A Socialist In Canada, March 31, 2023
The following is the transcript of a meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on March 31, 2023. The meeting was devoted to explanation and discussion of revisions to the Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation .
Document: The Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, 42-page document approved by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, March 31, 2023. Here on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (76-point document, in six sections).
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
We will begin our meeting today with a discussion on the Concept of the Russian Federation Foreign Policy.
Radical changes in international affairs have forced us to seriously revise our main documents on strategic planning, including the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, which sets out the principles, tasks and priorities of our diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry, working together with the Presidential Executive Office, the Security Council Staff, the Government and many ministries and departments, has completed a large-scale and meticulous job to update and adjust the concept to modern geopolitical realities.
Today I have signed an Executive Order approving the updated Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation. I would like Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to report on its key provisions. Mr Lavrov, go ahead, please.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:
Mr President, colleagues,
Mr President, as you said, this is a strategic planning document drafted by our Ministry in conjunction with other federal executive bodies. It builds on foreign policy provisions that are included in the National Security Strategy approved by you in 2021. The updated concept shows a high degree of continuity with the previous version of 2016 in terms of the fundamental principles underlying our foreign policy, primarily its independence and its focus on creating favourable external conditions for Russia’s progressive development, ensuring its security and improving the well-being of our citizens…
[Read the full transcript of the meeting here on the website of the President of Russia.]
