President Barack Obama on Tuesday said Mitt Romney was wrong in 2012 about the extent of Russia's power in the world. Russia isn't the United States' "No. 1 geopolitical foe," as Romney called it, but rather a "regional power."

Holding a joint news conference with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Nuclear Security Conference in Brussels, Obama was asked by ABC's Jonathan Karl whether Romney had a point given Russia's recent invasion of the Ukrainian Crimea and their position on Syria's civil war.

"The truth of the matter is, America's got a whole lot of challenges. Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength, but out of weakness," Obama said.

"The fact that Russia felt compelled to go in militarily and lay bear these violations of international law indicates less influence, not more," he added. "And so my response then continues to be what I believe today, which is Russia's actions are a problem, they don't pose the number one national security threat to the United States."

TPM