Not 24 hours after Donald Trump unceremoniously fired the F.B.I. director leading the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the president sat down with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador Wednesday at the White House in what was either an epic scheduling coincidence or an inspired act of trolling. The Russians, for their part, seized on the black comedy of the moment, relentlessly mocking the U.S. government and media amid an unfolding political crisis.

“Was [Comey] fired?” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov deadpanned as he posed for photos with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, when NBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked for comment. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding,” he said, turning back to mug for the press as Tillerson tried to urge him away.

Because the meeting with Lavrov was closed to the press, the only photos that emerged from the Oval Office were distributed by the Russian propaganda outlet Tass, whose photographer accompanied the Russian delegation. Later, as the U.S. media worked itself into a frenzy over being excluded from the event, the Russian Embassy twisted the knife, tweeting a photo of Trump shaking hands with an unexpected second guest: Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, whose undisclosed conversations with Mike Flynn got the former national security adviser fired earlier this year.

By the time journalists were allowed to enter the Oval Office, Kislyak was gone—and Henry Kissinger had taken his place, another unintentional cosmic joke.

In a press conference at his embassy afterward, attended only by Russian media, Lavrov casually taunted the U.S. over the federal investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election, which he derided as unproved. “It is humiliating for the American people to realize that the Russian federation is controlling the situation in America,” he joked. Democrats, he said, “are damaging the political system of the U.S. trying to pretend that someone is controlling America from the outside.”

“I never thought that I will have to answer such questions—particularly being in the U.S.—[with] your highly developed democratic system,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself acted blasé when asked by a CBS reporter in Russia about Comey’s dismissal, predicting that “there will be no effect” on the U.S.-Russia relationship. “Your question looks very funny for me, don't be angry with me,” he told Elizabeth Palmer via a translator, wearing full hockey gear next to a Sochi ice rink. “We have nothing to do with that. President Trump is acting in according with his competence and in accordance with his law and constitution. And what about us? Why us?”

It was all vaguely reminiscent of George W. Bush’s infamous now watch this drive, reflected darkly via Trump’s Russian mirror. “You see I am going to play hockey with the hockey fans and I invite you to do the same,” Putin concluded, then skated away.