MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's tweet describing Russia's decision to send two Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers to Venezuela for exercises as "squandering of public funds" by "two corrupt governments" as undiplomatic and inappropriate.
"As concerns the squandering of funds, we disagree with that, especially considering that making such statements is perhaps not quite appropriate for a country half of whose defense budget would be enough to feed the whole of Africa," Peskov said on Monday when asked by journalists about the Kremlin's opinion of Pompeo's remark.
"In this particular case, this is certainly quite undiplomatic on the secretary of state's part. Using such language in relation to the Russian leadership is quite a serious accusation for him to make. We view this as an absolutely inappropriate statement," he said.
"The president will share his opinion about U.S. secretaries of state in time," Peskov said. "Possibly, such a judgment might also follow in time with regard to these undiplomatic remarks of Mr. Pompeo's," he said.
"We are continuing to look for constructive relations with our partners across the ocean and hope for Washington's reciprocity sooner or later," Peskov said.
He said it would be not be appropriate for him to comment on a U.S. secretary of state's remarks and suggested that the Foreign Ministry assess them.