【明報文章】Over the past few months the United States has engaged Russia diplomatically to produce rapprochement over a range of issues that troubled both countries. Relations between Moscow and Washington has been nosediving for over a decade since 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula. After the war in Ukraine began in 2022 tensions ran high and it seemed implausible that the two powers would have strived to achieve mutual compromise. This scenario all the more unrealistic as any move by Washington to reach out to Moscow would have found its European allies sidelined and disgruntled.