Obama Will Make Russia a Priority

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U.S. President Barack Obama's administration came to the White House during a difficult period. The economic crisis forced it to make greater allowances for the domestic situation in developing its foreign policy than is customary for U.S. politics. And apart from the country's economic woes, the new administration cannot help but be concerned about the problems created by former President George W. Bush -- troubles that not only wound national pride but constitute a direct threat to the United States' traditional leadership role in the world. Observers unanimously note the weakening of Washington's global standing, pointing to its tarnished image, its relative loss of influence in South America and its failure to meet its stated goal of spreading democracy in the Middle East.

Without question, Obama will try to rectify those failures, but he will do so by using different methods than the preceding Republican administration.

The new Democratic administration prefers the use of so-called "smart power" that relies on a wider array of tools to influence the situation than the use of military threats alone. In particular, the United States intends to give greater consideration to world opinion and international institutions when formulating its policies and actions. Obama promised to make wide use of the negotiation process to "consult with the world," taking global interdependence into consideration.

The United States is "tired" of the burden of single-handedly and constantly expanding an unlimited zone of responsibility around the globe. Washington needs, if not allies, at least loyal partners.

It is well-known that a number of disagreements accumulated in U.S.-Russian relations during the years of the Bush administration. These concerned the deployment of elements of U.S. missile defense batteries in Central Europe, policies in the Caucasus, the relationship with Ukraine, Iran's nuclear program and NATO expansion. It is therefore unreasonable to expect an instantaneous improvement in relations. The first meeting between Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev in London, and their summit next week in Moscow, are only the initial efforts at improving those relations. However, both Obama and Medvedev left their London meeting on April 1 with favorable impressions. The U.S. president has declared explicitly that he is traveling to Moscow to "reset" relations with Russia. Washington considers it necessary to do so because there are many important problems in the world that the United States cannot resolve with Russia's participation, and vice versa. The Moscow summit is certain to include talks on various forms of strategic cooperation, including missile defense, nuclear nonproliferation, the fight against international terrorism, joint actions in Afghanistan and the Middle East, economic ties and measures for overcoming the crisis.

Russia might expand the level of its cooperation by offering more than the current, single corridor through its territory by which the United States can deliver supplies to its forces in Afghanistan. It is entirely possible that a certain rapprochement will be achieved on the U.S. and Russian positions concerning Iran's nuclear program. That question is clearly connected to U.S. plans to deploy missile defense systems in Central Europe. It should also be taken into account that the new U.S. administration believes that relations with Russia should be pursued on a strictly pragmatic, not ideological, basis.

Obviously, high on the agenda will be a range of questions connected with signing a new treaty limiting strategic nuclear weapons. The START I treaty expires at the end of this year. The agreement has played itself out. However, painstaking preparations have been made to fashion a new treaty with weapons limitations terms that are acceptable to both countries. The Russian side feels that it would make sense to leave certain aspects of START unchanged, such as the mechanisms for verifying compliance with the agreement and a range of other points.

The fact that the U.S. and Russian presidents will be meeting in Moscow on the eve of a Group of Eight summit inspires hope that, after a long period of stagnation, a new life will be breathed into U.S.-Russian relations. This is because neither Russia nor the United States is satisfied with the present condition of relations. Both sides are also interested in developing trade and economic ties, realizing that the crisis will not last forever. It is even possible that Moscow and Washington will reach some form of understanding over the issue of missile defense in Central Europe.

As Obama declared, U.S.-Russian relations go beyond bilateral considerations. He said the solution to a large number of major international questions depends upon these ties. Russia was not originally a high foreign policy priority for the new U.S. administration. However, I think that will change after the two presidents meet face to face in Moscow.



Mikhail Margelov is chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the Federation Council.