Alexey Pushkov, the head of the Russian Parliament’s lower chamber’s foreign affairs committee, taunted Americans during the Navy Yard shooting in Washington, D.C., writing,
Новая стрельба у штаба ВМС в Вашингтоне – одинокий стрелок и 7 трупов. Никто уже не удивлен. Наглядное подтверждение “амер.исключительности”
— Алексей Пушков (@Alexey_Pushkov) September 16, 2013
BuzzFeed translates the tweet as, “A new shootout at Navy headquarters in Washington – a lone gunman and 7 corpses. Nobody’s even surprised anymore. A clear confirmation of ‘American exceptionalism.'”
Pushkov then continued his tirade in English:
The USA should part with the notion of American exceptionalism. It contradicts the principles of equal rights and smells of political racism
— Алексей Пушков (@Alexey_Pushkov) September 16, 2013
Pushkov rarely tweets in English, commenting in his native Russian far more often than targeting a global audience.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the concept of American exceptionalism in The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2013, writing, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”