During a meeting between the new leaders of Russia and the United States in April 2009, President Obama and President Medvedev acknowledged differences in their views on the US missile defense system in Europe, but the two leaders also pledged to “examine new possibilities for international cooperation in the field of missile defense” [47;53]. In September 2009, the Obama administration officially canceled the program to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a missile defense radar station in the Czech Republic that the previous administration had pursued. Instead, US Secretary of Defense R. Gates announced a new missile defense architecture, including mobile missile systems at sea and on land. According to the new concept, AMD components currently deployed in several European countries and at sea would be integrated into a larger system called the European AMD, or NATO AMD [59]. In Russia, President Medvedev called this a “responsible move” by the US and affirmed that: “Russia appreciates the responsible approach of the US President to the agreement between the two countries” and said that “it is ready to continue the dialogue”. In addition, Moscow also said that it could withdraw the plan to deploy the Iskander ballistic missile complex in the Kaliningrad region as previously announced to “counterbalance” the US system. Thus, it can be seen that the Obama administration has created a certain trust in Russia and cooperation between the two countries on this issue is likely to go further.
2.1.4. Hot spots in the world
As a major country in the world and a permanent member of the Security Council, the US always wants to cooperate with Russia in resolving hot spots that threaten regional and global security. Russia's support or opposition, on some issues, is decisive for the US's strategic calculations.
In the case of Iran, Russia can help the US in two ways: multilaterally (supporting the US proposal to impose sanctions on Iran at the Security Council and the IAEA) and bilaterally (it can exert economic and political pressure on Iran). In recent years, Russia has adjusted its policy towards Iran, but in reality, Moscow has not yet taken decisive actions. On the one hand, Russia supports some actions taken by the Obama administration to sanction Iran. On the other hand, Russia still provides economic and political support to Iran, thereby reducing the pressure of the international community on this country [44;13].
As a party to the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, the United States needs Russia to persuade North Korea to sit at the negotiating table and make positive moves on its nuclear program. However, just like the Iran issue, Russia has not always maintained a “one-sided” policy towards North Korea. In recent years, Russia has sought to strengthen relations with North Korea with the desire to enhance Russia’s role as a major power in the Asia-Pacific region. Russia also wants to resolve inter-Korean tensions to ensure Russia’s security in the eastern region [47;45]. However, Russia is still actively coordinating with major countries to seek opportunities to resume the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
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In addition, Russia is also one of the four members of the “Quartet” (including Russia, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations), which plays an important role in the search for peace in the historic conflict between Israel and Palestine. Russia has always sought to demonstrate its role as a fair arbiter in the “Quartet”, seeing this as a way for Russia to enhance its position as a world power [49;34]. Russia, the United States, and other members of the “Quartet” have promoted the resumption of direct negotiations between the PLO and Israel after the last round of negotiations in 2008. Both have succeeded in bringing about
The September 2010 joint statement called on Israel to continue to uphold its memorandum of understanding on the issue of settlements in the West Bank, and continued to call on Israel and Palestine to sit down at the negotiating table. In May 2011, the “Quartet” issued a joint statement, supporting the “Israeli-Palestinian peace vision” drafted by President Obama, in which it affirmed that it would create conditions for the two sides to reach a final resolution to end the conflict as soon as possible [80].
It can be seen that, although there is often a common voice in resolving hot spots in the world, there are still many irreconcilable disagreements between Russia and the US because each side tries to maintain its own advantages. However, it is undeniable that the Presidents of the two countries are active and proactive in resolving tasks that require the consensus of all parties.
2.2. On economics and trade
Russia-US economic cooperation will create a good opportunity for the two countries to expand and deepen their bilateral relationship. Economic cooperation will contribute to building trust and confidence between Moscow and Washington, thereby creating momentum for discussions on other issues of mutual interest. However, one of the areas that has been considered “blurred” in Russia-US relations so far is two-way trade relations. Data on investment and trade cooperation between the two countries show that the US accounts for only 4% of trade and FDI [32;32], ranking 11th in the list of Russia's largest trading partners, while Russia's position in the US is 24th [31;32], showing that both Russia and the US have not yet fully exploited each other's advantages. Besides, the quantity of import and export goods between Russia and the US is not commensurate with the economic potential of the two countries, Russia only accounts for 1.3% of imports and 0.5% of exports of the US, while the US accounts for 3.1% of exports and 5.1% of imports from Russia [37;3]. From this reality, the two
Presidents Obama and Medvedev have identified that although the current level of investment and trade between Russia and the United States remains low, the two countries still have much potential for improvement. Furthermore, the difficulties that arose after the global financial crisis in 2008 have further urged the leaders of Russia and the United States to cooperate with each other to expand trade relations and seek new opportunities. History has also shown that Russia is often more willing to cooperate when it faces economic crises [33;4]. One reason why US direct investment in Russia remains low is that
The Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) has not yet been ratified, so the US has to go around the corner, seeking investment in Russia through European support. If the Treaty is implemented, Russian investment in the US will improve, thereby Russia will integrate more deeply into the US economy, thereby making economic relations between the two countries develop more strongly in both quality and quantity. The US wants to cooperate with Russia within the BIT framework because this will expand investment opportunities for businesses, while ensuring the legitimate interests of investors from both countries [32;10]. Recognizing that importance, the Obama administration from the beginning advocated influencing the Medvedev administration to pass this Treaty, something that President G. Bush could not do.
Before President Obama took office, another important issue that did not really concern the Russia-US investment and trade relations was that Russia's accession to the WTO was still facing many difficulties due to the war between Russia and Georgia, which made the atmosphere between the two countries tense. Based on the Joint Statement on the Russia-US Strategic Framework signed in April 2008, which mentioned that Russia's accession to the WTO would be completed by the end of 2008 [56] (but had not yet been implemented), President Obama advocated continuing to support Russia in this issue within the framework of the "restart" program, creating conditions for Russia to become an official member of the WTO as soon as possible. Besides the WTO, the OECD is also an organization
Russia wants to join because it is an organization with high standards of transparency and economic reform. While the WTO focuses on solving trade-related issues, the OECD requires member countries to have real government reform mechanisms [48;62]. While Russia is one of the countries with the most corruption in business activities in the world, meeting the requirements of the OECD will help Russia realize its goals of transparency, modernization and diversification of the economy, thereby integrating the Russian economy more deeply into the world economy [70]. Similar to the WTO, on the way to becoming an official member of the OECD, Russia needs the support of the United States, because if Russia encounters some technical requirements in joining the OECD, the United States can help Russia solve those difficulties as a member of this organization.
The current economic relations between Russia and the United States are facing another obstacle, which is the Jackson-Vanik Act, because according to this law, the United States is not allowed to trade normally with any country that denies or hinders the right or opportunity to emigrate of its citizens . 4 In this situation, President Obama advocates to abolish this law to gradually remove obstacles in two-way trade between Russia and the United States. In October 2011, after a meeting with President Medvedev, President Obama announced that the US government had initiated negotiations
consulted with Congress about the repeal of this law [68]. Earlier in February, the Russian President also discussed with Mr. Max Baucus, Chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee, the prospect of repealing the law as soon as possible.
4 The Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which originated in the US Trade Act of 1974. At that time, the Soviet Union strictly prohibited emigration, so this Act was used to pressure the Soviet Union to allow people to emigrate more freely in this country. Although in the late 1990s, Russia relaxed its immigration laws and allowed thousands of Jews to settle, and the G. Bush administration also announced that it would lift this law with Russia, however, in 2002, Russia imposed a ban on livestock imports from the US, causing negotiations between the two countries on this issue to collapse. This information was provided by Andre DeNesnera in an article in the electronic magazine Voanews on March 20, 2012, ( http://www.voanews.com/vietnamese/news/us/us-russia-trade-3-20-12-143541996.html)
President Obama has shown that he is very eager to improve the bilateral relationship between Russia and the United States after many years of stagnation. At the July 2009 summit, shortly after he took office in the White House, the Russia-US Bilateral Presidential Commission was established, which included the Working Group on Economic Relations and Business Development headed by Russian Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina and US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke [74]. At the following meeting, the Group issued a detailed action plan, in which it pledged to cooperate on energy efficiency, modernization, and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
[73] between the two countries. Specifically, the Group sets out priority programs for businesses of both countries, finds barriers to industrial and technological cooperation, and then proposes the most optimal solutions, while increasing mutual consultation and establishing smaller groups to address individual issues. Not only stopping at government-level activities, President Obama also emphasized the role of the private sector in improving Russia-US economic relations. The US leader believes that the government can promote economic relations between the two countries, but in the end, it is businesses that implement the agenda. The President supports increasing bilateral trade and reducing barriers so that US and Russian companies can easily invest in each other's markets.
2.3. On democracy and human rights
After the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and especially after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, the US-Russia relationship around democracy and human rights became tense. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the main reason why the US has always supported the building of democracy in Russia is because such democracy is a national security concern for the US. For the US, values such as democracy, human rights and freedom are universal values, clearly expressed in the US National Security Strategy through the following principles:
period [18;38]. Over the years, what has always concerned the US is not only the extent of interventionist policies it can apply to Russia but also the extent of statements condemning the abuse of democracy in Russia. The US has always been concerned that if Russian democracy collapses, the US may have to face an insecure future and its ambition to expand American democratic values globally will not be realized. Meanwhile, Russian officials and leaders have always expressed deep concern about US efforts to expand democracy. This stems from the fact that Russians are always skeptical about US motives because they believe that the US is capable of using the issue of democracy and human rights to threaten Russia's security and seek to interfere in Russia's internal affairs [31;36].
In fact, the head of the United States, President Obama, cannot avoid bringing this issue into the relationship between Moscow and Washington, but the approach he pursues is somewhat different from that of his predecessors. Reports in late 2008 and in the first months of Obama's presidency showed that the new administration continued to support democracy in Russia, but the United States determined that it would avoid preaching or directly interfering in Russia's internal affairs [48;66]. Instead, the two countries would listen and learn from each other. In his program of action on democracy, President Obama always emphasized his willingness to open dialogue and respect the sovereignty of other countries. At the Civil Society Summit held alongside the Moscow Summit in July 2009, the US President affirmed that: "No community is the same and every country has its own path. No model of democratic organization or development can be easily transferred from one country to another. But we (Russia and the United States) can learn from each other because there are universal principles,” the President stressed the importance of
importance of the bond between Russian and American societies through cooperation to address common challenges. President Obama affirmed America’s commitment to what he called “universal values,” but was always careful to avoid giving the impression that the United States was interfering in Russia’s internal affairs [54]. Obama also identified the need to incorporate American democratic and human rights values into the Russian public’s own consciousness [45;34].
One of the bases for reorienting Russia-US relations on the issue of democracy is the multi-dimensional and multi-layered involvement of the US in Russian society. Accordingly, bilateral cooperation is not simply a relationship between the two Presidents of Russia and the US, but must also involve the participation of two peoples and two societies [48;70]. To achieve this goal, the Bilateral Presidential Commission established the Working Group on Cultural and Educational Exchanges and the Working Group on Civil Society. These are considered the two main working groups with the goal of promoting Russia-US relations in the field of democracy and human rights. In the 2010 National Security Strategy, President Obama affirmed: "strengthening the power of the US example to promote democracy and human rights abroad, as well as promote dignity around the world" [18;39]. However, the United States does not impose any system of governance on other countries. Instead, the United States helps countries escape from poverty and disease, fight for peace, promote sustainable development, and promote human dignity and universal rights. In fact, in July 2009, the leaders of the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote cooperation in the field of health. In it, Russia and the United States committed to cooperate in improving public health services and the medical sector through the Health Working Group of the Bilateral Presidential Commission [48;72]. President Obama also helped President Medvedev improve the democratic process and transparency of government in Russia thanks to his personal relationship with the President. Thus, it can be seen that the Russia-US relationship on the issue of democracy and human rights within the framework of the "reset" policy of