 The statement was later sharply criticised by Putin as "disrespectful" and an attempt to prove America's exceptionalism as well as by the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker who in November 2016 said, "We have a lot to learn about the depths of Russia, we are very ignorant about it at the moment.... Russia is not, as President Obama said, 'a regional power'.This was a big error in assessment."