The Belarusian president has lashed out against President Barack Obama, drawing a comparison between American exceptionalism and Nazism.

Alexander Lukashenko told the Kazakh TV station 24.kz that Belarus had “already survived this ‘exceptionalism’… which cost us 50 million lives.” He appeared to be referring to the number some cite as the Soviet death toll during World War II.

In the interview, which was shown in Belarus on Thursday, Lukashenko said he was surprised that Obama would promote such rhetoric, since he comes from a country where black people were once slaves.

Lukashenko appeared to be taking the lead from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took to the opinion pages of the New York Times in September to criticize Obama’s description of America as exceptional.

(AP)