President Obama speaks in support of Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday it viewed U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent statements on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as anti-Russian and said they were unlikely to improve fragile relations between Russia and the United States.

Obama on Tuesday strongly criticized Trump for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin and for appearing on a TV channel, RT, funded by the Russian government.

“Unfortunately, we see continued displays of often hard-core Russophobia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Obama’s intervention, told a conference call with reporters. “We can only express regret in this regard.

“This rhetoric, which is being formulated in electoral campaign style ... is unlikely to help fledgling fragile attempts to build at least some sort of mutual trust.”