Kremlin welcomes end to ‘direct threat’ label in U.S. national security strategy

7/12/2025 12:02

The Kremlin welcomed a move by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to revise its national security strategy and stop calling Russia a "direct threat," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published by the TASS news agency on Sunday.



Since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. strategies have designated Moscow as a major threat. However, the updated U.S. policy, announced on Friday, adopts a softer tone, urging limited cooperation.



In comments to the state-run news agency, Peskov said the updated strategy dropped wording that described Russia as a direct threat and instead called for cooperation with Moscow on strategic stability issues.



"We considered this a positive step," he said, adding that Moscow would examine the document closely before drawing broader conclusions. "We certainly need to look at it more closely and analyse it," Peskov was quoted as saying.



The new 29-page strategy set out Trump's foreign policy vision as one of "flexible realism" and said U.S. policy would be driven above all by "what works for America", according to the document.