Post-War Pathway: Principles for U.S.-Russia Relations After Ukraine

Excerpt

Russia poses an enduring threat to vital U.S. national security interests, American allies,
and the U.S.-led international order. Regardless of the outcome of the Ukraine war, Russia
will remain a great power adversary of the United States. A Ukraine settlement will not
change the underlying competitive dynamic in U.S.-Russia relations. Indeed, the wrong
kind of peace in Ukraine or a retrenchment of U.S. power from Europe could invite further
Russian aggression, increasing the likelihood of a broader conflict.

Putin’s goals remain to diminish U.S. leadership; form a countervailing axis with American
adversaries in China, Iran, and North Korea to overthrow the American-led international
order; reconstitute the Russian empire; and build a spheres-of-influence world that
undermines American security and alliances. Only a U.S. policy that confronts Putin with
strength rather than appeasing him can produce a secure and sustainable peace in Europe.

View the full list of contributing authors here.

*All task force members participated in their individual capacities and not as
representatives of their institutions. While task force members endorse the general policy
thrust and judgments reached by the group, they do not necessarily endorse every specific
finding

Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) where Bradley Bowman is the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power.