Russia/US relatiosn

Relations between the US and Russia have been declining over the past few years due to several issues. These issues include the planned US missile defense system, NATO encroachment and disputes over Russia’s invasion of the Georgia. The Russians are fearful of US missiles being in the former soviet satellites and there closeness to the Russian borders. Russia also is opposed to the entrance of several former satellites into NATO. The thing that strained relations between Russia and the west the most is Russia’s invasion of Georgia a few years back, which most western powers condemned. The relations between Russia and the United States need to improve because Russia is a valuable ally in our war going on in Afghanistan and other areas. President Obama understands this and that is way he met face to face with Russian president Medvedev at the G20 economic summit in London. He also met with Queen Elizabeth II and Chinese president Hu Jintao. The Presidents of Russia and US talked about the US’s European missile defense plan, Afghanistan, Iran and human rights, which Russia has had problems with in recent years. After the meeting Presidents Obama and Medvedev presented and joint statement as a sign of their commitment to improved relations. The statement said

“We, the leaders of Russia and the United States, are ready to move beyond cold war mentalities,” the two men said in the statement. “In just a few months we have worked hard to establish a new tone in our relations. Now it is time to get down to business and translate our warm words into actual achievements of benefit to Russia, the United States and all those around the world interested in peace and prosperity.”

The two leaders also stated that they were going to continue work on a new nuclear arms treaty to replace the old one that will expire in December. The current treaty limits the number of ready to launch missiles to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads but says nothing about the warheads that aren’t ready to be launched, which means that neither side actually needs to destroy any of their warheads. The new treaty will try and limit the number of warheads to less than 1,700 with 1,500 between and most realistic number out there, also they will try for making it where they have to destroy the warheads and not just mothball them. This new treaty is supposed be the next step on their way to improving relations between the two countries. This relationship received a minor setback when accusations that the Russians were still operating spies in the west. This situation started when a senior Russian military attaché in Ottawa was asked to leave the country because of wrongdoings that were not made entirely clear. The Russians then tried to make that same man and attaché in Washington, but was denied because of the accusations in Canada. After that incident the senior military attaché in Moscow was asked to leave the country too. Now American has moved that person to a different post and both Russia and the US have decided to each nominate new attaché to each other’s embassies. The US is stilled irritated by the situations but is willing to move on in the name of good relations.