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http://interaffairs.ru
Author : E. Solovyov
Section Head, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Candidate of Science (Political Science)
FOR A LONG TIME, Russian researchers remained riveted to the
problem of resource deficit in the world as a potential cause of in-
ternational instability or even conflicts. In recent years, however, we
are growing increasingly aware of deficit of confidence, a resource
which is equally important for world economy and world politics
and which, therefore, can be described as universally important.
NOT VERY LONG AGO we hoped that the 2010s would bring a
U-turn, a tectonic shift for the better in Russian-American relations.
President Obama's second term strengthened the hopes: it seemed
that the highly promising trends started by the reset policy would
be consolidated. This did not happen: the reset had been exhausted
while new cooperation impulses never cropped up. Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that
the relations between Russia and the United States are sliding down.
The Americans acting within the double track approach believed that they could and should co-
operate with the official structures but also with the NGOs living on American money. The
"reset" rhetoric of recent years apart, Americans insisted on their interpretation of Russia as an
unpredictable and, therefore, dangerous country with the ambitions spreading far and wide be-
yond its region.
In 2013, the contradictions between the U.S. and Russia in the post-Soviet space became even
more obvious; it was equally obvious that they could not be resolved through consensus, that is,
a "non-zero-sum game."
Common history and lives of common people (up to one-third of the Russian population has
relatives living in Ukraine) make the two countries closely intertwined. This means that the Russ-
ian political elite and common people regard as unacceptable the efforts to draw Ukraine into
NATO and association with the EU to detach it from Russia economically.
Unexpectedly, the EU with its Eastern Partnership Program and the invitations to sign associa-
tion agreements extended to some of the Soviet-successor states came forth in Ukraine as a
provocative "third force."
The fact that the highest stage of confrontation on the Maidan in Kiev coincided with the Winter
Olympics speaks volumes. This makes it a trend, not coincidence. The crisis was going from bad
to worse; legally elected President Yanukovich was removed from power when the Sochi
Olympics was at full swing.
In recent years, much was said in the West that Moscow behaved irrationally and that Putin had
completely destroyed the trust of Western leaders, etc. However, much earlier the mutual trust
had been undermined by the West which proved unable to deal with Russia as an equal partner.
Regime Change in Ukraine and the Evolution of Russian-Ameri-
can Relations