Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas boasted about his state’s economy by comparing it to Russia.

“The Texas economy is even larger than the economy of Russia,” Abbott said. “That makes me more powerful than Putin!”

Texas, with its annual GDP of $1.7 trillion, is ranked the 10th-largest economy in the world.

California, with its $2.7 trillion GDP, is the world’s fifth-largest economy.

Gov. Greg Abbott boasted about Texas’ economy by comparing it to Russia and joked it made him “more powerful” than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“In Texas, we don’t compare our economy to other states,” Abbott said to a cheering audience. “We compare our economy to other countries!”

Texas, with its annual GDP of $1.7 trillion, is ranked the 10th-largest economy in the world.

“By comparison, the Texas economy is larger than Canada, it’s larger than Australia,” Abbott said. “And get this. The Texas economy is even larger than the economy of Russia. That makes me more powerful than Putin!”

Abbott made that assertion at the Toyota Center in Houston on Monday afternoon before President Donald Trump took the stage at a campaign rally in support of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. The junior senator is running against his Democratic opponent Rep. Beto O’Rourke in the midterm election.

California, with its $2.7 trillion GDP, is the world’s fifth-largest economy, beating the United Kingdom. California and Texas have been economic rivals for years – and that rivalry lands at the intersection of politics, business, and culture, ABC News noted in a report published in May.

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As for Russia, it has nearly five times as many residents as Texas, according to US Global Investors, but the Texas economy is $400 billion larger.

For Texans, that equates to a per-capita GDP of $58,000 versus Russia’s $8,700.