The reset policy was originally conceived by President Barack Obama’s administration as a means of reinvigorating the U.S.-Russian relationship and placing it on more solid and pragmatic ground. President Vladimir Putin’s first few months in office, however, witnessed the “resetting of the reset” in which Putin unilaterally canceled several major U.S. assistance programs and generally showed little interest in improving U.S.-Russian relations. As a result, the Obama administration will have to reassess its strategy with Russia and find alternative ways of engaging with the Russian people. Such a strategy will include lowering the profile of the reset policy while pursuing more traditional exchanges that bypass high-level politics and promote direct links between the two countries.