A NEW ERA IN U.S.-RUSSIA RELATIONS

A new era in U.S-Russia relations is coming, one that will be driven by business relationships, rather than security concerns or other isues. Both Russia and the United States will work on problems together, instead of remaining consistently obstructed by a long history of toxic personal relationships. President-elect Trump is a man who is open for business and President Putin is a man who means business. The crux of world peace and general prosperity is contingent upon the two countries working in concert, rather than under the guise of suspicion and hatred.

Both men agree that strong states needs strong leaders with a strong purpose. Both understand that the main threat to wider world stability and peace is the Wahhabist terrorism funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and aided by elements of the Turkish Republic.

Russian people have never had any animosity for the existence of the United States and its magnetic culture. Likewise, Russian culture captivates and inspires millions of Americans as it always has done. The fact that both men discussed the possibilities of further trade is very positive. Because of geographical distance and a recent history of political divide, Russians and Americans do not have the opportunity to trade as much as they’d like to or ought to. Opening up such avenues can only be an enriching process for each country and can help form the basis of further cultural exchange.

In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the possibility of US-Russia relations being restored or normalized has found its way to the center of attention. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections has coincided with a 21% increase in the number of Russians expressing their support for rapprochement with the West, now totaling 71%, according to the Levada Center’s most recent poll.Immediately following Trump’s election, Putin himself stated that “Russia is ready and wants to restore fully-fledged relations with the United States,”

Trump’s presidency offers the glimpse of a hopeful opportunity on the basis of pragmatically, mutually recognized rivalry, geopolitical realism in foreign policy, and short-term cooperation in reversing the previous US administrations’ bungled Middle Eastern policy. Russia and the US can cooperate and arguably should get along for the sake of world security

Russian Experts on U.S. Relations

Aleksandr Bessmertnykh: Ambassador Alexander Bessmertnykh is a Russian diplomat who served as Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1991. Prior to that he was posted to Washington as the Soviet Ambassador to the United States and also served as the First Deputy Foreign Minister. In 1992, he was elected President of the Foreign Policy Association, and in May 1993, he was elected the Chairman of the World Council of Former Foreign Ministers. Ambassador Bessmertnykh is the author of numerous articles on diplomacy, and strategic and military matters. He is a full member of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences of the Russian Federation.

Andrey V. Gaidamaka:  Vice President of Investor Relations at Open Joint Stock Company Oil company LUKOIL. Mr. Gaidamaka has been the Head of the Department of Investment Analysis and Relationship with investors of LUKOIL Central administrative board of strategic development and investment analysis since 2005. He served as Head of the Administration of Investment Analysis and Relationship with investors of the LUKOIL Central administrative board for strategic planning and investment analysis from 2002 to 2005. Mr. Gaidamaka serves as a Director of Russian Innovation Fuel and Energy Company, JSC. He is a graduate in Economic theory from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1995.

Professor Leonid Grigoriev: Leonid Grigoriev is one of Russia’s top statesmen and theoreticians. He has served at the highest levels of government and academia and is an acknowledged authority on all aspects of the Russian economy, including its macro and fiscal dynamics, legal and institutional framework, and cultural trends. Based in Moscow, Dr. Grigoriev is a professor and Chairman of global economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. As Deputy Minister of Finance during the Yeltsin administration, Dr. Grigoriev chaired the Foreign Investment Committee, helping lead the country’s transition to a market economy. Prior to his service in the government, he was head of the Institute of World Economics and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences. After serving the Finance Ministry, he was a senior advisor to the Russian Federation’s executive director at the World Bank and then was Director General of the Bureau of Economic Analysis. He was President of the Association of Independent Centers of Economic Analysis, which unites more than 50 Russian research institutions, and more recently, he headed Moscow’s Institute for Energy and Finance. Dr. Grigoriev received an M.S. and a Ph.D. in economics from Moscow State University. He has written more than 300 publications, including more than 20 books, on topics such as Russia’s economic and energy prospects, social stratification and the development of the middle class in Russia, property rights, corporate governance and privatization in Russia, and Russian capital formation and private finance. He is also an authority on global issues, including global energy and climate problems, and economic sustainability issues in BRICS.

Vladimir Kozin: Chief Adviser and a Head of the Group of Advisers to the Director, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of the Natural Sciences and a Professor of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences. He is a holder of the Ph.D. degree, Academic rank of a Senior Researcher and a State Counselor of the Russian Federation, 2nd Class, diplomatic rank of a “Counselor 1st Class” and a title “Honorary Staff Member of the Russian Foreign Ministry”. Vladimir P. Kozin graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, a post-graduate course at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Royal College of Defense Studies in London.

Sergey Kulik: Director for International Development, Institute of Contemporary Development, a member of the Academic Council of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, a member of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy. Former Positions: Director, Department for Relations with the EU, Administration of the Russian President; Deputy Director, Foreign Policy Department of the Russian President; Head, Arms Control Center, Institute of the USA and Canada Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Project Leader, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Georgy Mamedov: Russian diplomat, and one of Russia’s  foremost authorities on the United States and Canada. In the 1990s and the early 2000s, he was his country's chief interlocutor with the United States on such subjects as NATO, arms control and Kosovo. Since 2003, Georgiy Mamedov has served as Russia's ambassador to Canada.

Mikhail Margelov: Russian public figure and politician, Vice President, JSC “Transneft”, the ex-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of Russia.  He has been a member of the European Democrat Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe(PACE) from 2002 until 2009.

Olga Mostinskaya: Editor-in-Chief, Indeks bezopasnosti [Security Index] journal;

Sergey Rogov: Director of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Science (ISKRAN). He has worked for the Institute since 1976 and was appointed Director in 1995. In 2000, Dr Rogov was appointed Dean of the School of World Politics and International Security at the State Academic University for Humanitarian Studies.  He is the Chairman of the International Security Commission of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Security Council of the Russian Federation; Member of the Advisory Council of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation; Advisor to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the State Duma of the Russian Federation; Vice Chair of the Russian Pugwash Committee under the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences; member of the Scientific Council of Federal Council of the Russian Federation; Member of the Board of the Russian Foreign Policy Association; President of the Russian Association for Canadian Studies; Member of the Presidium of the Russian Association for International Studies and member of the Board of the New Economic Association. Dr Rogov has written more than 400 articles, 18 monographs and several books including Nuclear Weapons in the Multipolar World, Arms Control in the 21st Century and The New Stage in Russian-American Relations. In 2010 he was decorated by the Russian President with the Order of Merit.

General Vyacheslav Trubnikov: Member of the Board of Directors, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences;  General Vyacheslav Ivanovich Trubnikov was Director of Foreign Intelligence Service for Russia between 1996 and 2000. In 2000, he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Special Representative (with the rank of Federal Minister) of the President of the Russian Federation in CIS. From 2004 to 2009 he served as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Republic of India. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, International Institute for Strategic Studies in the United Kingdom and of the Russian Union of Journalists.

Igor Jurgens: Mr. Yurgens is the Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of Contemporary Development, Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a member of the Presidential Council for the Development of the Information Society in Russia, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, a member of the Academic Council of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and a member of the Presidium of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, a member of Russian Council on International Affairs. Mr. Yurgens graduated from the Economics Department of Moscow State University. He is a professor of the Higher School of Economics and author of numerous articles and monographs. Igor Yurgens is Honorary Consul General of Monaco in Moscow. He is also the recipient of several state and international awards, including the Order of Honor of the Russian Federation, L’Ordre National du Mérite of France.
 

Key Questions

1. Where do Russian and American interests coincide?
2. What directions are most promising for cooperation?
3. What could be the foundation of the future tale of the Russia-United States relations under the Trump administration?  
4. How could Russia and the US interact on decreasing nuclear risks, among them, on preventing unauthorized and unintended use of nuclear weapons?