I may be misremembering, but during the W Bush years, didn’t we get along fine with Russia? Hasn’t it only been during Obama and Biden that they are the villains? I think you are right— the left does not want Russia and US to be friends.
Tourists flowed into Russia then...and Russians were opening businesses and traveling abroad.
I met several in Bahrain and Dubai. Had pleasant conversations at the hotel bars.
Then along came Putin.
Russia falling out of favor can be traced to a single event.
Hillary wanted a UN resolution to regime change Gaddafi.
Russia said no. China said no. And both said they would never again vote in favor of any sort of regime change anywhere.
That was it. Hillary declared Russia evil.
The American left has never forgiven Russia for giving up on international communism.
If he was President today, Dubya would probably have made an announcement that Ukraine will never join NATO.
That may or may not be sufficient to appease Putin.