Russia taunts U.S. on Twitter after White House announces punishment for cyberattacks

Russian government entities took to Twitter on Thursday and Friday to mock the U.S. after President Obama announced sanctions and other punishments in retaliation for the Kremlin’s interference in U.S. elections.

President Obama and the U.S. intelligence community have accused Russia of spearheading the cyberattacks that leaked troves of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. In addition to the sanctions, the White House said it would expel from the U.S. 35 Russians whom it characterized as intelligence operatives, and the State Department said it would close two properties it said were used for the Kremlin’s intelligence operation.

But verified Twitter accounts of Russian embassies and of the country’s foreign ministry were in good humor about it.

Russia’s embassy in the United Kingdom said it was looking forward to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration and used a photo to illustrate the fact that Obama is a “lame duck” president with only a handful of days left in office.

And in a Twitter Christmas card, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended holiday wishes to Obama while inviting the children of the expelled Russians to the Kremlin.

Russia’s U.S. embassy also published a “season’s greetings” statement from Putin to various world leaders, Trump, past U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush — but not Obama.

The embassy also wished America a good morning on Friday with an image featuring a sunny sky.

And then there was this tweet from the country’s U.K. embassy.