U.S.-Russian relations: The reset process may not be irreversible

Read more on:  Reset, diplomacy, Biden

The fact that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with both members of the Russian governing tandem indicates that the United States is ready to cooperate with either man after the elections, whoever the Russians elect. Domestic political processes and election results in Russia and the United States could influence the reset process.

Valdaiclub.com Interview with Samuel Charap, Associate Director for Russia and Eurasia and a member of the National Security and International Policy team at the Center for American Progress.

During his Moscow visit, Vice President Joe Biden and Russia’s top leaders exchanged opinions about the events unfolding across the Middle East and North Africa. How do you think Russia and the United States can act together to normalize the situation across the region? What role can Russia play in stabilizing a region where the United States, Europe and Russia itself all have vested interests?

Unfortunately, I have no unequivocal answer to that question. The situation’s inherent uncertainty prevents reliable forecasts of the expediency of any course of action. The situation across the region is changing so rapidly that I cannot even tell which interests the United States is pursuing there at any given time.

Is Biden’s visit evidence of both sides’ readiness to continue the reset policy after the presidential elections in Russia and the United States? What are the most promising spheres of U.S.-Russian relations?  What results have their efforts to improve bilateral relations produced? Is the reset process over? How would you characterize the current phase of bilateral relations?

I don’t think Vice President Joe Biden’s visit was at all connected to the upcoming presidential elections in the United States. But the fact that he met with both members of the Russian governing tandem in Moscow indicates that the United States is ready to cooperate with either man after the elections, whoever the Russians elect. In my opinion, domestic political processes and election results in Russia and the United States could influence the relationship. If the current presidents are re-elected, the elections’ outcome will not influence it, but internal political tensions during the election period sometimes affect a country’s foreign policy actions…

As for the most promising areas of U.S.-Russian relations, bilateral cooperation is possible in many spheres, from economic development to strategic nuclear weapons. The immediate issues on their agenda include Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, cooperation on ballistic missile defense, and developing trade and economic ties.

I am not sure that we have entered a phase of bilateral relations where the current positive atmosphere could be said to be irreversible. In my opinion, we have not yet disarmed all the time bombs that still threaten to take our relations back to where they were 2.5 years ago. I think that, unfortunately, should certain circumstances arise, this process could be reversed.

Ahead of Joe Biden’s visit some Russian political analysts said that it could be connected to Russia’s presidential elections in spring 2012. How justified is that assessment?

That is an interesting question. Considering the source cited by the article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta to which you are referring, we can presume that each member of the tandem’s own entourage has been trying to capitalize on Joe Biden’s visit and turn it to their advantage. But if viewed from the U.S. administration’s perspective, his visit is in no way connected to the Russian presidential elections in 2012.