The Russian national security through the prism of “West-East” dichotomy

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of problematic issues of ensuring the Russian national security. The view is expressed that historically emerging challenges and threats came to a different, qualitatively new level, which became a serious factor threatening the national security of the Russian Federation. Methods. The individual issues of national security, which for Russia were actualized at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, were largely due to the change in the geopolitical picture of the world, and in particular the transition from bipolar to a multipolar world system. Results . The causes of military-political conflicts of the post-war period, which were reduced to the political-ideological and geopolitical rivalry of superpowers and their allies in separate regions of the world, as well as the desire to extend their influence to individual countries or their groups, were determined. At the same time, military force became a special tool of politics. The brief description of the threat of international terrorism, which is united under the flags of various religious-political formations, is in fact represented by the Third World War, acquiring the form of a structurally organized phenomenon aimed at escalating the confrontation between the West and the East. The norms and principles of international law, as well as the responsibility of the world community, the United Nations for the prevention, localization and cessation of conflicts through peacemaking, are considered. Conclusions. It is concluded that it is necessary to stop the division of countries into blocs and to join efforts to make adequate political and legal decisions that ensure a “balance of interests”.