After Donald Trump’s four-year flirtation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden is setting a new and cooler tone – criticism without hesitation, despite openness in gun control.
Biden in his first week has already criticized Moscow for the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as for his alleged hacking, electoral interference and rewards for US troops – but he also acted quickly to extend the New START, the powers of the Cold War era ‘last remaining nuclear reduction treaty.
Biden’s approach is almost the opposite of Trump’s approach, who spoke warmly of Putin, but whose government broke arms deals.
The White House last week announced a five-year extension of the New START, but simultaneously said that U.S. intelligence would launch a volley of investigations in Russia – including whether it was behind the massive SolarWinds hack that Trump, contradicting experts, said he could have been the job of your enemy China.
The new secretary of state, Antony Blinken, at his first press conference saluted Navalny, Putin’s persistent critic whose poisoning and imprisonment on his return to Moscow inspired thousands to take to the streets.
“It remains striking to me how worried, and perhaps even scared, the Russian government appears to be of one man – Mr. Navalny,” said Blinken on Wednesday – very distant from Trump in 2016, delighted with the way Putin was. “very good for me.”
American experts in Russia hoped that Biden’s opening measures would reflect a long-term hard line – although they also doubted how much Putin was influenced by any US president, especially while facing protests.
Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia group, said the US-Russia relationship “is probably the worst since the collapse of the Soviet Union”.
“The Biden government is more unified in its harsh message and more united to its allies, and that on the margins will put a little more pressure on Putin,” he said.
– Trump’s effort frustrated –
U.S. intelligence found that Russia stepped into the 2016 election to support Trump, who famously seemed to accept Putin’s denials at face value during a 2018 summit in Helsinki.
But Bremmer noted that despite Trump’s friendship with Putin, everyone around the tycoon was opposed to warming relations with Russia, including his office, Republicans in Congress and most conservative-oriented media.
“There was no ability for Trump to really improve the reality of relations between the U.S. and Russia and it never happened,” said Bremmer.
Trump, with his predilection for authoritarian leaders, was unusually solicitous with Putin, but he was not the only one to begin his term in pursuit of better ties.
Barack Obama spoke of a “restoration” of ties after Russia’s war in 2008 with the pro-Western Georgian government, while George W. Bush said after his first meeting with the former KGB agent: “I was able to feel your soul. “
Biden chose advisers known for her hawkishness about Russia – notably Victoria Nuland, the nominee to be number three in the State Department, who joined protesters in Ukraine in solidarity when they ousted the Moscow-aligned president in 2014.
– New START, not a new start –
William Pomeranz, deputy director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that extending the New START was “easy fruit” – it would expire in a few days and Trump’s efforts to expand the treaty to China have done without progress .
But he said Putin’s actions, including blaming the United States for protests in support of Navalny, showed that he was not looking for common ground with the United States.
“Two are needed to improve relations and Vladimir Putin has given no indication that he wants to change the tenor of US-Russia relations,” said Pomeranz.
Pomeranz hoped the Biden government would end Trump’s “personalized and ad hoc” policy.
“I think the lesson from the Trump administration is that if the United States does not hold Russia accountable for its actions, they will not be deterred – they will seize these opportunities and expand them,” he said.
“What we have now is the return of a more professional, but hard-line administration that will not give Russia the benefit of the doubt.”
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Originally published