US Views Russia as ‘Acute Threat’

At the same time, the National Defense Strategy identifies China as "our most consequential strategic competitor and the pacing challenge"

WASHINGTON, March 30. /TASS/. The US government views Russia as an ‘acute threat,’ Department of Defense Press Secretary John Kirby has told reporters.

When asked whether the Pentagon was still viewing Russia as a ‘near-peer competitor,’ the spokesman replied: "I think, you can take away from what we talked about yesterday, when we released the [draft] budget [for the next fiscal year]. We talked about Russia as an acute threat. That’s how we are looking at Russia right now."

The Department of Defense transmitted the classified 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) to the US Congress on Monday. According to comments to the document, the Pentagon believes that Russia is presenting an ‘acute threat’ to the US, including due to its special operation in Ukraine. At the same time, the document identifies China as "our most consequential strategic competitor and the pacing challenge." The unclassified part of the document is expected to be published later.