The Russian reset was an attempt by the Obama administration to improve relations between the United States and Russia in 2009–13.
On 6 March 2009 in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a red button with the English word "reset" and the Roman alphabet transliteration of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet word перегрузка ("peregruzka"). It was intended that this would be the Russian word for "reset" but actually was the word for "overload".[1] (The correct translation would be перезагрузка ["perezagruzka"].) Additionally, the button switch was the type commonly used as an emergency stop on industrial equipment. Hillary Clinton was later praised by the Russian diplomats for resolving the issue politely, stating her team's good intentions. Lavrov and Clinton pushed the button simultaneously.[2]
Russian (transliterated, morpheme) | English translation |
---|---|
перегрузка (peregruzka, noun) | overload, congestion, transshipment, reloading, overwork, overburden, surcharge, overfreight |
перезагрузка (perezagruzka, noun) | reboot, a repeated download |
перезагрузить (perezagruzit', verb) | to reset, to reboot, to repeat a download |
грузить (peregruzit', verb) | to load, to freight, to bunker, to embark, to lade |
пере- (pere-, prefix) | inter-, trans-, over- |
за- (za-, prefix) | pro-, trans- |
According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), the Russian language belongs to Category III “Hard languages”, languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English[3] |
Prior to the reset, US-Russia relations had been hurt by the 2008 Russo-Georgian diplomatic crisis in Ossetia and the Russo-Georgian War, leading to Immediate Response 2008 by the Bush administration. In private, several Obama administration officials expressed doubts about the reset and were concerned that it was overly optimistic, particularly Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and U.S. ambassador to Russia John Beyrle.[4]
In July 2009, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced that U.S. forces and supplies could pass through Russian airspace on their way to Afghanistan. On 17 September 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. was dropping the Bush Administration's plan to build a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe. Russia had viewed the planned missile shield as
On 6 March 2009 in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a red button with the English word "reset" and the Roman alphabet transliteration of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet word перегрузка ("peregruzka"). It was intended that this would be the Russian word for "reset" but actually was the word for "overload".[1] (The correct translation would be перезагрузка ["perezagruzka"].) Additionally, the button switch was the type commonly used as an emergency stop on industrial equipment. Hillary Clinton was later praised by the Russian diplomats for resolving the issue politely, stating her team's good intentions. Lavrov and Clinton pushed the button simultaneously.[2]