In the current realities, Russia's foreign policy should help increase the stability of the system of international relations.

Such a task was set to the country's authorities and was enshrined in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation."

The content of the strategy has been published on the Kremlin website and on the official Internet portal of legal information.

The document is a summary of the updated National Security Strategy.

The previous version dated December 31, 2015 is invalidated.

The new National Security Strategy notes that the modern world is going through a period of transformation, which is characterized by a change in the rules and principles of international relations.

In particular, Western countries are striving to maintain hegemony with a growing number of "centers of world economic and political development," the document says.

In addition, the world is witnessing an increase in radical extremist sentiments, which can lead to increased interstate contradictions, degradation of economies, destruction of traditional values, ignorance of basic human rights and freedoms.

“In the context of growing geopolitical tensions, the foreign policy of the Russian Federation should contribute to increasing the stability of the system of international relations based on international law, the principles of universal, equal and indivisible security, deepening multilateral interaction without dividing lines and bloc approaches,” the text says.

Defense and "preservation of the people"

The growth of conflicts observed in the world is accompanied by an increase in the threat of the use of armed force and an aggravation of the military-political situation, including near the borders of the Russian Federation, the document emphasizes.

In this context, some states call Russia an enemy and seek to inspire disintegration processes in the CIS space "in order to destroy Russia's ties with its traditional partners."

Along with this, the Kremlin records attempts to discredit and isolate the Russian Federation, interfere in internal affairs, exert political, economic and force pressure, use socio-economic turmoil to radicalize the protest movement and split Russian society.

“Against the background of the crisis of the Western liberal model, a number of states are making attempts to purposefully erode traditional values, distort world history, revise their views on the role and place of Russia in it ... Information campaigns are being conducted aimed at creating a hostile image of Russia,” the National Security Strategy emphasizes.

In this regard, the importance of the sovereignty and defense capability of the country is increasing, the protection of the territorial integrity and spiritual and moral foundations of Russian society, the document says.

  • Unauthorized protest in Moscow, January 23, 2021

  • Reuters

  • © Evgenia Novozhenina

The key priorities of the Russian Federation's policy are declared "preserving the people of Russia and developing human potential", defense, state, public, information, economic and environmental security, scientific and technological development, strategic stability, protection of traditional values ​​and historical memory.

In order to implement the policy of “saving the people”, the state must solve demographic problems, reduce poverty, improve housing conditions, and raise the level of education and medical care.

In the field of defense, the key challenges are the build-up of NATO's military infrastructure, the intensification of intelligence of foreign states, the development of the use of large military formations and nuclear weapons against Russia, the escalation of tension in the zones of regional conflicts, including the post-Soviet space.

The Kremlin is particularly concerned about the US planned deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles in Europe and Asia, as well as Washington's "consistent course" of refusing to comply with its arms control obligations.

Given the nature of military threats, Moscow intends to maintain "a sufficient level of nuclear deterrence potential", to defend national interests abroad, and to continue the balanced development and rearmament of the army.

The strategy also spells out the importance of ensuring the technological independence of the military-industrial complex and maintaining leadership in the development of new weapons.

In the context of threats, the document repeatedly mentions information and communication technologies as a means of interfering in the internal affairs of the state, the commission of cyber attacks and other crimes, the dissemination of false information and extremist materials.

At the same time, most of the attacks by hackers on the information systems of the Russian Federation are committed from abroad, the document says.

“The activity of special services of foreign states is intensifying in carrying out intelligence and other operations in the Russian information space.

The armed forces of such states are practicing actions to disable critical information infrastructure facilities of the Russian Federation, ”the National Security Strategy says.

  • American cyber troop officers

  • © US Army

We will remind, on June 16 at a press conference following talks with the head of the White House Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin said that "the largest number of cyber attacks in the world are carried out from US cyberspace."

Nevertheless, according to the Russian leader, Washington is ignoring Moscow's requests for hacker attacks from the United States.

According to the American company LexisNexis Risk Solutions for January - June 2020, the main sources of attacks initiated by hackers around the world, in addition to the United States, were Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, India, France, Japan and the Netherlands.

To reduce the vulnerability of the Russian Federation in cyberspace, the state reduces the use of IT products of foreign countries, takes measures to prevent threats, suppress leaks and promptly eliminate the consequences of cyber attacks.

As repeatedly noted in the strategy, successful economic, scientific and technological development is the resource basis for the implementation of measures to improve Russia's defense capability and resolve acute social problems.

A significant part of the document is devoted to tasks in these areas.

The priority of state policy is to increase support for non-resource industries and high-tech enterprises, to create conditions for the commercialization of high-tech inventions.

 "Single semantic contour"

In an interview with RT, Alexey Podberezkin, director of the Center for Military and Political Research at MGIMO, said that the update of the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation is planned.

According to him, the document contains the whole range of urgent threats and a number of new priorities of state policy.

“The National Security Strategy is a basic document that fixes the challenges, problems and objectives of state policy.

Naturally, the key attention is paid to the geopolitical situation, which is now the main source of threats.

In response, Russia is strengthening its army and making efforts to import substitution of critical technologies, ”Podberezkin explained.

  • Servicemen of the RF Armed Forces at the exercises

  • Facebook

  • © mod.mil.ru

From the expert's point of view, in addition to the need to improve the defense capability and development of the Russian economy, the document places particular emphasis on the importance of preserving spiritual and moral values.

"The strategy raises the issue of ideological leadership in the world and the importance of traditional values, without which the development of any civilized society is unthinkable," Podberezkin said.

According to the expert, the main difference between the current National Security Strategy and the document of 2015 is the consolidation of domestic and foreign policy issues into a "single semantic outline".

“Socio-economic tasks are very closely intertwined with the situation of external geopolitical pressure.

Russia has proved that it is capable of defending its sovereignty, but without further protection from interference in our affairs and without progress in solving internal problems, it will be difficult to resist external pressure.

This is clearly spelled out in the strategy, "Podberezkin emphasized.

In turn, the general director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin noted that new priorities of state policy have been identified in the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation.

“Since the end of 2015, there have been serious changes in the formation of a unified system of public authority in the country, and priorities have also changed.

First of all, I mean the preservation of sovereignty, independence in decision-making, and raising the social status of citizens.

These circumstances dictated the changes that we saw in the strategy, "Mukhin said in a commentary on RT.

According to the expert, the updated National Security Strategy adequately reflects the current geopolitical situation, which is characterized by an abundance of threats emanating mainly from NATO member countries.

“This is not only about sanctions and harsh rhetoric directed at Russia.

It is appropriate to speak, and the strategy does this, about specific military threats: the approach of NATO's military infrastructure to the borders of the Russian Federation, regular unsubstantiated accusations against Moscow, provocations and cyberattacks, ”Mukhin explained.

In such a situation, as the expert noted, Moscow has to fix in its strategy measures of NATO's military deterrence, information countermeasures to the West and protection from cyber attacks.

“In the National Security Strategy, Russia makes it clear that it intends to continue to defend its sovereignty, the right to independently resolve internal issues, and will defend its national interests in various spheres and regions of the world,” Mukhin summed up.