Russian politician mocks U.S., says intel 'missed it' when Russia 'stole the president of the United States'

Russian politician Vyacheslav Nikonov says U.S. “intelligence missed it when Russian intelligence stole the president of the United States.”

Nikonov is is a member of the Russian government’s Duma assembly, and made the remarks last night on his Russian TV show ‘Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov.’ The theme of the show was the decline of U.S. power around the world.

According to The Hill:

The focus of the episode was the decline of U.S. power in the world. In that context, said University of Virginia professor Allen Lynch via email, Nikonov was less stating the extent of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, and more mocking the resulting chaos as emblematic of U.S. weakness.

“His point in making the remark was that if the U.S. can’t protect the integrity of its own electoral system, then how powerful can it really be?” wrote Lynch.

Reporter Julia Davis was the first to notice the comment and says, “Nikonov continued to talk about the superiority of Russia’s intelligence services over U.S. re: knowledge of North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria.”

Image: Kremlin.ru