Kremlin calls new US strategy ‘imperialist’

Monitoring Desk

ANKARA: The Kremlin on Tuesday called the new U.S. national security strategy imperialist but welcomed some of its positive aspects.

“A brief reading of [the strategy], especially those parts in which our country is mentioned, in one way or another [shows that] the imperial nature of the document,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Russia’s official news agency TASS.

Peskov added that the strategy included positive aspect like readiness to cooperate with Russia in the areas that meet American interests.

Moscow also looked for such cooperation with Washington, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday revealed the first national security strategy, placing a strong emphasis on “America first” in a move mirroring his campaign rhetoric.

The strategy focuses on four main pillars: protecting the homeland, the American people, and American way of life; promoting American prosperity; preserving peace through strength and advancing American influence.

The strategy classified Russia as “revisionist powers” citing their use of “technology, propaganda, and coercion to shape a world antithetical to our interests and values”.

However, Trump in his speech said Washington was seeking a “great partnership” with Moscow, in an approach which was viewed as softer than the full text of the strategy released earlier.

He cited recent intelligence sharing that thwarted a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg, Russia, and which drew praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Peskov said there was “unwillingness” on the American part to abandon the unipolar approach to the world and rejected the claims that Russia was a threat to U.S. interests. Also, Russia on Tuesday regretted the U.S. veto of the UN resolution on Jerusalem, saying Washington went against the will of international community.

“It is regrettable that the U.S., being a permanent member of the UN Security Council and claiming itself as a key mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, demonstrates approaches that are contrary to the international community’s will.

“This dilutes the international legal basis of the Middle Eastern settlement,” Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The new US national security strategy is a long document with “rather impressive” wording “which needs to be thoroughly assessed” by relevant Russian agencies, the presidential spokesman said.

The 68-page document lays out the four “pillars” of US national security as protecting the homeland, promoting US prosperity, preserving “peace through strength” and advancing US influence. Among the main challengers to America’s global powers, the strategy names “revisionist powers, such as China and Russia,” that seek to “shape a world antithetical to US values and interest.”

While China allegedly “seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favor,” Russia seeks to “restore its great power status and establish spheres of influence near its borders. The intentions of both nations are not necessarily fixed,” the document added.

The statement comes a day after the U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that rejects the establishment of diplomatic facilities in the contested city of Jerusalem.

Almost two weeks ago, Washington moved to recognize the holy city as Israel’s capital and begin the process to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv – the city w-here all other nations house their main diplomatic facilities.