[ad_1]
The talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh, their first major diplomatic interaction since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, marks the beginning of a reset in ties between the two former Cold War adversaries. Led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the two sides agreed to restore staffing at their respective embassies, explore closer economic cooperation, and set up a high-level team to start talks to end the Ukraine war. U.S. President Donald Trump has signalled that he might meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, later this month and secure the deal, which is a decisive shift in America’s policy towards Russia. Under the former Biden administration, the U.S. had emerged as Ukraine’s biggest military and financial backer. The U.S. had also led global efforts to weaken Russia’s economy through biting sanctions. Mr. Trump has thrown away the Biden policy and adopted a new approach of rapprochement with Russia, something reminiscent of Henry Kissinger’s historic outreach to Mao Tse Tung’s China at the height of the Cold War and America’s disastrous war in Vietnam.
Mr. Trump’s push for stability with Russia is rooted in a sense of realism. He does not see Russia, a pale shadow of what the Soviet Union used to be, as America’s main challenger. It is unrealistic, as Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defence Secretary, put it, to expect Ukraine to turn around the war. Mr. Trump is also opposed to further American aid for Ukraine. He wants to focus America’s resources on China, while building a better predictable relationship with Russia — a reverse Kissinger approach. While this is the broad strategic framework of Mr. Trump’s Russia reset, the victim in the battlefield is Ukraine, which has already lost over 20% of its territories and thousands of its men. The U.S., which offered Ukraine NATO membership in 2008, now says such an outcome is not practical. The Trump administration has also ruled out security guarantees to Ukraine, passing that responsibility to Europe, which stands divided. So, Ukraine today does not even have a seat at the table when Russia and America talk. When great powers quarrel and reset, smaller countries that get caught in proxy conflicts often suffer. But excluding Ukraine and Europe from any settlement that would determine both Ukraine’s future and Europe’s security architecture would be wrong, morally and practically. If Mr. Trump wants to build his reset on a strong foundation, he should strive towards a settlement that is acceptable to all parties — the U.S., Russia, Europe and Ukraine.
Published – February 20, 2025 12:10 am IST
[ad_2]
Russia reset: On the U.S., Russia, their first major diplomatic interaction
