The Kremlin on Sunday offered unusually warm praise for U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled National Security Strategy, saying the document corresponded in many areas with Russia’s own global outlook. It was the most positive public reaction Moscow has given to such a strategy since the end of the Cold War.
The strategy outlines what Trump calls “flexible realism” and revives the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, positioning the Western Hemisphere as a zone of U.S. influence. It also warns that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” identifies ending the war in Ukraine as a core American priority, and calls for the restoration of strategic stability with Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the adjustments presented in the document “correspond in many ways to our vision,” speaking on state television. Such broad alignment between Washington and Moscow on major geopolitical questions is rare, though the two powers cooperated closely after the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse and again following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Rare Convergence After Decades of Tensions
During the Cold War, the two superpowers defined each other as ideological enemies, with the United States labeling the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and Moscow condemning Washington as a failing capitalist power. Hopes for strategic partnership after 1991 gradually eroded as the U.S. supported NATO expansion, a point of friction that intensified under President Vladimir Putin.
One element of Trump’s strategy that drew particular Kremlin attention was its pledge to end “the perception, and preventing the reality, of the NATO military alliance as a perpetually expanding alliance.” Peskov called this language encouraging.
However, he warned that the U.S. “deep state,” a term Trump uses to describe what he sees as entrenched officials resisting his agenda, might view the world differently. Trump critics argue that no such entity exists and dismiss the term as a conspiracy theory used to justify expanding presidential power.
Russia Notes Shift in U.S. Tone After Ukraine
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, U.S. strategic documents have labeled Moscow an aggressor intent on destabilizing the post-Cold War order. As reported in Reuters, Peskov told TASS that the new emphasis on cooperation with Moscow over strategic stability, rather than depicting Russia as a direct threat, marked a positive shift.
Washington and Moscow Continue to Watch China
Trump’s updated strategy also highlights the Indo-Pacific as a central geopolitical arena, pledging increased U.S. and allied military strength to deter a potential conflict with China over Taiwan.
Russia, heavily sanctioned by the West after its actions in Ukraine, has strengthened its economic and diplomatic ties with China. Trump has previously argued that preventing a closer Russia-China partnership is vital, telling Fox News in March that “the first thing you learn is you don’t want Russia and China to get together.”
