Urusi nayo yajibu mapigo,kazi imeanza

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a tit-for-tat response after the US expelled 35 Russian diplomats amid a row over hacking.

He said Russia would not "stoop" to the level of "irresponsible diplomacy" but would work to restore ties with the US under President-elect Donald Trump.

The country denies involvement in hacking related to the US election, calling US sanctions "ungrounded".

Mr Trump praised Mr Putin as "very smart" for holding off on reprisals.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accused the outgoing US administration of President Barack Obama of ending in "anti-Russian death throes".

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Under the US action taken on Thursday:

Thirty-five diplomats from Russia's Washington embassy and its consulate in San Francisco were declared "persona non grata" and given 72 hours to leave the US with their familiesTwo properties said to have been used by Russian intelligence services in New York and Maryland were closed on FridaySanctions were announced against nine entities and individuals including two Russian intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSB

Mr Obama, who will be replaced by Donald Trump on 20 January, had vowed action against Russia amid US accusations that it directed cyber-attacks on the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Emails stolen from her campaign manager and from the servers of the Democratic National Committee - some containing embarrassing information for Democrats - were released during the election campaign.

A skilled hand: Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent

This was a carefully stage-managed response from Mr Putin - dangling the possibility of tit-for-tat expulsions and then showing magnanimity in postponing any response - at least for now.

It is fundamentally a put-down for the Obama administration, suggesting that, in Moscow's view, it is such a lame-duck, so irrelevant, as to make any response unnecessary.

It also poses an immediate test for President-elect Trump. Will he be convinced by the evidence the US intelligence agencies say they have? And, if so, what course will he steer in his relations with Russia?

This is no new Cold War. Russia is simply a kind of "pocket" superpower, nothing like the Soviet Union of old. But Mr Putin has shown here in relations with the West, as in Ukraine and Syria, that he can play a limited hand with great skill. Mr Trump will need to respond to this challenge in a decisive but graduated way.

'Come to the tree'

In a statement on the Kremlin website (in Russian), Mr Putin said: "We won't be expelling anyone.

"We won't be banning their families and children from the places where they usually spend the New Year holidays. Furthermore, I invite all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas Tree in the Kremlin."
 
Political relationship ya Russia na USA is not based on trust wao swala la kukataa diplomats au kubadilishana spies caught in action wala sio big deal kabisa, kwanza akishikwa anawekwa kama pawn tu its only a matter of time kabla ajafanywa exchange.
 
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