President Putin signs decree approving new foreign policy concept

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP/VNA

"Today, I signed a decree approving the updated concept of the Russian Federation's foreign policy," Sputnik quoted Putin as saying at a meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council.

Mr. Putin said that the Russian Foreign Ministry and other departments have made every effort to come up with a new foreign policy concept that is in line with modern realities.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that the document directly considers the United States as the “main instigator” of anti-Russian political ideology in the world.

“The nature of the threats to our country’s security and development – ​​created by the actions of unfriendly states – has been confirmed. The United States is the ‘mastermind’ of anti-Russian sentiment. In general, the West’s policy of weakening Russia by all possible means can be described as a hybrid war of a new type,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

Mr Lavrov added that the logic behind Russia's new foreign policy concept reflected revolutionary changes in international affairs.

“The logic of this document reflects the changing geopolitical reality. In fact, revolutionary developments in the external situation have increased markedly since Russia launched its special military operation,” Lavrov stressed.

Mr Lavrov also said that the new foreign policy concept proposed using armed forces to repel or prevent an armed attack against Russia and its allies.

“Therefore, we categorically declare that we will defend the right of the Russian people to exist and develop freely,” the Russian Foreign Minister declared.

Earlier, the Russian Security Council stressed that the country's new foreign policy concept reflects a new approach to Moscow's relations with the West.

A day earlier, on March 30, President Putin also signed a decree on spring military service. The content of the decree stipulates that from April 1 to July 15, 2023, Russian citizens aged 18-27 who are not in the reserve force and are subject to military service will be called up for military service, with a number of 147,000 people.

The decree also required the demobilization of soldiers, sailors, sergeants and officers whose military service had expired.

In the fall of 2022, a total of 120,000 Russian citizens were drafted into the army, up from 134,500 who had already been drafted in the spring of last year.

On average, over the past few years, about 130,000 people have joined the army each time in Russia.

On the same day, the Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma (the Russian lower house of parliament), Andrey Kartapolov, said that Russians called up for military service will not serve in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces.

Kartapolov also noted that these regions will not conduct a spring draft and said that the planned gradual increase in the draft age in Russia will not affect this spring draft.

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper