President Vladimir Putin has ruled out expelling anyone in retaliation for Washington's decision to throw out 35 Russian diplomats and impose sanctions on two of the country's intelligence agencies.
RIA news agency quoted Mr Putin as saying on Friday (local time) he would consider the actions of President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, when deciding on further steps in Russia-US relations.
Following the announcement, Mr Trump praised Mr Putin's decision, saying: "Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was smart!"
Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed to Mr Putin that Moscow expel 35 US diplomats and ban US diplomatic staff from using two facilities in Moscow, his ministry said.
This followed President Barack Obama's decision to expel the 35 Russian diplomats suspected of spying and to impose sanctions on the two Russian intelligence agencies over their alleged involvement in hacking US political groups in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Lavrov said the allegations that Russia interfered in US elections were baseless.
Mr Putin rejected Mr Lavrov's plan. "We will not expel anyone," he said in a statement. He also said he saw the sanctions as another step to undermine relations between Moscow and Washington, and he regretted that the Obama administration was ending its term in such a way.
Russian officials have portrayed the US sanctions as a last act of a lame-duck president and suggested that Mr Trump could reverse them when he takes over the White House in January.
Earlier, Russian Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev said the Obama administration was ending its term in "anti-Russia death throes".
"It is regrettable that the Obama administration, which started out by restoring our ties, is ending its term in an anti-Russia death throes. RIP," Medvedev, who served as president in 2009 when Obama tried to improve Russia-US relations, wrote on his official Facebook page.
The US sanctions also closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland that the administration said were used by Russian personnel for "intelligence-related purposes".
Russian diplomats leave US quietly
In small convoys of vehicles, Russians have departed two countryside holiday retreats outside Washington DC and New York City without fanfare, ordered out by President Obama who claims the premises are linked to spying.
The Russians were given until noon (local time) on Friday to vacate the compounds in Centreville, Maryland, and in Upper Brookville on Long Island in New York state. By early afternoon, trucks, buses and black sedans with diplomatic licence plates had left.
"The premises have been vacated and it's under control of the government," Elliot Conway, the mayor of Upper Brookville, told reporters soon after the deadline, when a total of six vehicles had driven away from the Russian compound there.
"They've been quiet neighbours," Mr Conway said, adding he had never met anyone who lived at the estate set in rolling countryside about 40km from Manhattan.
In Maryland, about a dozen vehicles left the sprawling waterfront estate, watched by officials from the US State Department. Some passengers smiled and waved as they rode away from the compound, which is located in a wooded farm area with winding narrow roads.
Mr Obama abruptly ordered the closures on Thursday, saying the compounds had been "used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes".
It was part of his response, including the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies, to what US officials have called cyber interference by Moscow in the 2016 US presidential election campaign. The Kremlin has denied the hacking allegations.
The closures echoed the old days of tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union.
When the Russians came to Maryland
When Soviet officials bought the compound in Centreville to be used as a country retreat for diplomats posted to the US capital, it rattled residents of the bayside Maryland town. It was 1972, in the deep chill of the Cold War.
People were suspicious of the Soviets and "thought they were spies ... It was the folklore of Centreville," said Joe Dawkins, who works locally in agriculture.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept an office in Centreville for a time, residents said. The FBI office closed years ago, they said, and over time neighbours in this community of about 4500 people got used to Russian-accented officials shopping at the liquor store, hunting nearby and dining at a popular Irish pub, O'Shucks.
The Russian government maintained the compound after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Property records show the Russian government owns an estate on Town Point Lane in Centreville valued at US$8 million for tax purposes.
Neighbours said the Russians were a lively bunch, seen water-skiing in summer and known for throwing a large, annual Labour Day party. Each May, to celebrate Russia's Victory Day, marking the defeat of the Nazis in World War II, the compound hosts a soccer tournament for diplomats from former Soviet republics.
George Sigler, a Centreville councilman, said he had visited the compound several times for a semi-regular regatta held jointly by the Russians and a sailing club in nearby Annapolis. There, Mr Sigler said, he socialised with diplomats, including a former Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov.
"We were all talking the same language, they were all my age," said Mr Sigler, a former marine who at one point in his service defended US embassy compounds. "All of us drank way too much vodka."
Once, just hours after Mr Sigler admired the quality of the vodka served at the compound, Mr Ushakov had a bottle of it dropped off at the town hall, Mr Sigler said.
A senior US law enforcement official said the US government had long known the compound was used by Russia for intelligence operations, but had not previously seen it as an immediate threat.
In Centreville, from the dock of a vacation house he and his wife stay in, Austin Haase, 31, has a clear view of the Russian estate. In summers past, he saw Russians enjoying water sports, Mr Haase said.
Mr Haase said he doubted the place was used for intelligence gathering. "It's more a slap in the face [to the Russians], like they're taking away their toys," he said.
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, accused the Obama administration of targeting Russian diplomats' children by closing compounds that he said would be used by families over the Christmas and New Year school holidays.
"It's quite scandalous that they chose to go after our kids, you know? They know full well that those two facilities...they're vacation facilities for our kids. And this is Christmas time," Mr Churkin told reporters when asked about the compounds.
Reuters
