Russia adopted new National Security Strategy
President Dmitry Medvedev today signed the new Russian National Security Strategy for the period until 2020. The document reads that Russia will have a pragmatic and non-confrontational foreign policy, which excludes a new arms race.
Information about the formal approval of the strategy was posted on the President’s website this morning.
As BarentsObserver has reported, the adoption of the strategy has been postponed several times. Originally, the document was supposed to be adopted in February. It was then believed that the document would be signed and adopted by the Security Council in its March meeting.
However, also in that meeting, the approval of strategy was postponed. That postponement, which came after new positive signals in US.-Russia relations, was believed to be linked with a need for a softening of anti-American parts of the document.
The document has been elaborated on since 2004, lately under the leadership of Security Council Secretary Patrushev. It covers the period until 2020. The previous national security strategy was adopted in 1997 and was later amended in year 2000.
Among the main threats outlined in the document are financial crisis, fight for energy resources, foreign intelligence and terrorist organizations. The anti-NATO sentiments in the document are clear. Russia will not see through the fingers with NATO’s expanding military infrastructure along Russian borders and the alliance’s attempts to get a global character.
The strategy text is available on the website of the Russian Security Council
