Even Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO nominated for secretary of state who worked closely with Mr Putin’s inner circle during his time at the company, took an uncompromising line on the Ukraine crisis, and even suggested Kiev should be supplied with weapons - something even Barack Obama shied away from.

This is one reason why senior figures in the Russian government have played down speculation that Mr Trump will suddenly drop sanctions imposed over the annexation of Crimea and military intervention in east Ukraine.

“We shouldn’t delude ourselves,” Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, said on Thursday. “They will continue in the medium future. In any case we will be coming at it from a conservative prognosis.”

While that gives Mr Dugin cause for quiet despair, the very same consideration fills Russia's liberal opposition with hope.

"I have immense faith in US institutions,” said Ilya Yashin, an opposition leader who recently flew to Washington to lobby senators not to let the Kremlin off the hook for its adventures in Ukraine.

“Unlike in Russia, in the US congress, the press, the institutions of government have real sway. Mr Tillerson's comments reflect how pressure from senators can have results," he said.

He has no idea what he is doing

Nato is obsolete. We can do a deal. How about cancelling sanctions in exchange for nuclear arms reduction?

Mr Trump's off the cuff foreign policy initiatives may be music to the ears of a Kremlin that believes Nato is Russia’s number one strategic threat and is seeking relief from sanctions.