O n July 2, 2021 the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation came into force by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation. The document isn’t completely new, but has been updated amid the new threats and challenges as a result of changes in the internal and external situation in the country. The previous strategy was approved in 2015, for a period of 6 years.

The National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation is the basic document of strategy planning which defines national interest and strategic priorities of the Russian Federation, the goals and issues of the state policy in the field of national security and sustainable development of Russia in the long run. The primary goal of the strategy is to adapt country to the rapid changes taking place in the world’s geopolitical, military and technical, economic, information and other spheres. There are a number of important points in the document, defining Russia’s approach to ensuring state security.

As strategic priorities, the 2021 National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation sets:

• Preservation of people of Russia and development of human potential,
• Defense of the country,
• State and public security,
• Information security,
• Economic security,
• Science and technological development,
• Environmental safety and rational use of natural resources,
• Protection of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, culture and historical memory
• Strategic stability and mutually beneficial international cooperation.

In the field of country’s defense, the main threat is the formation of new power centers in the world and the intensification of the struggle between them, as well as the growing importance of military power in that struggle. The biggest security threat is the increasing NATO infrastructure on Russia’s borders. If in the 2015 National Security Strategy, Russia was interested in building full-fledged partnerships with the United States based on coinciding interests, then in the new strategy, the United States is viewed only in the context of security threats. The US waiver of international obligations in the field of arms control, as well as the planned deployment of US intermediate and short-range missiles in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region, are also viewed as a threat. The escalations of tensions in the post-Soviet area, the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Korean Peninsula is also considered a threat.

If in the 2015 document, the threats in the field of defense and the wordings aimed at neutralizing them were more generalized, then the corresponding section of the 2021 strategy presents a clearer and more comprehensive set of tools for the strategic restraint and prevention of military conflicts and for the improvement of the military readiness of the state. In this regard, the provision of technological independence of the Russian defense-industrial complex, its innovative development, maintaining leadership in the development and production of new promising models (complexes, systems) of weapons, military and special equipment are of special importance.

The threat to state and public security includes the stimulation of negative processes by external forces in Russia using socio-economic difficulties (e.g. anti-government rallies), escalation of interethnic and interfaith conflicts, information manipulations, activities of foreign special services in Russia, propaganda activities of international terrorist and extremist organizations by recruiting Russian citizens and setting up their hotbeds in Russia and the widespread use of the Internet in these operations.

The field of information security has gained a great importance in this document. In contrast to 2015 strategy, ensuring information security is now considered one of the main national strategic priorities. The new document doesn’t present the information security in a separate section, however challenges in the field of information (the use of information and telecommunication technologies to spread the ideology of fascism, extremism, terrorism, separatism, propaganda, as well as to damage political and social stability) are included in the state security threats.

In the field of information security, application of information and telecommunication technologies to interfere in the internal affairs of states, disrupting sovereignty and territorial integrity, attacks on Russian information resources by foreign states, implementation of reconnaissance operations in the information territory of Russia, dissemination of misinformation in order to destabilize the situation in Russia, blocking of Russian information platforms, distortion of historical facts, events in Russia and in the world are considered as threats. Contrary to the 2015 National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, in the new document, one more priority was added among the strategic national priorities, that is ensuring the country’s cyber security, taking into account the increase in hacking attacks on Russian resources and interference in the internal affairs of the state.

The threat to the protection of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, culture and historical memory includes implementation of foreign ideas and values, reforms in various fields without considering historical traditions and experience of previous generations, encroachment on Russian spiritual, moral, historical and cultural values by the United States, its allies, international corporations, foreign public, religious, extremist and terrorist organizations, information-psychological sabotage and “westernization” of culture. In the 2015 version of the strategy, threats to traditional and spiritual-moral values were indicated in the “culture” section of the document and included general statements without specific sources and actors of the threat. In the current version, the importance of the Russian language has been singled out as a special measure for strengthening national security in the field of culture.

The treat to the strategic stability and mutually beneficial international cooperation includes some countries’ attempts to dictate their rules to other members of international community, unfair competition, unilateral sanctions and interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. The strategy states that Russia seeks to increase the predictability of relations between states, strengthen trust and security in the international sphere, and is committed to the use of political means in the settlement of international and domestic conflicts, first of all through diplomacy and peacekeeping mechanisms.

The new strategy suggests that Russia has adopted a new, tougher security strategy, considering the need for the state’s flexibility, neutralizing new challenges and threats in a highly competitive environment. In almost all the fields, the main source of this threat is the collective West, which according to the document, seeks to weaken the country’s military and economic potential, destabilize the internal political situation, discredit the historical and cultural heritage and worsen Moscow’s relations with its traditionally friendly countries and neighbors.

It should be noted that there is no separate appeal to Armenia and the South Caucasus in both previous and new documents. Instead, both refer to Russia’s allies and partners, the post-Soviet area and to the cooperation within the CSTO, CIS and EEU.         

Both documents stressed the importance of deepening cooperation within the CIS countries, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the EEU, the CSTO, the Union State.

Unlike the 2015 strategy, where the presence of US biological laboratories in the post-Soviet area was mentioned as a threat, the new version emphasizes the need to expand cooperation with the CIS countries in the field of strengthening biological security. In contrast to the 2015 strategy the new version doesn’t mention the counteraction of the United States and its allies to the creation of a pluralistic world. The new version doesn’t mention about the vision of the CSTO development, whereas the 2015 strategy mentioned that Russia stands for the qualitative development of the CSTO, from the position of turning it into a universal international organization, which should face the regional military-political and strategic challenges, as well as the existing threats in the information sphere.

The new strategy includes the necessary steps for the implementation of foreign policy including assistance to Russia’s allies and partners in defense, security, neutralization of attempts at foreign interference in internal affairs, enhancing cooperation and promoting international development, providing economic mutual assistance in the post-Soviet area, solving social and humanitarian issues, as well as the implementation of mutually beneficial approaches to the development of new technologies.

The Asia-Pacific, Latin American and African regions were identified as areas of development in both documents, as well as deepening of cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS format, and within the RIC (Russia, India, China) framework.

The 2015 document considers the participation in peacekeeping missions in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter as a tool for ensuring Russia’s strategic stability and resolving armed conflicts, while the 2021 document emphasizes the increase of Russia’s role in peacekeeping activities.

The Russian National Security Strategy shows that the country’s external and internal threats intensified in recent years, and Russia tries to clarify its actions via this strategy. It can be predicted from the content of the document that Russia will pursue a more active and proactive foreign policy in the coming years, considering that there is no tendency towards positive changes in relations with the West yet.