Kremlin welcomes end to ‘direct threat’ label in U.S. national security strategy: report

The Kremlin welcomed a move by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to revise its national security strategy and stop calling Russia a “direct threat,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday (December 7, 2025).

Since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. strategies have designated Moscow as a major threat. However, the updated U.S. policy, announced on Friday, adopts a softer tone, urging limited cooperation.

Mr. Peskov told the state-run TASS news agency the updated document dropped language describing Russia as a direct threat and instead urged cooperation with Moscow on strategic stability issues. “We considered this a positive step,” he said, adding that Moscow would examine the document closely before drawing broader conclusions.

“We certainly need to look at it more closely and analyse it,” Mr. Peskov was quoted as saying.

The new 29-page strategy set out Trump’s foreign policy vision as one of “flexible realism” and said U.S. policy would be driven above all by “what works for America”, according to the document.

Washington would seek a quick resolution to the conflict in Ukraine and aimed to re-establish “strategic stability” with Moscow, while maintaining that Russia’s actions in Ukraine remained a central security concern, the document said.

The strategy was released amid a stalled U.S. peace initiative, in which Washington presented a proposal that endorsed Russia’s main demands in the nearly four-year-old war.

Mr. Trump has often made positive and admiring comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, prompting critics to accuse him of being soft on Moscow even as his administration maintained sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

European allies, reliant on U.S. military support to deter Russia, have watched the shift closely and voiced concern that softer U.S. language might weaken efforts to confront Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues.