Putin urges Russian diplomats to actively promote Russia's national interests abroad

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday urged Russian diplomats
to be more active and pragmatic in protecting and promoting Russia's
national interests, RIA-Novosti reports.
"We cannot just passively observe events and "keep a close watch" on
them, as Foreign Ministry telegrams often put it," Putin said during a
meeting with Russian ambassadors in Moscow.
"We should influence the situations which directly affect Russia's
interests, act in advance, be ready to exploit any developments, even the most
negative," he said. Putin also stressed that "Russia's diplomacy
should be "dynamic, constructive, pragmatic and flexible."
"Russia's foreign policy has always been and will remain
self-sufficient and independent... it is consistent, successive and
represents the unique role of our country in world affairs and
civilization development which has formed over centuries," he added.
"It has nothing to do with isolationism or confrontation, and provides
for integration into global processes," he said, adding that
contemporary international relations could not be called stable.
"The international community is still far from creating the
foundations of a universal and indivisible security system... In a word,
everyone seems to be supporting this, but in fact, a number of
countries are trying to ensure only their own security, forgetting
that everything is interlinked in the modern world."
Meanwhile, he said, the most immediate threats to international security -
such as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, religious extremism, drug
trafficking and environmental problems - have a "universal character."
He also reiterated Russia's opposition to attempts to impose
unilateral sanctions on some countries, bypassing the United Nations
Security Council.
"We will continue strongly defending the United Nations Charter as a
basis of the modern world order, and we will continue to push for
everyone to proceed from the fact that only the United Nations
Security Council has the right to make decisions in cases requiring
the use of force," he said.
Putin also voiced his concerns over an American bill penalizing
Russian officials for human rights abuses and Washington's plans for a
missile defense system based in Europe.
"The swap of the anti-Soviet Jackson-Vanik amendment for an
anti-Russian law as well as [Washington's] course for violating the
strategic balance by creating missile system based in Europe.
"The swap of the anti-Soviet Jackson-Vanik amendment for an
anti-Russian law as well as [Washington's] course for violating the
strategic balance by creating missile defenses cannot but worry us,"
RIA-Novosti quotes Putin saying.