Flashback: Open mic catches Obama instructing outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to tell Putin he will have “more flexibility” if he wins a second term.

MOSCOW, Russia — Experts say the Kremlin would like to see President Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in the US election next month — although you may be hard-pressed to divine that from recent developments.

On Monday last week, the US Agency for International Development, USAID, wrapped up its 20 years of work in Russia on orders from the Kremlin.

Two days later, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took a swipe at Obama’s policy of improving ties with Russia by warning that perpetually “reset” relations would constitute a “program failure.”

Later the same day, the US Justice Department charged 11 alleged Russian agents with stealing electronic technology for Moscow through a front company based in the United States.

Those were only the latest installments in four years of “reset” relations that have been strained by disagreement over American missile defense plans in Europe, an impasse on Syria, Vladimir Putin’s return as president and generally fractious politics in Russia and the United States.