Russia’s security strategy envisages ‘forceful methods’

MOSCOW (AP) — A top Kremlin official says that a revised version of Russia’s national security strategy says that it may use forceful methods to respond to unfriendly actions by foreign countries. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the presidential Security Council, says the document foresees “symmetric and asymmetric measures to thwart or avert unfriendly actions that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.” In an interview published Monday by the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta that those “primarily will be special economic measures, but also coercive forceful methods if necessary.” The revised national security strategy comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden set for June 16 in Geneva.