Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015. Sergei Karpukhin/Pool Photo via AP
For the First Time, US Makes Russia's List of Top Security Threats
The document, an update of Moscow's 2009 national security strategy, also alleged an 'anti-constitutional coup d’etat' in Ukraine while leaving out any hint of the conflict in Syria.
US-Russian relations reached a new low after Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a document that puts the United States on a list of threats to the country’s national security for the first time.
Putin signed the document, titled “About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation,” on New Year’s Eve, Reuters reports. It replaces one signed by then-president Dmitri Medvedev in 2009, which did not mention the US.
According to Reuters’ not-very-coherent translation, the document says Russia’s policies, both at home and abroad, caused “counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs.” This will likely put “political, economical, military and informational pressure” on Russia. The document blames the US and the European Union for the conflict in Ukraine, where they have supported an “anti-constitutional coup d’etat” and caused a deep divide in Ukrainian society.
Related: Marcus Weisgerber's reporting on how Russia could block access to the Baltic Sea, what a U.S.-built anti-missile battery is doing in Romania, and why Russia is forcing the Pentagon to rewrite Its European playbook.
But it did not mention Syria, where Russia is engaged in military action supporting president Assad while the US and its allies attack ISIL.
US secretary of state John Kerry was in Moscow in December to discuss Syria and Ukraine; he and Putin had found some “common ground” on the situation in the Middle East, Kerry said.
According to state-run agency TASS, the strategy document outlines all the forces lined up against Russia, including “foreign and international nongovernmental organizations, financial and economic structures, as well as individuals aimed at violating the unity and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, destabilization of the domestic political and social situation, including inspiration of colored revolutions, destruction of the traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”