ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the heightened tensions in an effort to determine whether Russia in the post-Soviet period will challenge the political and security interests of the West, particularly the US. It identifies several factors that have produced Moscow’s anti-Western and particularly anti-American behaviour while also supporting the turn towards authoritarianism in Russia. The leadership and preferences of Boris Yeltsin were essential factors in the collapse of the Soviet Union and in shaping US–Russian relations during the first post-Soviet decade. Opposition to American foreign policy goals gradually crystallized in the run-up to the second Iraq war and in 2002 Russia joined Germany and France in opposing Washington’s plans to invade Iraq. The chapter concludes with the unwillingness and inability of the US and the European Union to alter the permissive environment which has enabled Russia to profit from selective co-operation with the West without fear of serious sanctions for its illiberal policies at home or its confrontational stance abroad.
