In a standoff that shows Cold Wars die hard, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has started mocking Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Twitter.

McCain started goading the strongman and living action figure last week when he tweeted: “#ArabSpring comes to Moscow.” This was a reference to the massive protests held in Russia directly challenging the legitimacy of Putin’s political power.

Putin’s feelings were hurt, so he lashed out at the 2008 GOP presidential nominee.

“He has a lot of blood of peaceful civilians on his hands,” Putin told the Associated Press.

“He must relish and can’t live without the disgusting, repulsive scenes of the killing of Gadhafi,” Putin spat out, going on to refer to McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam,

“Mr. McCain was captured in Vietnam and they kept him not just in prison, but in a pit for several years,” he continued. “Anyone would go nuts.”

“Dear Vlad,” McCain responded in a tweet, “[i]s it something I said?”

This isn’t the first tiff between the two bad boys.

Back in 2008, Putin blamed the conflict between Georgia and Russia on McCain. McCain got upset.

Perhaps it’s better than trading thermonuclear strikes.