Story highlights Vyacheslav Nikonov, a member of the Russian parliament, made the snarky comment

Nikonov's tone suggests that the remarks were made in jest

Washington (CNN) A Russian politician appeared to mock the US intelligence community in a recent television appearance, saying American spies "slept through while Russia elected a new US president."

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, made the snarky reference to Russian interference in the 2016 US election on Sunday during a weekly political show called "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov."

"(To achieve world dominance) the US overextended themselves," Nikonov said. "Because the most recent tendencies, economical, military, even tendencies in the intelligence (services) which slept through while Russia elected a new US president."

"It's just ridiculous, what kind of intelligence in the USA one can even talk about?" he added. "The US sagged in all these aspects for the past two decades. This superpower is losing its ability to define the world."

The comments were first noticed by Julia Davis , who runs a website that is largely critical of Russian media called "Russia Lies."