This is how you respond to hacking against your country. Not only will it cost Russia in terms of economic benefit, but it also a slap in the face to Russia.
This is America saying "here are 35 clowns we know were spying on us, how we know and for how long we have known and watched them is our business not yours. Now take your trash back". Now if these second class spies were active they don't know if the information they obtained was even legitimate information or if false information was leaked or "provided". Russia won't know for how long they were being watched, it could have been years. They don't know how many others they are aware of and how much information the CIA or FBI have gleaned from them due to their own sloppiness. Then there is the fear from the Kremlin that America must have a high ranking counter operative working in Russia for America, right under Putins nose.
Five star response if you ask me.
U.S. slaps sanctions on Russia, ejects 35 diplomats over election hacking
President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over their involvement in hacking U.S. political groups in the 2016 presidential election.
The measures, taken during the last days of Obama’s presidency, mark a new post-Cold War low in U.S.-Russian ties which have deteriorated over Ukraine and Syria.
Allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed efforts to intervene in the U.S. election process by hacking mostly Democrats have made relations even worse.
“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior,” Obama said in a statement from vacation in Hawaii.
..........true story.
