ABSTRACT
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 changed the structure of the international system. Yeltsin made the transformation of Russia's economy his number one domestic priority. In the words of Anders Aslund, a Swedish economic advisor to Yeltsin, 'When the Soviet Union broke up in December 1991, the Russian economy was in a crisis as complex as it was profound'. Russian commitment toward cooperation with the United States began with the issue of arms control and weapons reduction. In 1994, a new issue emerged NATO expansion which further deferred ratification. Unlike the war in 1994-96, the second Chechen war had the support of the majority of the Russian population. In the final analysis, the war in Kosovo revealed the fault lines between Russia and the West, exposed the inability of Russia to challenge the West in the Balkans, and revealed Yeltsin's determination to keep Russia as a partner rather than as an adversary to the United States and Europe.
