Significant Transaction in Russia-US Relations: Medvedev and Obama Era

The Russia-US cooperation in the early 1990s, culminated in rivalries by the end of the decade. Their strategic cooperation in 2001 and 2002 resulted in rivalry from 2003 onwards and ended in confrontation in the wake of the Ossetia crisis in 2008. However, as of 2009 and further into 2010, their relations entered a phase of strategic cooperation, altogether attracting the attention of many analysts. Analyzing these relations and their underlying reasons is also a matter of significance for Iran. Understanding the new situation, calls for responding to the questions of: Exactly what has happened in the relations between the US and Russia? Are officials of both countries able to solve the various problems they are confronted with in their mutual relations? What drove both countries to meeting this new phase in their relations? What is the perspective of their relations? And what are the consequences for other states? It is most obvious that their new attitude is based on mutual cooperation and the cessation of hostility. A hypothesis which will be examined is that "Russia needs new technologies and the US needs Russia's cooperation in international security issues. Thus, mutual need is the determining factor in their newly-established, close relations." In order to respond to the questions posed in this article and to test the presented hypothesis, a first step is to review the background of both countrie's relationships and the different existing viewpoints about this relationship. Later comes a thorough investigation of significant issues of concern between the two countries at international, regional and bilateral levels, with special emphasis put on recent agreements between Russia and the US. In the last section, the main factors and variants affecting US-Russia relations will be discussed and analysed.