Compared to Soviet-U.S.relations of the Cold War era,contemporary Russia-U.S.relations are less decisively influential in shaping the global strategic situation.While evolving,the new relationship between the two sometimes registers dramatic events—Syria and Ukraine,for example—that seem to endanger a proposed "reset" of their bilateral relations.This reset,first mentioned during the presidencies of Dmitry Medvedev in Russia and the first term of Barack Obama in the U.S.,was not launched.Since the onset of the global financial crisis,the international strategic situation has further readjusted,and big power relations have remained out of equilibrium.Progress toward improved relations witnessed "apathy" after Vladimir Putin returned to power.Both countries pay less attention to each other in their respective foreign agendas but they are wrestling fiercely in the fields of politics,security and geopolitics in spite of an accelerating imbalance of strategic power.