The era of US-Russia ‘resets’ is over

The Biden-Putin summit made it clear that US-Russian ties will not improve but small-step diplomacy still matters.

“It is about our mutual self-interest,” said United States President Joe Biden at a press conference following his June 16 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His observation says it all. The long-awaited summit held in Geneva did not bring about a sea change in US-Russian relations. There was no expectation, on either side, that much would be done to repair ties, which are currently at their worst in decades. Moscow and Washington look at one another as rivals and that will remain the case going forward. There is no way around it, for strategic as well as ideological reasons. “Resets” are a thing of the past. Donald Trump’s overtures to the Russians, notably the ill-fated summit in Helsinki back in July 2018, only made matters worse.