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White House official assumes Trump may lift anti-Russian sanctions

"You could reverse those sanctions, but it wouldn't make a lot of sense," the official said

© AP Photo/ Mladen Antonov, Pool

NEW YORK, December 30. /TASS/. The administration of president-elect Donald Trump may lift anti-Russian sanctions when it takes office early next year, a White House official told reporters late Thursday.

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Conway: New anti-Russian sanctions ‘symbolic,’ aimed at restricting Trump

"So again, hypothetically, you could reverse those sanctions, but it wouldn't make a lot of sense," the official said, adding that the future US foreign policy course was up to the new administration to decide.

Commenting on the latest round of US sanctions imposed on Russia Thursday over its alleged role in US election campaign cyberattacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that such moves are intended to deal a blow to both Russian-US relations and the future administration’s foreign policy.

Read the statement by @POTUS on U.S. actions in response to Russian malicious cyber activity and harassment:https://t.co/4IO178lrkW pic.twitter.com/nRBYmhyNVz
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) 29 December 2016

The Kremlin spokesman also pinned hope on the new US leadership who would be left to fix the "clumsy moves" of their predecessors.

US president-elect Donald Trump said he would meet with US intelligence chiefs to discuss cyberattacks on US elections, which Washington ascribes to Russia.

"In the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation," Trump said in a statement obtained by TASS late Thursday.

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