On December 4, 2025, the Trump administration unveiled its new 33-page National Security Strategy (NSS), setting off political shockwaves from Moscow to Berlin and beyond. While the Kremlin greeted the document as a welcome shift toward its own worldview, European capitals responded with alarm, warning that the United States was abandoning its traditional role as a guarantor of the continent’s security—and perhaps even turning its back on the European Union itself.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov was quick to praise the NSS, telling Russia’s state news agency TASS that "the adjustments we’re seeing [in the document] … are largely consistent with our vision." He called it a "positive step," though he also noted that Moscow would "analyze the document before committing to any firm conclusions." This cautious optimism was echoed by Dmitry Medvedev, Vice-Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, who wrote, "The strategy unexpectedly reflects what we have been saying for over a year: security must be shared and sovereignty respected. Now a window has opened for dialog." According to Newsweek, Medvedev’s comments underscore the Kremlin’s sense that the U.S. is moving closer to Russia’s preferred approach to European security.
European leaders, by contrast, were left reeling. Norbert Röttgen, a prominent German politician, described the NSS as a "second turning point" in U.S. foreign policy, warning in an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that "the new foreign policy positioning of the USA is a second turning point. The strategy also expresses that the US defines its foreign policy goal as interfering in the internal affairs of European states." The German daily Bild ran the headline, "USA no longer at the side of the Europeans," capturing the sense of betrayal felt across the continent.
The NSS paints a stark picture of Europe, suggesting the continent is facing "civilizational erasure" and could fall into decline within 20 years. It does not directly characterize Russia as a threat to the United States, a marked departure from previous U.S. strategies. Instead, the document claims that the European Union and other transnational bodies undermine "political liberty" and "sovereignty," and censor "free speech." According to Canada’s Policy magazine, the NSS accuses the EU and the UK of practices denounced as censorship and political oppression, and it singles out migration, declining birth rates, and environmental protection as Europe’s biggest problems.
Perhaps most controversially, the NSS throws its support behind "patriotic" nationalist parties in European liberal democracies—groups that fight migration and promote nationalism. The document includes the statement, "America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit." As ex-Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt put it on December 9, "the US appears to be moving politically to the right of the extreme right in Europe." Bildt’s remarks reflect growing apprehension that the U.S. is now actively encouraging the rise of parties that have long been viewed as fringe or even anti-democratic in the European mainstream.
While the Trump administration’s NSS seems to downplay the threat posed by Russia, it takes a far more adversarial stance toward the EU. Steven Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told Times Radio that the strategy marks a complete departure from Trump’s first term, when Russia was seen as a "revisionist power" and adversary. Now, the NSS proposes to "regulate" European relations with Russia to establish "strategic stability" and avoid conflict on the continent. The document also claims that certain European governments harbor "unrealistic expectations" about ending the war in Ukraine, and that they are defying the will of their people to stop the fighting.
For European NATO allies, the timing could hardly be worse. Earlier in 2025, they agreed—under significant pressure from Washington—to increase their national defense and military expenditures to 5 percent of GDP, aiming to address longstanding U.S. complaints about burden-sharing. In a bid to maintain at least some U.S. support for Ukraine, NATO members and Canada joined the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, under which allies purchase advanced weaponry from the U.S. and donate it to Ukraine. During a meeting of allied foreign ministers in Brussels the week before December 9, two new PURL packages, each comprising $500 million in military hardware, were announced. Germany, Norway, Poland, and the Netherlands all contributed to these efforts.
Yet the NSS appears to criticize even these allied initiatives, stating that the EU is obstructing U.S. efforts to end the Ukraine war and emphasizing the need to "re-establish strategic stability to Russia," which would, in the Trump administration’s view, help "stabilize European economies." The U.S. has stopped sending weaponry to Ukraine at taxpayer expense, shifting the burden onto European allies. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, this policy change has left a significant gap in Ukraine’s defense support, even as the war grinds on.
European leaders have not taken these developments quietly. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on December 5, "The US will remain our most important ally in the [NATO] alliance. This alliance, however, is focused on addressing security policy issues. I believe questions of freedom of expression or the organisation of our free societies do not belong [in the strategy], in any case, at least when it comes to Germany." His comments reflect a broader sentiment among European officials who see the NSS as an unwelcome intrusion into domestic affairs and a potential wedge between the U.S. and its oldest allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took to social media on December 7, posting a message that racked up more than 27 million views in just 24 hours. Addressing his "American friends," Tusk wrote, "Europe is your closest ally, not your problem," and emphasized the importance of a "reasonable strategy for our common security." He added, "This is the only reasonable strategy for our common security. Unless something has changed." Tusk’s post was widely interpreted as a direct rebuke to the NSS, which, in his words, makes it look "like the European Union is a bigger threat to the US than Russia."
Moscow, meanwhile, has responded with a mixture of glee and caution. Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, on his radio show, lambasted European leaders and the EU, calling European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen "the new Hitler" and labeling the EU a "thieving terrorist organization." Solovyov argued that the West’s armament efforts and the possible seizure of Russian assets could provoke a pre-emptive military strike. Yet, as Russian political analyst Malek Dudakov observed on Solovyov’s program, "Trump basically says everything we have said." Dudakov suggested that both Europe and Ukraine would "probably only be informed afterwards about what we agree with the USA."
Still, Peskov cautioned that while the NSS is conceptually aligned with Moscow’s interests, "the so-called Deep State sometimes does things differently. That also happens." This note of skepticism reflects a long-standing Russian concern that U.S. policy may shift unpredictably, regardless of the rhetoric coming from the White House.
In the end, the Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy has left European allies feeling isolated and uncertain about the future of the transatlantic alliance, while emboldening voices in Moscow who see an opportunity to reshape the continent’s security architecture. Whether this signals a lasting realignment or merely a temporary rift remains to be seen, but for now, the sense of unease on both sides of the Atlantic is unmistakable.