The United States will be forced to cut hundreds of its embassy staff in Russia, the Interfax news agency quoted a source as saying, after Moscow retaliated on Friday, July 28 for what it said were proposed illegal U.S. sanctions against it, Reuters reports.

"We are talking not about dozens, but hundreds of diplomatic and technical staff who work for U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia," the agency quoted the source as saying.

Russia told the United States on Friday that some of its diplomats had to leave the country in just over a month and said it was seizing some U.S. diplomatic property.

Russia's response, announced by the Foreign Ministry, came a day after the U.S. Senate voted to slap new sanctions on Russia, putting President Donald Trump in a tough position by forcing him to take a hard line on Moscow or veto the legislation and anger his own Republican Party.