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| Relations between Bush, left, and Putin have soured over US missile systems [GALLO/GETTY] |
Long gone are the days when all things American were greeted as new and exciting in Russia.
When the first MacDonald's opened in 1990 in Red Square, people queued in the cold for hours.
Now, modern Moscow is a western-style consumerist capital infatuated with big cars, expensive clothes and luxury holidays.
In fact, Moscow has more in common with pre-depression New York; a gung-hoe boom town where anything is possible for a price.
Colossal cranes swing ballet-like over building sites. Skyscrapers emerge seemingly overnight, dwarfing the city's onion domes.
Anti-American?
But as Russia becomes more like the United States, the Russian government is seeking to strengthen its presence on the global stage.
"Ironically, one of the dominant trends here is that we are anti-American because we want to be exactly like America," says analyst Boris Kagarlitsky.
"We are angry that Americans are allowed to invade minor nations and we are not."
The recent war between Russia and Georgia drove a wedge between the Bush administration and Russia's new leadership - it was a war Moscow believes Georgia would not have fought without US knowledge and support.
Missile controversy
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Reagan called the then-Soviet Union
the "evil empire" [GALLO/GETTY] |
But it was during the Bush-Putin era that relations first soured.
Washington's decision to site a missile defence system in eastern Europe, along with Nato's expansion into post-Soviet space, has angered Moscow and strained ties.
What Russians want to know now is whether things will be any better under White House contenders Barack Obama or John McCain.
Like most countries in Europe, Russians are watching the US election process with a mixed measure of intrigue and disbelief.
For the first time in generations, American foreign policy towards Russia has been a key issue on the campaign trail with the two main candidates taking different stances on how to get Washington and Moscow talking again.
Ronald Reagan, the former US president, called the Soviet Union the "Evil Empire" in the 1980s.
And while both Obama and MacCain may have fallen short of passing severe moral judgment on Russia, both have strong words to say to the Russian leadership.
"I think they are engaged in evil activity," said Obama.
McCain was a little more cautious. "If I say 'yes' [they are an evil empire] that means we are reigniting the old Cold War," he said.
Kagarlitsky said: "Unsurprisingly, most ordinary Russians do not regard themselves as morally impoverished.
"Neither, however, are most ordinary Russians prepared, or able, to bring their leaders to account when human rights are abused, corruption rife and life-expectancy low.
"The reality is both countries have a significant amount to learn from each other, providing hostile stereotypes are put aside."
Cultural stereotypes
However, Russia's state-run media have taken great pleasure in returning to a series of well-publicised gaffes by US politicians, an attempt to highlight how little the policy makers in Washington really know about the country.
When Hillary Clinton struggled over the Russian president's name: "Med ... Medv ... Medvedova ... whatever," in a TV interview, the clip was repeated for weeks on a number of state television channels.
John MacCain has not escaped ridicule either after calling Vladimir Putin the president of Germany.
There is a feeling that the US is unable to perceive Russia in any other way than through a mottled Cold War lens.
Russia, in turn, thinks the US sees it as a hostile country with an unpredictable leadership.
"Now it's Russia's turn to resort to cultural stereotypes," one analyst told me.
The Russian media sometimes seems to take pleasure in portraying the US as an evangelical jingoistic bully - "Comrade Wolf" as Putin famously called it.
Future hopes
Stereotypes aside, the majority of Russians favour Obama.
At face value his youth, good-looks and charm appeal to image-conscious Muscovites.
"There's something "film-star like" about him," said one Russian student, but few can say much more than that.
The general hope is that Obama, closer to Medvedev in age, will somehow be able to wave a diplomatic wand and heal decades of frosty relations.
As Russia grows economically, its leaders are keen to show the US that it is a political and military force to be reckoned with.
But whether the two countries work together or oppose each other is firmly hinged on whether they choose to perceive each other as friend or foe.
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