"I believe it's time to start building a new, more responsible and constructive matrix of how we see each other. We are ready to do so, of course, if our US partners are interested in doing so as well … The fact that we are meeting for the second time in the past two weeks inspires certain optimism. Let's give it a try and see what happens".

President Putin subsequently hosted Pompeo for a short discussion, noting: "I got the impression that the President [Trump] is in favour of restoring Russia-US ties and contacts – and of resolving issues of mutual interest. For our part, we have said many times, that we would also like to restore relations on a full scale".

It is clear that Mr Putin's impression of a US possible apertura arose from Trump's call to him on 3 May, in which co-operation on assuring 'strategic stability' was discussed. The remarks by both Lavrov and Putin indicate both a readiness and a generosity (i.e. calling the US Administration "our US partners") that is a mite surprising, given the extent to which Washington has been inserting its spanners into all, and everything, Moscow recently has tried to do.