The Kremlin has welcomed a move by US President Donald Trump’s administration to shake up its national security strategy and stop calling Russia a “direct threat”, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
In remarks published by the Russian news agency TASS on Sunday, Peskov called the Trump administration’s move a positive one.
US national security strategies have identified Russia as the main threat since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But on Friday, the updated US policy took a softer tone, calling for limited cooperation.
In a statement to state news agency TASS, Peskov said the updated strategy dropped wording that described Russia as a direct threat and instead called for cooperation with Moscow on issues of strategic stability.
Russia will examine the documents in the coming days to draw a broader conclusion, a Kremlin spokesman said, adding: “We considered this a positive step.”
“We definitely have to take a closer look at it and analyze it,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency, as reported by Reuters.
What does the US national security strategy say?
The 29-page updated US National Security Strategy says Trump’s foreign policy vision is moving towards “flexible realism”. US policy will henceforth be defined primarily by “what works for America,” the statement said.
America’s strategy “is primarily motivated by what works for America — or, in two words, ‘America First,'” the document says.
The document further states that the US will seek a quick resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine in order to restore “strategic stability” with Moscow. But the country still maintained that Russia’s actions in Ukraine remained a central security concern, the document said.
The strategy was released amid a stalled US peace initiative in which Washington put forward a proposal that backed Russia’s main demands in the nearly four-year-old war.
Trump has often commented favorably and admiringly on Russian President Vladimir Putin, leading critics to accuse him of being soft on Moscow even as his administration imposed sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
European allies, who rely on US military support to deter Russia, have watched the shift closely and expressed concern that softer US language could weaken efforts to confront Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues.
It is the first national security strategy, a document the administration is required to release by law, since the Republican president returned to office in January.
