1. Institute for
Development and
MOLDOVA’S FOREIGN POLICY STATEWATCH Social Initiatives
“Viitorul”
Issue 20, March 2011
VISIT OF THE AMERICAN VICE-PRESIDENT
JOE BIDEN IN MOLDOVA- DEMOCRATIC
MANEUVER AND GEOPOLITICAL RHETORIC
Ion Tăbârţă
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S
ix-hour visit to Chisinau of the Vice President Joe
Biden has caused a real “national euphoria” in
Moldova. Chisinau was the culmination point of
Biden’s journey, which began in Helsinki and con-
tinued with Moscow. Without diminishing the im-
portance and impact of American Vice President’s
visit of the capitals of Finland and of Republic of
Moldova, the real strategic stakes of Biden’s tour in Euro-
pe was his visit to Moscow.

2. 2 Moldova’s Foreign Policy Statewatch
„Reload” of the
American-Russian relations
It has to be underlined from the beginning that Joe Biden represents the second political person
from the U.S.A, not only given the status of the position he holds, but also his personal influence that he
has within American political circles. At the White House, Joe Biden is labeled as the „voice” of President
Barack Obama on foreign policy.
Within the analytical environment Joe Biden is called „father of resetting” relationships between
the U.S. and Russia. Namely Biden, in February 2009, at the (annual) Munich Conference on Security,
announced the need to „reset” U.S. - Russian relations. Also in an interview for The Wall Street Journal,
in the summer of 2009, American Vice President diagnosed Russia as a weak state, which eventually will
have to make concessions to the West and America due to internal problems. Also Joe Biden, due to the
influence he exercises over the American Congress, he has played a key role in ratifying the Russian-
American Treaty on nuclear disarmament START III at the end of 2010, signed on 8 April 2010, in Prague,
by the U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
After the critical moment of the Russian-American relations from 2008 (international recognition of
Kosovo, NATO summit in Bucharest, the war in South Ossetia), their „reset” was possible because it was
needed both by Moscow and Washington. With the U.S. waging a prolonged war in Afghanistan or being
„plunged” in Iraq, it is natural to have other strategic foreign policy priorities that those of the former Soviet
Union. After the geopolitical defeat suffered in „colored revolutions” in the years, after 2007, Russia has
managed to obtain some significant geopolitical success in the CIS space, especially in Ukraine.
U.S. reflux from the post-Soviet space and Russia’s geopolitical return allowed mutual adjustment
of some points (important to for one side and secondary for another) on the Russian-American agenda
until reaching a relatively common position. By „reset” the U.S. has given a clear signal that from the
post-Soviet countries only Russia really matters for Washington. The pro-western states from the CIS
space as – Georgia and Ukraine – were to a certain extent, „abandoned” by the U.S., given the interest
they have in relations with Russia.
The biggest success so far of the U.S.-Russian „reset” was the signing and entry into force on 5
February 2011, of the START III Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which implies a 30% reduction
of strategic nuclear arsenals. However, on the U.S.-Russian agenda are several problems of utmost
importance for both parties, such as signing an agreement on missile defense.
After two years of “resetting”, the U.S-Russian relations have reached a state of ambiguity, meaning
something like “not enemies, nor friends”. Both Washington and Moscow are aware of the necessity to
deepen the U.S.-Russian cooperation, but one has reached the point where in order to intensify the
relation between the two parties, one of them (or both) have to revise their principle positions, making
serious concessions (from its perspective).
Str. Iacob Hîncu 10/1, Chişinău MD-2005 Republic of Moldova 373 / 22 221844 phone 373 / 22 245714 fax office@viitorul.org www.viitorul.org

3. Moldova’s Foreign Policy Statewatch 3
Democratic maneuver in Moscow
According to his councilor, Tony Blinken, the main purpose of Biden in Moscow was the evaluation
of results on “resetting” the relations between the U.S. and Russia and estimation of “changes we can
expect in the future”. Blinken has underlined that in Moscow, Biden will discuss about the cooperation
between those two countries in missile defense and Russia’s efforts to become a member of the World
Trade Organization.
Biden’s visit to Moscow has had a feature of pulse measuring of the U.S.-Russian relations in
perspective of the meeting between Obama cu Medvedev that will take place during this year. According
to the agenda (and according to the words of Blinken) priority points of Biden’s visit to Moscow were
bilateral security cooperation, especially on missile defense, and commercial relations with Russia.
Priorities for this year in U.S. - Russian relations have been confirmed also by Mike McFaul, director
of the National Security Council for the relations with Russia and Eurasia, who declared that Russia’s
accession to the World Trade Organization and cooperation in missile defense are “two our priority issues
for the year 2011”.
Summarizing the results of Biden’s visit to Moscow, surprisingly, its formal part referred to democratic
values and human rights issues. Biden’s main message was that economic modernization towards which
Russia is oriented since 2010 (with the help of EU) cannot take place without society democratization. In
Moscow, Biden tried to deepen and to expand areas of U.S.-Russian “reset”, including on its agenda such
issues as democracy and human rights.
Given that there are other priorities on the agenda of Russian-American relationship, the emphasis
on democratization issues (externalized through Biden’s with key opposition leaders and Russian human
rights activists or criticism of investment environment from Russian Federation) was labeled by many
political analysts as a U.S. strategic challenge towards Russia, being rather an ostentatious gesture
of the White House towards Kremlin, somewhere in the spirit of ’70s-80s of the last century when the
struggle for human rights in the Soviet Union was one of the basic priorities of the United States.
Geopolitical rhetoric in Chisinau
The importance of the public speech given by Joe Biden in Chisinau on 11 March is the recognition
of democratic progress made by Moldova in the past two years. Otherwise, the words of the U.S. Vice
President come to confirm the “success story” with which Republic of Moldova “was baptized” by the EU.
Quantifying Biden’s speech in Chisinau, one identifies four key priorities of the Republic of Moldova:
democratization (Republic of Moldova has shown an excellent model on how transition to democracy
should take place), economic reforms (Republic of Moldova to continue economic reforms. We would like
U.S. investors to be present here and to have good trade relations), geopolitical orientation (the country’s
future should be in the European Union and the United States will support the European course of the
country) and the Transnistrian conflict (the United States will support any resolution of the Transnistrian
conflict under one condition: preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of
Moldova).
Str. Iacob Hîncu 10/1, Chişinău MD-2005 Republic of Moldova 373 / 22 221844 phone 373 / 22 245714 fax office@viitorul.org www.viitorul.org

4. 4 Moldova’s Foreign Policy Statewatch
Reading between the lines the speech of the American Vice President in Chisinau, we can identify
its essence and message. First of all, (with internal content) it establishes the policy directions and
development priorities of the Republic of Moldova: democratization, economic reforms, foreign policy and
internal conflict. In other words, Republic of Moldova has been given the homework it must accomplish.
Second of all, (on external purpose), the speech was also addressed to Russian Federation. Through
democratization and economic reforms, were flagged the overdue and weaknesses of Russia, and by
supporting the European path and territorial integrity of Moldova, Moscow has been suggested to be
more cooperative and to make some concessions on the priority topics of Russian-American discussions.
Correlation between internal-external aspect of Biden’s speech in Chisinau and the subsequent
development of events depends on the following factors: 1) internal political and economic success of the
Republic of Moldova; 2) the conduct of Russian-American dialogue on priority issues targeting relations
between the U.S. and Russia; 3) regional geopolitical context. The higher are the political and economic
achievements of the Republic of Moldova, and the Russian-American discussions on strategic issues will
not evolve, Biden’s speech shall gain more practical consistency.
If the Republic of Moldova will stagnate in promoting democracy and carrying out of economic
reforms and Russian-American dialogue on its key priorities will be successful, then Moldova’s European
prospects will decline, it being increasingly oriented towards Russia. Of course, the equation is far
from simple. Situations may arise when the Republic of Moldova will obtain very good results in the
democratization process and simultaneously the Russian-American relations will witness a positive
development. Or, on the contrary, democratization of the Republic of Moldova will witness a simultaneous
involution with worsening of the relations between Washington and Moscow. It is also important to note
that development of the events will depend very much on regional and worldwide geopolitical context.
Conclusions
Indisputable, Biden’s brief visit to Chisinau is a real success of the Republic of Moldova, an
international recognition of its society democratization efforts and achievements after 2009. But the
context of this visit is much broader, Chisinau not being its real stake. “Reset” of the U.S.-Russian relations
involves a complex set of gains and mutual concessions. Having other external priorities than in post-
Soviet space, the U.S. tried to undertake a series of geopolitical exploratory maneuvers towards Russia.
Undoubtedly, Biden’s visit to Chisinau is a part of Washington geopolitical strategies. However, let’s hope
that Moldova is not a U.S. gambit in its geopolitical dispute with Russia on the Eurasia chessboard.
This publication was produced by IDIS “Viitorul” with the financial support of Soros Foundation
Moldova and the National Endowment for Democracy. The opinions expressed in this publicati-
on reflect the author’s/authors’ position and don’t necessary represent the views of the donors.
Str. Iacob Hîncu 10/1, Chişinău MD-2005 Republic of Moldova 373 / 22 221844 phone 373 / 22 245714 fax office@viitorul.org www.viitorul.org
Str. Iacob Hîncu 10/1, Chişinău MD-2005 Republic of Moldova 373 / 22 221844 phone 373 / 22 245714 fax
office@viitorul.org www.viitorul.org