© TASS

In 2022, relations between Moscow and Washington kept deteriorating, although a year ago everyone thought it wouldn't be any worse off. The key reason was Russia’s special military operation that started on February 24 in Ukraine aiming to protect the people of Donbass from President Zelensky’s bloody regime.

Just a reminder: on December 15 last year, Moscow sent draft agreements on mutual security guarantees to Washington and Brussels. Back then, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Vladimir Putin confirmed our country's readiness to promptly enter into negotiations on this vital issue and expressed hope for a positive reaction on the part of US and NATO. In word, the West seemingly agreed to make concessions to Russia on minor issues, but rejected its key proposals. This encouraged the Kremlin to kick off its mission a couple of months later.

Almost immediately, Western countries imposed large-scale sanctions against Russia and scaled up supply of arms and military equipment to Kiev worth billions of dollars. Washington has been certainly leading the way along this track. Suffice it to say that since the beginning of the conflict, the United States shoveled a total of $17.6 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy has estimated it at over $60 billion. Moreover, Kiev is still being pumped with all the types of weapons, with no end in sight. Thus, the White House announced another $275 million package of military aid to the Ukrainians, pledging them Patriot air defense systems. Besides, the United States transmits intelligence to Ukraine for strikes against the Russian military.

In this regard, it is not surprising that 2022 witnessed neither high-level meetings between Russia and the United States, nor ministerial ones. As stated by the US administration, contacts between Moscow and Washington are currently maintained on a limited range of issues alone.

Let’s point out a couple of silver linings in US-Russian ties this year. First off, despite their full-throated confrontation, the sides are ready to discuss issues of common interests, primarily control over strategic nuclear arms. Both repeatedly mentioned their bilateral meeting on the new START Treaty set for September or October. Moreover, early December should have witnessed a session of the relevant Bilateral Consultative Commission in Cairo. All of a sudden, it went south and was postponed.

Interestingly, the consultations were meant to feature mutual claims under this key bilateral security agreement, primarily resumed inspections. Meanwhile, many observers pinned certain hopes on the Cairo negotiations, since the postponed meeting of the bilateral consultative commission would be the first one since the beginning of Russia’s military operation. Moscow believes a real strategic stability dialogue is only possible with an adequate counterpart and if the American side undertakes to abstain from crossing Moscow's security "red lines". If we follow the recent statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Russia has no intention to discuss the new START Treaty with the United States unless Washington waives supplying weapons to Kiev.

The second positive thing was the December 8 prisoner swap involving Russian businessman Viktor Bout and American basketball player Brittney Griner, which took place at the airport of Abu Dhabi. Bout spent nearly 15 years in a US prison on trumped-up charges of arms trafficking and conspiracy to murder US citizens. The American side insisted on exchanging him for both Griner and imprisoned spy Paul Whelan, but Russia dug in the heels.

That's about it, no more good news in US-Russian relations. One of the reasons behind Washington's unwillingness to have them normalized is that the White House is guided by aspiration to assert itself in the Cold War-style, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov stressed. "It looks as if the ‘ghost’ of the Soviet Union is still haunting the corridors of power in the American capital, and the Сold War has not ended at all," Newsweek quotes him as saying. According to the diplomat, we have found ourselves at the beginning of a complex and long journey of building a multipolar world, during which the US-Russian rivalry cannot come to an end overnight. If any, it should be based on mutual respect, the Ambassador concluded.

But it is not the case so far. Some pundits expected at least some positive changes following the US midterm congressional elections of November 8. It was particularly assumed that in case of a Republican victory in both Congress chambers, America would cut military supplies to Ukraine. This never happened, unfortunately, and there is no way relations between Moscow and Washington can improve in foreseeable future.

One may hardly expect fundamental changes here. Washington makes no secret of its plans for dominating the world and squeezing Russia out of the international arena following its strategic defeat. By starting its military operation, Moscow somewhat frustrated US intention to weaken our country. Washington will hardly put up with losing its leadership in a world being transformed from unipolar to multipolar, where the key parts are distributed among Russia, China, India, Turkey and others.

Let’s sum up with saying that Russia should not expect the United States to drop the attitude towards our country over party switching. The US foreign policy vector remains the same and envisages might. In this regard, Washington will only sit with Moscow when it proves strong, which, in turn, requires a victory in Ukraine, outright and flawless, with all the goals achieved. This alone will channel its conversation with America into an entirely different track.