This week things changed.
On Wednesday, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper accused the Trump administration of “administrative insanity… inexperience… immaturity”.
It criticised the administration’s “bragging and arrogance” and “its desire to declare ‘huge breakthroughs’ when the first steps have barely been taken”.
The same day, Komsomolskaya Pravda declared: “On Ukraine talks, Donald’s mood changes as often as the wind.”
Signs, perhaps, of a cold wind blowing between Moscow and Washington?
And yet when Trump announced his sweeping tariffs this week, Russia wasn’t on the list.
Instead, US authorities had organised a sanctions waiver for a key Kremlin official: Putin’s foreign investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Dmitriev flew into Washington for talks with the Trump administration.
A sign, perhaps, of Russia and America getting on with the business of… getting along?
But on Friday, another warning from Washington to Moscow. This time at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
“President Trump’s not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations about negotiations,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not.”