President Barack Obama on Thursday unleashed a barrage of retaliatory measures against Moscow for meddling in the US election, imposing sanctions on two intelligence agencies, expelling 35 agents and shuttering two Russian compounds inside the United States. Making good on a promise to punish Vladimir Putin's government for allegedly trying to tilt the 2016 election in Donald Trump's favor, Obama unveiled a broad range of steps that will inflame tensions with both Moscow and the president-elect. US intelligence had concluded that a hack-and-release of Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton staff emails was ordered by the Kremlin and was designed to put the Republican real estate mogul in the Oval Office.
