"The list of actions that this administration has taken — I'm happy to walk through each of them," Outgoing CIA Chief Mike Pompeo said on April 12, when asked about actions taken to counter Moscow during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "A handful of weeks ago, the Russians met their match and a couple hundred Russians were killed."
He also brought up the recent expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats as a proof of tougher stance against the Kremlin.
Pompeo claimed that more work needs to be done on the sanctions front because Russian President Vladimir Putin "has not yet received the message sufficiently."
“If I am confirmed as secretary of state, I can assure you this administration will continue as it has for the past 15 months to take real actions, to push back, to re-set the deterrence relationship with respect to Russia,” Pompeo said at the hearing.
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His rhetoric took Twitter aback. Many commentators shamed Pompeo for his “warmongering” statement and bragging about such facts.
Others pointed out that Pompeo’s picture lacked some details, as the dead Russian nationals were not servicemen.
In February, the US-led coalition fighting against Daesh*, said that it had carried out defensive airstrikes against pro-government forces in Syria that attacked the headquarters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Soon after that, media reported that at least 100 Syrian pro-government troops were killed in the coalition’s strikes.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the several dozen citizens of Russia and other CIS countries had been injured in the clash in Syria but that they were not servicemen. According to the ministry, they had gone there of their own volition for various reasons.
*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia