During a confirmation hearing at the US Senate on April 13, the US Secretary of State nominee and incumbent CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Washington's "soft" approach toward Russia will come to an end.
Amid Pompeo's calls for harder line against Russia, Senator Tim Kaine of the Democratic Party asked him:
"If we embrace the regime change in other nations, we can hardly say 'but this is something only the US gets to do.' If we say it is an acceptable foreign policy goal for us, other nations conclude it is an acceptable foreign policy goal for them."
Pompeo, however, said he didn't find a moral equivalency in the cases Kaine was describing.
"This [US] is a unique, exceptional country. Russia is unique, but not exceptional. It behaves in ways that are deeply different from what we ever ought to contemplate. The words 'democracy promotion' and 'Vladimir Putin' are unlikely to be used in the same sentence, paragraph, or document — maybe the same century… I mean, look at the election meddling, right?" said Pompeo.
Twitter users have responded to Pompeo's suggestion that Russia is not exceptional, compared to the US.