The future will be shaped by fierce competition for energy resources that may trigger military conflicts on Russia's borders, the Kremlin predicted Wednesday in a report signed by President Dmitry Medvedev.

The National Security Strategy paper also reflected the Kremlin's hope for better ties with Washington under President Barack Obama, saying that Russia will seek an equal "partnership" with the United States. But it named U.S. missile defense plans in Europe as one of Russia's top security threats, leaving plenty of room for further friction with Washington.

The document listed top challenges to national security and outlined government priorities through 2020.

The world "will be focused on getting hold of energy sources, including in the Middle East, the Barents Sea shelf and other Arctic regions, the Caspian and Central Asia," said the strategy paper, which was posted on the presidential Security Council's Web site.

The mention of the Arctic reflected Moscow's intense desire to claim resources in the polar region, which is believed to contain as much as a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, and the dispute has intensified amid growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice, opening up new shipping lanes and resource development possibilities.

"Amid the competitive struggle for resources, attempts to use military force to solve emerging problems cannot be ruled out," the strategy paper said. "The existing balance of forces near the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies may be violated."

It did not elaborate or name any specific nations that could be involved in military conflicts with Russia.

Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is now Russia's powerful prime minister, has often accused the West of trying to expand its clout in the ex-Soviet nations and push Russia out of its traditional sphere of influence. The Kremlin has fiercely opposed NATO's plans to incorporate its ex-Soviet neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia.

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, said the security paper reflected the nation's heavy reliance on hydrocarbons, which account for the bulk of budget revenues.

"It's natural for a nation so heavily dependent on global energy prices to pay big attention to energy issues," he told The Associated Press.

Russia currently controls most natural gas export routes out of the former Soviet region, but that grip is coming under growing pressure from China and the West.

The European Union, which depends on Russia for about one-quarter of its natural gas needs, has sought alternate supply routes, including the prospective Nabucco pipeline that would carry the Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe but skirt Russia.

Intensifying rivalry for influence in the former Soviet region fomented tensions that erupted into war last August between Russia and Georgia, which sits astride a key export pipeline carrying Caspian oil to Western markets.

The fighting began when U.S.-allied Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili sent troops in to regain control over Georgia's separatist province of South Ossetia, which has close ties with Russia. After routing the Georgian army in five days, Russia recognized both South Ossetia and another Georgian rebel province, Abkhazia, as independent nations and permanently stationed nearly 8,000 troops there.

The war in Georgia badly strained Russia's ties with the West.

Obama's administration has sought to rebuild ties with Moscow, which plummeted to a post-Cold War low under his predecessor George W. Bush, and focus on negotiating a new nuclear arms control deal.

Medvedev and other Russian officials have hailed what they called the new administration's constructive approach and expressed hope that Washington will drop plans to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The presidential Security Council did not approve the strategic document in March, prompting Russian media to speculate that Medvedev wanted to remove some aggressive anti-U.S. rhetoric in it amid signs of rapprochement with Washington.

The strategy paper released Wednesday said Russia will seek "equal and full-fledged strategic partnership with the United States on the basis of coinciding interests." It also said Russia will seek to maintain nuclear parity with the United States, but claimed Russia's policy would be pragmatic and would exclude a new arms race.

No previous version of the strategy was made public.

"The absence of tough rhetoric reflects expectations that new agreements with the United States could be reached," he said.

Lukyanov said it took the Kremlin a while to switch gears after a long period of escalating tensions under Bush.

"The Bush period has left scars," Lukyanov said. "At first, the Russian leadership simply couldn't believe that the U.S. policy can change, but now it looks like they started to think about a change in the U.S. approaches as a real possibility."