Russia-US relations: Will there be a break?

(Baonghean) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia-US relations are hitting rock bottom and will continue for some time. Thus, for more than half a year, since the crisis in Ukraine and especially Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, the relationship between the world's two largest nuclear powers has not been able to return to normal. This not only affects the two countries, but also has negative impacts on the world. But even though it is "hitting rock bottom", is this relationship at the point of breaking up?

“The relationship between Russia and the US is at a low point and will continue to be so due to the crisis in Ukraine, but it cannot be said that Russia-US relations are in a cold war,” said the head of Russia’s foreign ministry when assessing the current relationship between the two nuclear powers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Photo: AFP)

The world knows that Russia and the United States are the two countries with the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, with each country possessing thousands of warheads that can turn the Earth back to the Stone Age in a few minutes. Aware of this danger, the former Soviet Union and the United States have sat down many times to discuss reducing nuclear arsenals. When the Cold War ended, Russia and the United States continued to negotiate and sign nuclear arms reduction treaties. Most recently, the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) was signed by Russia and the United States in 2010.

However, that cooperation is showing signs of stagnation when last March, the US announced to stop military and trade cooperation with Russia, while Russia threatened to withdraw from the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty; last July, many Russian parliamentarians even requested to suspend this Agreement. This incident has led to Russia and the US repeatedly accusing each other of violating the agreements reached, most recently accusations related to the development of medium-range missiles. Not only that, with the US and NATO increasing their deployment of forces in Eastern Europe, Russia has also taken a series of countermeasures such as organizing military exercises and announcing a series of military modernization measures. Neither Russia nor the US has shown that which side will de-escalate first in the current East-West confrontation.

In addition, the US space agency also announced the suspension of cooperation with Russia and only accepted cooperation activities with Russia on the International Space Station (ISS). In response, Russia also announced that it would stop cooperating with the US on the International Space Station after 2020 and also banned the US from using rocket engines in military satellite launches. Meanwhile, Russia is currently the only country that can bring people back from the ISS and the US is paying Russia up to 60 million USD for an American astronaut to the ISS. The ISS is a cooperative project of many countries to research space science, in which Russia and the US have played a leading role in operating and maintaining this space station for decades. If the cooperation between Russia and the US is suspended, it is clear that the effectiveness of scientific research projects from the ISS will be seriously reduced. That also means that a series of projects and research related to the environment and the lives of all humanity will be affected.

Although the current relationship between Russia and the United States is said to have "hit rock bottom", the relationship between the two countries does not mean that it will return to the Cold War era. There are many issues that the two countries need to rely on each other to resolve, especially in jointly dealing with the seriousness of the Ebola epidemic and the growing terrorism of which the self-proclaimed Islamic State is an example. Not to mention that the United States still needs Russia to send its astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). On the other hand, both Russia and the United States understand that if the two countries engage in an arms race or return to the Cold War era, it will mean facing the risk of self-destruction and the destruction of all humanity. Therefore, analysts assess that although the current Russia-US relationship has fallen to a record low since the Cold War, there is little possibility of the two sides confronting each other as tensely as before. Today's world still has too many problems that Russia and the United States need to work together to solve for the peaceful life of the people of each country as well as of all humanity.

Nguyen Cao Bien