WASHINGTON TIMES -- Andrei P. Tsygankov teaches politics and international relations at San Francisco State University. His most recent book is The Dark Double: U.S. Media, Russia and the Politics of Values (Oxford University Press, 2019). He wrote this op-ed for the Washington Times.
“Today, the Kremlin continues to favor meetings and dialogue over Ukraine, Syria, nuclear and cyber issues, but it takes two to move the relationship forward. In the absence of reciprocal efforts, Russia will take more unilateral actions to protect its interests,” Tsygankov writes. “The likely results will include a nuclear-arms race in Europe, resumption of large-scale hostilities in Ukraine, and new provocative behavior in cyber space and other areas. Whether one likes Russia or not, it has demonstrated a sufficient resolve and asymmetric yet powerful capabilities to not yield to American pressures.
“Liberal Russophobia won’t succeed in making Russia to comply with American pressures, but it is likely to cause new, potentially more sever crises in bilateral relations. These relations are already extremely tense and are constrained by the countries’ different interests, deeply held mistrust, as well as by Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin’s incompatible claims of status and beliefs in great power nationalism.”