US-Russia Ties: The United States after President Donald Trump’s return to power in January this year saw a dramatic realignment of its foreign policy, with the Republican leader appearing to be steering the country toward a warmer relationship with Russia, especially in the context of Ukraine. The US had backed Ukraine ever since the 2022 Russian invasion. However, over the past month, Trump was seen casting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the aggressor in the ongoing war, dialling back key anti-Kremlin measures, and openly questioning the foundations of the US-led international order.
He even said he was open to lifting certain sanctions.
This shift marked a departure from years of bipartisan consensus on Russia, rattling European allies and emboldening conservatives who advocate a retreat from America’s traditional commitments abroad.
However, in a step that may have left many startled, Trump Friday threatened new sanctions on Moscow, including in the banking sector, in response to what he called Russia’s continued “punding” of Ukraine.
“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, amid all the cries over the “realignment” of US foreign policy, an old clip of former Republican president George Bush’s 2007 meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is being widely shared on social media, offering a reminder that US-Russia relations were not always as adversarial as they are now.
The clip, filmed at Bush’s family home in Maine, captured the former president expressing confidence in his Russian counterpart — a sentiment that, in hindsight, echoed the recent approach of Trump 2.0.
“…through the course of our relationship there have been times when we’ve agreed on issues and there’s been times when we haven’t agreed on issues. But one thing I’ve found about Vladimir Putin is that he is consistent, transparent, honest and is an easy man to discuss our opportunities and problems with,” Bush had said on camera, with Putin by his side, at his summer retreat in the town of Kennebunkport, Maine.
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US-Russia Relations Under Bush
It’s true the bilateral relations between the US and Russia were not always as tense as they have been in the past decade.
Back in the 2000s, Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin developed a strong personal rapport from their first meeting in 2001, though diplomatic ties between the two nations deteriorated subsequently and had gone bad by the time Bush left office in 2009.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may make it difficult to recall, but Putin was once viewed favourably in the US and the West, particularly in the early years of his presidency. In November 2001, just two months after the 9/11 attacks, Putin and his then-wife Lyudmila stayed at Bush’s Texas ranch, displaying a rare and symbolic gesture of camaraderie.
In fact, Bush had shared that Putin was the first foreign leader to call him after 9/11, describing him as a “strong partner in fighting terrorism”.
During that visit, the two leaders bonded over discussions about global threats and plans to combat terrorism together. But it wasn’t all policy talk — they also shared meals, socialised, and even visited a local school, reinforcing the sense of camaraderie.
While the US and Russia had their differences and lingering doubts, former officials from both administrations — in this oral history recorded in 2021 — acknowledged that the first decade of the 21st century saw significant diplomatic, economic, political, and military engagement between the two countries.
By the time Putin visited the US again in June 2007, the world was beginning to shift, and so were US-Russia relations. Russia was miffed after the US announced in January that year that it planned to set up a missile defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland, former Soviet satellites that had become NATO members.
However, there was still a bonhomie on display when Putin went to Maine, Bush family’s summer home for over 100 years, for a less-than-24-hour visit.
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What Happened In Maine When Bush And Putin Met?
It was Putin’s overnight visit to Maine on his way to Guatemala. Bush’s father and former President George HW Bush picked him up from the airport and then accompanied him on the drive to their family home in Maine. The Sunday appeared perfect as they took a 45-minute spin in the Atlantic waters on Fidelity III, the speedboat owned by the Bush family, following by a lavish dinner attended by the two generations of Bushes and others.
The next morning was reserved for fishing, which was followed by an informal meeting and a lunch, with a joint press conference thrown in between.
Speaking to the media after the fishing trip, Bush congratulated Putin for “being the only person that caught a fish”, and called it “a fine catch”.
“Today’s fishing party demonstrated that we have a very similar — we share the same passion…,” Putin told the reporters at the end of the conversation.
Earlier, Bush spoke about how they discussed nuclear security, and “made great strides in setting a foundation for future relations between the United States and Russia in dealing with the nuclear security issues”.
He was asked a specific question: “President, six years ago, you seemed to have formed a bond with President Putin, when you said you had gotten a sense of his soul. Do you still feel that you trust him?”
Bush sounded somewhat liked Trump when he furnished his answer: “…do I trust I him? Yes, I trust him. Do I like everything he says? No. And I suspect he doesn’t like everything I say. But we’re able to say it in a way that shows mutual respect.”
He added: “Take missile defense. He just laid out a vision. I think it’s very sincere. I think it’s innovative. I think it’s strategic. But as I told Vladimir, I think that the Czech Republic and Poland need to be an integral part of the system.”
You can read the entire conversation here.
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What Changed US-Russia Ties
A little more than a year since the 2007 Maine visit, on August 8, 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, starting Europe’s first war in the 21st century. The war lasted only a few days, but its geopolitical impact was long-lasting. It marked a turning point in the US-Russia relations, signalling the beginning of an adversarial dynamic.
The 2008 Russo-Georgian war is seen as a defining moment that marked the shift from post-Soviet cooperation between Russia and the West to what it has been in the last few decades, though the perceived muted response from the EU and the US — little consequences for Moscow for its actions, a ceasefire that largely favoured Russia, and the Barak Obama administration’s “reset” effort with the Kremlin after coming to power — is believed by many to have emboldened Moscow to act with impunity in the region under its influence, Ukraine included.
