Russian Diplomats Tight-Lipped As They Prepare To Leave United States

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS13) – The clock is ticking for Russian diplomats in the U.S. as the White House announces strict sanctions following the election hacking scandal.

Officials at the Russian consulate in the Bay Area Friday were tight-lipped, aside from a short press conference.

"We consider this sanctions completely unsubstantiated," Sergey Petrov, Russian Consul General to San Francisco.

As part of the U.S. sanctions, the administration closed a compound in Maryland and another in New York and ordered 35 officials from the embassy and Russian consulate in San Francisco to leave the country.

Petrov said one of the people being asked to leave is the chef at the embassy, calling it "ridiculous."

"What happened is they have to leave in hours and it's just not human frankly, not human," said Petrov.

Russia was preparing to send aircraft for its ousted personnel, and Putin had been widely expected to retaliate.

His surprise decision to hold off drew praise from President-elect Donald Trump.

In a tweet Friday afternoon, Trump said: "Great move on delay (by V. Putin) -- I always knew he was very smart!"

Representative John Garamendi went on defense saying Trump doesn't have a clue what Russia is actually up to and defended the president.

"This is not a political play by the Obama administration. This is what we needed to do, and that is to smack Russia," Garamendi said.

Despite the public outrage from Russian diplomats, intelligence experts said the sanctions would have little impact on Russian covert operations.