President Joe Biden's administration released an interim National Security Strategy (NSS) in March 2021 saying Washington "must demonstrate that democracies can still provide for our people," and vowed to "protect, strengthen and renew our democracy."
The latest Biden administration's National Security Strategy released last week speaks on Russia's aggression on Ukraine, interference in US politics, violation of human rights, and attacks on the opposition and independent media.
According to the report, Russia failed to topple the Ukrainian government and bring it under Russian control as it was preceded by Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, its military intervention in Syria, its longstanding efforts to destabilize its neighbours using intelligence and cyber capabilities and its blatant attempts to undermine internal democratic processes in countries across Europe, Central Asia and around the world.
The report also blames Russia to be unresponsive to the needs of its people and violating its citizens’ human rights, suppressing its opposition and shutters independent media.
Russia now poses an immediate and persistent threat to international peace and stability and the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, which Russia is a party to, particularly respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the prohibition against acquiring territory through war, the report said.
According to the report, the US under successive administrations made considerable efforts at multiple points to reach out to Russia to limit rivalry and identify pragmatic areas of cooperation but President Putin spurned these efforts and now it seems that he will not change.
In the report, the US said, alongside our allies and partners, the US will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine as they fight back against Russia’s naked aggression and rally the world to hold Russia accountable for the atrocities they have unleashed across Ukraine.
The report claims that Finland and Sweden to NATO will further improve our security and capabilities. However, Putin’s war has profoundly diminished Russia’s status vis-a-vis China and other Asian powers such as India and Japan.
The US also claimed in the report that it will not allow Russia or any power to achieve its objectives by using or threatening to use nuclear weapons.
However, the United States will sustain and develop pragmatic modes of interaction to handle issues on which dealing with Russia can be mutually beneficial. It respects the Russian people and their contributions to science, culture and constructive bilateral relations over many decades. It is the Russian people who will determine Russia’s future as a major power capable of once more playing a constructive role in international affairs, according to the report.