Response to president obamas sanctions. Putin saying, quote, although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible kitchen diplomacy, but will plan our further steps to restore russian u. S. Relations, based on the policies of the trump administration. Now, Vladimir Putin essentially saying, hell wait to deal with donald trump and let a cold relationship with president obama play out in the final weeks. Also today, two russian compounds here on the east coast forced to shut down and senator john mccain announcing plans for a cyber hearing thursday. But tonight, president elect trump raising Russias Putin and this story is really just getting started. Weve got a lot more to tell you about. Nbcs hans nichols is outside the Russian Embassy for us in washington, d. C. Hans . Reporter ayman, as you said, its this embassy that they Retweeted Donald trumps praise for Vladimir Putin. But a senior u. S. Official tells nbc news that, look, theres another theory on this. And that is that russias failure to retaliate could, indeed, be an acknowledgement by putin that they did, indeed, cross the line by their cyberinterference in the u. S. Elections. Now, one thing that is clear is that both the putin side and the trump side are working to make this relationship work. Theyre very clear on that. They want to give themselves plenty of room. Mr. Putin holding his fire, not criticize welcome not retaliating. Giving trump the opportunity to move on. One question here is how will this play out o capitol hill . Because its very clear that congressnal republicans as well as Congressional Democrats want to pursue these investigations and want to continue these investigations. And remember, president elect trump made that tweet before he met with intelligence officials. Now, he was supposed to have another meeting with intelligence officials for more specific conversations on just what russias role was in the hacking, in the interference. Thats where we are now on this friday evening, before we head into a holiday weekend. And as we know, schoolchildren of diplomats in russia have been invited by president Vladimir Putin to an event at their embassy in the its not an embassy, excuse me, inside the kremlin. Ayman . You know, theres always that little caveat on top of twitter feeds that says retweets are not endorsements. Im curious to know if you think that the Russian Embassys retweet is an endorsement of what donald trump said, since he was saying Vladimir Putin is a very smart guy. Well, if they have that disclaimer in cyrilic, i would not be able to impart any knowledge. Theres some behind me here. I think we all know that standard twitter disclaimers are actually ways to get you out of trouble with your employer should you ever offer an opinion on twitter thats contrary to your employer. I dont think thats the case here. Hans nichols, great to talk to you. Lets go straight to msnbcs Kelly Odonnell covering the Trump Transition Team for us from west palm beach. Kelly, great to have you with us this evening. This is hitting a new level tonight. I dont think anyone would have really predicted that cities on such a personal relationship now that were hearing from both president elect donald trump and Vladimir Putin. Where is this relationship going and what do you think we might be hearing from donald trump in the days ahead about this particular issue . Well, part of whats made this so fascinating and complicated ed to watch unfold, ayman, is its difficult to interpret exactly what donald trump means. Are we to infer theres some admiration there, some friendship there . Is there an arms length respect for one leader whos got a style that donald trump may like . At the same time, we have also been very clear that there are a number of people in the trump kind of sphere, the future administration, who are quite critical of the role in the world that putin has played. So how will this shake out . In talki to seniorraditional officials, ive asked for more context about the tweets weve seen about this, the comments that have been made. And at this point, they dont have anything further to add beyond what the president elect himself has put out in a statement or a tweet. That makes it complicated. And when hans referred to congress and republicans in washington, that will again be uneasy territory for a new white house that is looking for allies on capitol hill. Because there is disagreement. There are many more in the congress of the United States who look at what president obama has done with sanctions as a necessary step, even if it was later than they would have liked. And take a very harsh view towards putin. So, since were upon another holiday weekend, advisers say not to expect anything in particular. Theyve given us what is known as a lid in the journalism politics business, meaning, no news events are expected, but weve already seen, that clearly does not apply to the president elects tweets. So if he wishes to weigh in further, he can. Hes also tweeted later tonight about criticism of how this whole story has been covered, on our network and cnns. Sort of poking the media about how we have handled this. So, what comes next . Beyond that big meeting let me ask you about that. Go ahead, ayman. Let me ask you about that particular tweet. I i find it very interesting when he says both cnn and nbc news are being played for such fools. What specifically is he referring to in terms of how either one of these news organizations are covering it. Are we too much i mean, what is he saying in terms of how were covering, in terms of whats coming up out of that camp . Well, it is hard to infer whats in the mind of donald trump in this way, because advisers are not filling in the gasp for us. We can take out to mean that he is a voracious consumer of media. We know that he likes to watch a lot of coverage, whether he watches it live or played back on dvrs. He is critical, which is part of what hes always been attempting to do, which is to adjust the story line, to keep some control in what is being talked about, and certainly, while theres always room for criticism of media handling of any story, what would we be covering different . This is a very notable series of events where the u. S. Is sanctioning russia, where there is a chill in an already difficult relationship. So, of course its being covered. Are there questions about the trump relationship . We would invite him to answer more fully, what he thinks of Vladimir Putin, what he thinks of these sanctions, what he thinks of the next stages in what will be his administration, having to deal with russia. We certainly invite the president elect, if hes watching, wed be happy to come ask you questions. I certainly hope he is watching. Its hard to interpret. Kelly odonnell live for us in west palm beach, florida. Thank you very much. Lets get the perspective from the current white house. Nbcs Tammy Leitner is joining us live now from honolulu, hawaii, where the president continues his winter vacation. Tammy, what are you hearing from the administration in terms of the back and forth that has unfolded on social media, between both president elect donald trump and the russian gassy or perhaps even moscow . Reporter ayman, not a word, actually. But were not really expecting to hear anything from the Obama Administration. Its not really the obama way to go tit for tat with donald trump or with president putin. You have to keep in mind that it was just 48 hours ago that president obama called donald trump and they had a conversation that obamas aides characterized as a positive call, saying that the president is committed the to making the this transition very smooth. The timing, though, is certainly interesting, because that call came just before those sanctions. Now, that doesnt mean, though, that donald trump got a heads up that the sanctions were coming down. In fact, a top adviser to the president actually tells nbc news that trump was told after the fact about the sanctions. And one more thing we do know, for sure, is administration was surprised by russias response. Now, as hans mentioned, this could be an indicator that russia is acknowledging that they crossed a line. Ayman . Tammy leitner, live for us in hawaii with that perspective. Thanks for joining us, tammy . Nbcs lucy has made the jump from london to moscow for us. She joins us now, on a snowy night in moscow, as was predicted. Not so predictable is that the Russian EmbassyRetweeted Donald trumps tweet from earlier in the day. Talk to us about how this is all playing out in moscow and the perception of donald trump there. Reporter sure, ayman. Its been really interesting, actually, to watch the evolution of russias response, which effectively went from fing fingerpointing and namecalling yesterday when these sanctions and expulsions were announced, with the Russian Embassy tweeting a photo of a lame duck, trolling obama. The Russian Embassy spokeswoman calling the Obama Administration a bunch of Foreign Policy losers, to the indignant response that were seeing now, that president putin weighed in with his surprise announcement of not retaliating. Hes being portrayed here as sort of taking the high road, taunting washington, even, as you and hans were talking earlier, by personally inviting the children of the american diplomats here to holiday parties at the kremlin. There is a shift in the russian response, but theres two things that putin is doing here. One is hes winning the news cycle, at least domestically, the way that this is playing out here, as hes perceived as sort of being above the fray, as effectively magnanimous, not stooping to obamas level, as some of the politicians level here have described it. The other thing he is doing is he is not antagonizining donald trump. Clearly, the president of russia expects a friendlier russia policy from the incoming president elect. He was certainly rewarded for it today with that tweet from donald trump calling putin a very smart man, but it could backfire in the future. Take a listen to how one analyst i spoke to earlier today described the situation. Donald trump doesnt owe putin anything. And now hes going to be donald trump, the donald trump we know, in charge of the United States and the u. S. Military, which putin himself has acknowledged is way bigger. And those two guys are now the two heads of the two largest arsenaling. T the unpredictable russian president who has made his gain by acting in places you dont expect him to forcefully when you dont expect him to, and the businessman who has done that to make his career. Reporter so that was David Phillippe of the Washington PostMoscow Bureau chief, making the point you have these two very unpredictable leaders who make their name, their claim to fame by being unpredictable. The point he made to me offcamera is that president putin has one aircraft carrier. You take that to the mediterranean and surprise everybody, donald trump is going to have 11 of them and theyre huge. Thats a lot of unpredictability, ahead. Ayman . Lucy cavanaugh live for us in moscow, russia, this evening. Thanks for joining us, lucy. Now to someone who knows more about russia than anyone i know. Nina khrushchev is associate dean at the new school here in new york. Great to have you with us. Thank you. Ive got to ask you straight up, who do you think is playing who in this situation . Who has the upper hand . Are these two men kind of feeling each other out or is one or the other more dominant in the drivers seat . Because you had trump yesterday with what some described as this watered down approach, not biting on to the sanctions talk, and that s reciprocated almost as equally friendly with the message from Vladimir Putin today, not reciprocating with sanctions and as we saw the Russian Embassy retweeting donald trump. I think they are feeling each other out. Theyve been doing that for a year now. Theyve been sending each other signals hello, im going to be a friend of yours if youre elected and im going to be friendly with you, Vladimir Putin and try to really shape the relationship better. I think they are feeling each other out. Its also part this is clear. I think everybody was expecting an asymmetrical response from putin. Here is your asymmetrical response. He could have gone all the way sanctioning back and expelling half of the American Embassy or he could have said, oh, come to the Christmas Tree celebration at the kremlin, its a wonderful thing. So he chose that kind of softer, kinder putin, thinking that that will bring the so what is the mindset in doing so . I remember 24 hours ago, most of the analysis was saying russia is going to probably reciprocate by doing something similar to what we did to them. Thats kind of been diplomatic standard protocol over the year between many countries, but youre introducing Something Different here. He saw this, analyzed it, and he said, im going to totally do some reverse psychology on this whole thing. And he does. He often, you expect something, and everyone talks about his unpredictability. I think its actually not unpredictability. If you think very hard, you can figure out his actions, you just have to know which way hes going to go. Hell either go all the way or go no way, giving himself an opportunity to use strength later on when its more beneficial. And it was clear even if hes going to retaliate, which i was saying yesterday, its not going to be too much or not at all, before trump comes in. Because he needs to see what the relationship will be. He doesnt want to make it more difficult for trump to walk back all the sanctions on both sides. If you were to make a list of all the Foreign Policy issues that the United States and russia has disagreed upon over the past eight years, who do you think stands more who gains more from coopting the other leader . If trump is trying to coopt putin by being friendly to him and saying, were not going to be confrontational the way obama has been, is he trying to shape some russian policy in the region . So far we havent seen that yet from the trump side. He hasnt said, oh, we want to try to solve some of these pressing issues and thats why hes doing this. I think trump is a novice, its clear, he sort of wings it the way he would do on the apprentice. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt, most of the time it doesnt. But putin is very clever. His job we remember in the kgb was to read the audience. He reads the audience better than everybody weve ever seen in politics or anywhere else. So he sees what his opponent is like and he plays the weak hand of that opponent. I think the weak hand of trump is trump has shown hes vain. We know that. He likes a deal. He likes to be flattered. And he probably can be negotiated with. And thats what weve seen with putin doing very cleverly, responding to trumps advances. Very quickly, do you think that Russian Embassy tweet that was sent out by donald trump and retweeted by the Russian Embassy was approved by Vladimir Putin . I dont think we need to go that high. It was just, hello, were going to have great relationship with the United States. And theyre following each other on twitter, i guess. Absolutely. Nina khrushchev, thanks for being here. More on that breaking news ahead, including a look at Donald Trumps evolving statements on the hacking. And what will Republican Leaders in washington have to say about all of this . Stay with us. So, mr. Harris, we have your fingerprints on the safe. A photo of you opening the safe. A post using the hashtag justrobbedthesafe so, what are we supposed to think . Switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on Car Insurance. Excellent point. Case dismissed. Geico. Because saving fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance woo because saving fifteen percent or more on car insuran is always a great answer. Whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. It starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. And neutralizes stomach acid at the source. Tum tum tum tum smoothies only from tums you got it what do you think . If youre going to wish, wish big at the lexus december to remember sales event get up to 2500 customer cash on select 2016 and 2017 models for these terms. See your lexus dealer. Welcome back, everyone. Will Donald Trumps praise of Vladimir Putin spark a political fight with the Republican Party from day one . Well, as we mentioned, trump hailing putin for not reacting to president obamas sanctions, and heres that tweet once again. Great move on delay by Vladimir Putin. I always knew he was very smart. Its the latest in a string of statements, putting trump at odds with president obama, and in fact, many republicans. More importantly, the cia. Yesterday, he called on the country to move on to bigger and better things. On wednesday, he said, people should just get on with their lives. I think we ought to get on with our lives. I think the computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly whats going on. And heres what trump said earlier this month about the cias conclusion that russia meddled with the election to help him win. I think its ridiculous. I think its just another excuse. I dont believe it. Nobody really