"The president has no plans to discuss the decision. He was presented with options by his national security team, and he made the decision himself," the source told RIA Novosti in response to whether Trump was going to call President Vladimir Putin to discuss his latest step.
Earlier in the day, the US State Department announced that the Russian government was told to shut three diplomatic facilities by September 2 in retaliation for Moscow’s decision to cut US diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 people to 455.
In December 2016 then US President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and banned Russia from accessing two of its diplomatic compounds in response to Russia’s alleged interference in the US presidential election.
In late July, Russia said the United States was to drastically downsize its diplomatic presence to the level that Russia had in the United States. The Kremlin said it was a response to Obama’s action as well as the latest round of anti-Russian sanctions passed by the US Congress.
Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in last year's US election, stating the US allegations are absurd and were intended to deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption as well as other domestic concerns.
