Russian President Vladimir Putin says a list of officials and businessmen close to the Kremlin published by the US has in effect targeted all Russian people.

The list names 210 top Russians as part of a sanctions law aimed at punishing Moscow for meddling in the US election.

However, the US stressed those named were not subject to new sanctions.

Mr Putin said the list was an unfriendly act that complicated US-Russia ties but he said he did not want to escalate the situation.

Mr Putin said Russia should instead be thinking about "ourselves and the economy".

The list was also derided by a number of senior Russian officials who said it bore a strong resemblance to the Forbes magazine ranking of Russian billionaires. A US Treasury Department later told Buzzfeed that an unclassified annex of the report had been derived from the magazine.

(Source: BBC)