In his 2012 CNN interview, Romney explained his characterization of Russia as “our number-one geopolitical foe” by saying, “They fight every cause for the world’s worst actors”—and referred specifically to Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria. In his recent Atlantic interview, he said, “They were opposing us at the UN whenever a critical measure came forward.” Both statements were simply untrue.

The fact is, quite apart from partisan bickering or revisionist history about the wisdom of Sen. Romney, the U.S. and Russia shared vital interests on a number of issues—and acted together to advance those interests, at least for a while. Medvedev and other Kremlin officials were also genuinely keen to bring Russia into the global economy—to diversify its economy beyond commodities like oil and gas, build up its tech sector, and expand its trade—which motivated them to build better relations with America and Europe.

Then things changed. Most importantly, Vladimir Putin was elected Russian president in May 2012 (two months after Romney’s CNN interview). He’d been president before, from 2000-08, then stepped aside to become prime minister during Medvedev’s term. (Putin was still in charge, but he allowed Medvedev a lot of leeway.) Putin was spurred to take back full control because, from his point of view, Medvedev was meshing with the West too much.