During Putin's 21 years in power, he had a short deal of time with the Republican Party in the United States and a long time with the Democratic Party. This is an indisputable fact. So when Trump's term ended, the Democrats once again took control of American politics. This complicates Putin: the familiar adversary seems to be back.
We say familiar because when the Democrats were in power, many of them were old faces from the Obama era. But the reason why I say it seems is because the current Democratic Party is more left-leaning, the ideology is more confused, the various demands are disorganized, and even they themselves do not know what they want.
So at this time, Putin chose to retreat as advance, and probed the bottom line of the Democratic Party by lowering his offensive posture and smiling diplomacy. He also wants to regain the hearts and minds of Europeans. When the United States is no longer strong and Europe loses external support, they can only gain more security benefits by reducing their hostility to Russia.
That is why, after Trump**, we rarely hear the roar of the Poles, and the anti-Russian voice in Ukraine has begun to decrease. It may be that the impact of the new crown has not gone away, but more often than not, Europe is in a cooling-off period and needs to think about how Europe can live in harmony with Russia and how to seek self-improvement without strong support from the United States.
And Putin is sending a positive signal to the West at this time, which is by no means a sign of weakness, but waiting for a response and an opportunity. What's more, Putin's best friend Angela Merkel is about to withdraw from the German political scene, and Russia urgently needs to find new friends in Germany, so it can't put pressure on Germany.
Fortunately, we see that both sides have made a good start, and the remaining arms treaties have been continued. This may mean that neither side wants to go to war, so let's put the fight against the epidemic first.