The way I look at this, Trump said he was going to normalize relations with Russia. There were ongoing issues related to Syria that needed to be dealt with. Trump obviously can't use the usual diplomatic channels through Obama's office, because Obama and his staff will subvert whatever he is doing. So he asks his trusted son-in-law to set up communication. I'm no fan of Russia's Putin, but none of this stuff involving Kushner seems unusual in any way. It's simple policy implementation.