day -- when he said the other day that russians may have been involved but they were simply patriots who were offended by the way russia was being treated in the u.s. press and by politicians but it wasn't the russian government, that suggested that they may be moving in the direction where they feel they're going to have to deal more directly with the issue and they can't continue to simply stone wall which is what their position has been. >> so what price are they paying? >> well, right now it is absolute constraint and distraction on a trump administration if they want to make progress in the relationship with the russians. and after the inflated expectations following the election which did dissipate on the russian side, more recently as a result of the tillerson/la roth's conversation, i think they believe the administration would like to move forward on some issues. yet they see this question of russia and the election now disrupting everything. >> got it.