US: Russia trying to accumulate influence in Europe and Asia

Russia is accumulating influence across the Asian and European continents, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Paul Selva said.

According to him, the strategies recognize that competition among the United States, Russia and China will dominate foreign relations in the coming years.

"We have spent the last 10 years observing a world where China is ascendant and Russia is accumulating wealth and influence across the Asian and European continents. And the United States is engaged with both," Selva said.

If there were no conflict or friction points among the nations, then it would be "just normal commerce," Selva said. But that is not the case, he added. 

"There have been and there remain friction points between Russia, China and the United States," the general said. "So, to say it’s not a great power competition, to say that we are not all vying for a place on the world’s economic stage, on the world’s political stage, and even on the national security stage is actually ignoring what’s real."