A new document signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin has, for the first time, named the United States as a threat to Russias national security, highlighting a rise in tensions between the two countries in recent years.
Putin signed the document, About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation, on New Years Eve, Reuters reported on Saturday.
The document, which serves as a basis for a planning strategy related to national security, replaces a 2009 version endorsed by current Prime Minister and then President Dmitry Medvedev.
The US was not included in the 2009 version of the document.
The document accuses the United States of expanding its network of military-biological laboratories in countries neighboring Russia.
“The strengthening of Russia happens against the background of new threats to the national security, which has complex and interrelated nature,” the document said.
The new document also says Russias efforts to keep an independent international and domestic policy had caused counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs.
The signing of the document comes against the backdrop of a rising military presence by the US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.
The document also names the expansion of NATO as a threat to Russia’s national security.
Tensions increased between Russia and the West in March 2014 after Ukraines Black Sea peninsula of Crimea jointed the Russian Federation following a referendum. NATO eventually severed all military cooperation with Moscow over a crisis in Ukraine in April 2014.
Ties further soured after the US and its European allies accused Russia of destabilizing the situation in Ukraine and imposed a number of sanctions against Moscow over the crisis in Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine. Russia has rejected the accusations.
In the appraisal, Russia also accused the US and the European Union of supporting an “anti-constitutional coup d’etat in Ukraine”, which led to a divide in the Ukrainian society, as well as the military conflict in east of the country.
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