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The relations with Russia rank among the most important and most complex
issues in the US and UK foreign policy. The years after the Second World War
have been marked by an exhausting arms race between the Western and Eastern
bloc that ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break-up of the Soviet
Union and the victory of the United States and its Western allies. The
purpose of this paper is to analyse the relations between the US and the
United Kingdom on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, during the mandate
of President Trump and after Brexit and point to possible directions that
these relations may take in the aftermath of Biden?s victory in the 2020 US
Presidential elections. The author proceeds from a hypothesis that the
efforts of President Trump, who, contrary to his predecessors, felt that the
relations with Russia should be based on interests rather than ideology,
have failed. He has not been successful primarily due to the huge resistance
mounted by the state structures, mainstream media and anti-Russian coalition
forged by the Republican and Democratic parties. The relations between the
UK and Russia remain cold after Brexit as well due to the severe problems
between the two countries. The first part will deal with the strained
relations between the United States and Russia following the West?s victory
in the Cold War, the efforts of President Trump to improve these relations
and his failure to do so. The second part of the paper will address the
relationship between the United Kingdom and Russia, which is in many
respects even more complicated than that between Russia and the US. After
Brexit, the relations between the two countries continue to be plagued by
the activities of the Russian agents in Great Britain, the crisis in Ukraine
and different views on the war in Syria. In the third part, the concluding
part of the paper, the author tried to answer the question of how the
relations between the US and Russia will develop after Joseph Biden won the
2020 US Presidential elections. According to him, the new President will
continue to pursue the traditional policy towards Russia agreed upon by both
US parties. It can be expected that Biden will, despite the policy of
sanctions pursued by his predecessors, Obama and Trump, engage more in
supporting the opposition and civilian sector in Russia. Given the cold and
strained relations between these two states, it may be assumed that Great
Britain will readily follow a new, tougher course of action pursued by
President Biden towards Russia and Putin. It is especially important for UK
politics that Biden returns to the ideas of liberalism because, as we have
seen on previous pages, in London, in addition to the actions of Russian
agents on the UK territory, Putin is most resented precisely for his
activities to overthrow the ruling liberal order. Despite the good ties
between Prime Minister Johnson and the former US President who supported
Brexit, Biden's victory will bring relief to the UK because of his
commitment, as opposed to Trump, to bring back America to the world
political stage, where London is likely to expect to find space for its new
global role after leaving the EU. On the other hand, Moscow will probably
continue with its past foreign policy strategy in anticipation of the moves
to be taken by the new US President without high expectations regarding the
future relations between the two countries. Russia has even fewer
expectations when it comes to relations with the UK, given the gravity of
the problems that burden the relations between the two countries

Leaving the EU is one of the major political decisions made in the UK over
the past half-century. Brexit brought about a virtual political earthquake
not only in EU-UK relations but also in terms of UK future place and role on
the international scene. Immediately after the decision of UK citizens to
leave the EU at a referendum held on 23 June 2016, the question arose as to
whether the UK will lose some of its international influence, whether
Scotland will remain part of the Union, whether the UK will retain its
privileged relations and special status with the USA, and what its future
relations with the EU will be. The purpose of this article is to point to the
basic priorities of the contemporary British foreign policy as well as to
place and role of the UK on the contemporary international scene particularly
in view of its decision to leave the EU. We shall first try to define the
status of present-day Britain in international relations. Second, we shall
address the traditional dilemma of the UK foreign policy - what should be
given priority - relations with the USA, Europe or the Commonwealth? After
that, we shall discuss in more detail the phases the UK foreign policy went
through following the end of the cold war. In the third phase, we shall
analyze the British contemporary foreign and economic policy towards Gulf
countries and China. In the fourth part of the article, we shall discuss
relations with the USA. It should be pointed out that the article does not
seek to analyze all aspects of British foreign policy, even if we wanted to,
due to a shortage of time. Of course, the topic of Brexit will be present in
all chapters and especially in the last one and conclusion remarks. By its
decision to leave the EU, the UK appears to have given priority to its
relations with the USA, China, Gulf countries as well as Commonwealth
countries instead of the EU which has been economically and politically
dominant over the past few decades. This decision taken by UK citizens will
no doubt have a great impact not only on their personal lives and standard of
living but on the UK role in international relations. Despite its military,
political, economic and cultural capacities, it is highly unlikely that the
UK will manage to overcome the consequences of an exit from the single
market, currently generating 18 trillion dollars on an annual basis as well
as the loss of a privileged partner role with the USA within the Union. We
are, therefore, more likely to believe that in the foreseeable future, the
role of the UK on the international scene will continue to decline and be
increasingly focused on its economic and financial interests. Project of the
Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant
no. III 47010: Drustvene transformacije u procesu evropskih integracija -
multidisciplinarni pristup]

For the last few years, the German foreign policy has been under constant
temptations and substantial reconsideration. The key role in resolving the
difficult economic and financial crises in the EU, the development of close
economic ties with the Russian and other rising world economic powers, the
decision to sustain in the UN Security Council in deciding to authorise the
use of force in Libya, as well as the dominant attitude towards the crises in
Greece and Kosovo clearly shows the wish of Germany to pursue a more
independent foreign policy. In spite of all these efforts and its huge
economic power, Germany has failed to become a global political power.
Moreover, in order to protect and develop its trade interests Germany must
remain within the frameworks of the EU and the NATO. For a long time, Germany
has been one of Serbia?s most important economic and political partners.
Since it is realistic to expect that Germany will be more oriented towards
developing its economic ties with the new world economic powers, the Western
Balkans and Serbia will not be in the focus of its foreign and economic
policies. Therefore, for Serbia, it will be useful to concentrate on the
cooperation with the mighty German provinces that have their interests in
developing this cooperation. In the future, the Kosovo issues will remain the
main obstacle to it.