US-Russia Relations: Putin slams White House adversary list of prominent Russians

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The White House says the individuals named are not necessarily targets of U.S. sanctions. The list was made public as American intelligence warns that Russia is trying to interfere yet again in the 2018 US midterm elections. CGTN's Roee Ruttenberg reports.

The list of 96 oligarchs and 114 senior political figures reads like a Russian 'Who's Who'. It's the result of a 2017 sanctions bill on "countering America's adversaries", including Russia. It passed in both houses of the U.S. Congress with widespread bipartisan support. U.S. President Donald Trump signed it, but, to date, has yet to implement any of the sanctions it called for.

Late on Monday, before a midnight deadline imposed by the law, the Trump administration released the list. One U.S. official called the legislation "a deterrent" in itself that's already bearing fruit, even without sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the list "an unfriendly act".

VLADIMIR PUTIN RUSSIAN PRESIDENT "It complicates the already difficult situation in Russian-American relations, and of course harms the international relations as a whole."

Putin said he believed the list's release reflected domestic U.S. politics and attacks on Trump. The sanctions law was largely seen as a response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. On Tuesday, U.S. officials seemed to suggest that sanctions were still very much on the table.

STEVE MNUCHIN US TREASURY SECRETARY "Now we will take the basis of that report and look at -- as we do in the normal course -- where it's appropriate to put sanctions."

But critics slammed the president for failing to act. Many see this as the administration letting Moscow "off the hook yet again".

SENATOR ANGUS KING INDEPENDENT, MAINE "Right now we are a cheap date in the sense that there are no consequences. There are no results for when you do something to us, we don't do anything back."

It comes as Trump's CIA Director Mike Pompeo said he had every expectation that Russia would try - yet again - to influence the upcoming U.S. midterm elections.

ROEE RUTTENBERG WASHINGTON "Pompeo also warned that the DPRK was 'a handful of months' away from being able to attack the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. And, that China is 'as big a threat to the U.S.' as Russia. Roee Ruttenberg, CGTN, in Washington."