Alexei Pushkov: Moving From 'Boris and Bill' to a Real Reset
[Alexei Pushkov is director of the Institute of Contemporary International Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry and anchor of political program “Postscript” on TV Center.]
As we enter September, a question naturally arises: What is the future of the much-famed “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations? The previous political season between the two countries ended on a low note because of the spy scandal in the United States, which started — as if by coincidence — three days after President Dmitry Medvedev left Washington, where he had seemingly successful talks with U.S. President Barack Obama. This new season started with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent remarks that so far he does not see any reset in relations between the two countries. And these are not the only signs that there is trouble brewing between Moscow and Washington, despite protestations to the contrary.
Of course, in the last two years things have changed for the better. And the progress hasn’t been limited to a change of style in the relationship. There have also been some substantive shifts. Much to the dismay on the part of the U.S. political class, as well as in some Eastern European capitals, the White House decided to reconsider the plans of former U.S. President George W. Bush to establish the key elements of a future U.S. missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Thus Obama removed a major stumbling block on the reset path.
Second, U.S. plans to accept Ukraine and Georgia into NATO have been put on the back burner. From the Russian point of view, this was a welcome break from the policies of Obama’s predecessor.
Unlike during the Ukrainian presidential election in 2004, the United States wisely stayed out of the most recent Ukrainian presidential election, even though the leading candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, clearly had Russian sympathies. In Moscow, this was perceived as a sign that the Obama administration would not put the new relationship at risk by playing against Russian interests in the post-Soviet space.
On Russia’s side, the moves to accommodate U.S. global interest were, as some suggest in Moscow, even more important. During Obama’s first visit to Moscow in July 2009, Russia gave its agreement for the United States to use Russia’s airspace in order to send military supplies — and even possibly troops — to Afghanistan. This was something Washington had sought for a long time and something it had failed to obtain in the quasi–Cold War climate of 2007 and 2008 under Bush. Just with a change in tone and rhetoric, Obama managed to achieve in a few months an agreement that Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could not achieve in years. I was present at the official reception in Obama’s honor at the Kremlin, and I have never seen happier U.S. officials.
Second, to support Washington on the key issue of Iran, Russia dramatically reversed its position, going so far as to support U.S.-backed sanctions — a stance considered to be highly improbable only a few months ago. Moscow also agreed not to make waves about the spy scandal and not to retaliate in a Cold War manner for the humiliation it suffered after its so-called agents were arrested in the United States.
Yet it remains to be seen whether this reset will go any further than a mere detente, which has occurred periodically between the two countries over their long histories...
Read entire article at Moscow Times
As we enter September, a question naturally arises: What is the future of the much-famed “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations? The previous political season between the two countries ended on a low note because of the spy scandal in the United States, which started — as if by coincidence — three days after President Dmitry Medvedev left Washington, where he had seemingly successful talks with U.S. President Barack Obama. This new season started with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent remarks that so far he does not see any reset in relations between the two countries. And these are not the only signs that there is trouble brewing between Moscow and Washington, despite protestations to the contrary.
Of course, in the last two years things have changed for the better. And the progress hasn’t been limited to a change of style in the relationship. There have also been some substantive shifts. Much to the dismay on the part of the U.S. political class, as well as in some Eastern European capitals, the White House decided to reconsider the plans of former U.S. President George W. Bush to establish the key elements of a future U.S. missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Thus Obama removed a major stumbling block on the reset path.
Second, U.S. plans to accept Ukraine and Georgia into NATO have been put on the back burner. From the Russian point of view, this was a welcome break from the policies of Obama’s predecessor.
Unlike during the Ukrainian presidential election in 2004, the United States wisely stayed out of the most recent Ukrainian presidential election, even though the leading candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, clearly had Russian sympathies. In Moscow, this was perceived as a sign that the Obama administration would not put the new relationship at risk by playing against Russian interests in the post-Soviet space.
On Russia’s side, the moves to accommodate U.S. global interest were, as some suggest in Moscow, even more important. During Obama’s first visit to Moscow in July 2009, Russia gave its agreement for the United States to use Russia’s airspace in order to send military supplies — and even possibly troops — to Afghanistan. This was something Washington had sought for a long time and something it had failed to obtain in the quasi–Cold War climate of 2007 and 2008 under Bush. Just with a change in tone and rhetoric, Obama managed to achieve in a few months an agreement that Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could not achieve in years. I was present at the official reception in Obama’s honor at the Kremlin, and I have never seen happier U.S. officials.
Second, to support Washington on the key issue of Iran, Russia dramatically reversed its position, going so far as to support U.S.-backed sanctions — a stance considered to be highly improbable only a few months ago. Moscow also agreed not to make waves about the spy scandal and not to retaliate in a Cold War manner for the humiliation it suffered after its so-called agents were arrested in the United States.
Yet it remains to be seen whether this reset will go any further than a mere detente, which has occurred periodically between the two countries over their long histories...