I’ve never seen Putin that way.

Administrations come in thinking that they can make peace with Putin. And that would be good for American foreign policy if that were attainable. The Bush administration tried to do this with Putin, the Obama administration tried to do this with Putin. It makes sense to try and get along with Russia. If Russia’s interests can coincide with America’s interests that’s good.

I don’t believe it’s possible.

I don’t think Vladimir Putin is a man that we can deal well with. I think Vladimir Putin, he’s invaded Crimea, he invaded Georgia, and I think he’s pushing in on NATO in the east. So I believe, I look at Vladimir Putin as an adversary.

I’m more of a Russia hawk on this issue than many others. It is perfectly rational and plausible to try and get Russia to coincide with our interests. I think there’s a possibility of that in Syria, but if you take a look at what Russia’s activities are around the world they’re illiberal — he’s jailing journalists, there are deaths occurring with his regime, and I do believe that they are trying to frustrate our interests around the world.