In a perfect summary of the political discourse of 2016, the Russian embassy in London is mocking US president Barack Obama with an emoji-filled tweet and a picture of an adorable duckling, cruelly stamped with the word “LAME.” The post—a reference to Obama’s “lame duck” period in office—was in reaction to a harsh set of US sanctions against Russia, announced Dec. 29.
Hitting back against Russian efforts to sway the US election, the Obama administration today expelled 35 Russian intelligence operatives and diplomats from the country, announced it was shutting down two Russian compounds and imposed sanctions on two of Russia’s intelligence services. Obama also said that US diplomats in Moscow had been under an “unacceptable level of harassment” from Russian secret services.
The Russian embassy in London has been consistently trolling the US on Twitter over the past month:
The Russian embassy in the US is sadly less imaginative:
US president-elect Donald Trump, who has dismissed reports of Russian hackers swaying the election, will face a tough call on how to proceed once he is inaugurated in January. Asked about the possibility of new sanctions on Dec. 28, before today’s sanctions, he responded, “We ought to get on with our lives.”