I would agree with all that Ambassador Westdal said. I have a few comments.
First, at this moment Russia-U.S. relations are at the very, very low end. I had the chance to personally ask President Putin about this in October, and he said that this is the lowest level of trust between Russia and U.S. since the collapse of the Soviet Union. My first point is that it could only be better, not worse, because worse is not feasible at this moment.
Second, President Obama's policy towards Russia was a new version of the policy of containment: let's contain Russia, surround her, impose sanctions, and demand a change in behaviour. It did not happen. So the policy of containment is not an option for the Trump administration. That's the second point.
My third point is that I believe that people around Trump see Russia as a rather big player, with certain weaknesses in economics and in the region. Its military capacity, however, is formidable at the moment, and so is its diplomatic capacity, cyber-war capacity, and other elements. All this brings Russia to the level of a potential partner in certain issues that only big countries can discuss. Among these are nuclear non-proliferation, terrorism, maintaining strategic balance, and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, there are also actions in the area of anti-terrorism. These will be probably the areas that are going to be discussed.
My fourth point is that when Trump became president, many Russians cheered, including Russian politicians. In recent days, however, I see something very interesting: withdrawal from being so cheerful. They started to realize that there is a lot of unpredictability coming from the White House—zigzag, sometimes contradictory, messages. Also, if there are not contradictory messages, the messages that are clear are not very pleasing to Russia. There is a danger of putting a wedge between Russia and Europe, Russia and China, and the Russians will not sacrifice their relations with Iran or relations with China because of the current policies of the U.S. administration. This is a potential impediment to the successful conversation that will take place probably in May this year.