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Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree "On the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation," the Kremlin said at its official website, TASS reported.

The changes introduced in the doctrine were endorsed at a meeting of Russia's Security Council on December 19, 2014.

A report at the Council's official website said the updates concerned in the first place the emergence of new threats to security in northern Africa, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It also pointed out a buildup of the offensive potential of the North-Atlantic pact right on Russia's doorsteps.

The report pinpointed the active steps on the part of NATO to unfold a global antiballistic missile system.

NATO's increasing military potential is among the key external threats for Russia, according to a new wording of the Russian Federation’s Military Doctrine.

Besides, the key threats include vesting the North Atlantic alliance with “global functions being implemented in violation of international law norms,” as well as “military infrastructure of NATO member countries getting closer to Russian borders, including through further expansion of the bloc.”

The Security Council stressed the consistently defense-oriented character of the military doctrine and Russia's accent on the use of military force only after exhaustion of all the non-violent measures.

The principles of combat use of the Russian Armed Forces and especially the use of nuclear weaponry have remained unchanged but it now contains the notion of "non-nuclear deterrence," which implies a high degree of combat alert of the general-purpose forces.