US-Russia Diplomatic Relations: A Journey of Reconciliation - Essay Sample

Introduction

Russia and the United States of America have always maintained diplomatic trade relations with each other, and the relationship was enjoyed for a long time during the previous years before 1999. The link started to deteriorate significantly as a result of NATO's decision to bomb the Republic of Yugoslavia. Even after that, the United States was always on constant deliberations to seek and find a full and constructive relationship with Russia. The US came up with a strategy to oversee and develop an environment where different countries would participate in trade globally without the fear of trade sanctions. The US thus supported Russia in her quest to join the European Union and other global entities to deepen the bilateral relations globally.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The news of the election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States back in 2016 came as a surprise to most people in Russia, yet they celebrated the victory. They had dreaded the thought of Hillary Clinton, who was against the leadership of Vladimir Putin as the president of Russia. Hillary, to them, was like a continuation of the Obama presidency, and they were against it. Trump came into power with the promise of support to Russia, while Hillary was all over against supporting the country. It was only fair and understandable that they celebrate the win as their own. Trump was seen as a person who will approach issues with a realist mind instead of an idealist mind and see to it the sanity of international relations was restored. The saw him as a person who would come up with some sort of bargain for trade relations with Russia who had suffered sanctions from the previous government with Barrack Obama as the president.

When Trump assumed power, they felt that they would be able to revive the trade relations that had suffered a significant drawback because of the Ukraine crisis. The hopes were that the issue would be settled on the agreement terms of Russia (Rumer, et al., 2017). They also hoped that the trade and negotiations between Washington and Moscow would resume back to normal after the lifting of the trade sanctions. As a result of the high hopes in place for the Trump United States American presidency, Putin decided to come up with a resolution. The Russian president decided against retaliating on the issue of the Russian diplomats who had been expelled from the US by Obama. He also decided to leave the issue about the captured Russian property on the United States soil.

Some of the publications had rejected the possibility of a Trump Putin collaboration and, by extension, the United States of America-Russia relations. They cited the differences between the two based on history and the prevailing tension that was going at the moment of the elections. One such publication is the Mueller report, which, although rejected that idea, talked of a possible inclusion and involvement of Russia in the concluded US elections. The Russians interfered with the polls in the United States of America and denied. The issue is common even with the US itself and other countries that interfere with the votes of different countries and deny the allegations. Russia may have cheered for and celebrated the Trump presidency, but they did not elect Trump to be president. The accusations are just words of some bitter Hillary supporters finding a way to vent for the loss in the presidential elections.

The entry of Trump into the White House signified a new beginning for Russia, although it was not as sure as they hoped. The Russian president set a precedence for the meeting to take place, but the backlash it received from the press and the public at large made the arrangements hard him. The people saw the conference as a plan for Trump to sell the interests of the country to an enemy, Russia. The two leaders planned for a private meeting, but the backlash they received still made the happening of the meeting impossible. The functions of arranging for the meeting were passed over to Congress and the decisions pertaining to the trade sanctions imposed on Russia by Barrack Obama. The Congress agreed to make the sanctions into law, leaving Trump with no choice but to sign it into law (Korobkov, 2019).

In 2017, he talked of a possible US Russia policy that was no longer an issue to be dealt with by the White House. Still, instead, Congress and Russia faced a unity of the two major parties in the United States of America. The relationship turned into a political ball that could be kicked by the two parties whenever they wished. Putin's attempt to come up with another summit for him to meet with the US president backfired and the results made the sanctions and the Russian American relations even worse. The White House refused the occurrence of any other encounter with President Putin, and he was forced to give up trying. The links have been left and reduced to only avoiding a one on one military attack on one another.

A debate was held between the power brokers in the US Russia relations. The moderator of the discussion posed a question about whether the United States of America and Russia are going to remain geopolitical enemies forever. One of the debaters said that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia was invited to join the West but refused and instead went ahead to isolate itself. The Russians, after refusing to join the West, decided and went to invade the other Western States, a situation that aggravated the situation further. Another debater in the motion sited the influence and interference of Russia in the 2016 November US elections as meddling and asked the United States to protect her interests. After that, the debaters went ahead to debate more about the Washington and Moscow relations and how to improve the deteriorating relationship. They agreed that the United States and Russia relationship was something that needed to be talked about and swiftly to settle the tensions.

Trump and Putin continue to share a cordial friendship and understanding between them despite the tensions that exist between the countries that the two are heading. Trump is under pressure from his lawmakers not to ease the burden from the sanctions put on Russia. Due to the recent tensions in the internal politics of the US, the Russian president fears that they are the cause and the reason why the pressures and the sanctions will not be lifted. Since the sanctions were first put in action in 2014, Russia has focused on improving themselves economically and in technical sovereignty in a bid to strengthen their bargaining advantage in the global markets. The sanctions affected major sectors of the Russian economy when they were first affected, but they struggled back to their feet. The sanctions grow tougher every year, but the position of Russia in the global market has improved since then.

The Chief executives in the United States of America are still hopeful that Washington and Moscow would go back to the relations they had this year. They think so despite the fact and the noise about the impeachment motions that made rounds from the public and the Congress. There is also the issue of the dispute over the mega gas pipeline from Russia to Europe that could hinder and stop the US from getting natural gas imports. The hopes stem from the recent deliberations between Russia and her immediate Western neighbors. The deliberations coupled with the increasing weariness of the other Western Countries concerning the sanctions put on Russia by the US about the annexation from Crimea. Another pinch of hope resulted from the constitutional reforms announced by President Putin. The changes are believed to rebirth and nurture the economic status of the country.

CEOs in Russia have a lot of hope in the reforms that were put in place by Putin and pray that it will better the economy of Russia. They hope that it will lead to a change between them and the United States. They hope they can be able to build another relationship between Moscow and Washington based on trust as good business between the two is anchored on the belief that the two have towards each other. The relation of Trump and Putin was put in the limelight first during the presidential elections. The relationship has remained in the spotlight since then. Trump has maintained his admiration for his counterpart from Russia. The relations, however, continue to be strained because of the constant pressure from the United States of America.

The most recent strain on the relations between the two countries is about the major Russian gas pipe to mainland Germany. The United States of America cannot help it but view the move as a way of Russia, who is already a great player as far as energy is concerned, solidifying the position in the regional market. Other players see the objections come from the selfish United States who want to increase their supply of liquefied natural gas to the region. The sanctions were nevertheless effected after Trump gave the go-ahead. Most of the CEOs in Russia saw the move as politically instigated but still entertained the thought of reviving the US Russia trade relations. Other countries in Europe have shown their willingness and the urge to reconcile with Russia and even are ready to do business with them. The same applies to countries neighboring Russia immediately; they have forgiven and agreed to go back to business with Russia.

Most of the other players in the Russian economy, like the banks, maintained that they had hopes that the relationship between the two countries would go back to normal sooner. They were all for it and to see to it that the trade sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States of America were lifted. They, however, maintained that the main issues dragging the process are the domestic unrest in the US at the moment. The issues include the impeachment of Donald Trump, which was being pushed in Congress. Those issues prevented the President, Donald Trump, from meeting his counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the possibility of reviving the good relationship that they previously enjoyed (Hudson, 2017). The hopes are still high, though, because of the factors considered by the major players in the economy of Russia, including the legislators.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the issue of the United States of America and Russia's economic relations is one thing that has been on the rocks for a long time following the interference of Russia in Ukraine's business. It is from then that the US put sanctions on Russia, which affected the economy of Russia. The primary economy players of Russia suffered a significant blow due to the sanctions. Russia also meddled and interfered with the United States elections in 2016, which led to the election of Donald Trump as the president. Those are supposedly allegations from the Hilary Clinton followers who felt that Donald should not have won the elections. In the recent past, leaders from Russia began harboring hopes of a possible revival of the previously celebrated and enjoyed US Russia relations. However, the expectations are being thwarted by the continuous issue in domestic politics in the US. The most recent being the impeachment of President Trump. Another barrier to the revival of the relationship is the primary oil pipe to Europe, which will affect the United States of America imports of natural gas. The impeachment motion failed, though, and thus, there still could be hopes of the relationship being revived.

References

Hudson, J. (2017). Russia sought a broad reset with Trump, secret document shows. BuzzFeed News, 12.

Korobkov, A. (2019). Donald Trump and the Evolving US-Russia Relationship. PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs, 24(1), 39-58.

Rumer, E., Sokolsky, R., & Weiss, A. S. (2017). Trump and Russia: The Right Way to Manage Relations. Foreign Aff., 96, 12.