Who Wanted To Isolate Russia?

It would seem only a year has passed since the Euromaidan and all of the events that followed, but how quickly things change. Just a year ago, U.S. President Barack Obama called Russia a “regional power” and threatened it with isolation, and now on May 12, 2015, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Russia for a meeting with Putin.

Russia-U.S. relations have now cooled to the point that there is talk of a new “cold war.” But it’s just talk. In spite of all the White House’s statements, sanctions policy and so on, Russia has repeatedly said that it’s open to dialogue but will stand up for its national interests.

And here on May 12, John Kerry has arrived in Russia all the same. The attempts to isolate Russia have failed. It was already clear that they would fail a year ago. Proof of the failure was the signing of gas contracts between Russia and China. Then, of course, the mess with “South Stream” came next, as a consequence of which Russia scrapped the project but found a new partner in Turkey.* Then came Putin’s visit to Hungary, to Egypt, the president of Argentina’s visit to Moscow and the culmination of “isolation,” the Victory Day Parade on May 9 in Moscow. Supporters of U.S. policy can say that the parade was attended by representatives from any but the foremost states in the geopolitical arena. But let’s take a look at the foreign representation: the leadership of China, India, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Czech President Milos Zeman and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico; that’s if you don’t count representatives from Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Economic Community countries.

To speak of Russia’s isolation against the backdrop of all these facts is inappropriate. Russia conducts quite an active foreign policy while remaining an important player in the geopolitical arena. I think they understand this in Washington, too. There are too many problems in the world that require a cooperative approach to solve. Unleashing a “cold war,” an “Iron Curtain” policy, etc. will only make them worse. In mentioning these problems, I of course have international terrorism in mind. And our president, Vladimir Putin, has already repeatedly said that only by means of joint efforts is it possible to deal with this problem. I’d like to believe that they understand this in Washington.

As far as Kerry’s visit goes … it’s nevertheless very revealing. Is it possible to infer that the U.S. will give in? No. We will still repeatedly hear reproaches from them for the accession of Crimea and mythical tales about Russian troops in the Donbass, but the fact that Kerry came already says that the U.S. understands: it’s impossible to resolve some issues without Russia.

*Editor’s note: South Stream refers to an abandoned pipeline project to transport natural gas of the Russian Federation through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Austria.