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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday announced that Russia would expel 10 US and 3 Polish diplomats in retaliation for them having respectively expelled 10 and 3 Russian diplomats on Thursday, Deustche Well reported. 

Lavrov additionally noted that eight US officials had been added to Russia's sanctions lists and that Moscow would take moves to limit and even stop the activity of US non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that it says are interfering in Russian politics.

Moscow also recommended the US recall Ambassador John Sullivan — Russia recalled its US ambassador in March, in response to US President Joe Biden calling Russian President Vladimir Putin "a killer" in a televised interview. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry has steadfastly warned of "inevitable" retaliation, noting that, "Washington should realize that it will have to pay a price for the degradation of bilateral ties.'' Though Lavrov emphasized Moscow could undertake more "painful measures" in the future, he said it would refrain from doing so at this juncture.

The Russian response came after the US announced a new raft of sanctions for what Washington says were Russian cyberattacks on US government websites in the massive 2020 SolarWinds hack as well as political interference in the recent 2020 US presidential election. Moscow denies any involvement in either incident.