THE GROWING struggle for the world’s energy reserves could spill over into military clashes, according to a new Kremlin security strategy published yesterday.
The paper also identified US missile defence programmes as one of the main challenges facing the country, and named the Arctic as a new area for potential conflict, together with the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caspian Sea.
“In a competition for resources, it can’t be ruled out that military force could be used for resolving emerging problems,” the document said, adding: “The existing balance of forces near the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies can be violated.”
The document, which will form Russia’s national security strategy until 2020, also warns of the threat posed by Nato. The paper says Moscow wants a “fully fledged strategic partnership” with Washington, but opposes US plans to develop a missile defence system in central Europe.
Ruben Sergeyev, a Moscow-based defence analyst, said: “This new doctrine makes clear that the main threat to Russia is the activities of western countries. Russia is seriously concerned about the growing gap between the US and Russia in the military field, and about America’s attempts to dwarf Russia’s nuclear potential by creating new arms systems placed close to Russia’s borders and in space.
“It is also worried about the US’s high-precision, long-range, non-nuclear weapons.”
US president Barack Obama has vowed to reset relations with Moscow, which under his predecessor sunk to a record post-Cold War low.
Mr Obama has promised to agree a new strategic arms-reduction treaty with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in July, when he arrives in Moscow on his first presidential visit.
But there remain substantial differences between them. The Kremlin remains vehemently opposed to Nato membership for Ukraine and pro-western Georgia, the scene of last summer’s Russian invasion.
For its part, the US rejects Mr Medvedev’s claim that Russia has “privileged interests” in neighbouring post-Soviet states.
Yesterday the paper’s author Nicholas Patrushev – a former head of the FSB spy agency – said it was “unacceptable” for the US to position “military infrastructure” on Russia’s borders.
Mr Patrushev listed the Barents Sea shelf and other Arctic regions as a new potential battleground. Russia is one of several countries in the northern hemisphere that has laid claim to the polar region, and recently dispatched military units to the area, alarming the five other countries with an Arctic coastline. – (Guardian service)