Biden Takes First Steps on Russia Policy
As Joe Biden begins to settle into the Oval Office, the contours of his Russia policy are beginning to come into view.
On Thursday, Biden directed his intelligence chief Avril Haines to conduct a full review of
a host of alleged Russian transgressions in recent months. According to the
Washington Post, Haines will be charged with opening investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2020 election, the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, rumored Russian bounties placed on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and the hacking of government service provider SolarWinds.
There’s been some room for cooperation, too. The same
Post report indicated that Biden would seek to continue the current pact with Russia that limits nuclear weapons, known as New START. The agreement is due to expire on Feb. 5, and Biden wants to
extend the deal by 5 more years.
2016, forever. How Biden treats Russia over the next four years could provide an insight into how much Democratic party politics influences his foreign policymaking. Wariness of Russia has only increased since allegations of interference surfaced in the 2016 presidential election: a Pew survey taken in 2019 found that
65 percent of Democrats said Russia was a major threat, compared with just 35 percent of Republicans.
It’s not just grassroots activists that have Russia on their mind. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob a “
gift to Putin” from Donald Trump. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has speculated that Putin may have had a hand in the assault,
asking in a recent podcast whether Trump had been on the phone with Putin before he addressed supporters on Jan. 6.
Radio silence. Perhaps preempting a Biden backlash, Moscow has already made moves to disrupt some U.S. operations in Russia. The
New York Times reports that U.S. government-backed broadcaster RFE/RL
may be kicked out of the country as the Kremlin takes a more aggressive stance against “foreign agents.”
Biden’s challenge. Writing in
Foreign Policy,
David J. Kramer laid out the steps Biden should take in confronting Putin’s Russia. “Essentially,” Kramer writes, “the Biden administration should develop a policy of containment.”