Resetting Relations with Russia

Ten years ago, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed up on Vice President Joe Biden’s proposed “reset” in relations with Moscow by giving her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, a symbolic red button marked “RESET.” However, within a few years, the “reset” had already failed. 

Russia Matters, a Belfer Center project supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, recently compiled insights from 11 Russia experts on the various reasons that the reset didn’t last and what might be done now to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia.

According to these experts, the Kremlin’s poor choices included:  “unacceptable aggression against Ukraine;”  “repressive measures” against its own citizens; and giving asylum to Edward Snowden, which led then President Obama to cancel a summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. 

The list of counterproductive Washington actions included: insisting that Russia accept U.S. primacy and the rules of a U.S.-led world order; treating Russia as a foe and “demonizing” Putin; “cutting off all communication and cooperation” after the Ukraine crisis; and relegating relations with Moscow to a “secondary” status on the U.S. foreign policy agenda.

Read Russia Matters’ full article on resetting U.S.-Russia relations with more insights from Graham Allison, Fiona Hill, Thomas Graham, Nikolas Gvosdev, Henry Kissinger, Andrew Kuchins, Robert Legvold, Anatol Lieven, Michael McFaul, Angela Stent, and Dmitri Trenin at RussiaMatters.org