Of course, there was. Hillary Clinton is a hater of Putin whereas Trump is an admirer of tough authoritarian leaders like Putin and would love to be one himself and hates the fact that there is this little thing called the US Constitution in the way. Trump acted like Kim Il-Jong's best buddy in Singapore handing a massive propaganda victory to him despite his earlier tough talk. Trump was clearly a Russian favourite in the elections.

Spy tactics like interfering with foreign elections is Putin's specialty. He is a former spy. Of course, his emphasis will be on clandestine operations like that.