President Trump plans to sign legislation slapping new punitive sanctions on Russia over election meddling, the White House said Friday, effectively ending hopes for the fresh start with Moscow that he came into office promising to seek. “President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it,” a White House statement said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday that Moscow had no choice but to respond now, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry. The United States, he said at the time, cannot afford to have such bad blood with its largest potential nuclear adversary. The United States under President Ronald Reagan ordered out 55 Soviet diplomats in 1986 in another case, after Russia expelled five U.S. diplomats.

Source: Washington Post July 29, 2017 01:43 UTC