Russian Pundits Say 'Reset' With USA Over, Mull Future Of Bilateral Ties
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Two Russian pundits interviewed by state-owned RIA Novosti news agency on 5 March have said that Russian-US relations are entering into a new, post-"reset" phase, however how the bilateral relationship will evolve remains to be seen.
The director of the Centre for International Security at the Institute of Global Economy and World Politics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Aleksey Arbatov, told RIA Novosti that the "reset" was a way to mitigate tensions following the Russia-Georgia conflict in 2008. "In 2008, we came very close to a line of confrontation during the Caucasus crisis, and the reset was needed to step back from that verge. We stepped back," Arbatov said.
He added that there were new goals for the Russia-USA relationship. "The reset is over, but now we have to think of how to move forward: will we head for closer cooperation which will enable us to find solutions to missile defence problems and other security issues, including Iran? Or will we stop at this stage, turn our backs on each other and deal only with our own issues?" Arbatov said.
In a later RIA report, the director of the Institute of Strategic Projects, Sergey Oznobishchev partly echoed Arbatov's words. He was quoted as saying that a reset "had been declared but did not transpire as a large-scale phenomenon".
"I am sure we have passed the 'golden age' of the possibilities before us. Sadly these were just possibilities, which can hardly be afforded the bold title of 'reset', one cannot say that something principally new has happened," he said. Oznobishchev concluded by saying that Russia and the USA "were doomed for uneasy relations".
