The unexpected election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has brought shockwaves in the US and around the world with headlines talking of a “crisis in foreign policy”. His victory is allegedly a “boost to Putin”. Trump’s election campaign rhetoric certainly merits caution in his domestic policies. During the election campaign, Trump was heavily criticised for having close ties to Russia and saying positive words for Russian President Vladimir Putin. US intelligence agencies accused Russia of hacking into Hillary Clinton’s campaign and working for a Trump victory. The former acting director of the CIA Michael Morell described Trump as an “unwitting agent of Russia” and Russian state duma deputies applauded his election. Nevertheless, an improvement in relations between the two nuclear powers is unlikely to take place for seven reasons.
Firstly, there are too many differences between the US and Russia for Trump to reset. Russia’s relations with the West have deteriorated since its 2014 annexation of Crimea and accusations that its troops shot down MH17 and fomented separatism in eastern Ukraine. One area where Russia and the West have diametrically opposed interests is Syria. During the election campaign, Trump talked of “bombing the shit out of ISIS”, yet the West and Russia have competing agenda’s in Syria where only the West seeks to destroy ISIS. Russia’s primary goals are different. First, to show Russia is again a superpower that has returned to the Middle East; second, to prop up its client, the Bashar al-Assad regime; and third, to “weaponise refugees” fleeing to Europe which will increase support for Europe’s anti-EU far right. The Alternative for Germany nationalist party has increased its electoral support after one million refugees were permitted to enter the country last year.
