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US–Russia Relations in the Post-Western World

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Responding to a Resurgent Russia

Abstract

This chapter describes US–Russia relations since the end of the Cold War, with special attention to the period after September 11, 2001. Although the two nations have learned to cooperate on some issues, their relationship can be described as limited engagement with elements of rivalry, rather than cooperation. The United States’ support for expansion of NATO, competition for energy resources in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, and methods of fighting terrorism in the region – among other issues – continue to put the two nations at odds with each other. Pressing the “reset button” in relations with Moscow, as suggested by US President Barack Obama, will therefore not be easy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The White House 2003.

  2. 2.

     The New York Times, 29 October 2002; Washington Post, 26 October 2002; The New York Times, October 26, 2002; The New York Times, 26 October 2002; The New York Times, October 27, 2002; Nation, 18 November 2002.

  3. 3.

     Neistat 2003; The New York Times, 28 May 2003; The New York Times, 28 May 2003; The Weekly Standard, 17 November 2003.

  4. 4.

     The New York Times, 23 November 2001.

  5. 5.

    The White House 2002.

  6. 6.

     Village Voice, 16–22 January 2002.

  7. 7.

     Ibid.

  8. 8.

     The New York Times, 25 May 2002.

  9. 9.

     Russia passed PSA framework legislation in the mid-1990s but failed to introduce amendments to other existing laws, particularly the tax code, which are needed to underpin the PSA regime (see Bahgat 2002).

  10. 10.

     This is the heart of George W. Bush’s strategy: “The war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action … our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives.” Bush 2002.

  11. 11.

     BBC News World Edition, 25 August 2002.

  12. 12.

     In May 2004, political asylum was granted to Ilyas Akhmadov, the foreign minister of the separatist Chechen government who was viewed by the Russian government as responsible for terrorist violence.

  13. 13.

     Associated Press, 14 September 2004; The White House 2004.

  14. 14.

       Interfax, 12 December 2006.

  15. 15.

       See, for example, the remarks by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Russia and US-Russia Relations, 21 June 2007.

  16. 16.

    RFE/RL Newsline, 28 November 2005.

  17. 17.

     Even proponents of the Orange Revolution soon became disillusioned with its outcomes. See, for example, Anders Aslund, Betraying a Revolution. Washington Post, 18 May 2005. Previously Aslund strongly supported the revolution, viewing it as a “classical liberal revolution, like 1848, or the Velvet Revolution in Prague in 1989” and thought that it would end the excessive corruption of Ukraine’s oligarchs. See Anders Aslund, Ukraine Whole and Free: What I saw at the orange revolution. Weekly Standard, 27 December 2004.

  18. 18.

     Interfax, 12 December 2006. Similar statements were made by president Putin during the NATO summit in Budapest in April 2008.

  19. 19.

      Putin 2005.

  20. 20.

     Rossiyskaya gazeta, 28 April 2005; Moscow News, 3 March 2006. See also Aleksandr Tsipko, Obratno puti net, Literaturnaya Gazeta (19), May 2006. Not all in the Kremlin share the notion of sovereign democracy. For an alternative perspective from the current President Dmitri Medvedev, see Medvedev 2006.

  21. 21.

     Surkov 2006.

  22. 22.

     The National Interest, May–June 2007; RIA Novosti, 7 May 2008. See also Vitaly Shlykov and Alexei Pankin. Why We Are Right to Fear NATO. Russia Beyond the Headlines, 30 April 2008.

  23. 23.

     For example, Moscow Mayor and pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party leader Yury Luzhkov claimed that Sevastopol was legally a part of Russia, and he urged Moscow not to extend its treaty of friendship, cooperation, and partnership with Ukraine. See Yasmann 2008.

  24. 24.

     RFE/RL Newsline, 29 October 2007. The United States dismissed the comparison as irrelevant arguing that the US MDS was introduced to defend Russia, not to challenge it. See US sees no parallel between Cuban Missile Crisis and NMD in Europe, Itar-Tass, 27 October 2007.

  25. 25.

    Associated Press, 31 January 2006. See also Norris and Kristensen 2007.

  26. 26.

    RIA Novosti, 15 December 2007.

  27. 27.

    Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2007.

  28. 28.

    Associated Press, 8 June 2007.

  29. 29.

    The passage is from Putin’s Ph.D. thesis, “Mineral Raw Materials in the Strategy for Development of the Russian Economy,” as cited in Larsson 2006, 58.

  30. 30.

     Wall Street Journal, 13 February 2006.

  31. 31.

     Moscow Times, 27 June 2006.

  32. 32.

     Asia Times Online, 17 January 2007. See also Jeronim Perovic and Robert Orttung. Spero News, 10 April 2007. Available from http://www.speroforum.com.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Andrei P. Tsygankov

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  1. Andrei P. Tsygankov
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Correspondence to Andrei P. Tsygankov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic, Cooperation Study Center (BASC), University of California, Barrows Hall 802, Berkeley, 94720-1970, California, USA

    Vinod K. Aggarwal

  2. , Department of Political Science, University of California, Barrows Hall 210, Berkeley, 94720, USA

    Kristi Govella

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Tsygankov, A.P. (2012). US–Russia Relations in the Post-Western World. In: Aggarwal, V., Govella, K. (eds) Responding to a Resurgent Russia. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6667-4_3

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