What does Vladimir Putin want from the Trump administration? The short answer is: “Everything.”

Putin wants recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, acceptance of his invasion of eastern Ukraine, our blessing of his destruction of his country’s nascent democracy, tolerance of his murder of political opponents and journalists, help in his expensive Syrian quagmire, rifts between us and Europe and within Europe and the collapse of NATO.

But there’s one thing he needs right now: sanctions relief.

For all of Putin’s swagger, Russia’s hurting. Sanctions don’t always work, but those imposed on Russia after its rape of eastern Ukraine have had a crushing effect — thanks to the simultaneous collapse of oil and gas prices.

For two years, Russia has suffered negative GDP growth. The poverty rate doubled. The ruble dropped and inflation shot up. Pensions fell in real terms and medicines ran out.

Not least, the money isn’t there for Putin’s envisioned military buildup.

Why would we reward him by lifting sanctions now — even as his armed forces slaughter civilians in Syria, he threatens Russia’s neighbors and his intelligence services undermine the upcoming European elections after having meddled in ours?

And what would we get out of any deal?

The pathetic answer one gets is “A fresh start.” But we don’t need a fresh start with Russia — Russia desperately needs a fresh start with us. In the great strategic poker game, we hold a royal flush, while Putin’s playing with a pair of fours and counterfeit chips. Even so, he cleaned out the last two US presidents. Now he’s drooling at the prospect of card-sharking a third.

Another platitude making the rounds: “We need to cooperate against ISIS.” But Russia hasn’t been fighting ISIS. Russian forces in Syria target the moderate opposition — when not terror-bombing civilians. We’re the ones fighting ISIS.

Couldn’t Russia help? No. Russia’s atrocities in Syria have been a great recruiting tool for ISIS and other terror groups, as young men see their families butchered and homes wantonly destroyed. A “counter-terror” alliance with Russia would align us with Iran, Hezbollah and other Shia terrorists against the four-fifths of the world’s Muslims who are Sunni. It would mean supporting anti-American Shia interests at the expense of our longstanding allies.

Untested and perhaps over-confident, the new president must avoid the trap President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry blundered into with Iran, when the deal itself became the goal, no matter how bad it was.

If soon-to-be-President Trump wants a deal with Russia, he needs to drive a ferociously hard bargain (Russia’s evacuation of eastern Ukraine and funding to rebuild what Russian weapons destroyed would be a start).

Alarmingly, Trump — for unexplained reasons — continues to praise Putin while insulting our allies and alliances. Last weekend, Trump claimed he trusted Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel equally. That’s like putting equal faith in the burglar and the guard dog.

Worse, the president-elect again disparaged NATO, calling it “obsolete.” That reveals a profound misunderstanding of our security interests. NATO has given Europe its longest period of peace in all of the continent’s history — and peace is cheaper than war. NATO was crucial to winning the Cold War.

NATO forces serve beside our own in Afghanistan. NATO’s a huge security bargain for us, with a moral force that reaches far beyond its tally of tanks.

Painfully aware of the danger Putin poses, our European allies are rearming. This year, a half-dozen nations will surpass the voluntary defense-spending target of 2% of GDP. And our own military has, at last, begun to respond to Putin’s saber-rattling by deploying forces to NATO’s easternmost states.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about our security and that of our closest allies, our long-term strategic interests and our values. Sen. John McCain noted that “Putin is a thug,” but that’s far too mild. Putin’s a brilliant, bloodthirsty barbarian who hates the United States and means us harm. Why embrace and reward him?

There’ll be two early tests of whether our new president is indebted to, or afraid of, Putin. Will Trump cave in to Putin’s demands and recall the US Army brigade that just arrived in Poland? And, critically, will Trump push Congress to lift the sanctions on Russia, giving Putin the wealth to rearm and renew his aggression?

The man who becomes our president this Friday needs to stand up for the USA, not for the khan in the Kremlin.

Ralph Peters is Fox News’ strategic analyst.