On February 10, Russia marks Diplomats’ Day, the professional holiday of the Foreign Ministry’s current and retired staff members. It was established by the Presidential Decree in 2002. The date is closely associated with the history of Russia’s first foreign affairs agency – the Ambassadorial Department, created on February 10, 1549.
A professional diplomatic service with an intricate system of diplomatic ranks, a chain of permanent diplomatic missions and elements of cameralistics appeared during the reign of Peter the Great, the first Russian Emperor. His reforms made the country part of the emergent European diplomatic system.
In 1718, the Foreign Affairs Collegium, subordinated to the Senate, the country’s supreme institution of State authority, replaced the Ambassadorial Department. Compared to the modern Foreign Ministry, the new agency had a broad remit. Not only did the Collegium monitor diplomatic mission exchanges, but it also oversaw the affairs of Russia’s ethnic groups living in borderline regions.
In the 18th century, the Russian Empire became a powerful multiethnic State. Following the abdication of the last Crimean Khan, Crimea became part of the Russian Empire, and Sevastopol, the future main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was also established.
Following the reforms of Emperor Alexander I, in 1802, the Foreign Affairs Ministry was created. One-man management became an important innovation, with the Foreign Affairs Minister replacing the Collegium’s members. And, in 2022, we celebrate the 220th anniversary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Ministry’s structure has expanded considerably and now has over 40 departments, and more than 200 embassies, consulates, and representative offices abroad.
In 1856, Alexander Gorchakov was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister of the Russian Empire, and brilliant victories of Russian diplomacy are linked with his name. He managed to achieve the lifting of restrictions on Russia’s sovereignty over the Black Sea, resolutely upheld the rights of Christian nations in Turkey and prevented the threat of an all-out European war.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Russian Empire’s diplomacy made an invaluable contribution to expanding the norms of humanitarian law. In 1898, Emperor Nicholas II initiated the first international disarmament conference in history. Its delegates met in The Hague and agreed to renounce the use of poison gases and explosive bullets.
In 1907, delegates to the 2nd Hague Conference banned the use of the most barbaric means of warfare and established an international arbitration court, the oldest organisation for resolving disputes between States by peaceful means.
In 1918, the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (NKID) began to implement the foreign policy of Soviet Russia. The Russian Empire’s diplomatic ranks were replaced with the single rank of Plenipotentiary Representative. A special institute, now the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy, was established to train NKID specialists.
In the 1920s, the Soviet Union won wide-ranging international recognition and established diplomatic relations with 25 countries. In the 1930s, the Soviet Union prioritised the establishment of a collective security system for Europe. Great Britain and Germany prevented the implementation of this Soviet-French initiative.
During World War II, over 360 NKID employees volunteered to fight at the front, and many of them were killed in action. Diplomatic ranks and special uniforms were reinstated, and the NKID was again renamed the Foreign Ministry.
At that time, Soviet diplomacy did its best to strengthen the Anti-Hitler Coalition and to facilitate the opening of the Second Front in Europe. Following the defeat of Nazism, the Soviet Union became a superpower and a pillar of the bipolar international order. The postwar European system was determined with the active involvement of high-ranking Soviet foreign policy officials, and it was also decided to establish the UN to safeguard future generations from the horrors of another world war.
Post-war Soviet diplomacy made a weighty contribution to supporting national-liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America, to curbing the arms race and formalising the principles of security and cooperation in Europe. Andrey Gromyko who headed the Foreign Ministry almost throughout the entire Cold War played a special role in the nuclear disarmament process.
The tense era of bipolarity ended with the breakup of the Soviet Union, but this did not harmonise international relations. Democratic Russia looked to the West, while searching for new foreign policy priorities; however, NATO’s violation of its guarantees not to expand to the East ended a brief period of rapprochement. In 1999, while in mid-flight over the Atlantic, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov decided to cancel his visit to the United States and ordered the plane’s crew to turn around after learning of NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia. This famous Atlantic U-turn heralded Russia’s conversion to a new pragmatic and multi-vector foreign policy.
Today, the Foreign Ministry of Russia is guided by the Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation as endorsed by the President of Russia on November 30, 2016. In accordance with this document, Russian foreign policy is aimed at ensuring the country’s national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, creating favourable conditions for sustainable economic growth, strengthening international peace and stability, enhancing the role of the UN, and developing bilateral and multilateral relations of mutually advantageous and equitable partnership with foreign States. The key principles of Russian foreign policy have remained unchanged: independence, openness, predictability, pragmatism, a multi-directional approach, and the upholding of national interests. Recently, the Foreign Ministry has prepared an updated draft of the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation which takes into account the recent global changes that took place in international politics over the past five years.
Russian Diplomats’ Day gives us an opportunity to remember the past, think about the present and future of Russia’s diplomatic service, as well as look back at Russia’s diplomatic performance in 2021.
The 20th anniversary of the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation was the highlight of Russia-China relations. The leaders of the two countries agreed on a five-year extension. The two heads of State took part in launching the construction of four energy blocks, developed by Russia, at two Chinese nuclear power stations.
Following a visit by the President of Russia to New Delhi on December 6, 2021, the parties adopted a Joint Statement “Russia-India: Partnership for Peace, Progress and Prosperity” and signed 15 industry-specific documents.
The extension for five years of the Russian-US Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms was an important result in the effort to maintain strategic stability. As agreed at the Geneva Summit in June, Russia and the United States resumed dialogue on these issues.
In December 2021, Russia forwarded to the United States and other NATO countries a draft treaty between Russia and the US on security guarantees and a draft agreement on measures to ensure the security of Russia and the NATO member states in order to establish legally binding security commitments in the Western direction, thereby ruling out NATO’s further eastward expansion and deployment of threatening weapon systems near Russian borders.
Russia played a key role in launching the talks to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear programme without additions and exemptions.
Signed in November by the President of the Russian Federation, the Executive Order “on providing humanitarian support to the people in specific areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions” is designed to provide socioeconomic relief for people in Donbass in view of the Kiev-imposed blockade.
In coordination with their Turkish and Iranian partners, the Russian representatives enabled the Astana format to play a leading role in promoting a settlement in Syria.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members agreed on measures to improve mechanisms for countering regional challenges and threats. The organisation launched procedures to accept Iran as a member, and grant dialogue partner status to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Promoting integration projects and cooperation across the Greater Eurasian space has remained a foreign policy priority for Russia. Russia’s initiative to establish a Greater Eurasian Partnership (GEP) as a single, broad and inclusive space for security, mutually beneficial economic and humanitarian cooperation for all Eurasian States was supported by the Dushanbe Declaration marking the SCO’s 20th anniversary, the Joint Statement of the Fourth Russia-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit, held in October.
Russia contributed to the efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. The Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 71 countries, large batches of Russian vaccines were delivered to foreign countries, and agreements were reached to localise and increase the scale of local manufacturing of Russian medications throughout the world.
Of special significance in the year of the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials and the 80th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War was the adoption of the Russia-proposed UN General Assembly Resolution on “combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” in December.
Russian officials have said on numerous occasions that there will be no war with any country, including Ukraine. We consider it unacceptable even the idea of war with our neighbour. The situation around Ukraine is being artificially escalated by Western media propaganda.
In 2021, Russian-Sri Lankan relations further expanded. Russia extended its full support to the Sri Lankan Government during the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, made every effort to oppose the anti-Sri Lankan Resolution and voted against it.
The Russian Sputnik V vaccine against Coronavirus was approved in Sri Lanka under the emergency use authorisation procedure and 335,000 doses of the first and second components were delivered to the island.
The Russian Government took a decision to transfer US$ 5.5 million to the World Food Programme to finance the development of sustainable school feeding projects in Sri Lanka.
Our bilateral cooperation in the field of security significantly developed. In November, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation
Nikolai Patrushev paid a visit to Colombo, met with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and held consultations of security issues with Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne (Rtd).
In October, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry Secretary Jayanath Colombage held another round of Russian-Sri Lankan political consultation in Moscow on bilateral, regional and international issues.
Defence cooperation between our two countries expands. In October, Sri Lankan Defence Staff Chief and Army Commander General Shavendra Silva paid a visit to Moscow where he held talks with Commander-in-Chief of Land Forces, General of the Army of Russia Oleg Salyukov.
In October, the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet ships comprising corvette “Gremyashchiy”, large submarines B-274 and B-603 were on a business call in Colombo.
Despite the COVID-19 situation, the volume of bilateral trade between January and November has not dropped significantly and the import from Sri Lanka increased by 12.1 percent. In 2022, Russia will continue to defend the central role of the United Nations and the need for a strict regard for international law as it is enshrined in the universally coordinated and accepted documents, and will promote the ever-growing partnership with Sri Lanka.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry Secretary Jayanath Colombage held a round of Russian-Sri Lankan political consultation in Moscow in October 2021.
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