US President Barack Obama has outlined a new foreign policy strategy in an address at West Point military academy in New York state.

He said he would look for alternatives to what he described as “military adventures”.

As part of his plans, a 3.6 billion euro fund would be made available to fight terrorism.

“These resources will give us flexibility to fulfil different missions, including training security forces in Yemen who have gone on the offensive against al Qaeda; supporting a multinational force to keep the peace in Somalia; working with European allies to train a functioning security force and border patrol in Libya; and facilitating French operations in Mali,” explained Obama.

The US president also defended his preference for an international consensus to deal with a crisis and made reference to the conflict in Ukraine.

Obama said: “In Ukraine, Russia’s recent actions recall the days when Soviet tanks rolled into Eastern Europe. But this isn’t the Cold War. (...) This weekend, Ukrainians voted by the millions; yesterday, I spoke to their next President. We don’t know how the situation will play out, and there will be grave challenges ahead.”

During his address, the US president suggested that he would be reluctant to use military force unless there was a direct threat on the United States.