The Russian response to the Biden Administration’s initial policy towards Russia has been one of cautious optimism, tempered by the poor state of U.S.-Russian relations. Dmitri Polyansky, the Russian First Deputy Ambassador at the United Nations, told reporters during a press conference yesterday that President Biden’s first action, to call Russian President Vlaidmir Putin and agree to the extension of the New START arms control treaty, is cause for a certain amount of optimism that US-Russian relations may go in a better direction. But, “‘we also note the composition of the external policy team of the new Administration,” he said. “We see a lot of faces who are not at all unfamiliar to us. We know the position of these people vis-a-vis Russia. We understand that they will bring at least some ‘luggage’ with them to their new positions. That’s why we are a bit cautious. Of course, we will be judging the new Administration and its attitude towards Russia by its actions. So far, the first action that we saw yesterday is very positive.”
“If the attitude towards Russia is about containment, picturing Russia as a kind of a rogue state, a country that deserves isolation and sanctions without a dialogue, without an understanding what is behind the situation in the world politics that we see right now, I do not think there will be much of a breakthrough,” Polyansky went on. “We are not too pessimistic, we are realists.”
With regard to New START specifically, Polyansky said, “It does not deprive us of the possibility of a more all-embracing dialogue on strategic issues that we are ready to wage; we are ready to engage in any conversation on strategic issues on arms race.”
