Russian embassy in the U.S. shows support for Donald Trump's praise of Putin

On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump had high praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin's response to President Barack Obama's plan to sanction Russia.

The Russian embassy in the United States, according to The Hill, immediately turned around and retweeted the president-elect, ushering in a new phase of online diplomacy:

Minutes after Trump's tweet, the Russian Embassy in the United States of America retweeted the message on its account.

Obama, in retaliation for what he believed to be cyber meddling in the 2016 election to advantage Trump over Hillary Clinton, imposed sanctions on Russia, including closing two Russian-government owned compounds in the U.S., and ordering 35 Russian intelligence operatives and their families to leave the U.S. He also sanctioned the Russian spy agency and Russian Military intelligence.

In addition, Obama ordered the declassification of some Russian intelligence cyber activity to help "identify, detect and disrupt" Russian spying.

Putin responded to the sanctions by saying he would not expel American diplomats in Russia, avoiding the "tit-for-tat" diplomacy method Moscow has played with the U.S. in the past, according to The Washington Post:

Putin announced Friday that he “won’t create problems for American diplomats” in retaliation while he waits for the new administration to take office, adding that he would “plan further steps for restoring the Russian-American relationship based in the policies enacted by the administration of President Donald Trump.”

This is not the first time Trump has praised Putin, causing many liberal activists to accuse the president-elect of being "in the neighborhood" of treason.