Central Asia and the U.S.-Russia ‘Reset’

Central Asia and the U.S.-Russia ‘Reset’

President Barack Obama didn't look into Dimitry Medvedev's eyes and claim that he saw the Russian president's soul at the G-20 summit in early April. But the meeting between the two leaders has potentially set the stage for a more pragmatic relationship between Washington and Moscow. Substantial policy differences still separate the two powers, but the dynamics of the U.S.-Russia relationship have shifted away from the mutual bitterness that arose out of the August 2008 war in the Caucasus.

However, although energy is not a major part of the public discourse on U.S.-Russian relations, it is a latent factor that will remain a theater for strategic competition between Russia and the West. Indeed, energy diplomacy was barely included in the joint statement issued after the Obama-Medvedev meeting, with just a brief reference made to cooperation on energy efficiency measures and development of clean energy technologies.

Friction between Russia and the West stems from European dependence on Russian natural gas, which has prompted competition -- between Russia on the one hand and European states, with U.S. support, on the other -- for influence over the direction of vital energy corridors in Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Obama-Medvedev summit did nothing to alter this.

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