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Clinton’s ‘Moscow Spring’ ended as Putin returned to power

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2012 pool-file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Vladivostok, Russia. Clinton says as president she will stand up to Putin. As secretary of state, her wrangles with Russia had mixed results. Clinton, the public face of President Barack Obama's first-term "reset" policy with Russia, scored a number of diplomatic successes _ when Dmitry Medvedev was president. When Putin reclaimed the presidency, it was a different story. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, Pool, File) FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2012 pool-file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Vladivostok, Russia. Clinton says as president she will stand up to Putin. As secretary of state, her wrangles with Russia had mixed results. Clinton, the public face of President Barack Obama's first-term "reset" policy with Russia, scored a number of diplomatic successes _ when Dmitry Medvedev was president. When Putin reclaimed the presidency, it was a different story. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, Pool, File)

By Associated Press August 7, 2016 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton basked in a diplomatic “Moscow Spring,” seizing on Vladimir Putin’s break from the presidency to help seal a nuclear arms-control treaty and secure Russia’s acquiescence to a NATO-led military intervention in Libya.

But when Putin returned to the top job, things changed.

Now the Democratic presidential nominee, Clinton has vowed to stand up to Putin if elected, drawing on her four years of ups and downs as the public face of President Barack Obama’s first-term “reset” with Russia. By comparison, her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has rung alarm bells in Washington and Europe with his overtures to the authoritarian Russian leader.

But Clinton’s wrangles with Russia led to mixed results.