The next U.S. administration will inherit the worst relationship with Russia since Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil empire. Judging from the list of grievances that President Vladimir Putin has laid out, even a relatively Putin-friendly Donald Trump will have a hard time satisfying him.
Putin delivered his message to the future U.S. president last week, just as the U.S. State Department announced it was suspending negotiations with Russia on a cease-fire in Syria and Russia-backed Syrian troops moved to take more ground in Aleppo. In a bill submitted to the parliament, Putin threatened to end a joint U.S.-Russian disarmament program — in which surplus weapons-grade plutonium is processed into fuel — unless the United States meets certain conditions:
Roll back NATO infrastructure and reduce its personnel to September 2000 levels.