The Road Not Yet Taken: Regionalizing US Policy Toward Russia

Abstract

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, US policy toward Russia has combined elements of principled pragmatism, selective engagement, and containment. This at times self-contradictory approach by successive US administrations has left the United States without a sustainable policy toward Russia, oscillating repeatedly between euphoria and despair. The Biden administration has inherited this approach and a poisonous partisan atmosphere in Washington. Thanks to President Trump’s fixation on “getting along” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the swirl of Russia-related investigations during his presidency, Russia policy became excessively personalized and de-institutionalized. The Biden team has indicated that they believe that the foundations of Russia policy needed a complete overhaul as well as a reappraisal of what has and has not worked since the Ukraine crisis erupted in 2014. Nevertheless, there is hardly any controversy about the enduring nature of the current crisis or about US priorities: restoring the credibility of the US commitment to NATO, defending frontline countries from a more assertive Russia, and supporting Ukraine. To meet those goals, calls have emerged for the Biden team to reprise