The Political and Security Relations of Russia and the United States in Eastern Europe during Putin's Presidency (1998-2008)

The international system after the end of the Cold War is still in transition. There is not yet an established situation in relations of the governments. The former bipolar world has given its place to a chaotic world which does not have a definite order. The Soviet Union and the United States competed with each other during the Cold War era for nearly half a century due to bipolar power structure and nature. For this reason, the study of the relations of these two countries has attracted the attention of observers. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and separation of several republics and formation of Russian Federation many changes took place in the relations of the two. The relations of the United States and Russia took a new shape during Vladimir Putin presidency due to presence and influence of the United States in the periphery and sphere of influence of Russia. The partnership for peace plan by NATO with Central Asian, Caucasus and former Eastern Europe countries led to sharp differences between Russia and NATO, also deployment of missile defense shield of the United States in Czech Republic and Poland have been among important issues and challenging factors in relations of the two. These measures by the United States have had Russia’s reaction in the shape of energy diplomacy and armament diplomacy. In this regard the Eastern Europe has been the hotbed of all these events. This region, therefore, devoted a high priority region in security policies of Russia and the United States within 1998-2008 periods.