Turn right: the US national security strategy may be beneficial to Russia

The new national security strategy of the United States turns the country against Europe. For the first time since the end of the cold War, the document calls into question the further expansion of NATO, and even speaks of the "decline of civilization" in relation to the European continent. In practice, this may mean an informal moratorium on the admission of new members, in particular, Ukraine. This could seriously damage Euro-Atlantic unity, experts say. In addition, restoring strategic stability with Russia has been identified as one of the main priorities in Europe. Such a reversal may be dictated by the economic interests of the "new" Washington.

New US National Security Strategy: details

In the official hierarchy of American document management, the national security strategy is the main and system—forming paper. This is not just the opinion of the administration, the president, or the executive authorities. This is an official and binding directive for all structures involved in foreign policy activities.

The world community has been waiting for a long time for President Donald Trump's team to finally unveil its vision of global processes and, consequently, current priorities. And so, after 10 months in power, the administration published the main document. It is noteworthy that she did this very quietly, without unnecessary noise and media and expert support. Although earlier the publication of such conceptual texts was accompanied by a certain PR campaign sponsored by the White House.

The previous strategy was published in 2022 by the Joe Biden administration and contained theses in the spirit of neoliberalism, an active foreign policy and export of democracy, and support for its allies in the world. At that time, it seemed to many experts and journalists that this was a "standard" American strategy that fit into Washington's understanding as the center of global liberalism.

Trump's strategy has significant differences. It contains the following main points: The United States intends to develop the Golden Dome missile defense system as a factor of nuclear deterrence; wants Europe to assume primary responsibility for the EU's defense; considers it a priority to contain a possible conflict over Taiwan. The strategy also states that building Europe's relations with Russia will require Washington's involvement in order to reduce the risk of escalation. In addition, it essentially reflects the end of the era of mass migration: the US borders must be protected from "invasions."

The United States is changing its attitude towards Europe

It is noteworthy that the national security strategy contains several harsh expressions against Europe, for example, that it is "in the decline of its civilization." Trump's strategy towards Europe is very different from all those that were adopted in the United States before: in fact, there is a revision of the previous paradigms regarding the EU and the European continent as a whole, Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the HSE Center for Mediterranean Studies, told Izvestia.

— In the part about Europe, we find that the new strategy is a continuation of the speech made by J.D. Vance in Munich. Then, during his speech, the vice president called for the support of the right in Europe - Viktor Orban in Hungary, the AFD in Germany, the National Front in France, and so on. The document again makes reference to this topic, which the current European globalist elites may perceive as a challenge. This could seriously damage Euro—Atlantic unity, which is already experiencing difficulties amid Trump's attempts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis," the expert said.

The US National Security Strategy of 2025 is for the most part addressed to allies, rather than to traditional adversaries in the person of China and Russia. It is also significant that the Russian Federation is mentioned 10 times in the document, China – 21, Europe – 49.

In addition, for the first time since the end of the cold War, the document openly calls into question the further expansion of NATO and defines the restoration of strategic stability with Russia as one of the main priorities in Europe. The United States wants the North Atlantic Alliance to stop being perceived as an "ever-expanding bloc." In practice, this may mean an informal moratorium on the admission of new members, in particular, Ukraine.

— The strategy warns that over the next few decades, some NATO members will become "predominantly non-European," which could undermine the alliance from within on demographic grounds. Hence, the question arises whether today's allies will share the same values as the United States tomorrow, as they once did when they signed the NATO charter," the political scientist argues.

It would not be superfluous to recall that Donald Trump's political slogan "America First" indicates the priority of US interests in foreign and domestic policy.

What does the new strategy mean for Russia?

Strangely enough, the Western Hemisphere, i.e. Latin and South America, is given more attention and reverence in the strategy. The owner of the Oval Office intends to maintain an expanded military presence there to combat migration, drug trafficking and the strengthening of hostile forces in the region. That is, the emphasis is on "America" or "The Americas." "The United States should occupy a dominant position in the Western Hemisphere as a condition for our security and prosperity — a condition that allows us to confidently assert ourselves in the region where and when it is necessary," the document says.

It is also unusual that the United States is paying little attention to the Middle East and democratization this time. In general, the document even contains notes of isolationism, which Trump's opponents have always accused him of. "After the end of the cold War, the American foreign policy elite convinced themselves that America's continued dominance around the world was in the best interests of our country. However, the affairs of other countries are of interest to us only if their actions directly threaten our interests," the text says.

The new US strategy is beneficial to Russia in some ways, says Alexei Mukhin, director of the Center for Political Information, a political scientist and military expert. According to the expert, Trump's theses are of an economic nature and are aimed at making the United States a global mediator in conflicts and strengthening its position in world trade.

— The US National Strategy has been published in a commercial edition. They are indeed planning to sell weapons to the European Union against Russia, but they do not call Moscow their opponent. They did the same with China, ceasing to call it an opponent, which opens up very serious negotiating opportunities," the expert says.

At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the United States, declaring itself an intermediary for the restoration of relations between the European Union and Russia, has very specific goals, namely, to take control of the pipelines that lead from Russia to Europe and send Russian energy through them, controlling this process, Mukhin expressed his opinion. At first glance, this is beneficial to everyone, including Russia, because it makes it possible to abandon the sanctions architecture. However, this contrasts somewhat with solid energy sovereignty, which Moscow is unlikely to give up.

The pragmatic approach to Russia as a potential economic partner rather than an adversary is also demonstrated by the practical steps of the current American administration. Vladimir Putin's meeting with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on December 2 also touched upon economic cooperation between Russia and the United States. In general, this topic has been raised regularly since the relaunch of the Russian-American dialogue.