George Bush's position on

U.S.-Russian Relations: Two primary issues exist regarding U.S.-Russian relations (excluding Chechnya). First, on September 13, 2004, President Putin announced his decision to overhaul Russia's political system due to recent terror attacks, causing distress in the United States regarding the limits on democracy. This overhaul included announcing the end of popular elections of governors and independent lawmakers and instead allowing the people to only vote for parties rather than for individuals. This is in addition to earlier reforms by Putin that include state-controlled media, control over the energy industry, jailing or exiling those that defy Putin, and showing dominance over both houses of the Parliament. link Second, the United States and Russia have been working to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles in both countries since the end of the Cold War, although both countries still have much work to do. The United States and former Soviet countries have been engaged in the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program since 1991. The program is designed for the United States to assist (financially and physically) in dismantling and safely removing nuclear weapons from the former Soviet countries. Although neither candidate refers to CTR when discussing nuclear weapons in Russia, their proposed policies are components of the CTR program. link

Description of candidate's position: Bush is interested in continuing a strong partnership with Russia and helping Russia uphold democracy in the former Soviet Union (link). Additionally, Bush believes the United States should unilaterally reduce its nuclear weapons and that such a move would cause Russia to begin to reduce their nuclear weapons (link). Bush also supports the G-8 Global Partnership, which extends funding to the National Nuclear Security Administration and to the former Soviet Union to reduce weapons stockpiles. In May 2004, the Bush administration signed a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Russian Federation governments to help the former Soviet Union research safe and secure management procedures for high-enriched uranium (link).

Quotation from the candidate: "I'm also concerned about the decisions that are being made in Russia that could undermine democracy in Russia; that great countries, great democracies have a balance of power between central government and local governments, a balance of power within central governments between the executive branch and the legislative branch and the judicial branch. As governments fight the enemies of democracy, they must uphold the principles of democracy." September 2004, link

Assessment of the Proposal:

Positive: Joseph Cirincione, senior associate and director for Non-Proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, explains Bush is taking positive steps toward controlling nuclear non-proliferation. The Bush administration introduced a non-proliferation draft at the United Nations Security Council that Cirincione says "would go a long way towards integrating some of the administration's policy innovations… with established international legal norms and institutions." In turn, he argues, other countries, such as Russia, would likely participate in such programs.

Negative: Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, Senior Fellows of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, argue that Bush is not moving quickly enough on the issue of reducing nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia. They explain "the Bush administration has, all along, been slow to tackle this threat, even cutting funding for highly effective programs to assist Moscow in securing and dismantling this most dangerous of Soviet legacies." Daalder and Lindsay believe that Bush had several opportunities to work on this issue with Russia, but declined to engage in such conversations with Putin.

Comparison: Both Bush and Kerry agree that it is in America's best interests for Russia to remain a free and stable democracy. Both candidates have publicly disagreed with Putin's statements regarding the reduction of civil liberties in Russia, while at the same time, supporting Russia's anti-terror sentiment. On the issue of weapons stockpiles, the candidates have some disagreement. Both believe that weapons stockpiles should be reduced, but their proposed methods differ. Kerry believes the United States and Russia should work together to reduce their weapons within four years. Bush prefers to remove U.S. stockpiles unilaterally instead of signing treaties with Russia (link) and has endorsed the G-8 Global Partnership that outlines the reduction in nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union over the next ten years (link).

Link to Kerry's issue brief.