Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 755 U.S. diplomatic mission staff to leave the country in a Sunday interview with a Russian television station.
The diplomats must leave the country by Sept. 1, The New York Times reported.
In an interview Rossiya-1, Putin said he was capping the number of American personnel at 455 — the same as the number of Russian diplomatic and technical staff in the United States, according to the Washington Post.
The expulsion comes in response to legislation overwhelmingly passed by Congress last week that would increase sanctions against Russia and blocks President Trump from being able to lift the measures.
The staff reduction is dramatic, the Post said, involving the main embassy in Moscow and missions in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.
The Russian government will also seize two diplomatic properties in Moscow, retaliation for an Obama administration decision to take over two Russian mansions in the U.S., the Post added.
“We waited for quite some time that maybe something will change for the better, had such hope that the situation will somehow change, but, judging by everything, if it changes, it will not be soon,” Putin said regarding U.S.-Russia relations, according to The Times.
The White House announced on Friday that Trump would sign new Russia sanctions, even though the administration had lobbied Congress to water down the legislation.
The Trump administration and the Kremlin have maintained a hot-and-cold relationship since Trump took office.
Trump has expressed a desire for warmed relations with Moscow -- however, during the first leg of his trip to eastern Europe on Sunday, Vice President Pence said the president expects Russia's "unacceptable" behavior to change.
“The president has made it very clear that Russia’s destabilizing activities and support for rogue regimes and its activities in Ukraine are unacceptable. The president made it clear that very soon he will sign sanctions from the Congress to reinforce that,” Pence said during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“But at the same time, as we make our intentions clear that we expect Russian behavior to change, the president and I remain very hopeful that we’ll see very different behavior from the Russian government,” he added.
This must be the retaliations that Putin promised after the sanctions.
Vladimir Putin has accused US lawmakers of “insolence”, and promised Russia will retaliate if the latest round of US sanctions against Russia are signed into law.
The House of Representatives voted by 419 votes to three on Tuesday to pass the new sanctions bill, which targets Russia as well as North Korea and Iran.
The US legislation was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate on Thursday, and will now go to Donald Trump for his signature. Trump, who enjoyed two warm conversations with Putin at the G20 summit earlier this month, is likely to face a major backlash if he attempts to veto the legislation, with his administration already embroiled in a Russia scandal.
“We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond,” said Putin at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö.
“It’s impossible to endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence towards our country,” Putin said, referring to the sanctions. “This practice is unacceptable – it destroys international relations and international law.”