Russia on Friday adopted a new foreign policy strategy naming the United States and the West as the origin of “existential threats” for Moscow, amid a diplomatic crisis linked to the conflict in Ukraine.
“Upheavals on the international scene” are forcing Russia to “adapt its strategic planning documents, in particular (the one on) the conception of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation”, justified President Vladimir Putin during a meeting of its National Security Council.
According to his head of diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, the new document notes “the existential nature of the threats […] created by the actions of unfriendly countries”, calling the United States “the main instigator and conductor of the anti-Russian line”.
“Generally speaking, the West’s policy of weakening Russia by any means is characterized as a new kind of hybrid warfare,” Lavrov added.
The new Russian foreign policy strategy is based on the principle that “anti-Russian measures taken by unfriendly countries will be constantly opposed, severely if necessary”, he added.
The adoption of this new foreign policy strategy ratifies the deep rift that has existed between Moscow and Western countries since the launch of the Russian offensive against Ukraine.
This conflict caused a diplomatic crisis of a severity reminiscent of the Cold War era.
Washington and its allies have put in place heavy economic sanctions against Moscow, which accuses them in return of waging a proxy war in Ukraine, in particular by delivering weapons to kyiv.
Isolated in the West, Russia is seeking to get closer economically and diplomatically to Asia, especially China.