Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will not expel US diplomats in revenge for hacking sanctions imposed by White House officials.

The country’s foreign minster had threatened to evict officials in retaliation against the White House’s decision to banish 35 Russian diplomats from the US – but Putin stepped in to say he would not engage in tit-for-tat politics.

The shock move did not stop the ministry’s spokesman from slamming the Barack Obama administration, who didn’t hold back as she called them a ‘group of foreign policy losers, angry and shallow-brained’.

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 Vladimir Putin decided not to tit-for-tat with Barack Obama (right) who expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the US embassy

 Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (pictured) slammed the outgoing President’s team

 Television crews assemble outside the Russian embassy on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington

Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had fired back at Barack Obama’s decision only to be pegged back by his leader.

As well as sending US officials back to America, Mr Lavrov suggested closing down an area used by Americans for their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow.

But Putin dismissed the idea, saying he did not want to stop youngsters from being able to use the area.

He even invited children of any American diplomats in Moscow to celebrate the New Year with him at the Kremlin.

Mr Lavrov said in televised remarks on Friday the foreign ministry and other agencies suggested President Vladimir Putin should expel 31 employees of the US embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the US consulate in St Petersburg.

Another suggestion is to bar US diplomats from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse in the south of Moscow.

But Putin made a shock move this afternoon by announcing no action would be taken against US officials.

‘We will not create problems for American diplomats. We will not expel anyone,’ he said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

 Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, had suggested the Kremlin should return fire by expelling 35 US diplomats

The ministry’s spokesman Maria Zakharova claimed the US and American people were ‘humiliated by their own President’ in what she described as the Cold War-style measures against Moscow.

 John Kerry, pictured, has been praised by Russia

In a personal onslaught, she claimed Secretary of State John Kerry was not in line with what Moscow sees as draconian measures.

‘The most surprising thing is that having failed to add to the history any achievements at the world stage, the Nobel Prize winner managed to make a big inkblot instead of an elegant mark.

‘Only Kerry deserves sympathy from this group of spoilers.

‘He was not an ally, but he tried to remain professional and to keep his human dignity.’

She claimed: ‘His own colleagues were mocking him, cheated on him and did not let him work.

‘God save any Secretary of State from what he had to go through.

‘Mr Kerry, at this hard moment for the USA let me express my solidarity with you – you have done everything possible in order to prevent foreign policy collapse in your country. ‘