Experts Disagree on US-Russian Cooperation Prospects Following Iraqi War

A meeting of the Public Debate Club has shown that Russian experts disagree on prospects for US-Russian cooperation in the wake of the Iraqi war. "America needs a strong and efficient Russia, together they can stand against 21st-century threats," Head of the Institute of Strategic Evaluation Alexander Konovalov believes. He finds that Russia and the United States "must heal the rift" when the war is over.

Russia's US-oriented strategy means the country is regressing, political scientist and TVC channel observer Alexei Pushkov believes. According to him, "the United States is making use of its allies without giving anything in return." "Discarded multipolar world doctrine poses a threat to Russia's sovereignty," Pushkov said.

According to the Gorbachev Foundation's Head of political programs Viktor Kuvaldin, "there is no, has never been and will never be a Russian-US strategic partnership, because America does not need it." At the same time, he believes that the US and Russia must carry on with cooperation on a number of key issues, such as combating international terrorism and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Observer Vitaly Tretyakov partially agrees with this point of view. He believes that Russian-US relations must be dominated by "selective partnership and moderate competitiveness."