If you actually watch Putin’s press conferences, he’s always very composed and articulate. It’s really hard to disagree with what he says.
Now of course, behind closed doors, it’s a different story.
Russia is a little bit of an enemy, but a lot of competition.
There are only two energy giants in the world, the US (~2/3rds) and Russia (~1/3). Everyone on this planet produces and/or consumes energy in the form of oil and gas that is produced inside the sphere of influence of one of them (period).
Iran = Russia
Saudi Arabia = US
Syria = Russia
Kuwait = US
Venezuela = Russia
...
Even firms like Total and Fina (French) pump that oil out of the ground in areas either under US or Russian control. In the bigger picture, Russia is NO threat in so far that they are not seeking an armed conflict with us, and we are not with them. The biggest “security” threat Russia truly posses is the exportation of advanced weaponry (SAMs, ATGMs, communications and jamming equipment, torpedo’s, etc).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-30
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-400_missile_system
In fact it has been “us” that have crapped all over agreements we made with them and stationing troops and missile defense in former East block countries, and expanding NATO eastward in direct contradiction of what we once promised them. When they were down (the Yeltsin era), we walked all over them.
That said, their interests and our interests sometimes over lap, but often are in conflict (i.e. Ukraine, Republic of Georgia, Syria...) over control of these areas. We definitely took it to far and while it might not be the “patriotic” thing to say, we are not the good guys in many aspects here (we pushed them and poked them, broke agreements... We were going into another man’s back yard and crapping there - i.e. Ukraine).
***Putin is good for Russia, but not for us.***
It’s no different when we have a strong or weak leader. They LOVE weak US presidents like Carter, Clinton or Obama. They despise a Reagan or a Trump. Trump was agreeable to them because he knew the boundaries, he was pragmatic and predictable - He spends a lot of time grooming his mad man image, but is actually very calculated. The problem with someone like a naïve Obama was that he might shoot his mouth off about “red lines” being drawn in the sands of Syria (That’s the Russian sand box).
Even our allies dislike a Trump. After all, he demands them to pay 2% GDP on defense as with NATO (their contractual agreement), asks for a greater involvement in international security matters... You should have seen the way Reagan was portrayed in many of those nations allied with us (cowboy, war mongered, saber rattler, dumb...).
That’s just MHO-