Russia has been a lot better than we realize, for a long time, it's just that there has been too much Cold War carry-over hostility.

Putin, if you recall, was going to come visit the US about 1 year after Trump got elected. The MSM/SJW complex started howling, and, guess what?

Of course, like any good leader, Putin puts HIS people first. If not, he should be hanged. But, he seemed to be pretty open to a good relationship with the US, until the DS started to control the narrative.