From the beginning of the Obama administration, we knew we wanted to reboot our relationship with Moscow. I coordinated Russia policy from the National Security Council, and Russia was one of the only other global powers, a crucial partner in world affairs. But the partnership had been badly strained by Vladimir Putin’s move toward greater autocracy, NATO expansion, the revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, the war in Iraq, and Russia’s intervention in Georgia in 2008. President Barack Obama called this period a “dangerous drift.”
OP-ED
Michael McFaul: The smear that killed the ‘reset’
US Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd R) speaks with the US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul (R) during a walk at the Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2013. Kerry arrived today in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to restore frayed US-Russia ties and win Moscow's support on the war in Syria. AFP PHOTO/POOL/MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP PHOTO / MLADEN ANTONOV
