Стр. 5 - V

Author : V. Kuznechevsky
Professor, Doctor of Science (History)
ON DECEMBER 1, 2016, at the end of the fifth
year of his third (overall) presidential term, Vladimir
Putin signed Russia's new Foreign Policy Concept,
which establishes the constitutional status of the
state's foreign policy.
Over the past 25 years, that is, since a new sovereign
state entity appeared in the world arena in December
1991, this is the fifth document adopted by Russia's
supreme leadership that presents its views on the fun-
damental principles, priorities, tasks, and goals of Russia's foreign policy.
An outline for the concept was aptly described in April 2000 by the Foreign and Defense Policy
Council in a document entitled A Strategy for Russia: An Agenda for the President 2000.
In defining Russia's conduct in the international arena, the country's leadership proceeds not from
a mobilization model of economic development but from a liberal state model of social, political
and economic development of society.
As he worked on the presidential assignment, S. Lavrov, speaking at the Foreign and Defense Policy
Council last March, offered a historical perspective of Russia's foreign policy, the ideas of which
were subsequently incorporated into the text of the Concept 2016. The main thing that the foreign
minister noted was that, over the past quarter of a century since the disintegration of the USSR,
Russia has not only restored its role as an independent player in the international arena but the in-
fluence of the so-called historical West, which for almost five centuries was accustomed to seeing
itself as the supreme arbiter of humankind, has declined. Under these circumstances, he pointed
out that, considering how the contours of the world order of the 21st century will be shaped, the
long-term success of any foreign policy course of any major state consists not so much in achieving
partner-like relations between groups of states as in moving toward the partnership of civilizations
through interaction between different cultures and religions based on mutual respect.
The document indicates that in defining Russia's conduct in the international arena, the country's
leadership proceeds not from a mobilization model of economic development but from a liberal
state model of social, political and economic development of society.
Today, the international situation may undergo some tangible changes and this circumstance appar-
ently calls for some corrections in Moscow's conduct. However, it seems unlikely that these correc-
tions will be drastic. Over the past 25 years, the scalded Russians now fear cold water and in their
foreign policy they have incorporated the elements that Minister Lavrov talked about in his March
2016 speech.
http://interaffairs.ru
Overcoming Uncertainty: Russia's New Foreign Policy Concept