Flattery is not my preferred method, but I cant deny that it is, sometimes, effective. Especially when you are dealing with vain, superficial dictators.
You on the left love to push the false narrative that Trump was a Putin puppet. But in reality it was the exact opposite. He armed Ukraine(Crimea says o) and he sanctioned the Nord stream 2 pipeline (Biden says o). His words often didn't match policy in regards to Russia.
Facts that matter - Putin moved on Obama. Putin moved on Biden. There is a 4 year gap there between the two...