ABSTRACT
In the interregnum between 2008 and Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012, when Dmitry Medvedev was president, the war in Georgia initially continued the skid in Russia’s relations with the West. Thereafter, however, there were serious but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to heal the breach, such as the Obama administration’s overture in 2009 to “reset” relations between the United States and Russia. As Putin began his fourth term as President of the Russian Federation in 2018, talk of a new Cold War between Washington and Moscow was widespread in the American press and political arena. A year earlier Barack Obama had declared that use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would constitute a “red line” for the United States, evoking a military response. In February 2009 US Vice President Joe Biden announced the new administration’s intent to “reset” the relationship with Russia.
