President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Moscow regretted the sanctions the Obama administration imposed Thursday and retaliatory steps were being considered.
The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters in Moscow the measures signaled Obama's "unpredictable" and "aggressive foreign policy."
"Such steps of the U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things," Peskov said: "To further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, deal a blow on the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect."
President Barack Obama imposed sanctions Thursday on Russian officials and intelligence services, including expelling 35 diplomats, in response to Russia's hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other party operatives during the presidential election.
Peskov reiterated Thursday that Russia had no role in the hacking.
He added Putin had yet to study what the new sanctions involved and work out what retaliatory steps could be.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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