An Analysis of Russia-United Stated Relations in light of Obama’s “Reset” Policy

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Abstract

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States sought cooperative partnership with Russia. with the exception of a short period, the improvement of the bilateral relations were suspended due to the increasing tension caused by certain issues like NATOeastward expansion, the deployment of the U.S. Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System (Aegis BMD) in Europe, and Russia’s war with Georgia in 2008. The Obama administration made an attempt to improve the U.S.-Russia ties by means of introducing “Reset” policy. It has been years since a box that read “Reset” next to its Russian translation was unveiled and exchanged by Hilary Clinton and Sergei Lavrov. Since then several agreements have been concluded during the visits of government officials of the two states. This article tries to examine the consequences of Obama’s “Reset” policy for US-Russia cooperation. The study concludes that Obama’s “Reset” policy has not generated significant benefits for Russia.

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