Russia–United States relations (Российско-американские отношение) refer to the bilateral relations between the United States and Russia, two of the world’s most powerful nations. The United States and Russia maintain diplomatic and trade relations.

Relations were generally warm under Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1991–99) until the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999, and have deteriorated significantly since then. In 2014, relations deteriorated due to the crisis in Ukraine, Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, differences regarding Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, and Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US elections and 2020 elections since late 2016. But differences. Reciprocal sanctions imposed in 2014 remain in place.

United States and Russia

Official contact between the Russian Empire and the new United States began in 1776. Russia, while formally neutral during the American Revolution (1765–1783), supported America.

Fully diplomatic relations were established in 1809. In 1863, during the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Russian Navy’s Atlantic and Pacific Fleets wintered in the American ports of New York and San Francisco, respectively. Some historians credit the visit as a major factor in dissuading France and the UK from entering the war on the Federalist side. For many years a myth persisted that Russia supported the Confederacy against the Confederacy during the American Civil War. In fact, Russia was strictly neutral. The myth was invented by the US State Department to mislead the British about American potential strength. The Russians operated a small fur-trading operation in Alaska, with missionaries to the natives.

By 1861, the project had lost money, the Americans threatened to protest, and could not be defended from Britain. It was sold to the United States for $7.2 million in the Alaska Purchase of 1867, creating a common maritime boundary between the two countries that exist today.

In the late 19th century, American public opinion was shocked by accurate reports of anti-Jewish rioting in the Russian Empire (mostly within the Pale of Settlement). This was a factor late in 1917 in American opposition to going to war against Germany with Russia as an ally, until Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown in February 1917 and the objection ended. The Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) brokered by US President Theodore Roosevelt ended the Russo-Japanese War.

From 1820 to 1917, approximately 3.3 million immigrants arrived in America from the Russian Empire. Most were Jews or Poles; Only 100,000 were ethnic Russians.

United States and Soviet Union

The United States participated in the Allied military intervention against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War, active in the Russian Far East from August 1918. Following the Bolshevik victory in the civil war and the establishment of the Soviet Union (USSR) in late 1922, the US, while developing trade and economic ties, was the last major world power to continue refusing to formally recognize the Soviet Union. Government. The United States and the USSR established diplomatic relations in November 1933.

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were among the four major allies against the Axis powers. Following the start of the Cold War in 1947, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by the US, Canada and several Western European countries on April 4, 1949, in Washington, DC, a treaty that established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Designed to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

The first bilateral treaty between the US and Soviet Russia/USSR was a consular convention signed in Moscow in June 1964. In 1975, the Helsinki Final Act was signed by several countries including the USSR and the US. And, while a treaty did not have a binding legal force, it was effectively a recognition of the Soviet Union’s dominance of the West by the US-led manifestation of Eastern Europe and acceptance of the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that had been carried out in 1940 became effective. The act came to play a role in later ending the Cold War.

In the 1970s–1980s, the USSR and the US signed a series of arms control treaties such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972), the two Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties (SALT), the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987); Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was concluded in July 1991. In the late 1980s, the nations of Eastern Europe took advantage of a relaxation of Soviet control under Mikhail Gorbachev and began to break away from communist rule. Relations improved significantly in the last years of the USSR. On December 3, 1989, Gorbachev and US President George HW Bush declared the Cold War over the Malta Summit.

History

From the dissolution of the Soviet Union through Yeltsin’s terms (1991–99)

With the end of communism, on December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose federation was formed by 12 of the 15 former Soviet constituent republics, except for the three Baltic states. and The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became Russia. It was now an independent state that inherited permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council of the USSR and became the successor state of the USSR.

Strobe Talbot, Washington’s chief expert on Russia, has argued that Clinton hit it off with Russian Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s 1991–1999 president:

Personal diplomacy between Clinton and Yeltsin, augmented by the channel that Gore developed with Yeltsin’s longest-serving prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, yielded a half-dozen key understandings that shaped Russia’s position in the post-Cold War world. Resolved or minimized disputes over the role of Both presidents were key negotiators of agreements to block the sale of Russian rocket parts to India; the removal of Soviet-era nuclear missiles from Ukraine in exchange for Russian assurances of Ukraine’s sovereignty and security; withdrawing of Russian troops from the Baltic states; institutionalizing cooperation between Russia and an expanded NATO; laying the groundwork for the Baltic states to join the alliance; and ensuring Russian military involvement in Balkan peace and Russian diplomacy in settling NATO’s air war against Serbia.

Relations between Yeltsin and the administrations of George HW Bush (1989–1993) and Bill Clinton (1993–2000) began well but deteriorated after 1997. Yeltsin and his Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev placed a high priority on Russia’s full membership in the family. Democratic nation. They wanted to be partners in the United States. At home, he tried to create democratic institutions and a free market capitalist system. In 1993, the sides signed the START II arms control treaty, which was designed to ban the use of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs); The treaty was eventually ratified by both countries, yet it was never implemented and was formally abandoned in 2002, following the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Clinton and Yeltsin were personally friendly. Washington encouraged a rapid transition to a liberal capitalist system in Russia. Clinton provided rich negotiating points but provided less than $3 billion, and American contractors were overpaid. In the 1940s, the Russians, aware of the Marshall Plan, calculated a much larger amount. Real anger was ignited by the rapid expansion of NATO membership in Eastern Europe. With the end of the Cold War, the Russians realized that NATO’s original role was no longer needed. It feared that its dramatic move east would mean an increase in NATO’s historic role in deterring Russian goals.

President Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin at the White House in October 1995.

Russia strongly opposed the US-led NATO military operation against Serbia and Montenegro in Kosovo that began in March 1999. In December 1999, during a visit to China, President Yeltsin verbally criticized Clinton for criticizing Russia. strategy in Chechnya (at the beginning of the Second Chechen War) asserting that Russia remained a nuclear power.

Putin and George W. Bush: 2000–2009

In 2001, in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, new Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately announced strong support. Terrorism against Russia was already high on Putin’s agenda and they found common ground by supporting the US/NATO invasion of Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban, which harboured al-Qaeda terrorists. By 2002, however, the two countries were increasing their disagreement. Russia became more assertive in international affairs; George W. Bush adopted an increasingly unilateral approach to foreign policy.

In 2002, the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to proceed with plans for a missile defence system. Putin called this decision a mistake. Russia strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003, although without exercising its veto in the United Nations Security Council. Russia views NATO expansion into the old Eastern Bloc and US efforts to gain access to Central Asian oil and natural gas as potentially hostile encroachments on Russia’s sphere of influence. The Russian leadership blamed US officials for encouraging anti-Russian insurgencies during the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004. Putin saw an incursion into Russia’s historical territory.

Controversy over US plans to station missiles in Poland (2007–2008)

In March 2007, the US announced plans to build an anti-ballistic missile defence installation in Poland, along with a radar station in the Czech Republic. Both nations were former Warsaw Pact members and both rejected communism and Russian interference. US officials said the system was intended to protect the United States and Europe from possible nuclear missile attacks by Iran or North Korea. However, Russia saw the new system as a potential threat and, in response, tested a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile, the RS-24. Kiya, claims that it can defeat any defence system. Putin warned the US that these new tensions could turn Europe into a powder keg. On June 3, 2007, Putin warned that Russia would consider targeting missiles at Poland and the Czech Republic if the United States built a missile defence system.

In October 2007, Vladimir Putin visited Iran to discuss Russia’s assistance to Iran’s nuclear energy program and “emphasized that the use of force was unacceptable.” On October 17, Bush said, “If you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it looks like you should be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge needed to build nuclear weapons,” giving Putin a perceived as message. , A week later, Putin compared US plans to place a missile defence system near Russia’s border to the Soviet Union’s deployment of missiles in Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In February 2008, Vladimir Putin said that Russia might have to re-target some of its missiles towards the missile defence system: “If that appears, we will be forced to respond appropriately – we will have to respond to those missiles.” have to re-target the part of our system against it.” He also said that the missiles could be redirected towards Ukraine if they go ahead with plans to build NATO bases on their territory, adding that “we will force our missiles to target those facilities”. would be what we consider to be a threat to our national security, and I’m going to say it plainly now so the blame for it isn’t shifted later.”

In July 2008, Russia announced that it would respond militarily if a US anti-missile shield was deployed near the Russian border. “If an American strategic anti-missile shield is deployed near our borders, we will be forced to respond not by diplomatic means, but by military-technical means,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. Later, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said that “military-technical means” did not mean military action, but rather a change in Russia’s strategic position, perhaps by redeploying its missiles.

On 14 August 2008, the US and Poland agreed to place 10 two-stage missile interceptors built by Orbital Sciences Corporation in Poland, as part of a missile shield to protect Europe and the US from a possible missile attack by Iran. In return, the US agreed to move a battery of MIM-104 Patriot missiles to Poland. The missile battery was to be staffed – at least temporarily – by US military personnel. The US also promised to defend NATO member Poland, which would be quicker than NATO in the event of an attack. Additionally, the Czech Republic recently agreed to allow the placement of a radar-tracking station in their country, despite opinion polls showing that a majority of Czechs were against the plans and only 18% supported it. Radar-tracking stations in the Czech Republic will also be part of the missile defence shield. Following the announcement of the agreement, Russian officials said security would be increased along Russia’s borders and feared damage to bilateral relations with the United States.

In November 2008, the day after Obama was elected president, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced plans to station Iskander short-range missiles in Kaliningrad, near the border with Poland, in his first annual address to Russia’s Federal Assembly. Of, if the United States moved. forward with its European ballistic missile defence system.

Russian-Georgian conflict (August 2008)

In August 2008, United States–Russia bilateral relations became more strained when Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war over the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

• Obama’s first term to Trump’s election (2009–16)

• “Reset” under Obama and Medvedev (2009–11)

Despite US–Russia relations being strained during the Bush administration, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (president from May 2008 to May 2012, with Vladimir Putin as head of government) and US President Barack Obama held a 2009 G20 summit in London. The conference struck a warm tone and issued a joint statement that promised a “new beginning” in Russia–United States relations. The statement also called on Iran to abandon its nuclear program and allow foreign inspectors into the country.

In March 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov symbolically pressed the “reset” button. The gag fell short because the Russian translation on the button was misspelt by the State Department and actually meant “overload” instead of “reset”. After making a few jokes, he decided to press the button anyway.

In early July 2009, Obama visited Moscow where he held meetings with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. Speaking at the New Economic School, Obama told a large gathering, “America wants a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia. This belief is shared by the Russian people.” rooted in our respect for the United States, and a shared history between our nations that is beyond the competition.” Days after President Obama’s visit to Moscow, US Vice President Joe Biden noted that the US “grossly underestimates that hand.” has been [ing] whom [it] h[e]ld”, told an American newspaper that Russia with its population base shrinking and the economy “getting cosy”, addressed a wide range of national security issues. The series will have to take place in the West. Biden’s words, published shortly after his trip to Ukraine and Georgia, were interpreted by George Friedman’s Stratfor as “confirm[ing] America’s commitment to the doctrine that Russia has influence in these countries.” has no right to a region or anywhere in the former Soviet Union”; Friedman points to a fundamental error in the analysis that underlies such thinking and predicts, “We suspect that the history of Russian will barely back off before being kicked off the stage”.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in September 2010

In March 2010, the United States and Russia reached an agreement to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. On April 8, 2010, the new Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty (known as New START) was signed by President Obama and President Medvedev. The agreement reduced the number of long-range nuclear weapons held by each side from the current 1,700 to about 1,500. 2,200 as set by the 2002 Treaty of Moscow. New START replaced the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December 2009.

On a visit to Moscow in March 2011, US Vice President Joe Biden reiterated Washington’s support for Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organisation; He also held a meeting with prominent Russian human rights and opposition leaders, where he reportedly told the gathering at the US ambassador’s Spaso House residence that it would be better for Russia if Putin did not run for re-election in 2012. As of 2020, this was the only time that Biden and Putin had met. After an official group meeting, which Biden characterized in his memoir as “argumentative”, he and Putin met privately, with Biden saying “Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes,” (Putin and President Bush, who later said, “I looked into the man’s eyes… I was able to sense his soul”). Biden continued, “I don’t think you have a soul.” Putin replied, “We understand each other.” Biden was elected President in 2020.

After mass protests began in Russia at the start of the legislative elections in early December 2011, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of interfering and inciting the unrest, specifically telling Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that “a sign” had sent ” some actors in our country”; His comments were seen as a sign of a breakdown in the Obama administration’s effort to “restore” relations.

By 2012, it was clear that a true reset never occurred and relations remained sour. Factors included traditional mistrust and fear in the West, Russia’s growing tendency to move away from democracy, and Eastern Europe seeking closer political, economic, and military integration with the West. Factors from Russia included Putin’s move away from democracy, hopes of achieving superpower status, and tactics of manipulating trade policies and encouraging divisions within NATO.

Putin’s third term begins Obama’s Syria “red line” (2012–2015)

In mid-September 2013, the United States and Russia reached an agreement under which Syria’s chemical weapons would be placed under international control and eventually destroyed; President Obama welcomed the agreement [65] which was soon enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2118. The Obama administration was criticized for using the chemical weapons deal as an ineffective substitute for military action, which Obama had promised should the Syrian government use chemical weapons. In the view of George Robertson, as well as that of many others, Obama’s failure to follow through on his 2013 “red line” and badly promised to hurt his credibility and the United States military with Putin and other Action world leaders.

Obama acknowledged Russia’s role in achieving the deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program in July 2015 and personally thanked Putin for Russia’s role in the negotiations.

Increased Stress: Overview (2012-15)

In May 2012, Russian General Nikolay Yegorovich Makarov said that a preemptive strike on missile defence sites in Eastern Europe was likely to apply pressure on the United States regarding Russia’s demands. ] In July 2012, two Tu-95 Bears were intercepted by NORAD fighters in an air defence area off the US coast of Alaska, where they were practising targets at Fort Greeley and Vandenberg Air Force Base. Later in August 2012, it was revealed that the Akula-class submarine had attacked Mexico. had patrolled undetected within the bay, threatening the US Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

On December 14, 2012, US President Barack Obama signed the Magnitsky Act, which imposes “US travel and financial sanctions on human rights abusers in Russia”. On December 28, 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill, widely seen as retribution, that banned any United States citizen from adopting children from Russia.

On February 12, 2013, hours before the 2013 State of the Union address by US President Obama, two Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers, reportedly armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, attacked the US territory of Guam. circumambulated. Air Force F-15 jets based at Anderson Air Force Base scrambled to intercept the plane. The Russian aircraft was reportedly “intercepted and left the area to the north.”

In late 2013, Russia announced that the rearmament of the Kozelsk, Novosibirsk and Tagil rocket divisions with advanced RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles was proceeding.

In July 2014, the US government formally accused Russia of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with a banned medium-range ground-launched cruise missile (likely the R-500, a modification of the Iskander). ) charged with testing. and threatened to retaliate accordingly. Also causing concern in the US was the test-firing in 2014 of the Russian RS-26 Rubez intercontinental ballistic missile, which was capable of evading existing anti-ballistic missile defences.

In early June 2015, the US State Department reported that Russia had failed to correct its violations of the INF treaty; The US government is said to have made no apparent progress in getting Russia so much as to acknowledge the compliance problem.

Edward Snowden Affair (2013–present)

Edward Snowden, a United States government contractor, copied and released hundreds of thousands of pages of secret US government documents. He fled to Hong Kong, and then to Russia where he was granted political asylum in July 2013. He was wanted by US prosecutors on a criminal warrant for theft of government property and espionage. [84]

Relations between the two countries worsened over the asylum, and a meeting between Obama and Putin in Moscow in early September 2013 was cancelled. [85] Snowden lives in Russia as of November 2020.

Ukraine crisis, sanctions (2014–present)

Following the fall of the Viktor Yanukovych government in Ukraine in February 2014, Russia annexed Crimea based on a controversial referendum held on 16 March 2014. The United States submitted a UN Security Council resolution declaring the plebiscite illegal; The resolution was vetoed by Russia on 15 March, with China abstaining and the other 13 Security Council members voting for the resolution. In 2016, in a Moscow court, former top Ukrainian officials from the Yanukovych administration testified that the fall of the government was, in their opinion, a coup organized and sponsored by the US government. The Russian newspaper Kommersant alleged that George Friedman (chairman of Stratfor) had agreed that it was “the most blatant coup in history”, which George Friedman says was taken out of context:

Anti-American slogans during Victory Day celebrations, pro-Russia sympathizers and separatists in Donetsk, May 9, 2014

In early March 2014, US Secretary of State John Kerry, responding to press questions about Russia’s moves in Crimea, said, “This is an act of aggression that has been completely squashed by its pretext. It is actually 21″. That’s 19th-century behaviour in the 19th century, and there’s no way to start that, if Russia keeps at it, that the G8 countries are going to gather in Sochi. It’s a start.” On 24 March 2014, the US and its allies suspended Russia’s membership in the G8 political forum. The decision was dismissed by Russia as insignificant.

In late March 2014, US President Obama denied any Western military intervention in Ukraine and acknowledged that Russia’s annexation of Crimea would be difficult to reverse; However, he dismissed Russia as a “regional power” that did not pose a major security threat to the US In January 2016, when asked about his opinion of Obama’s statement, Putin Said, “I think speculating about other countries, trying to speak disrespectfully about other countries is an attempt to prove one’s exceptionalism to the contrary. In my view, this is a misleading position.” In November 2016, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had this to say about Obama’s statement: “We have a lot to learn about Russia’s depth, we don’t know much about it at the moment.” I want to discuss the level with Russia. As President Obama said, Russia is not ‘a regional power’. That was a huge error in assessment.”

As unrest broke out in eastern Ukraine in the spring of 2014, Relations between America and Russia worsened further. The US government imposed punitive sanctions for Russia’s activity in Ukraine. Following a round of sanctions announced by President Obama in July 2014 targeting Russia’s major energy, financial and defence companies, Russia said the sanctions would seriously damage bilateral relations that had moved them back to the Cold War era of the 1980s. Will do

In December 2015, Putin met with Secretaries of State John Kerry, Victoria Nuland and John F. Taft met.

From March 2014 to 2016, six rounds of sanctions were imposed by the US, as well as the European Union, and some other US-affiliated countries, the first three rounds by freezing their assets and denying entry to individuals close to Putin. was targeted by Russia responded by banning the import of certain food products, as well as banning the entry of certain government officials from countries that have sanctions against Russia.

At the end of 2014 the US The Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 was passed, aimed at depriving some Russian state firms of Western funding and technology, while also providing Ukraine with $350 million in weapons and military equipment. and the imposition of another round of sanctions by the executive order of the US President.

Due to the situation concerning Ukraine, relations between Russia and the US, which condemned Russia’s actions, were at their worst since the end of the Cold War in 2014.

As vice president, Joe Biden urged the Ukrainian government to reduce the country’s dependence on imports of Russian natural gas and eliminate pro-Russian middlemen such as Dmitry Firtash from the country’s natural gas industry.

Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War (since September 30, 2015)

Barack Obama meets with Vladimir Putin to discuss Syria on September 29, 2015.

Shortly after the start of the Syrian Civil War in the spring of 2011, the US imposed sanctions on Syria’s government and urged President Bashar al-Assad to resign; Meanwhile, Russia, Syria’s longtime ally, has continued and increased its support for the Syrian government against rebels backed by the US and its regional allies.

On 30 September 2015, Russia launched an air campaign in Syria in favour of the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. According to a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made in mid-October 2015, Russia invited the US to join Iran, Iraq, Syria and a Baghdad-based information centre set up by Russia to coordinate its military efforts. But he got what he got. which is called an “unstructured” response; Putin’s offer that the US receive a high-level Russian delegation and an American delegation to arrive in Moscow to discuss cooperation in Syria was similarly rejected by the US. In early October 2015, US President Obama Russia was conducting its military operation in Syria, calling it a “recipe for disaster”; Top US military officials denied military cooperation with Russia in Syria. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and other senior US officials said Russia’s campaign was primarily aimed at propping up Assad, who has been repeatedly called on by US President Barack Obama to step down.

Three weeks into the Russian operation in Syria, on October 20, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Bashar Assad in Moscow to discuss their joint military operation and a future political settlement in Syria, the Kremlin reports of the event. According to. The meeting was strongly condemned by the White House.

Although an original objective of the Russian leadership may have been the normalization of relations with the US and the West, the resulting situation in Syria was described in October 2015 as a proxy war between Russia and the US Two of the Syrian peace talks held in Vienna in October and November 2015 The round, in which Iran participated for the first time, re-exposed deep disagreements over the Syrian settlement between the US and Iran. Russia, mainly on the issue of the political future of Bashar Assad. The talks in Vienna were followed by a bilateral meeting between Obama and Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey, during which the two leaders were reported to have reached a definite agreement on Syria.

Bilateral talks on Syria were unilaterally suspended by the US on October 3, 2016, in what was presented as the US government’s response to a renewed offensive on Aleppo by Syrian and Russian troops. The same day, Putin signed a decree that suspended the 2000 Plutonium Management and Disposal Agreement with the US (the corresponding law was signed on 31 October 2016), citing failure by the US to comply with Its provisions, as well as unfriendly actions of the US, posed a “threat to strategic stability”. In mid-October 2016, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, criticized the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict. Referring to the international situation during the war, said tensions with the US is “probably the worst since 1973”. After two rounds of fruitless talks on Syria in Lausanne and London, the US and UK foreign ministers said that additional sanctions against both Russia and Syria were imminent unless Russia and the “Assad regime” closed their air base in Aleppo. Did not stop the campaign. ,

2016 US election

In the 2016 US presidential election campaign, US security officials accused the Russian government of being behind massive cyber-hacking and leaks aimed at influencing the election and discrediting the US political system. The allegations were dismissed by Putin, who said the idea that Russia was favouring Donald Trump was a myth created by the Hillary Clinton campaign. During the election campaign, the US press highlighted the background of strained relations between Putin and Hillary Clinton. Trump was widely seen as a pro-Russia candidate, with the FBI investigating alleged ties between Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort as well as Carter Page and pro-Russian interests.

Between the 2016 election and Trump’s inauguration (November 8, 2016–January 20, 2017)

In mid-November 2016, shortly after Trump’s election as US President, the Kremlin accused President Barack Obama’s administration of trying to damage America’s relations with Russia to a degree that would threaten Trump’s incoming presidency. Will make its generalization impossible for the administration.

In his address to the Russian Parliament on December 1, 2016, Russian President Putin said about US–Russia relations: “We are ready to cooperate with the new US administration to normalize and evenly distribute bilateral relations.” It is important to develop. and on a mutually beneficial basis. Mutual efforts of Russia and the United States in solving global and regional problems are in the interests of the whole world.”

In early December 2016, the White House said that President Obama had ordered intelligence agencies to review evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign; White House Deputy Press Secretary, Eric Schultz, denied the review, led by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, was meant to be an “attempt to challenge the outcome of the election”. Simultaneously, the US press published reports, citing senior administration officials, that US intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA, had concluded with “high confidence” that Russia had secretly manipulated the latter stages of the presidential campaign. has worked. Hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances and boost Donald Trump’s. President-elect Donald Trump dismissed the CIA’s assessment that Russia was behind the hackers’ efforts to sway the campaign in his favour as “ridiculous”.

In mid-December 2016, Hillary Clinton suggested that Putin had a personal grudge against her because of her criticism of the 2011 Russian legislative election and her opinion that he was inciting anti-Putin protests in Russia that began in December 2011. Was responsible for He partly attributed his defeat to Russian interference in the 2016 election organized by Putin.

Also in mid-December, President Obama publicly pledged to retaliate for Russian cyberattacks during the US presidential election in order to “send a clear message to Russia” as both a punishment and a deterrent; However, the press reported that their actionable options were limited, with many being dismissed as either ineffective or too risky; The New York Times, citing a list of US-engineered coups abroad, said, “There is nothing much new in tampering with elections, except for the technical sophistication of the tools. For all the outrage voiced by Democrats and Republicans, Regarding the Russian action last week – with the notable exception of Mr Trump, who has dismissed the intelligence findings as politically motivated – it is worth remembering that trying to manipulate elections is a well-honed American art. Is.

The Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Obama on December 23, 2016, “sent yet another attempt to create problems for the Trump administration and complicate its relations on the international stage with the Russian Federation”. Ministry was criticized, as well as for forcing it to adopt an anti-Russian policy.”

In late 2016, US President-elect Donald Trump praised Putin for not expelling US diplomats in response to Washington’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats as well as other punitive measures taken by the Obama administration, which US officials described as interference. US presidential election.

On January 6, 2017, in an assessment of “Russian activities and intentions in the recent US elections”, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) asserted that the Russian leadership favored presidential candidate Trump over Clinton, and Putin. Personally placed an order. for harming Clinton’s chances and “undermining public confidence in the American democratic process”. Here’s an “influence campaign”.

During the Trump Administration (January 20, 2017–January 20, 2021)

On January 20, 2017, a week after the inauguration of Donald Trump, US President Donald Trump held a 50-minute telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the two governments saw as a step towards improving relations between the US and Russia. appreciated as; The Presidents agreed to arrange a face-to-face meeting for a later date.

In early March 2017, the US military for the first time publicly accused Russia of deploying a land-based cruise missile (SSC-8 [148] ) in what it called the “spirit and intent” of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces of 1987. violated. (INF) became a threat to the treaty and NATO.

On March 25, 2017, the US imposed new sanctions against eight Russian companies in connection with Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA).

The cruise-missile attack on Syria’s Shayrat airbase, carried out by the US on April 7, 2017, in response to the same Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, was condemned by Russia as an “act of aggression” that was based on a “trumped-up pretext” was based, which greatly influenced Russia-United States relations. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the attack had brought the US to the brink of war with Russia. Donald Trump in April and the Russian government in May both portrayed relations between the countries as frozen and lacking any progress; In early June, Vladimir Putin said that relations were at their lowest level since the end of the Cold War. In mid-June 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that, for the first time, Russia had failed to receive formal greetings from the US government on the occasion of the National Day of Russia, celebrated on 12 June.

In April 2017, Trump’s administration denied ExxonMobil’s request to be allowed to resume oil drilling in Russia. In July 2017, ExxonMobil filed a lawsuit against the US government challenging the conclusion that the company violated sanctions imposed on Russia.

On May 10, 2017, Trump had an unannounced meeting in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak. According to current and former government officials, during the meeting he disclosed highly classified information, including the sources of the information and the manner in which it was collected, that could be used to extort. Although this disclosure was not illegal, it was widely criticized because of the potential danger it posed to the source.

On July 6, 2017, during a speech in Warsaw, Poland, Trump urged Russia to end its support for “hostile regimes” in Syria and Iran. On July 7, 2017, in what appeared to be a sign of good relations between the two leaders, Trump met Putin at the G20 Hamburg summit in Germany and described the meeting as “an honour”.

In mid-July 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the staff of the US embassy in Moscow far exceeded the staff of the Russian embassy in Washington following the expulsion of diplomats by the Obama administration in December 2016, and indicated that the Russian government was Considering the retaliatory expulsions of more than thirty-five US diplomats, the number of diplomats from the countries deployed thus ended the evening.

On July 28, Russia announced punitive measures, which were put in place as Russia’s response to additional, codified, sanctions against Moscow passed days earlier by Congress, but denied by Obama to the Russian diplomatic mission in the US. Reference was also made to the specific measures imposed against Administration. Russia demanded that the US reduce its diplomatic and technical personnel at the Moscow embassy and its consulates in Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok to four hundred and fifty-five persons – equal to the number of Russian diplomats stationed in the US – by 1 September; Russia’s government will also suspend access to a retreat compound and a storage facility used by the US until August 1.

Two days later, Vladimir Putin said that the decision to cut US diplomatic mission personnel were taken by him personally and that 755 employees would have to end their work in Russia. After Donald Trump signed the sanction bill on August 2, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote that the legislation had ended hopes of improving US–Russia relations and meant “an all-out trade war with Russia”. Russia.” The law was also criticized by Donald Trump, whose signing statement indicated that he could choose not to enforce certain provisions of the law that he deemed unconstitutional.

Russia protested against a finding on September 2, 2017, that US officials were planning a Russian trade mission building in Washington DC, immediately after the US, in the spirit of equality called for by the Russians. Russia sought to close two of its diplomatic annexes (buildings) in Washington DC and New York City as well as its Consulate General in San Francisco, The Russian Foreign Ministry said the inspection would be “illegal” and an “unprecedented act of aggression”; It also demanded that the US immediately return “Russian diplomatic facilities”.

In November 2017, Trump and Putin both attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Danang. Although they had no formal meeting, they spoke informally several times during the program.

In late 2017, CNN concluded that a series of steps taken by the Trump administration in the week before Christmas such as naming Russia a “rival power” and a “revisionist power” (along with China), imposing sanctions on Ramzan Kadyrov, The decision to provide anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, a close Putin ally, coupled with the State Department’s hard-line regarding Moscow’s activities in eastern Ukraine, and Pentagon allegations that Russia is deliberately violating anti-conflict agreements in Syria highlighted “a definite turn away from the warmer, more cooperative relations with Russia that President Donald Trump called for during his campaign and early in his presidency”. In February 2018, echoing Donald Trump’s own statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “[President Donald Trump] has been tougher on Russia in the first year than Obama was in eight years.”

2018

A highly unusual unannounced visit to Washington DC in late January 2018 by the directors of Russia’s three main intelligence and security agencies (FSB, SVR, and GRU), two of whom (Sergey Naryshkin and Igor Korobov) were The US sanctions list, and his reported meetings with top US security officials, sparked political controversy in the US and no official comment in Russia, while the Trump administration had decided not to immediately impose new sanctions on Russia on the deadline. Mandated by Countering America’s Adversaries through the Sanctions Act.

US air and an artillery strike on the formation of a pro-government in eastern Syria on February 7, 2018, caused massive casualties among Russian civilians and a political scandal in Russia, as “Russians among It was billed by the media as the first deadliest conflict and the United States since the Cold War” and “an episode that threatens to deepen tensions with Moscow”.

Public statements read by Vladimir Putin on March 1, 2018, days before the presidential election, about missile technology breakthroughs made by Russia, were largely referred to by Trump administration officials as blatant untruths, with It was only confirmed that “Russia ha[d] been developing destabilizing weapons systems for more than a decade, in direct violation of its treaty obligations”. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis commented that the systems Putin talked about “[were] still years away” and that he did not see them changing the military balance. Nevertheless, White House insiders were later quoted as saying that Putin’s claims “really got under President [Trump’s] skin” and that Trump was more of a behind-the-scenes figure than Vladimir Putin. Caused the loud voice.

On March 26, 2018, to demonstrate US support for Britain’s position on the Salisbury poisoning incident, following a recommendation by the United States National Security Council, President Donald Trump announced the expulsion of sixty Russian diplomats and the closure of the Russian consulate. ordered to shut down. in Seattle. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the simultaneous expulsion of a total of 140 Russian diplomats by 25 countries, accusing the US government of “blackmailing” other countries.

In April 2018, US–Russian relations were further strained by missile strikes against Syrian government targets following a suspected chemical attack in Douma on 7 April. The countries clashed diplomatically, with Russia’s top military officials threatening to kill US forces. Target in the event of a massive US-led offensive against Syria.

In late May, during an interview with RT, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that a direct military conflict between Russian forces and US forces in Syria in April had been averted. “With the knowledge of the Russian leadership,” the US-led missile strike against Syria would have been far more widespread if it were not for Russia’s intervention.

On June 8, 2018, Trump called for Russia to be re-admitted to the G-7, from which it was expelled following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Trump’s public statements during his first formal meeting with Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018 drew criticism from Democratic members of the US Congress and several former senior intelligence officials, as well as some ranking members of the Republican Party. Instead of accepting the findings of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election released by the United States intelligence community, Putin sided. Republican Senator John McCain called the press conference “one of the most embarrassing performances by an American president in memory”. The press around the world ran publications that assessed the news conference after the two-hour meeting of the presidents. Trump’s “predicted weakness” as an event for the US.

2019

In December 2019, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on businesses involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, as the US sought to sell more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European states. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz called the sanctions “a serious interference in German and European internal affairs”, while an EU spokesman criticized the “imposition of sanctions against EU companies doing legitimate business”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also criticized the sanctions, saying that the US Congress is “literally overwhelmed with a willingness to do everything to destroy US-Russia relations”.

2020

A 2020 New York Times report, citing unnamed sources, said that US intelligence officials assessed with moderate confidence that Russian military intelligence unit 29155 had received orders from the Taliban to kill foreign troops, including Americans, in Afghanistan in 2019. Oversaw a bounty program paying linked terrorists.

The bounty program reportedly resulted in the deaths of “many” American servicemen, but top Pentagon leaders said the Russian bounty program has not been confirmed. Both the Taliban and Russia have denied that the bounty program exists. President Donald Trump and his aides denied that he was briefed on the intelligence. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said that Trump had not received information about the bounty program.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the same. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that General Kenneth Mackenzie, commander of US Central Command, and General Scott Miller, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, “did not think the reports were credible after they dug into them.” McKenzie said he found no “causal link” between reported bounties to actual US military deaths but said the lack of evidence “is often true in battlefield intelligence.”

On July 1, 2020, following media reports of Taliban involvement in an alleged Russian bounty program, the US House Armed Services Committee voted in favour of an amendment to restrict President Trump’s ability to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.

On September 25, 2020, B-52 bombers of the US Air Force staged a simulated attack on Kaliningrad, a closed Russian exclave between NATO countries. The simulated raid on the Kaliningrad region was a test case for destroying Russian air defence systems located in the region.

Trump has seen Putin’s influence

President Donald Trump made both pro-Russian and anti-Russian statements regarding Crimea, Syria, Ukraine, North Korea, and Venezuela, election interference, Skripal poisoning, and oil drilling in Russia. Throughout his term as President, conspiracy theories have been voiced continuously regarding alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign team and/or administration and the Russian government.

The Steele dossier alleged that Russia possessed a kompromat on Trump which could be used to blackmail him and that the Kremlin had promised him that the kompromat would not be used as long as he continued his cooperation with them. Trump’s actions at the Helsinki summit in 2018 “led many to conclude that Steele’s report was more accurate… Trump sided with the Russians over the US intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow had completely manipulated it.” 2016 The attack on the U.S. election, … the joint news conference, .. reinforced fears among some that Trump was in Putin’s pocket and prompted a bipartisan response.”

At a joint news conference, when asked directly about the subject, Putin denied that he had any understanding of Trump. Even though Trump was allegedly given a “gift from Putin”, on the weekend of the pageant, Putin argued that “he didn’t even know that Trump was in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013, when Steele came across the dossier”. Reportedly, Trump’s video was secretly recorded to blackmail him.”

In response to Trump’s actions at the summit, Senator Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) spoke in the Senate:

Many operatives and lawyers in the US intelligence community reacted strongly to Trump’s performance at the summit. He described it as “under Putin” and a “fervent defence of Russia’s military and cyber aggression around the world, and violations of international law in Ukraine”, which he saw as “detrimental to US interests”. He also suggested that he was either a “Russian asset” or a “useful idiot” for Putin and that he looked like “Putin’s puppet”. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wondered “if the Russians have something on Trump”, and former CIA Director John O’Brennan, who has accused Trump of “treason”, tweeted: “He is completely in the pocket” of Putin.”

In January 2019, former acting CIA director Michael Morell called Trump “an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation”, and Former CIA director Michael V. Hayden said Trump was a “useful fool” who had been “manipulated by Moscow”. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questioned Trump’s loyalty when she asked him: “[Why] all roads lead to Putin?”

Ynet, an Israeli online news site, reported on January 12, 2017, that US intelligence had advised Israeli intelligence officials to be cautious about sharing information with the incoming Trump administration unless steel Russian influence on Trump was unlikely as suggested by the US report. Fully checked.

Biden’s inauguration to the present (January 20, 2021–present)

In October 2020, former British senior diplomat Nigel Gould-Davis argued that Russia would be a central priority of a future Biden administration because ‘no other country threatens a wider range of American interests and values, foreign and domestic, and Nor has any other country been the source of more domestic controversy and contradictory policy over the past four years.

Following the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on January 17, 2021, Jake Sullivan, who was to become President Joe Biden’s national security adviser after his January 20 inauguration, wrote, “Mr Navalny must be released immediately, and The perpetrators of this outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable. The Kremlin’s attacks on Mr Navalny are not only a violation of human rights but an affront to the Russian people who want their voices to be heard.”

On the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, Russia urged the new US administration to take a “more constructive” approach in negotiations on the extension of the 2010 New START treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Trump administration of “deliberately and deliberately” violating international arms control scrapping agreements and referring to its “counterproductive and openly aggressive” approach to negotiations. On January 26, Biden and Putin agreed in a phone call to extend the New START treaty for five years, which would otherwise have expired in February 2021.

On 17 March 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia had recalled its ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, for “consultations”, which the ministry’s spokesman characterized as being without precedent for Russia’s ambassador to the US. Was. US President Joe Biden confirmed in an interview with ABC News that he considered the Russian president a “murderer” and that Putin would “pay the price” for interfering in the 2020 US election, whose interference was confirmed a day earlier Issued an unclassified DNI report. The State Department commented on the recall by saying that while the US would work with Russia to advance American interests, they would “be able to hold Russia accountable for any malign actions of its own”.

On 15 April, the US announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions on six Russian technology companies as well as 32 other individuals and entities. The new sanctions also targeted ruble-denominated sovereign debt. Nevertheless, the economic punishment was assessed by observers as “more bark than bite” and likely to be “largely symbolic”, with the ruble rebounding against the dollar on the news. Biden remarked that the United States “could have gone further” with sanctions, but that he had opted for a milder form of sovereign-debt sanctions for now because he wanted to avoid a “cycle of escalation and conflict”. Russia retaliated. The next day, expelling 10 US diplomats and suggested the US ambassador return home for consultations.