Story highlights The US and Russia have had a hot-and-cold relationship since the end of the Cold War

Vladimir Putin is now serving up the same old Cold War dish, just re-chilled

(CNN) The Kremlin's comments that relations with the West are at their "worst since the Cold War" imply that once there was actually a thaw.

It warmed up a bit during Boris Yeltsin's freewheeling presidency, as the Soviet Union's assets were sliced up and sold off to savvy Westerners and their nouveau riche Russian partners.

But Russia's clandestine intelligence services, the KGB and their successors the FSB, never let old grievances with the West slide or built meaningful trust.

So when Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer picked up the reins of leadership in 2000, a slow chill, imperceptible at the beginning, began creeping across the landscape of Moscow's relationship with the West.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (left) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovat a joint press conference following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 12.

Today, President Putin's latest comments merely serve up the same old Cold War dish, re-chilled.