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58 I Eastern Europe bne March 2023
Putin has cancelled Russia's "co-operative" foreign policy law and replaced it with one that emphases Russia's "national interests", setting the stage for a new Cold War. / bne IntelliNews
Putin revokes Russia’s foreign policy law and sets the stage for a new Cold War
Ben Aris in Berlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin revoked a law that outlines Russia’s main foreign policy goals on February 21, which sets the stage for more aggressive Cold War-like relations with the West.
Putin signed off on the foreign policy law himself in May 2012 during his third presidential term, which outlines Russia’s major foreign policy goals.
The previous law contained
specific instructions for cultivating “co-operative relations” with foreign countries, based on “respect for neighbouring countries’ sovereignty” and a promise to work with the various world regions.
www.bne.eu
A new decree, which came into effect on the same day, revises those goals and has abandoned any attempt to co-operate with the West as well as ditching the requirement to respect other country’s sovereignty. Meduza reports that the specific points that have been removed from the law include:
• establishing external conditions that favour Russia’s long-term development;
• affirming the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, which require co-operation between states, based on equality and respect for the member states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity;
• active work on resolving the situation in Transnistria based on respect
for Moldova’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and neutrality;
• active co-operation with Belarus within the framework of the supranational Union State;
• active assistance in the strengthening of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as modern democratic states;
• promoting the creation of a single economic and civic space spanning from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast, including efforts to lift the EU short- term visa requirements for Russian nationals and collaboration in