There’s plenty to criticize about Putin’s rule in Russia, but at a time when the US needs every ally it can get (particularly so far as Iran is concerned) it’s difficult to see what there was to gain from Dick Cheney’s speech in Vilnius last month. Look a little further into the future, and it’s easy to see considerable areas of strategic shared interest between the US and Russia (a convergence that need not, and should not, come at the expense of East Europe’s hard-won independence).

The US should be encouraging Moscow to see this, not doing the opposite.

As these comments from Putin make clear, the Vice President’s speech was counter-productive, to say the least.