Monday, April 26 2021 14:58

ArmInfo. The current reanimation of the spirit of the Cold war between Russia and the United States does not mean the return of its content. The return of the scheme of  the long-standing confrontation between the United States and the  USSR. A similar opinion was expressed by the editor-in-chief of the  magazine "Russia in Global Politics", chairman of the Presidium of  the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy Fyodor Lukyanov.

"The fact is that in international relations, in the international  community, in the world, there is no longer either a free world or  tyranny in the form in which they existed during the Cold War. In  this light, as much as the United States and its NATO allies in  Europe would like it, the long-standing scheme of opposing the free  world against tyranny no longer works. Just because they are no  longer there, " he said.

The analyst characterizes the current period of relations between  Russia and the United States as the final dismantling. In his  opinion, with the last change of the White House administration, the  relations between Moscow and Washington that existed for several  decades have also disappeared. According to Lukyanov, the relations  of the Cold War period between the USSR and the United States were  characterized by a kind of mutual respect. And, of course, mutual  recognition of ideological and political legitimacy.

Today, in his opinion, all this is not there. And Russia and the  United States no longer perceive each other as significant partners,  even in confrontational interaction, but simply as an extremely  unpleasant obstacle to their own strategies. Moreover, considering  the opposite party as deprived of the moral and political right to  behave as it does leaves no room for even the narrowest serious  discussion of mutual interests.

During a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin  on April 13, US President Joe Biden invited him to meet on neutral  territory in a third country. The White House allowed that the  meeting could take place in the summer. Already on April 15,  Washington announced new sanctions against Russian federal loan  bonds, as well as 32 legal entities and individuals accused of  election interference and disinformation, and 8 legal entities and  individuals in connection with the Crimea. The White House also  decided to expel 10 Russian diplomats. Nevertheless, on April 25,  Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov admitted that the meeting  between Putin and Biden could take place in the summer.

Commenting in this light on the situation around the settlement of  the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the analyst stressed the emergence of  many new trends and impulses around the process after last year's  war. According to his estimates, to all these trends are added  already existing contradictions. Moreover, both between the parties  to the conflict and between its moderators. And here, according to  Lukyanov, the newly unfolding and increasing American pressure on  Russia and now on Turkey comes to the fore.

"All this is complicated by parallel geopolitical processes on other  platforms with the participation of all these players. At the same  time, Ankara, one way or another, remains in the status of a very  complex, controversial, but important player. A player with whom both  Moscow and Washington are forced to both conflict and cooperate. And  finally, the restoration of the Minsk settlement format is a matter  of short-term prospects, " Lukyanov concluded.