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Author : V. Batyuk
Center for Military-Political Studies, Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies, Russian Academy
of Sciences, Doctor of Science (History)
THE CURRENT STATE of the Russian-American
relations causes concerns. The economic sanctions
the U.S. introduced after the reunification with
Crimea; the deliberate destruction of the Russian-
American negotiation structure up to and including
G-8 and the RF-U.S. Presidential Commission and fi-
nally, megaphone diplomacy instead of the Moscow-
Washington dialogue look too much as another bout
of the Cold War relegated, as we all thought, to the
refuge heap of history.
There is a more or less concerted opinion in Russia
and other countries that another Cold War should be better avoided; it remains to be seen whether
the Cold War which ended at the turn of the 1990s can be restarted.
Unlike the previous epochs when the great powers were competing in mildly ideological contexts,
the two leaders of the bipolar world fought under irreconcilable slogans. This is the second feature
of the bipolar world.
It should be said that the present system of international relations inherited much from the bipolar
world: the ideologically dominated foreign policies of the U.S. and the West in the first place.
Ukraine, the country of secondary importance where the U.S. national interests are concerned, is the
best example: America is "fighting for freedom" against "Russia's tyranny." By the irony of history,
in the last few decades Moscow and Washington shifted their positions to the opposite. In the Cold
War era, Soviet Russia was the radical revolutionary force. Today, the Russian Federation is a conser-
vative country devoted to Realpolitik, international law and stability, while the U.S. is best described
as "the main revolutionary force of our times" to borrow one of the Soviet clichés.
The chances that relations between Russia and the United States will change with the master of the
White House in January 2017 are slim, if any: continued ideological confrontation between the two
countries rules out any positive movement.
Russia's task is far from easy: it has to limit the ideological component in its relations with the United
States and to increase the share of Realpolitik. In the 1970s, Moscow and Washington resolved the
problem through détente. This can be done again provided there is political will on both sides.
Until this is done, the American policy-makers will pursue three mutually exclusive strategies in their
relationships with Russia: "containment," "regime change" and selective partnership in the spheres
the American side finds promising.
There is no and there will be no real alternative to Russian-American partnership: Moscow and Wash-
ington share too many interests on the international arena ranging from nuclear non-proliferation to
ecological problems.
Will the Ukrainian Crisis End in Another Cold War?