been made, Reuters reported on July 28.