Russia's New Foreign Policy Guiding Principles: Building a Countervailing Force to the West

In its new basic foreign policy, the Putin administration in Russia has made its confrontational stance toward Europe and the United States clear and has announced that it will strengthen cooperation with countries such as China and India.

On the diplomatic front, it is expected that the government will strengthen its efforts to build a force to compete with the West.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on the 1st that it had held a meeting on the supply of ammunition to the military, and Defense Minister Shoigu stated that "we will strengthen our manufacturing capacity and increase precision-guided weapons along with conventional ammunition."

Defense Minister Shoigu inspected a weapons factory on March 28 and urged the domestic defense industry to increase weapons production as Western countries accelerate their military assistance to Ukraine.

On the other hand, the Russian government revised its basic foreign policy guidelines for the first time in seven years since 2016 and announced them on March 7, in which it clarified its confrontational stance with the West, saying, "The United States and other Western countries have launched a new hybrid war against the measures taken by Russia to protect its important national interests in Ukraine."

He also emphasized that "Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and one of the two major nuclear powers," and stated that it will aim to build a multipolar international order by placing emphasis on strengthening cooperation with countries such as China and India.

The Institute for War Studies, an American think tank, analyzed on March 31 that "the new basic guidelines are for Russia to build a potential anti-Western coalition," and pointed out that President Putin also encouraged him on the occasion of his summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month.

And since Russia will hold the presidency of the UN Security Council this month, it will present a new foreign policy before it and analyze that it wants to strengthen its efforts at the United Nations.

On the other hand, the Institute of War Studies observes that "Russia's economic and military power has declined due to the invasion of Ukraine, and countries have little reason to agree with Russia's proposal."