Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

transport grid. It is becoming increasingly evident that the United States needs to include Russia in helping
to achieve stability in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan (Legvold 78-79). Yet, political resistance within the
U.S. Congress, as well as nationalistic skepticism on the part of Russia limit the amount of cooperation
possible to a point, but should not prevent efforts to improve relations and advance understanding and trust
between the two states, hopefully eventually enabling greater collaboration.
The United States must also take into account its relations with European allies, particularly Easter
European states, some of which are not fully consolidated democracies and are additionally very concerned
about Russian power. Greater trust between Russia and the United States would increase U.S. legitimacy
with Russia and negotiating power and may allow the United States and NATO to strengthen ties with
states in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, particularly Ukraine, without provoking and
alienating Russia. Ukraine’s strategic importance as a buffer between Russia and NATO and as an essential
transit country for Russia’s natural gas supply to Europe, providing approximately two-thirds of Europe’s
needs, make it both a source of contention and a possible mediator. Western support for democratization
and Ukrainian security are important in maintaining the balance, so that Ukraine does not get drawn back
into the Russian sphere of influence but is able to effectively pursue its own foreign policy (Lazarevic 48).
In the last decade, the relations between the United States and Russia have been rather uncertain,
with periods of hope for improved relations often followed by tension between the two, culminating with
the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. Even so, both Russia and the United States appear to be
interested in increased cooperation as was demonstrated by Vice President Biden’s comments calling for
“pressing the reset button” on U.S.-Russian relations, and the positive response from Russia shortly after
President Obama’s inauguration (Biden). Additionally, many issues of greatest disagreement have passed
the acute stage (Alcaro 3). President Obama has taken many important steps toward building a sustainable
cooperative relationship with Russia. The passing of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START),
the U.S.-Russian 123 agreement allowing for civilian exchange of nuclear material and technology, and the
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