MOSCOW, July 1. /ITAR-TASS/. A unipolar model of the world has failed, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said addressing a meeting of ambassadors and permanent representatives of Russia on Tuesday while specifying the main tasks of the country’s diplomacy.

“Peoples and countries are expressing more and more loudly their will to determine their destiny by themselves, to preserve their civilization and cultural identity, which comes into conflict with attempts by certain countries to keep their dominance in the military sphere, in politics, finance, economy and ideology,” Putin said.

“Western partners were trying to persuade us that they had good intentions, that they were ready to combine efforts with us to build strategic cooperation. But, at the same time, they were making steps to further expand NATO, to move their military and political control closer to our borders,” he noted.

“Those who keep on stating about their exclusiveness are averse to Russia’s independent policy. Developments in Ukraine have demonstrated this only too well. More than that, these developments have demonstrated that the model of relations with Russia based on double standards does not work,” Putin stressed.

The Russian leader called to “get rid of ambitions, to impose common rules for every society". He called to “begin building relations on the basis of equal rights, mutual respect, and respect to each other’s interests". “It is high time we recognized the right to be different, the right of each country to build its life on its own will, and not to anybody’s meddlesome dictation,” Putin underscored.

Russia will not wind down its relations with the United States, though they had been spoiled not by Russia's fault, the president stressed.

The Russian president added that Russia always sought to be a reliable partner and conduct business on a basis of equality. "However, in return, our legitimate interest were often ignored," the president said.

He noted that "ultimatums and mentoring intonations" are often heard towards Russia. "However, we are ready for a constructive dialogue, but, I will stress it again, on a basis of equality," Putin concluded.

Vladimir Putin has slammed the US for exerting pressure on France to make it abandon its Mistral contracts.

 

On cooperation with Europe

Europe is Russia's natural and most important trade and economic partner, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

He has said Russia will be pushing ahead with the South Stream pipeline project despite the known difficulties.

“In cooperation with the European companies, we have built Nord Stream,” Putin recalled. “And despite the known difficulties, we shall go ahead with the South Stream project," the president said.

Someone seeks to use Europe in his interests, Putin noted. “More and more European politicians and businessmen are coming to understand that someone is simply seeking to use Europe in his interests, that it is becoming a hostage of short-sighted, ideologized approaches,” he said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives.

 

On Ukraine

Russia and Europe failed to convince Poroshenko there is no way to peace through war, the Russian president noted.

He added that Petro Poroshenko assumed political and military responsibility.

“You know about the recent attempts to restore peace in Ukraine (Russian diplomats and the foreign minister personally took an active part in this process), you know about numerous talks, telephone conferences on that matter,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors. “But regrettably, President Poroshenko took a decision to resume combat operations, and we - I mean myself and my colleagues in Europe - have failed to persuade him that a path to lasting, sustainable peace cannot be through war. Until now, Pyotr Alexeyevich [Petro Poroshenko] had nothing to do with orders to begin military actions, but now he has taken full responsibility upon himself — not only military but also political responsibility, which by far is more important.”

Kiev is conducting a well-targeted work on the elimination of media representatives, who are carrying out their professional duties in Ukraine, Putin has said.

“Murders of journalists are totally unacceptable, and I have reiterated this yesterday to the president of Ukraine,” Putin noted.

“We must understand that the events provoked in Ukraine have become a concentrated expression of the notorious containment policy being conducted in relation to Russia,” Putin said.

“The roots of this policy go deep into history and obviously and unfortunately this policy never ceased even after the end of the cold war,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian diplomats.

Eloquent speeches about the free choice and the European future conceal attempts to turn Ukraine into a dependent territory with all ensuing political, economic and social consequences.

“It is a pity that millions of ordinary people now have to pay for political games,” the Russian leader said.

“Our compatriots, Russians, people of other nationalities, their language, history, culture, legitimate rights that are guaranteed, incidentally, by pan-European conventions, have been endangered in Ukraine,” Putin said.

Putin said that there is no such thing as reverse traffic of gas from Western Europe to Ukraine, nor can such a possibility emerge in the future. Kiev appears to have plotted some shady schemes with some of its partners, he claimed.

 

On Crimea

When touching upon the issue of Crimea’s accession, Putin stressed that Russia did not have the right to leave Crimea and Sevastopol to its fate and let NATO troops there.

“We could not afford to leave Crimea’s people and the people of Sevastopol at the mercy of militant nationalists and radicals. We could not afford to agree to a considerable restriction of our access to the Black Sea and to let NATO troops step on Crimea’s soil and enter Sevastopol, which still remember the valor and glory of Russian soldiers and sailors. We could not afford a radical change in the balance of force in the Black Sea,” the Russian president said.

 

On Eurasian Economic Union

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped Armenia will soon become a member of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The Eurasian Economic Union is open to CIS countries that have not joined it yet, Vladimir Putin added.

“We are open to other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States,” Putin said at the meeting with Russian diplomats.

 

On global challenges

The president has noted that the conflict potential is globally increasing and there is a triumph of policy of all-permissiveness. “The conflict potential in the world is growing. Old differences are escalating and new ones are being provoked,” Putin said at the meeting with Russian diplomats. “Unfortunately, we often see that international law does not work, basic decencies are not observed, and the principle of all-permissiveness is triumphing.”

He has warned Russian diplomats that their duties and requirements regarding the protection of national interest will grow.

A solid diplomatic cluster of Russia and China has emerged on the world arena, but it is not aimed against any third party, Vladimir Putin said.

Vladimir Putin said Russia is not interested in formats of international contacts where it has the role of an outside observer.

“We should not pay with our vital interests just for being allowed to sit nearby,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors.

“World development cannot be unified. But we can and should look for common ground and see not only competitors, but also partners in each other. It is necessary to develop cooperation between different states, their unions and integration structures,” the Russian president said.

 

Main topics of the president’s address

Ukraine is one of the main topics of the meeting of ambassadors and permanent representatives of Russia with the participation of President Vladimir Putin. Official Secretary and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin reported this on Tuesday.

“This is a very important topic,” the diplomat said. “A worthy topic in terms of complexity and seriousness; worthy to be one of the key issues of today’s discussion.”

The meeting’s topic is protection of Russia’s national interests and strengthening of foundations and principles of international relations.

“This will refer to priority tasks of Russia’s diplomacy — the consolidation of peace, maintaining global and regional stability and security, promotion of priorities of Russia’s foreign policy, development of mutually advantageous cooperation with foreign partners,” the Kremlin press service reported.

Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, said earlier the conference would update the tasks of the diplomatic services as specified in the revised version of the State Concept of Foreign Policy.

He recalled the focal points of Russia’s foreign policy, like speeding up integration processes in the CIS, interaction with partners in the Euro-Atlantic region, as well as cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.

Lukashevich reaffirmed that Moscow proceeds from the principle of unconditionally political settlement of conflicts in different parts of the world and the supremacy of international law norms as the tools for settling the conflict situations.

Along with it, Moscow insists that international law should not be used as an instrument for serving the selected actors in international relations.