Abstract
The study deals with American foreign policy towards Russia during the first and second terms of Barack Obama's presidency. The President strove for a new political style, the so-called "reset policy", which favors cooperation and diplomatic solutions over military confrontation.
This attitude worked relatively well in the period of Medvedev's presidency but it has not worked with President Putin, who sees the policy as a sign of weakness. Obama's passivity in those cases when decisiveness would have been desirable has enabled Putin to implement an aggressive policy, which has culminated in the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.
The failure of the "reset policy" has at least forced Obama to impose sanctions on Russia, but the situation in Ukraine remains unresolved. It seems that solving problems in Europe is not among Obama's top priorities.