If I remember last year he was telling us how great Putin was?
I may be wrong, but I think Putin could have been brought along better than he was. We should have been the ones dealing with him and not the Chinese. If we would have sent 1/10th of the trade to Russia that we did to openly anti-US China, I think we could have made Russia a much more friendly nation. I have held a wait and see attitude with Putin. I don't like what I see these days, but I haven't seen us try to curry favor with Russia either. It's a tough topic.
As for supporting Putin blindly, I think you are absolutely right.