ЗАСАДИ ЗОВНІШНЬОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ АДМІНІСТРАЦІЇ БАРАКА ОБАМИ: РОСІЙСЬКИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

Abstract

The 44th president of the United States – Barack Obama belongs to American leaders, whose policy has caused the most controversial expert assessments. On the one hand, the United States welcomed Obama’s aspirations to change the country’s hard-line foreign policy of his predecessors, while at the same time mercilessly criticizing and accusing him of weakness and uncertainty on the international arena.It should be noted that Russia has been and remains an influential actor on the international scene, which Barack Obama administration viewed as a potential ally in solving global problems related to terrorism, nuclear weapons, global climate change, etc. However, Russia had fundamentally different foreign policy goals and priorities in the framework of the dialogue with the official Washington, what could not be accepted by the White House. Thus, the Russian Federation actively supported the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; the Ukrainian Crimea was annexed by Russia and an encroachment into the Donbas territory took place, which was supported and organized by Russians; Russians provided refuge to a for mer employee of the Central Intelligence Agency and the US National Security Agency Edward Snowden; Kremlin leaders have repeatedly stated that the US missile defense system would pose a threat to Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, thereby they interfered with the implementation of the above-mentioned plan on the European continent, etc.The main regulatory acts in the area of foreign policy issued by the Barack Obama administration were National Security Strategies of 2010 and 2015. It should be emphasized that, despite the fact that the documents have much in common, the provisions concerning the Russian Federation differ significantly from one another.Confrontation in Syria and Iran; the so-called «War of the Lists» («Magnitsky Act» and «US adoption ban bill»); Scandalous case with former CIA officer Edward Snowden; the issue of the deployment of missile defense system on the eastern wing of NATO; the illegal annexation of the Crimean Autonomous Republic and the hybrid war in eastern Ukraine and, consequently, sanctions against Russia have caused deterioration of relations between these two countries. This state of affairs was reflected in the new Strategy of 2015, where the Russian Federation was characterized as an aggressor and violator of international law.The position of the most influential international actor, which is the USA, as well as the Russian Federation, who have significant, if not decisive, levers of influence on processes in Eastern Europe, are extremely important for our country. This shows us a high degree of purely scientific and practical significance and importance for Ukraine.The purpose of the study is the Russian context of the Barack Obama foreign policy.The objectives of scientific research are the following ones: to analyze the main foreign policy regu- lations issued by Barack Obama administration with the main emphasis on Russia; to examine the WhiteHouse initiatives aimed at improving the dialogue with the Russia; to study what caused the deterioration of relations between two counties; to define the important international steps made by Russia and reaction on them by the United States during Barack Obama presidency.