National security strategy of Russia in 2021 -comparative analysis of real and declared geopolitical threats

On July 2, 2021, a new “National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation” was approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, which sets out the official view of the country's leadership on potential threats to the national security system of Russia. Based on the geopolitical approach, the article provides a comparative analysis of the threats declared in the Strategy and the real foreign policy situation that has formed around Russia in 2021. Moscow still officially sees the main threat in the activity of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is building up its military presence in Europe and increasing information and ideological pressure on Russia. Meanwhile, in the southern direction, such threats as large-scale demographic pressure on Russia from the Central Asian states, the formation of a theocratic political regime in Afghanistan, and the Turkish-Azerbaijani military-political alliance are being formed. Potential geopolitical threats persist in Southeast Asia as well, such as the unresolved territorial conflict over the Kuril Islands, the growing dependence of the Chinese economy on external energy supplies, which, in case of unfavorable developments, could draw the attention of the PRC leadership to the Russian territories of Eastern Siberia.