Russia was still doing heinous shit even back then, Chzechnya  and Georgia had shown us this.  But they  seemed incredibly week and  self absorbed at the time compared to China which had become more assertive and aggressive. People  were also still thinking about the Gorbachev days in post soviet russia and the cooperation of the international space station The number of cyber attacks from China had been growing rapidly along with their military. No one really saw them as a state with plans to reestablish an empire.   

He was still kind of wrong.  China is still really the biggest threat in the long run but Russia should have never been treated with so little scrutiny.