"It seems to me that atmosphere in Washington is poisoned — it's a toxic atmosphere," he said. "It depends upon us to decide whether we are in Cold War or not. But ... I don't remember such [a] bad shape of our relations."

Pointing out that "there is great mistrust between the United States and Russia" at present, Antonov said that "today Russia's responsible for everything, even for bad weather."

"It's high time for us to stop blaming each other. It's high time for us to start a real conversation about real problems."

Then again, with the wave of anti-Russia hysteria sweeping the US today at levels not seen since the days of Joe McCarthy, that is unlikely. It is even more unlikely considering Trump's two recent neocon cabinet picks: Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and John Bolton as national security adviser.