MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. The mobilization of efforts to collectively rebuff terrorist aggression and create a broad anti-terror front on the basis of international law and under UN auspices became a key area of Russia’s foreign policy in 2015, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a survey titled "Russia’s foreign policy and diplomatic activities in 2015" released on Tuesday.

"With Russia’s leading role and in cooperation with the US and other international partners, we have been able to stop the hostilities and launch the process of supporting the political settlement in Syria involving all countries that can make a significant contribution to these efforts," the document says. "In doing so, a comprehensive approach to countering terrorism based on the premise that it is impossible to defeat this evil by military means only is implemented in practice. The use of force must be combined with the peaceful resolution of conflicts, assistance to the economic rehabilitation of the affected countries and opposition to extremist ideology."

"Russian diplomacy operated in 2015 in the context of the ongoing transformation of the international relations system and the growing contradictions associated with the redistribution of the global potential and the balance of forces," the ministry said. "Against the backdrop of the growing terrorist threat, deepening regional conflicts, the persisting difficulties in the global economy, the competition in identifying the contours of the future world order has intensified."

Two major trends have emerged, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. "On the one hand, it is the desire of the US and its Western alliance to preserve ‘the global leadership’ by all available means, to maintain, contrary to reality, the dominance in global affairs with a view to gaining unilateral advantages," the ministry said. "The other growing trend is to put the competition on a civilized track, to prioritize the need for a serious joint work to counter the international security challenges, strengthen the global governance mechanisms for the sake of the common interest, with the central coordinating role of the UN."

"Major examples of the productiveness of serious multilateral efforts with Russia’s active involvement were the completion of Syria’s chemical demilitarization process and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program agreed after years of tough negotiations ," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "This deal has made it possible to defuse one of the most explosive hotbeds of conflict in the Middle East."