Russia - Obama Presidency Oral History

Officials also discuss the specific outcomes of the Reset, including Russia’s joining the World Trade Organization, agreements regarding U.S. overflight routes for resupplying troops in Afghanistan, and Russia’s abstention during the vote on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which paved the way for a multilateral civilian-protection mission in Libya in March 2011. The U.S.-Russian 2010 agreement on the New START Treaty, a major piece of the Administration’s nuclear security agenda, is discussed in the topic essay on nuclear security.  

Many narrators discuss the challenges and obstacles that persisted through the attempt to reset relations. These included, most notably, the Russian government's human rights record, restrictions on LGBTQ rights, and persecution of opposition and civil society activists. These challenges became increasingly pronounced after the victory of ruling party United Russia in 2011 parliamentary elections, which were criticized as fraudulent by Western officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was re-elected to the presidency in March 2012—Medvedev assumed the role of Prime Minister—Putin blasted U.S. interference, shuttered the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and intensified Russia’s crackdown on dissenters. In interviews, U.S. policymakers recall the deteriorating human rights situation and closure of civil society space in Russia, and the strain it put on efforts to improve relations.

A series of events during the latter half of Obama’s presidency transformed the U.S.-Russian relationship into a conflictual one. The most dramatic of these episodes involved Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, which served as a precursor to a full-scale invasion in February 2022. In November 2013, protests erupted in Kiev’s Maidan Square when Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych abandoned a European Union association deal in favor of closer relations with Putin’s Russia. Obama Administration policymakers remember internal discussions about supporting the Euromaidan protesters and, after Yanukovich fled the country, to support the newly installed democratic Ukrainian government. At roughly the same time, Russian paramilitary forces infiltrated the Crimea region of Ukraine, annexing the territory by virtue of a hastily orchestrated referendum for Crimea’s secession in March. In interviews, U.S. officials recall this dramatic series of events, as well as the debates within the Administration and publicly regarding the U.S. response to Russian efforts to support separatist rebels in Eastern Ukraine. In addition to widespread use of sanctions to punish Russian officials, the Administration approved significant amounts of non-lethal security assistance and development aid for Ukraine. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine also became a key focus of U.S. relations with European and NATO allies, materials which are referenced in the Atlantic Relations topic essay. 

Tensions and competition between Russia and the United States arose in other geographic regions and policy areas. Narrators recall, for example, Russia’s support for Bashar al-Assad’s government forces in the Syrian civil war that followed the Arab Spring, Russia’s granting of asylum to Edward Snowden, and emerging evidence of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. 

Notwithstanding bilateral tensions, narrators also speak about ongoing efforts to engage and cooperate Russian diplomats on issues of overlapping interests, including for example: efforts to remove chemical weapons from Syria, the Paris Climate Agreement, the struggle against ISIS, and the Iran Nuclear Deal. Because of the cross-cutting nature of these issues, materials on these episodes are referenced in the topic essays for nuclear security, Counterterrorism, and Atlantic Relations, among others.