The prospects of U.S.-Russian relations in the light of war in Ukraine: “Containment 2.0.”

Abstract

The outbreak of Russo-Ukrainian War has sharpened already ongoing confrontation between Russia and the United States to the level of undoubtedly new cold war, which compared to the previous one has even greater potential of escalation towards the direct military conflict between the two powers. After the Biden administration?s failure to ?structure? this confrontation during the phase one of the new Ukrainian crisis in 2021, Washington replaced this approach towards Russia with a new one - ?containment 2.0.?, resembling the one from the Cold War. From neoclassical realist point of view, the author analyzes why the U.S. and Russia have come to this point, and are there prospects of taming their confrontation in the future. The conclusion is that responsibility for this new situation can be found on both sides (in their dominant revisionist foreign policy ideas), as well as in systemic factors? (power distribution and geopolitical posture) impacts, but also in Ukraine?s role. In the longer run, the described state will continue even after the war in Ukraine is over, yet the appropriate changes in both systemic and unit level factors could tame the confrontation.