The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton failed to secure a promise from Russian President Dimtry Medvedev to support additional sanctions against Iran if quick progress is not made on the nuclear negotiations.
The reason for this is simple: supporting additional sanctions would hurt Russia in two ways. First, Russia enjoys a lucrative trading relationship with Iran that it is not eager to give up. Second, Russia is not interested in a U.S.-Iranian “Grand Bargain” that would threaten Iran’s dependence on Russia and increase American throughout the world.
Those who hoped that the administration’s decision to redeploy missile defense shields away from Eastern Europe last month would change Russia’s calculus were deluding themselves.
Despite President Medvedev’s statement last week that “Sanctions rarely lead to productive results, but in some cases are inevitable,” Russian interests have not changed and its policies will not either.
– Ben Katcher
