The counting of votes in the US presidential election continues. It is believed that the next President of the United States will be Joseph Biden. Donald Trump may, of course, demand votes in should be recounted. Yet, chances of Donald Trump's re-election are still hypothetical.
What will happen next in US-Russian relations
We are much more concerned about the future of the relations between Russia and the United States.
In Russia, it is generally believed that the Republicans, given their aggressive rhetoric, adhere to a more pragmatic course. The Democrats are more ideologized and it is more problematic for Moscow to deal with them.
Perhaps that was the case in not so distant past, but not now. There is practically no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans when it comes to their attitude to Russia. Suffice it to recall that representatives of the two parties jointly submitted practically all bills about sanctions against Russia.
Russian experts, speaking about Russian-American relations, say that one can not even hope for them to improve, whoever eventually takes office as president, whether it is Biden, Trump or anyone else.
Four years ago and now
This is a striking contrast to the US presidential election four years ago, when Russian MPs in the State Duma celebrated Trump's victory with champagne ... It was the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who put forward the idea to celebrate. Now, presumably, State Duma deputies will not be raising glasses in support of the US election. As a matter of fact, there was no reason to support it four years ago either.
During the past four years, the Americans have made a lot of efforts to create the image, if not an enemy, then an adversary for the Russian Federation, largely due to the political struggle inside the United States. The Democrats and the media sympathizing with them found that the alleged "Russian influence" in the US election was a convenient tool for attacks against Trump.
The Trump administration, in order to prove the opposite, reduced contacts with Moscow to a minimum. One may assume that in the event of his victory, if Trump wins the current election, nothing is going to change in this case.
What if Joseph Biden becomes president?
In this case, one may expect progress in the extension of the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty expires in February 2021, and there is not much time left for its extension.
Yet, this is the only aspect, on which Moscow could count cooperation with Washington, at least for now. The rest of the spectrum of the US-Russian relationship is problematic: Nord Stream 2, crises in Russia's neighbouring states, return to arms reduction agreements (in addition to the one mentioned above), sanctions and so on and so forth.
Some experts are convinced Russia will not be a foreign policy priority for Biden. Perhaps, this could be a good option for our country under certain conditions.
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