U.S.-Russia: “We are entering a new phase of relations with Russia, one that promises to be more difficult and more confrontational.”

Reset? What reset? 

U.S.-Russia ties at worst since Cold War

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Five years ago, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton playfully presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a red “reset button,” a symbol of the Obama administration’s intention to improve ties that had hit a low point during the George W. Bush administration.

Today, the much ballyhooed reset is all but relegated to the history books.

“The reset is officially dead,” said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security.

The reason, according to regional analysts, is that the U.S.-Russia relationship — dented by President Vladimir Putin’s mission to restore what he sees as Russia’s rightful place on the world stage — is now at its lowest point since the Cold War.

Tensions between the two sides have only deepened since Mr. Putin defied warnings from the White House by sending Russian troops into Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula last month.

The situation appeared to worsen this week amid reports that Secretary of State John F. Kerry had rebuffed an invitation from Moscow to meet face-to-face with Mr. Putin to discuss a U.S. proposal aimed at defusing the tensions in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Moscow is expected only to bristle as President Obama prepares to host interim Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the White House on Wednesday. The move may be seen as a direct snub to Russia, which does not recognize the new leaders in Kiev.

Mr. Obama’s relationship with Mr. Putin has become strained by differences over Syria’s civil war, Moscow’s granting political asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward J. Snowden and Mr. Putin’s generally authoritative posture toward human rights.

In his own region, Mr. Putin has pursued an increasingly assertive foreign policy that is causing alarm among former Soviet republics who worry that Moscow is bent on forcefully keeping them within its sphere of influence — just as it has been attempting to do in Ukraine.

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