May 7, 2012, 18:20

Vladimir Putin signed Executive Order On Measures to Implement the Russian Federation Foreign Policy.

The Executive Order aims to implement a coherent foreign policy of the Russian Federation that would protect its national interests based on the principles of pragmatism, transparency and a multiple-vector approach in forming a new, polycentric system of international relations.

The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation has been instructed, jointly with other federal executive authorities, as follows:

- to assist in creating favourable external conditions for the Russian Federation’s long-term development, modernisation of its economy, and strengthening its positions as an equal partner on global markets;

- to seek to assert the rule of law in international relations, to advocate the leading role of the UN in global affairs and the fundamental principles of the UN Charter that require the development of friendly relations between nations on the basis of equality, respect for each others’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, and recognition of the UN Security Council’s primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, and to broaden the Russian Federation’s input into UN peacekeeping operations;

- to make active use of various forms of multilateral diplomacy, including BRICS, the G20, the G8, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation;

- to encourage more active joint international efforts to counter global challenges and threats, including the danger of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and means of their transportation, international terrorism, drug trafficking, organised crime and regional conflicts.