U.S. President Barack Obama faces a major test of his leadership with his trip to Moscow to meet with Russian leaders. He has invested considerable political capital in the effort to “reset” relations with Russia, yet Moscow’s interests in such a “reset” remain dubious at best. While I have been a strong advocate of the spirit of “pressing the reset button” to improve U.S.-Russian relations, there is a flaw in the logic. The logic of “reset” rests on the assumption there is new leadership in Washington and Moscow ready to reconsider past policies, but the reality is that assumption is only true in Washington.
There should be no illusions about where ultimate decision-making authority in Russia resides today. The “tandem” is a fiction, of course. Obama must operate under the assumption that on any issue of importance to him — from nuclear arms reductions to Afghanistan to Iran — the ultimate arbiter for Russian policy is Putin.
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