3 Steps to Reviving the Russian Relationship

Dennis Ortblad, Krishen Mehta

Security, Eurasia

It is time to improve relations between Russia and the West with a policy of realism towards Moscow.

We need to deal with Russia as it is, not as we wish it to be. And our enemy is not Russia. If anything, our enemy is misinformation and fear. 

It is this vivid impression that we took away from our recent study tour in Moscow, St Petersburg, and Crimea, organized by the Center for Citizen Initiatives. Members of our delegation went across Russia including Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Novgorod, Orenburg, Perm, Ufa, and Yekaterinburg.

At a time of tense relations marked not only by the conflict in Ukraine, but also by deep U.S. domestic political rifts over Russia’s role in the 2016 election, we knew our mission made us vulnerable to dismissal as “Putin apologists.” But we took the risk. It was important to search for areas where relations could gradually improve. We felt troubled relations with Russia put our own U.S. security interests at stake. 

Our visit brought into focus the wayward directions that our economic sanctions have taken. We saw firsthand the respect that most Russians have for Vladimir Putin, and the manner in which he has stabilized the Russian economy following the tragic freefall of the 1990s. We met with nuclear scientists and arms control negotiators who shared their dismay at the U.S. withdrawal from the INF treaty and the absence of any arms control talks. Many in the country, young and old, felt alienated from the United States as a result of the prevailing Russophobic climate of opinion in the United States.

None of this is good for the United States or for Russia. What then is the answer?

We believe that there are three urgent steps we need to take if we want to protect our children and grandchildren from a calamity that can befall them as a result of accidents or miscalculations by either party.

First step: Welcome the young and engage with them

Those who are under thirty in Russia have known the freedom of travel and access to information in their new economy. It is this younger generation that U.S. policy cannot afford to lose with a sanctions policy that encourages them to believe that the West only seeks to undermine Russia and their futures.