Re-invigorated U.S.-Russian Relations: Positive Prospects?

Yevgeny Volk / February 19, 2009

The past week saw a significant animation in the U.S.-Russian relationship. Moscow received Under Secretary of State William Burns, National Security Council Director of Russian Affairs Michael McFall, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick Moon.

Presumably, the U.S.-Russian relationship agenda is multidimensional – nuclear disarmament, missile defense issues, cooperation on Afghanistan. It looks like the sides have decided to define the outlines of an anti-corruption agreement viewed as the first document to be signed by the Obama Administration and the Kremlin.

All this activity is no cause for euphoria, though. The question remains unchanged – how effective would the ongoing talks turn out to be or would they just go through the motions of a rapprochement? Bureaucrats on both sides are well-versed in the art of window dressing designed to screen the existing differences, which in fact only deepens contradictions. (more…)