Of course, Putin should do what he thinks best for Russia. That's his job. But I doubt whether the best thing for Russia is to fund terrorists, sell weapons to rogue nations, poison his neighbors, or keep poking the US in the eye with a sharp stick. The US is a more useful ally than Iran or North Korea.
This is a very short-sighted course of conduct. IMHO, it works against Russia's best national interests.
I have heard this theory and I am more and more inclined to believe it.
Russia pretends on the world stage to oppose American interests. That gains them trust with enemies, such as, Iran and North Korea, and they gather valuable intelligence that they pass on. Plus Russia will never want to openly appear to be too pro-American, it's just in their nature. All I can say is, what you see on the surface may not necessarily reflect reality when it comes to Russian-US relations.
It goes right to the heart of political correctness and our weakness by having a fifth column. We should tell the UN to bugger off and give a beatdown when approriate and drill, drill, drill. This will never happen of course.