Putin signs new strategy paper to counter pressure from the West

The last national security strategy was dated December 31, 2015.

By Ulf Mauder, dpa

Moscow, Russia – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new strategy for his country's national security to guard against influence from the United States and other Western countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new strategy to combat influence from the United States and other Western countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new strategy to combat influence from the United States and other Western countries.  © IMAGO / Russian Look

"The 'Westernization' of culture increases the danger that the Russian Federation will lose its cultural sovereignty," reads the 44-page document published on Saturday, among other things.

Critics see the strategy paper as an attempt at authoritarian paternalism and a further step away from the values of Western democracies.

"Russia's traditional spiritual-moral and cultural-historical values are under active attack from the US and its allies – including from transnational corporations and foreign non-commercial organizations," the authors continue.

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Above all, the paper anchors the thesis, also repeatedly put forward by Putin, that the liberal democracy model is in crisis.

"Personal freedoms are being absolutized; there is active propaganda of permissiveness, immorality and selfishness; a cult of violence, consumption and pleasure is being enforced; the use of drugs is being legalized and a society is being formed that negates the natural life cycle," the paper says.

According to the document, the West's pressure on Russia is growing – and with it the danger of a split in society.

It goes on to say that the West is trying to use the social and economic problems in Russia to destabilize society and radicalize protest.

The sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union on Russia are also criticized.

In addition, military tensions are increasing, according to the paper, above all due to NATO's encroachment on Russia's borders. The country therefore wants to turn more towards China and India.

Cover photo: IMAGO / Russian Look

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