Russia, Ukraine and U.S. Economic Policy

Russia, Ukraine and U.S. Economic Policy

10/09/14

Blake Marshall

Economics, Russia, Ukraine

"The current challenge for U.S. policymakers is to deploy the tactics of international isolation and economic pressure without sacrificing long-term business interests..."

Editor’s Note: The following is the fourth and final of a series of articles from the Center for the National Interest’s new report: Costs of a New Cold War: The U.S.-Russia Confrontation over Ukraine. You can read the full report here.  

Preface

The crisis in Ukraine pitting Russia against the West reveals competing narratives regarding precipitants of and reactions to the February ouster of Viktor Yanukovych and the troubling episodes that have since unfolded in Ukraine’s south and east. This paper will assess the economic context of U.S. decision-making in response to the crisis in Ukraine, examining what is at stake economically for both the United States and Russia, the policies pursued and their potential consequences, and options to consider going forward.

Introduction

For nearly a quarter-century since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the United States and Russia have struggled to adapt to changes to the international system brought about by the Soviet collapse, the end of bipolarity, and the departure from the ‘stability’ of the Cold War era. The Cold War may have been expensive and dangerous, but it was also at least somewhat predictable. Analysts and decision-makers grew comfortable operating within a governing framework of organizing principles built over decades.

The purpose and predictability of that framework were not replaced by a set of equally convenient parameters for U.S.-Russia engagement. The bilateral relationship ebbed and flowed through periods of ‘warmer’ ties, which were occasionally buttressed by shared interests, although they were frequently a function of leadership personalities and the relief felt by the absence of conflict. As Russia emerged from a decade of upheaval that was the 1990s, opportunities for more serious common pursuits between Moscow and Washington emerged, yet so too did divergent national interests that were not fully understood without the benefit of hindsight. Cooperative successes were achieved, yet competition and conflict also endured.

Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-ukraine-us-economic-policy-11436