Soviet Experience in World War II and Potential for U.S.-Russia Security Cooperation

By Mia Adamowsky, MALD 2018 Candidate, The Fletcher School

At the Great Patriotic War Museum in Moscow, a remarkable black and white photograph is on prominent display. Magnified and taking up most of a wall in one of the museum’s exhibition halls, the photograph shows American and Red Army soldiers, smiling and walking arm in arm through Torgau, Germany in April of 1945. The photograph was taken after the historic meeting of American and Soviet troops at the Elbe River toward the end of the Second World War, which is known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia. The genuine partnership and camaraderie of that time stands in stark contrast to the mutual mistrust and antipathy between the United States and Russia today. And yet, the celebration of this photograph in one of Moscow’s largest museums seems to suggest that both the memory of and the hope for a better bilateral relationship has survived.

This past May, I had the opportunity to return to Moscow as a Fletcher student to attend the second MGIMO-Fletcher conference on U.S.-Russian relations and perform research for my capstone project, which focuses on U.S. maritime security strategy. In addition to attending the conference, I was able to conduct interviews with MGIMO faculty on geopolitical issues, with particular emphasis on the current state of Sino-Russian relations. I was also able to visit the State Historical Museum in Red Square and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in western Moscow.

Much of my capstone project concentrates on the mid and long term security interests of the United States in the geopolitically strategic regions of the Atlantic, the Arctic, and Pacific Asia. An overarching aim of my capstone project is to demonstrate that although the United States and Russia clearly have significant conflicting (and competing) security interests in the short-term, they may actually have complementary security interests in the mid and long-term, with particular regard to each country’s maritime security interests.

By way of this trip, I was able to research potential areas of security cooperation between the United States and Russia, as well as possible off-ramps that may facilitate the stabilization of bilateral relations in the near-term. I was also able to gain a deeper understanding of Russian perceptions of U.S. policies, discourse, and security interests. I also came back to the United States with a better understanding of the Soviet experience during the Second World War, and how this experience and its aftermath continue to shape present Russian institutions and the Russian consciousness. The opportunities I have had to visit Russia through The Fletcher School have greatly informed my capstone research and my understanding of Russian issues, and I look forward to applying these insights to my capstone in the coming months.