Russia on Friday said it will expel 10 U.S. diplomats and sanction U.S. officials making good on its threat to retaliate against the U.S. for similar actions a day earlier.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added that Moscow had proposed that U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan, like his Russian counterpart, return home for consultations. Russia will also move to deny the U.S. Embassy the possibility to hire personnel from Russia and third countries as support staff.

On Thursday, the U.S. announced a raft of sanctions against Russia in addition to the expulsion of 10 of its diplomats for Moscow's alleged election interference and cyber activities.

Russia has denied interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and involvement in the SolarWind hack of federal agencies — the activities punished by the latest U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. also targeted a number of companies and people, and imposed new restrictions on Russia's ability to borrow money.

The Russian Foreign Ministry then warned of an 'inevitable" retaliation, stressing that the U.S. ought to know that it "will have to pay a price for the degradation of bilateral ties."

Aware of Russia's leverage across the world in other areas, President Joe Biden had called for a de-escalation of tensions and held the door open for cooperation with Russia in certain areas. Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a call on Tuesday that he chose not to impose tougher sanctions for now and proposed to meet in a third country in the summer.

According to Lavrov, the summit offer from the Biden administration was being analyzed.

(With input from agencies)