It would be better that this never happened. American activities helped Putin & Co. gain control of Russia. First, Ruskies learned from Hanson that Yeltsin is an American troyan horse and staged massive maskirovka operation around him and his controllers. And America bought it.
The next step was bringing old KGB hands in the open to regain power. It was hard sell to Russians who wholeheartedly accepted lost Cold War and accepted everything American.
And again Americans came to help - with savage bombing of Serbia, and even more with sadistic and primitive war propaganda, this time available to Russians via satellitte channels.
And it worked like charm - the NATO demonstrated that it was was exactly as described by Soviet propaganda machine during Cold War- agressive menace bent on destruction and savagery, followed by politicall thuggery.
Russians woke up from their American Dream and embraced Putin &Co.
Cold war vicory was squandered for nothing. Another block in Clinton's legacy that keeps on giving.
You make a lot of good points.
The US, historically, generally helps both friend and foe, post conflict. I was surprised when that incompetent drunk Yeltsin was allowed to roll around like a loose cannon, and it seemed that we were a little short on post conflict support considering that such a large entity (USSR) had to completely rebuild it's economic system without many experts available. The black market is not the same as the free market.
Russia and Eastern European nations have (since the industrial revolution) been the resources treasure trove of Western Europe, and the Westerners looked at the Easterners like Col. Sanders looks at chickens. Serbia/Kosovo was much more about keeping Eastern Europeans economically weak, than about oppressed Muslim immigrants, but, as you point out, Clinton was the Executive, so he executed, like a fool.
Establishing precedent like this cuts two ways, surprise, surprise.