American policy towards Russia: competition, deterrence and governing control

The global strategy of the United States is characterized by a great degree of continuity, adherence to basic ideas of American ideology, aims, tasks, and the methods of realization of national American interests, though different administrations bring tactical minor changes to the real policy and official rhetoric. Similar trend is seen when we describe and analyze the US strategy towards Russia. The hypothesis of the author is the following: American policy towards Russia has been developing within a quite clear historical paradigm of confrontational competition; American actions do not depend on whether the Russian State exists as the USSR or the Russian Federation. The dominant factor defining this kind of confrontational strategy is that Russia remains one of the leading world powers that is playing a very influential role in international relations and the world order formation, demonstrates an opposite to American view of global governance and world development. In the US, it is seen as a serious obstacle to the realization of the American concept of world liberal order - a monocentric /US centric world order.

Restoration by Russia of a great power status after the dissolution of the Soviet Union has not been fully predicted and is unacceptable to the US, and first of all, to the ruling political elite. Opposition and criticism of Russia has been growing since 1995, and in the 2010s the deterrence of Russia evolved into a new cold war. Cold war confrontation between the US and Russia during the Trump administration became large scale and multifaceted, and could be characterized as a political, economic, and information war. There is a quite clear consensus on the Russia issue between the representatives of Congress, political parties and the groups of interest, mass media and think tanks, the representatives of intelligence community and some federal agencies. The article suggests the analysis of the views and recommendations of the leading think tanks as their influence on the policy towards Russia has been quite visible during all administrations. Though the Trump administration is in opposition to practically all liberal media (the majority of all mass media) and think tanks, the policy of the United States towards Russia is being formulated within the traditional paradigm. The author suggests a structural realist school of thinking as the most relevant for the better understanding of the situation in the Russian-American relations.

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