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Source: Getty

In The Media

Russia's Charm Offensive

Russia and Venezuela commence joint naval exercises this week, coming on the heels of Russian President Medvedev’s four-nation tour of South America. Though Russia’s recent closeness with U.S. neighbors may be an attempt to challenge U.S. regional primacy, the United States should avoid over-reacting.

Link Copied
By Rose Gottemoeller
Published on Nov 30, 2008

Source: C-SPAN's Washington Journal

Russia and Venezuela commence joint naval exercises this week, coming on the heels of Russian President Medvedev’s four-nation tour of South America.  Rose Gottemoeller explains on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal that while Russia’s recent closeness with U.S. neighbors may be an attempt to challenge U.S. regional primacy, the United States should avoid over-reaction.  Russia's foray into South America is tempered by its urge to cooperate with the United States and its allies in other regions, most specifically in the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

Gottemoeller explained that Russia’s decision to send ships to South America is likely a reaction to the presence of U.S. naval ships in the Black Sea delivering humanitarian aid during the August crisis in Georgia. In addition, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez – who has industriously built up his country’s relations with Russia in recent years in an attempt to challenge the United States – may have played a role in formulating the tour and naval exercises. The Bush administration has so far reacted appropriately, in Gottemoeller’s assessment; although the presence of Russian ships in America’s backyard is symbolically potent, Russia’s aging navy is not a threat to the United States, and the administration’s reaction reflects that.
 

Click here to watch the interview

About the Author

Rose Gottemoeller

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Nuclear Policy Program

Rose Gottemoeller is a nonresident senior fellow in Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program. She also serves as lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Ambassador Gottemoeller served as the deputy secretary general of NATO from 2016 to 2019. 

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Rose Gottemoeller
Political ReformEconomySecurityMilitaryForeign PolicyNorth AmericaUnited StatesSouth AmericaCaucasusRussiaGeorgia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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