Breaking News English

A new [crisis / crises] is looming between the USA and Russia. It has been [brewing / baking] since the U.S. presidential election in November amid [accusation / accusations] by Hillary Clinton's team of Russian interference [in / on] the electoral process. U.S. officials claimed that Russian intelligence agencies hacked into and [stole / stolen] e-mails from the servers of Ms Clinton's party and released [those / them] on the Wikileaks website. The officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted [by / to] influence American voters [onto / into] voting for President-elect Donald Trump. President Barack Obama vowed to take action [over / under] the allegations and has [expelled / exhaled] 35 Russian diplomats from Washington. He has also shut down two Russian intelligence compounds in the U.S.

Russia has responded [angry / angrily] to the expulsions and has denied [some / any] involvement in the [alleged / allegation] hacking. It called the U.S. actions "ungrounded". It is [likelihood / likely] there will be a tit-for-tat response from Russia. Moscow has [promised / promise] an "appropriate response" and "counter-measures". Any retaliation, however, may be less [severe / severely] due to the upcoming inauguration of Mr Trump as President. A Russian spokesman said: "These decisions were [taking / taken] by President Obama, but Trump will become the head [for / of] state in three weeks' time. Of course, this factor will [certainly / certain] be taken into account one way or another." Mr Trump seeks to put US-Russian relations on a better [footing / handing] and has a good relationship with Mr Putin.