Public sentiment is characterized by frustration over U.S. support for Ukraine amidst the ongoing conflict, with a significant divide regarding military aid and diplomatic strategies. While the urgency for immediate action to assist Ukraine is emphasized by some, others call for restraint and peace efforts, highlighting concerns over civilian suffering and the effectiveness of U.S. actions. There is also skepticism towards U.S. foreign policy, accusations of hypocrisy, and a notable desire for EU accountability in defense matters.

US Government

NATO

[deleted]

Putin's speech at the Munich security conference in 2007 is usually seen as one of the key milestones

LivingAsparagus91

Yes in definitely sure calling Russia a petrol station with Nuke was a great show on how he wanted to reset relationship

Myself-io

Who isn't? After USSR collapsed, the Russian government genuinely thought that the US would treat it as an equal and would be a fair partner. Then the first NATO expansions came, and already the Russian government voiced concerns - even Gorbachev, so despised in Russia for his pro-American views, [spoke negatively](https://youtu.be/3wB9uL2lKaw) about this to the US Congress. 

Then the bombings of Yugoslavia took place. And even the Yeltsin government, much derided for their seeming kowtowing to Americans, started to take a very cautious stance. Primakov turned his plane around when hearing of this, cancelling a diplomatic visit to the US. The Russian military mission in Yugoslavia nearly got to blows with NATO forces, and through Yeltsin government's diplomatic efforts managed to get its own authority equal and separate from NATO's in the peacekeeping efforts. And this was the most pro-US government we had. 

And then the US unilaterally leaves the ABM treaty in 2001. The Russian government warns against this, insisting that it will revive a nuclear arms race, that it's an unnecessary, destabilizing move. That a better alternative would be to seek to include China and other nascent nuclear powers in the treaty. The US ignores this. 

So with that, in the 10 years after the collapse of USSR, the illusions were completely broken. Whatever peaceful relations you may think there were, the Russian government never forgot these things, especially when other waves of NATO expansion came as reminders. 

So if you really want to know who's responsible, look at the American officials throughout the 90s. The ones that advocated for all these expansionist moves, the ones that [suggested the bombing of Belgrade](https://youtu.be/vei_18YcC6E), the dissolution of the hard-won Cold War nuclear security agreements. They're the ones that spit in the face of cooperation, in favour of domination and hegemony.

Dawidko1200

marked01

US. Russia used to be a very pro-western country, but was welcomed by the US and EU only while it was staying silent.

cray_psu

Poland. And the Baltics.

The US politics is rather straightforward. American politicians don't think steps ahead.

For Poland and the Baltics the "Russia scare" became a primary point of foreign politics, and they promoted it, keeping saying that they needed investments to be protected from Russia. They were showing full loyalty to the US. The US liked this and approved this. At the time this US-Poland axis was seen as a tool for Americans' control over Europe, against the influence 'old Europe' (France and Germany). It created a situation where nobody in Russia was thinking about any anti-American policies, while US policy in Eastern Europe relied heavily on local russophobic rhetoric.

Then there was Ukraine with its two Western-backed coups, where the usurpers were both russophobic and showing off loyalty the US, which instantly made them liked by American politicians. That was the point of no return.

Hellerick_V

&gt; reset

It's just an empty buzzword. What were the interests (economic\geopolitical) of US and Russia? US still wanted us to be a helpless mess without any interests and sovereignty, and our ruling class wanted at least a tiiiiiny little bit of sovereignty - that's why the "deterioration". Irreconcilable conflict of interests.

There were never any intentions to "reset" anything - it was just a narrative for plebs.

Pallid85

Bill Clinton?

&gt;According to the US, in 2012 Putin damaged relations by accusing the US of election interference,

Isn't it other way around, US damaged relations by interfering in russian elections? How you damage relations by accusing someone?

&gt;damaged relations further in 2014 by annexing Crimea and starting the war in Ukraine, ultimately leading to the failure of the reset.

Megathread rule.

Final_Account_5597

It all started with Saakashvili, who was very passionate about uniting Georgia. After success with Adjara (not without help of RF diplomats), he was keen to join South Osetia. This eventually lead to Russo-Georgian conflict and further decline RF-West in relationship.

Leading_Zebra_1441

US policy after the collapse of the USSR was to maintain its role as the only superpower in the world. This means that any large country that gains influence automatically becomes their enemy. The same applies even more to China, although China has never fought a war with the US or harmed it in any way, I constantly see Americans seriously discussing the need for a war with China simply to prevent this country from taking over their leadership. Americans do not accept equal relations with other countries, only subordination.

The one who made mistake on that 'reset' button they've gifted to Lavrov and labeled it 'overload' in Russian.

Maybe it is Brzezinski's legacy. Or Soros.

fan_is_ready

&gt; Who was responsible for the deterioration in US-Russia relations?

Western bloc. Not just USA, but entire bloc. There was a lot of goodwill towards the west in 1990s, and there was an opportunity. The opportunity was squandered, by western powers. 

My personal impression that when USSR collapsed western countries got a bit too happy, misunderstood the situation, and drank a bit too much cool aid. "The end of history", "We've won". Then they decided that they've built the best political system ever and, like USSR initially wanted, decided to bring the light to the rest of the globe whether people there liked the idea or not. 

That resulted in series of failed "interventions" in foreign countries.

Vladimir Putin warned not to touch Georgia or Ukraine back in 2008, on Bucharest summit. Gorbachev likely expected them to uphold non-expansion promise. That did not happen, and that led us to where we are all now.

NaN-183648

From the point of view of the US, it's obviously Russia. It's just the US external policy is about telling every single country what they should do and once they do not abide they become 'not democratic enough'. Hence, since Russia moved past the 'democratic' 90s and started to act more and more sovereign, the US started to like Russia less and less.

No, I don't agree with the US not willing to talk with others as equals.

Mischail

Reset was a play. It ment simply "this is your last chance, Russia, step aside and bow,l". If ever USA wanted to start a new relations, it have to learn how to respect other side.
Thou, thats a fantasy.

DimHoff

&gt;Do you agree with the Western narrative?

No.

&gt;Do you think the Russian government or the US government was responsible for the failure of the reset?

Both governments; though failure of reset is "natural", so it would cost an immensive efforts not to fail.

Facensearo

Malcolm_the_jester

Impressive_Glove_190

One can say this about the "Obama' reset": it's hard to change something without changing anything, but I tried to do it.

daktorkot

US appointed McFail as an ambassador, who did everything in his power to destroy any good relations left. John Sullivan wasn't much better.

Living_flame

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I think the U.S., particularly Trump and especially Elon Musk REALLY want those minerals. That’s why they all are outraged about Zelensky but still keep talking about the mineral deal. Not to be cynical, but I don’t buy that, “I don’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” JD Vance all of a sudden is heartbroken about Ukrainians, that’s just not how this administration operates. They see that the war costs money and they want to make money instead. They see that Ukraine is weak and they can squeeze out quite a bit out of Ukraine right now. 

From an “America first” perspective it makes sense. The U.S. gets hundreds of billions of dollars in minerals without having to commit anything to Ukrainian security, Trump can be the “peacemaker,” the U.S. can normalize relations with Russia and cooperate economically. Maybe even squeeze out of Europe something as they’ll be terrified about Russia and the U.S. being in friendly relations and will probably be trying everything to please Trump. Taking geopolitical consequences out of the equation, it really is a win-win-win.

Hot_Instruction_5318

This is a proxy war between the US and Russia. The reality is Ukraine is a small fish in a very very big pond right now.

ImmortalPoseidon

How could we not be in the middle of these negotiations? Zelenskyy has already stated they cannot win this war without US funding. Biden is no longer president, and Trump wants to stop throwing money at the problem and find a way to end it. There is no scenario where the US isn’t a main player in any kind of negotiation.

likeabuddha

Thank you! Let's just walk away and let Ukraine, Russia, and Europe sort it out themselves.

Gaxxz

Why does ukraine and the EU keep asking america for security guarantee's?

G0TouchGrass420

I’m going to be blunt and say that you have not thought this question through. US and EU are paying to keep Ukraine afloat. Thus, US and/or EU are the ones having negotiations with Russia. Then it will be either Russia that declines the ceasefire deal or Ukraine that declines the ceasefire deal. Then US and EU will decide what to do next when that time comes.

closing-the-thread

The US should absolutely help host peace talks between warring states as a neutral third party. 

The issue here is that we are not neutral and are trying to find a benefit for us.

TheGoldStandard35

Trump wants to end the war. Simple as that. It is clear that neither Putin nor Zelinsky have any interest in stopping it.

StedeBonnet1

Yes the true non interventionist position is just leaving the conflict. Heck, the continent.

ILoveMcKenna777

Every peace negotiation ever has had a somewhat neutral arbiter to proside over the negotiations, for the us revolution it was France, for ww2 it was it Switzerland

Gsomethepatient

We're already invovled because we've been funding the war since before it started, and nobody would be happy if we just stopped funding it. Since we're already invovled, it just makes sense to try and end the killing.

soulwind42

Because the US is the global hegemon and the world superpower. America alone as the global empire decides what happens

EsotericMysticism2

Because we allow the war to continue with our aid…

219MSP

We should indeed stop getting involved in other countries' wars.  But we're already involved in this one.  That's why we're involved in the negotiation to end it.  With that said, if Ukraine doesn't want peace and they want to keep fighting this thing until they get all their land back or whatever then as far as I'm concerned we should cut them off and walk away.

B_P_G

\- the US is funding Ukraine's defense, more than any other country

\- the US has a vested interest in the security of Europe and it has been that way ever since WWII ended

\- the US has defense treaties with European nations, has bases in the region, and so it also has major assets invested

\- the US is the only superpower that can really balance Russia, historically and currently

\- for these reasons and more, the US is the most appropriate party to negotiate with Russia

DruidWonder

Because every single peace deal needs a third party broker to oversee it. The USA was the one that oversaw the Good Friday Agreement, for example. It makes sense for the USA to be a broker over literally any country in the world

maximusj9

The Russo-Ukrainian war has been so defined by Ukraine's alignment with NATO, Russian fear of a NATO member or NATO ally on its border, and NATO assistance for Ukraine that it's inevitable for the USA to be involved. 

SnooFloofs1778

Because the reality of the situation is we are involved, actions we took helped lead to the war, and we are the biggest supporter of Ukraine. 

&gt;Wouldn’t a true non-interventionist stance mean withdrawing aid from Ukraine and stepping back to let Ukraine and Russia negotiate directly, while the US tends to its own interests at home?

If the previous admin made horrible policy decisions that screwed the Ukrainians, I do think the current president has an obligation to at least TRY not to straight up dump them on their ass. 

If zelensky decides he'd rather fight it alone then so be it. But we should try not to just hang them out to dry since the last admin did set them up for failure

just_shy_of_perfect

don't you want the war to end? or would you rather see it go on rather than having had trump play a hand in ending it?

tnic73

Because Ukraine collapses without US support.   

It's pointless though, because Zelensky has no interest in peace.

JoeCensored

So Ukraine is okay with taking our money and our weapons but if we want to help end the war its fuck us? And we're the bad "ally" in this story?

Inksd4y

Someone has to be a mediator and who else other than the leader of the free world. It's almost our obligation to try to broker peace. Stepping away and focusing on America does not mean abdicating our responsibilities in the world.

GreatSoulLord

&gt;Why is the US involved in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine?

The Ukraine/Russia war is a major foreign policy f-up by the Biden and Obama admins. On top of that, in 2022 it became Biden's proxy war by pumping so much money into the conflict and even encouraging escalation at times. 

Does Trump want out? Yes, of course - that aligns squarely with America First. Trump attempting to negotiate peace is the right thing to do in order to clean up Biden's mess.  It's not about any affinity for Zelensky or Putin - clearly Trump distrusts both.  What has happened has been cruel and unfair especially to the citizens of Ukraine - and that is what you repeatedly hear Trump talking about.

Otherwise, people would be on here asking about why our President is so irresponsible to cut off funding without attempting to negotiate peace.

montross-zero

\&gt;So why is the Trump administration playing a key role in brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine?

Because we have played a key role in arming Ukraine and thereby allowing them to take a far more aggressive posture against Russia than they would otherwise be capable of doing.

\&gt; Wouldn’t a true non-interventionist stance mean withdrawing aid from Ukraine and stepping back to let Ukraine and Russia negotiate directly

Pretty certain that is exactly what he is doing.  Meanwhile it looks like he is going to attempt rapprochement with Russia to prevent more conflicts in the future.

metoo77432

Its because we spent the most on military aid by far and are the sole reason there is still a war, and at the same time are probably one of the few countries that can actually spook russia into behaving (at least for a time).

I personally think if we cannot get the mineral deal or a ceasefire we should just cold turkey from the whole situation and actually give the middle finger to the EU's whining about us "letting russia win" or whatever their spoiled opinion is

Mr-Zarbear

Consider that during the Cold War, there were still direct flights between Moscow and Western capitals. Today there are none. During the Olympics in 1980, amid the boycott related to the war in Afghanistan, American brands like Pepsi still sold their products in USSR without an issue. Today they seemingly have to hide who they are to do that. Consider that the supply of weapons, training, and finances to Bin Laden's Mujahideen had to be hidden, routed through Pakistan's government institutions, with the CIA keeping its operation there secret. Today, the US and its allies supply weapons openly and with very little restraint, publicly stating that their goal is a strategic defeat for Russia. Consider as well that during the Cold War, the US never performed any overt action that could be seen as an attack on USSR's assets. Today, it either sponsors, coordinates, or possibly even gets personally involved in acts of industrial terrorism on Russia's infrastructure (including joint infrastructure, such as with Nordstream), and seizes Russia's property abroad. 

This current spin on the Cold War is quite firmly more tense than anything before, bar the Cuban missile crisis. Just a little more and we'll be into the Great Game territory, where the confrontation was not always in the "cold" state. 

This will continue for a while.

It's not a dating sim. There're no 'relations'. Relations are just a rhetorical trick to make public affectionate or dis affectionate to national foreign politics by pretending it's the same thing as their personal interactions. International politics is ultimately cynical thing, surpassed only by commerce. 


There's risk and benefit evaluation. As long as one side stands the risk is high and the other would do their best to diminish it. Eventually one side fails to rise the stakes and for it the risk would become unmanageble and for the other it turns negligible. That's what 'good relations" are. 


As for public attitude, when the time comes the new opinions on "US-Russia relations" would be told in a proper way and people would just take them. 

whitecoelo

People have the attention spam of a fly, and they need to be told what to think.

  
The moment "Russia bad" stops being spammed on TV and the internet, most people will forget about it within weeks. 

Poland, Ukraine and some others which have always had a thing against Russia won't, but honestly, even now I think most people couldn't point to Russia in a map and don't really care what's going on.

I live in Argentina, you now hear Russian everywhere in Buenos Aires and no one cares. Russians are generally well liked here, my GF is Russian and no one has ever been rude to us.

Big_Draw_5978

Relations between Russia and the West are irreperable for a few generations. Maybe once the Victims of Communism^TM die off.


Good riddance I say. The people who hand-wring about Russia-Western relations keep bringing up the need of Germany for energy. Enough! Russia doesn't need to be their personal gas well.

ShennongjiaPolarBear

It all depends on the economy. If suddenly relations between Russia and the United States become mutually beneficial, you will not have time to blink, as you will find yourself in a new reality where everyone is smiling and shaking hands with each other. That's why it's so funny for me to read emotionally charged, pathetic Western propaganda... Oh, I'm sorry, the independent press, of course. As for Ukraine, it is not a subject. It's just a country strip. No one is interested in her attitude towards anyone.

Serious-Cancel3282

GoodOcelot3939

Nothing would changed. As much we want to be sovereign as much west  want to suppress us. Nothing new. It’s happening every 50-100 years.

NoChanceForNiceName

The west doesn't want good relations - they will try to provoke another war, or\and just keep antagonizing and pushing in other ways.

I don't think relations between generalised "West" and Russia were ruined after February 2022 - it was just a trigger, last straw. It has begun long time ago, when people of power from EU and USA refused to perceive Russia's interests on the same level of seriousness as a West's own ones, and treated Russia as a minor partner in every possible way. For some people these events was just a green light to relieve themselves from posing as a "neutral entities", unleash their russophobia and "finally be freed from obligations to work with THESE guys".

Adventurous-Nobody

They will remain damaged until someone stops benefitting on the situation - the American economy is largely tied to the military-industrial complex, which desperately needs an enemy to justify its own expenses.

AudiencePractical616

It was damaged before the conflict in Ukraine. The West has been trying to dismantle post-Soviet Russia since the 90’s.

RedditTaughtMe2

The west is trying to destroy Russia. How do you think relations are going to unfold?

brjukva

The situation is quite hopeless. In order to improve relations there should be desire to improve relations, but  the West for decades wants to see Russia exclusively as an enemy and it won't change in forseeable future. Nothing Russia does or does not do can affect it.

There have never been good relations between the United States and Russia.

And yes, that's right, the publicly stated goal of "inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield" and "democratization through decolonization and depopulation" spoiled relations with the West for a very, very long time. Everyone living now is unlikely to live to see any improvement in the situation.

On the topic of the Cold War... What can I say. The ideological victory in the Cold War cost the United States its current national debt. You understand that there is nowhere to take such money a second time, they will not just not be given, no one has them. I'm not even talking about the fact that there is no ideological confrontation now, and Russia and the West are capitalist economies.

I'd say it will take 20 years for the West to consider having relations with Russia.  Then, who knows if Russia will actually want those relations.    


At some point the US will want Russia back just to peel her off China. Who knows how bad relations would be damaged then and what concessions the US will be willing to give. 

whoAreYouToJudgeME

After being enemies in WW2, Russia had very strong economic relationship with Germany recently until US decided to end it.

So, it's totally possible that Russia will have normal relationships with the West. But this time, Russia is much stronger and will demand the respect.

BCE-3HAET

I am a Greek and have visited Russia twice. The ordinary people love and respect each other but our government has done everythign possible to disregard our cultural ties.

Relations went really sour during Obama's second term. But personalities don't matter, there is ideological chasm between Russia and liberal western society, and it's getting wider. As long as western society insists on forcing it's values upon rest of the world, nothing significant can be done by Trump or anyone else in the White House. The hope is both sides can set down ground rules to avoid mutual annihilation, the way they did in 1960s.

Love from Florida. Hope this ends soon. 🫡

Mission_Ad_9479

If Trump win there could be a "reset" because Trump likes to make the big deals.  Harris is almost obligated to continue Bidens legacy and policy or it could weaken the party.

THETukhachevsky

not as damaged as relations between generations within Russia

there's no even conflict between them, just a vacuum walled with politeness

ch3333r

US and Russia could 'normalize' relations if there will be a mutual threat to both of them and it would be beneficial for both sides to work together. The only main possibility of that is the case of space aliens invasion. And even then, when invasion is repelled, the relations will quickly sour.

matroska_cat

You’re correct. Even if the war ended tomorrow, relations between Russia and the West, especially the U.S., are likely damaged for at least 20 years. Sanctions, ideological differences, and economic impacts have deeply strained trust. Russia has pivoted toward non-Western alliances, while the West views it as a threat to international stability. Rebuilding trust will be slow.

Business_Site_5180

More or less permanently I think, I highly doubt that anyone reading this today will live long enough to witness any improvement, a generation or two must pass before there it will be possible. Even if the war ends tomorrow there are no points of contact or common grounds which could lead to improved relations. 

On other hand defence industry is booming on both sides, if you google amount of contracts you'll see that it already exceeded amount of trade Russia had with EU (we never had much trade with US) and in order to keep military-industrial complex busy it's nice to have the image of the enemy, so even in the best case scenario the war will end, but relations will continue to deteriorate further.

Accurate-Gas-9620

Yes, absolutely, I think you are totally wrong. In one click everyone will be switched to "We never were at war with Russia". It's easy to betray your principles if you never had any.

For example, as it happens there is different oil, and oil is pretty complex stuff that gets cracked into dozens of different substances, different kinds of oil give different outputs. The US is for some reasons runs its entire economy on trucks, trucks use diesel fuel, diesel fuel needs heavy oil with high sulfur value. There's three large producers of heavy oil. Venezuela. Iran. And Russia. The dynamics of the US - Iran - Venezuela - Russia relationships becomes very funny once you know this.

yasenfire

I’m planning a trip to Moscow next year. But from US there ain’t but the one way, through Turkey

I’m in NC

Boot-Representative

They are damaged beyond any chance of repair

Dimitriy_Menace

If somehow there will be pro-Russian president the relations can be fixed in less than five years. Europe need Russia, Russia needs Europe, propaganda can work any direction and will easily convince the majority that the West is the best friend.

felidae_tsk

Pretty damaged. But there are a good portion of people that sympathise with Russia? Maybe because they think Russia is a conservative country?

Desh282

Yes, there will be no détente because there will not be sufficient satisfaction for us. The US has been moving towards war for decades and will need to go back for decades to restore at least neutral relations.

OddLack240

Some of the answers are really sad, didn't expect it tbh...

TheBigBadBlackKnight

Very damaged. The only thing keeping us from being a step away from the Cold War is Russia being less powerful than the Union.

PotemkinSuplex

As soon as current Russian government goes, it will be back to normal. The west will not be able to pass by a massive economic opportunity that is Russia plus there will hopefully be an agreement that Russia needs to be integrated into the Western world to ensure peace.


People of Russia will jump on the economic and cultural opportunities of normal relationship with the West at the first opportunity. Especially the younger generation.


This whole Russia v West narrative is manufactured by the current propaganda and will disappear very quickly as soon as that propaganda stops and the West, maybe except Eastern Europe, will try to pretend that nothing happened.

DonaaldTrump

Somewhat damaged. But nothing that money can't fix.

non7top

As long as Putin is at power, the relations between Russia and western countries will be getting even worse than now. Either Putin or Europe should change.

MasterpieceNew5578

I just spent 15 minutes trying to come up with an acceptable way to describe just how much I hate the West. I erased everything because it's not possible to do so.

Shona_13

That really depends on what kind of government comes after Putin's. And also on what happens in the West. Because nothing is written in stone, and the current soft and weak and bleak western leaders is a fertile ground for more authoritarian but charismatic politics to snatch the leadership. And autocrats love each other.

Anyway, the world these days moves so fast, I doubt it will be 20 years even in the worst case scenario.

rumbleblowing

fireburn256

DouViction

Fucked up beyond any repair for a long time. There russian government has been pushing the "evil west is trying to eat your babies" narrative for the longest time and I'm afraid it has finally stuck with the majority of the population

Demurrzbz

Putin surrounded himself with yes men and consolidated power while also slowly losing his rationality. He became increasingly more interested in imperialism and creating a USSR 2.0 where he is the dictator.

Everything that happened is related to this. The world is suffering because of a mad man desperately clinging to power and a lost world image.

When Putin first came to power, Russia’s economy was in the toilet, so he played nice on the international stage. As their economy improved through the 2000s, that wasn’t as necessary.

baxtyre

President Trump criticized Russia for the ongoing attacks on Ukraine, signaling potential increases in US military support as tensions rise.

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