Stung by sanctions by the United States President, Barrack Obama, on Russia, Russia is looking straight past President Obama to the US president elect, Donald Trump in hope that he will reverse the tough US stance toward Moscow of the last eight years.

In Trump’s tweet on Friday, Trump expressed how smart Putin is; “Great move on delay (by V Putin),” Trump wrote Friday on Twitter. “I always knew he was very smart!”

Though Trump has praised Putin as a strong leader and said it would be ideal for the two countries to stop fighting, he also suggested that the US might mount a new nuclear arms race, triggering fresh anxieties about a return to Cold War-style tensions. Nevertheless, questions on how Trump will actually act on Russia once he takes office on Jan 20 2017 continues to linger in the minds of the global masses. 

Ambassador Michael McFaul, Obama’s former envoy to Russia, said while Trump has defined his top objective as ‘getting along with the Kremlin’, Putin has higher goals, including the lifting of economic sanctions and, ideally, US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.