UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Russian National Security Strategy, December 2015 – Full-text Translation [Text of 31 December Russian Federation Presidential Edict 683 approving appended text of "The Russian Federation's National Security Strategy"] EDICT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION PRESIDENT On the Russian Federation's National Security Strategy In accordance with Federal Laws 390-FZ "On Security" dated 28 December 2010 and 172-FZ "On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation" dated 28 June 2014, I decree: 1. The attached Russian Federation's National Security Strategy is to be approved. 2. The following are to be deemed no longer valid: Russian Federation Presidential Edict 537 dated 12 May 2009 "On the Russian Federation's National Security Strategy Through 2020" (Sobraniye zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 2009, No. 20, Item 2444; Point 27 of Attachment 1 to Russian Federation Presidential Edict 483 dated 1 July 2014 "On Amending and Deeming No Longer Valid Certain Acts of the Russian Federation President" (Sobraniye zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 2014, No. 27, Item 3754). 3. This Edict comes into force from its date of signing. [Signed] Russian Federation President V. Putin Moscow, the Kremlin 31 December 2015 No. 683 -------- APPROVED by Russian Federation Presidential Edict 683 Dated 31 December 2015 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The Russian Federation's National Security Strategy I. General provisions 1. The current Strategy is the basic strategic planning document defining the Russian Federation's national interests and strategic national priorities, objectives, tasks, and measures in the sphere of domestic and foreign policy aimed at strengthening the Russian Federation's national security and ensuring the country's sustainable development in the long term. 2. The legal basis of the current Strategy consists of the Russian Federation Constitution, the Federal Laws 390-FZ "On Security" dated 28 December 2010 and 172-FZ "On Strategic Planning in the Russian Federation" dated 28 June 2014, other federal laws, and statutory legal acts of the Russian Federation president. 3. The current Strategy is intended to consolidate the efforts of federal organs of state power, other state organs, Russian Federation components' organs of state power (hereinafter organs of state power), organs of local self-government, and institutions of civil society to create favorable internal and external conditions for the realization of the Russian Federation's national interests and strategic national priorities. 4. The current Strategy is the basis for shaping and implementing state policy in the sphere of safeguarding the Russian Federation's national security. 5. The current Strategy is based on the unbreakable interconnection and interdependence of the Russian Federation's national security and the country's socioeconomic development. 6. The current Strategy makes use of the following main concepts: -- the Russian Federation's national security (hereinafter national security) -- the state of protection of the individual, society, and the state against internal and external threats in the process of which the exercise of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation (hereinafter citizens), a decent quality of life and standard of living for them, sovereignty, independence, state and territorial integrity, and sustainable socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation are ensured. National security includes the country's defense and all types of security envisioned by the Russian Federation Constitution and Russian Federation legislation -- primarily state, public, informational, environmental, economic, transportation, and energy security and individual security; -- the Russian Federation's national interests (hereinafter national interests) -- objectively significant requirements of the individual, society, and the state with regard to ensuring their protection and sustainable development; -- threats to national security -- the set of conditions and factors creating a direct or indirect possibility of harm to national interests; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- the safeguarding of national security -- the implementation by organs of state power and organs of local self-government in conjunction with institutions of civil society of political, military, organizational, socioeconomic, informational, legal, and other measures aimed at countering threats to national security and satisfying national interests; -- the Russian Federation's strategic national priorities (hereinafter strategic national priorities) -- the most important areas of the safeguarding of national security; -- the system for safeguarding national security -- the set of organs of state power and organs of local self-government carrying out the implementation of state policy in the sphere of safeguarding national security and the instruments at their disposal. II. Russia in the Modern World 7. State policy in the sphere of the safeguarding of national security and the socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation contributes to the implementation of the strategic national priorities and the effective protection of national interests. A solid basis has been created at this time for further increasing the Russian Federation's economic, political, military, and spiritual potentials and for enhancing its role in shaping a polycentric world. 8. Russia has demonstrated the ability to safeguard sovereignty, independence, and state and territorial integrity and to protect the rights of compatriots abroad. There has been an increase in the Russian Federation's role in resolving the most important international problems, settling military conflicts, and ensuring strategic stability and the supremacy of international law in interstate relations. 9. Russia's economy has demonstrated the ability to maintain and strengthen its potential in conditions of world economic instability and the application of the restrictive economic measures introduced against the Russian Federation by a number of countries. 10. Positive trends have been observed in resolving tasks relating to the strengthening of citizens' health. Natural population growth and an increase in average life expectancy can be seen. 11. Traditional Russian spiritual and moral values are being revived. A proper attitude toward Russia's history is being shaped in the rising generation. We are seeing the consolidation of civil society around the common values that shape the foundations of statehood such as Russia's freedom and independence, humanism, interethnic peace and accord, the unity of the cultures of the Russian Federation's multiethnic people, respect for family and faith traditions, and patriotism. 12. The strengthening of Russia is taking place against a backdrop of new threats to national security that are of a multifarious and interconnected nature. The Russian Federation's implementation of an independent foreign and domestic policy is giving rise to opposition from the United States and its allies, who are seeking to retain their dominance in world affairs. The policy of containing Russia that they are implementing envisions the exertion of political, economic, military, and informational pressure on it. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 13. The process of shaping a new polycentric model of the world order is being accompanied by an increase in global and regional instability. We are seeing an exacerbation of contradictions linked to the unevenness of world development, the deepening of the gap between countries' levels of prosperity, the struggle for resources, access to markets, and control over transportation arteries. The competition between states is increasingly encompassing social development values and models and human, scientific, and technological potentials. Leadership in exploiting the resources of the world's oceans and the Arctic is acquiring particular significance in this process. An entire spectrum of political, financial-economic, and informational instruments have been set in motion in the struggle for influence in the international arena. Increasingly active use is being made of special services' potential. 14. The role of force as a factor in international relations is not declining. The aspiration to build up and modernize offensive weaponry and develop and deploy new types of it is weakening the system of global security and also the system of treaties and agreements in the arms control sphere. The principles of equal and indivisible security are not being observed in the EuroAtlantic, Eurasian, and Asia-Pacific regions. Militarization and arms-race processes are developing in regions adjacent to Russia. 15. The buildup of the military potential of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the endowment of it with global functions pursued in violation of the norms of international law, the galvanization of the bloc countries' military activity, the further expansion of the alliance, and the location of its military infrastructure closer to Russian borders are creating a threat to national security. The opportunities for maintaining global and regional stability are shrinking significantly with the siting in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Near East of components of the US missile defense system in the conditions of the practical implementation of the "global strike" concept and the deployment of strategic nonnuclear precision weapon systems and also in the event that weapons are deployed in space. 16. The persisting bloc approach to solving international problems is not helping to counter the entire range of present-day challenges and threats. The increase in migration flows from African and Near Eastern countries to Europe has demonstrated the non-viability of the regional security system in the Euro-Atlantic Region based on NATO and the European Union. 17. The West's stance aimed at countering integration processes and creating seats of tension in the Eurasian region is exerting a negative influence on the realization of Russian national interests. The support of the United States and the European Union for the anti-constitutional coup d'etat in Ukraine led to a deep split in Ukrainian society and the emergence of an armed conflict. The strengthening of far right nationalist ideology, the deliberate shaping in the Ukrainian population of an image of Russia as an enemy, the undisguised gamble on the forcible resolution of intrastate contradictions, and the deep socioeconomic crisis are turning Ukraine into a chronic seat of instability in Europe and in the immediate vicinity of Russia's borders. 18. The practice of overthrowing legitimate political regimes and provoking intrastate instability and conflicts is becoming increasingly widespread. In addition to the persisting seats of tension UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED in the Near and Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and the Korean peninsula, new "hot spots" are emerging, and zones that are not controlled by any states' authorities are expanding. Territories affected by armed conflicts are becoming the basis for the spread of terrorism, interethnic strife, religious enmity, and other manifestations of extremism. The emergence of the terrorist organization calling itself Islamic State and the strengthening of its influence is the result of the policy of double standards to which some states adhere in the sphere of the fight against terrorism. 19. There is a continuing risk of an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons and of the proliferation and utilization of chemical weapons, and also uncertainty about instances of foreign states' possession of biological weapons and their potential for developing and producing them. The network of US military-biological laboratories on the territory of states adjacent to Russia is being expanded. 20. The critical condition of the physical intactness of dangerous facilities and materials, particularly in states with an unstable domestic political situation, and the uncontrolled proliferation of conventional weapons are increasing the likelihood of them falling into terrorists' hands. 21. The intensifying confrontation in the global information arena caused by some countries' aspiration to utilize informational and communication technologies to achieve their geopolitical objectives, including by manipulating public awareness and falsifying history, is exerting an increasing influence on the nature of the international situation. 22. New forms of unlawful activity are emerging, particularly those involving the utilization of informational, communications, and high technologies. Threats linked to uncontrolled and illegal migration, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and other manifestations of transnational organized crime are intensifying. 23. The world's demographic situation and problems relating to the environment and food security are becoming more complex. The shortage of fresh water and the consequences of climate change are becoming more tangible. Epidemics are becoming widespread, many of them caused by new and previously unknown viruses. 24. The growing influence of political factors on economic processes and also attempts by individual states to utilize economic methods and instruments of financial, trade, investment, and technological policy to resolve their own geopolitical tasks are weakening the stability of the system of international economic relations. A high risk of a repetition of large-scale financial and economic crises persists against the backdrop of structural imbalances in the world economy and financial system, growing sovereign debt, and volatility in the energy market. 25. In response to the growth of international instability, states are increasingly frequently assuming responsibility for matters in their regions. Regional and sub-regional trade and other economic agreements are becoming one of the most important means of protection against crisis phenomena. There is a growing interest in the utilization of regional currencies. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 26. In order to avert threats to national security the Russian Federation is focusing efforts on strengthening the internal unity of Russian society, ensuring social stability, interethnic accord, and religious tolerance, eliminating structural imbalances and modernizing the economy, and improving the country's defense capability. 27. With a view to protecting its national interests Russia is pursuing an open, rational, and pragmatic foreign policy ruling out costly confrontation (including a new arms race). 28. The Russian Federation builds its international relations on the principles of international law, the ensuring of states' reliable and equal security, peoples' mutual respect, and the preservation of the diversity of their cultures, traditions, and interests. Russia is interested in developing mutually advantageous and equal trade and economic cooperation with foreign states and is a responsible participant in the system of multilateral trade. The Russian Federation's objective is to acquire as many equal partners as possible in various parts of the world. 29. In the sphere of international security Russia remains committed to the utilization of primarily political and legal instruments and diplomatic and peacekeeping mechanisms. The utilization of military force to protect national interests is possible only if all adopted measures of a nonviolent nature have proved ineffective. III. National Interests and Strategic National Priorities 30. The long-term national strategic interests are: -- strengthening the country's defense, ensuring the inviolability of the Russian Federation's constitutional order, sovereignty, independence, and national and territorial integrity; -- strengthening national accord, political and social stability, developing democratic institutions, and refining the mechanisms for cooperation between the state and civil society; -- raising living standards, improving the population's health, and ensuring the country's stable demographic development; -- preserving and developing culture and traditional Russian spiritual and moral values; -- increasing the competitiveness of the national economy; -- consolidating the Russian Federation's status as a leading world power, whose actions are aimed at maintaining strategic stability and mutually beneficial partnerships in a polycentric world. 31. The national interests are ensured through the implementation of the following strategic national priorities: -- national defense; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- state and public security; -- economic growth; -- science, technology, and education; -- healthcare; -- culture; -- the ecology of living systems and the rational use of natural resources; -- strategic stability and equal strategic partnership. IV. Ensuring National Security 32. National security directly depends on the extent to which the strategic national priorities are implemented and how effectively the system for ensuring national security operates. National Defense 33. The strategic national defense goals are to create conditions for the peaceful and dynamic socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation, and to ensure its military security. 34. The strategic national defense goals are to be achieved within the framework of implementing military policy through strategic deterrence and the prevention of armed conflicts, improving the state's military organization and the forms and methods for deploying the Russian Federation Armed Forces, other troops, military formations and agencies, increasing the Russian Federation's mobilization readiness, and the readiness of civil defense forces and resources. 35. The fundamental principles of military policy and the objectives for military-economic defense of the country, military risks, and military threats are set out in the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation. 36. Interrelated political, military, military-technical, diplomatic, economic, informational, and other measures are being developed and implemented in order to ensure strategic deterrence and the prevention of armed conflicts. These measures are intended to prevent the use of armed force against Russia, and to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Strategic deterrence and the prevention of armed conflicts are achieved by maintaining the capacity for nuclear deterrence at a sufficient level, and the Russian Federation Armed Forces, other troops, and military formations and bodies at the requisite level of combat readiness. 37. The state's military organization is to be improved through the timely identification of existing and potential military risks and threats, the balanced development of the elements of military organization, increasing defense capability, equipping the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and agencies with modern weapons and military UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED and specialist hardware, and the innovation-based development of the Russian Federation's defense industry complex. 38. The improvement of the forms and methods of deploying the Russian Federation Armed Forces, other troops, and military formations and agencies includes the timely consideration of developments altering the nature of modern wars and armed conflicts, the creation of conditions for a fuller implementation of the combat capability of troops (forces), and the development of requirements for future formations and new methods of armed combat. 39. The Russian Federation's mobilization readiness is to be increased by improving the planning of mobilization training and mobilization measures in the Russian Federation and ensuring they are implemented to the extent required, and by updating and maintaining the military-technical capacity of the national military organization at a sufficient level. Important aspects of the improvement of mobilization training are preparing the economy of the Russian Federation, the economy of Russian Federation components, and the economy of municipal entities, and preparing organs of state power, organs local self-government and organizations, the Russian Federation Armed Forces, other troops, and military formations and agencies to perform tasks in accordance with their mission and to meet the state's requirements and the population's needs in wartime. 40. The readiness of civil defense forces and assets is ensured in advance by holding defense training and training on defending the population and material and cultural assets on Russian Federation territory from dangers arising from military conflicts or as a consequence of these conflicts, and also during natural and manmade emergency situations. 41. National defense is ensured based on the principles of rational sufficiency and effectiveness, including responses using nonmilitary methods and means, peacekeeping and diplomatic mechanisms, the expansion of international military and military-technical cooperation, arms control, and the use of other international legal instruments. State and Public Security 42. The strategic aims of state and public security are to defend the constitutional order, the national and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and the basic human and civil rights and freedoms, to maintain the civil peace and the political and social stability of society, and to protect the population and the land from natural and manmade disasters. 43. The main threats to state and public security are: -- intelligence and other activity by special services and organizations of foreign states and individuals that causes harm to national interests; -- the activities of terrorist and extremist organizations aimed at changing the constitutional order of the Russian Federation through violence, disrupting the operation of the organs of state power, destroying or disrupting the functioning of military and industrial facilities, critical public infrastructure, and transport infrastructure, and intimidating the population, including by the UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, and radioactive, poisonous, toxic, and chemically and biologically dangerous substances, carrying out nuclear terrorist attacks, and attacking and disrupting the continuous operation of the Russian Federation's vital IT infrastructure; -- the activities of radical public associations and groups using nationalist and religious extremist ideology, foreign and international nongovernmental organizations, and financial and economic structures, and also individuals, focused on destroying the unity and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, destabilizing the domestic political and social situation -- including through inciting "color revolutions" -- and destroying traditional Russian religious and moral values; -- the activities of criminal organizations and groups, including transnational ones, connected with the illegal trade in narcotic and psychotropic substances, weapons, ammunition, explosives, and the organization of illegal migration and human trafficking; -- activities connected with the use of information and communication technologies to disseminate and promote the ideology of fascism, extremism, terrorism, and separatism, and to endanger the civil peace and political and social stability in society; -- criminal offenses targeting individuals, property, the state authorities, and public and economic security; -- corruption; -- natural disasters, accidents, and catastrophes, including those connected with global climate change, the deterioration of the physical condition of infrastructure, and outbreaks of fire. 44. The main areas of focus for ensuring state and public security are strengthening the role of the state as a guarantor of security of the person and property rights; improving legal regulation of the prevention of crime (including in the information sphere), corruption, terrorism and extremism, the distribution of narcotics, and the fight against such phenomena; developing cooperation between civil society and organs ensuring state security and public order; increasing citizens' level of trust in the Russian Federation's law enforcement and judicial systems; increasing the efficacy of protection for the rights and legal interests of Russian citizens abroad; and extending international cooperation in the area of state and public security. 45. State and public security is to be ensured by increasing the effectiveness of the activities of the law enforcement agencies and special services, and of state control (oversight) bodies; by improving the unified state system for preventing crime, first and foremost among minors, and other breaches of the law (including monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of law enforcement in practice); and by developing and using special measures intended to decrease the level of criminality in social relations. 46. Particular attention is being paid to eradicating the causes and conditions giving rise to corruption, which is an obstacle to the sustained development of the Russian Federation and the implementation of the strategic national priorities. To this end the National Strategy for Combatting Corruption and the national plans for combatting corruption are being implemented, UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED a sense that this phenomenon is unacceptable is being created in society, the level of criminal responsibility for crimes of corruption is being raised, and law enforcement practice in this area is being improved. 47. With the aim of ensuring state and public security: -- the structure and activities of federal organs of executive power are being improved, and a system is being developed for uncovering, preventing, and stopping intelligence and other destructive activities contrary to national interests by intelligence services and organizations of foreign states, acts of terrorism, displays of religious radicalism, nationalism, separatism, other forms of extremism, organized crime and other criminal offenses against the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, human and civil rights and freedoms, state and private property, public law and order, and public security; -- mechanisms to prevent and neutralize social and interethnic conflicts are being created, as well as mechanisms to counter the participation of Russian citizens in the activities of criminal and terrorist groups abroad; -- the regulations for the safe operation of organizations from the country's military-industrial, nuclear, chemical, fuel and energy industries, critical public infrastructure facilities, transport infrastructure, and other critically important and potentially dangerous facilities are being strengthened and the level of antiterrorism security increased; -- the system for identifying and analyzing threats in the information sphere and countering them is being improved; -- measures are being taken to increase the protection of citizens and society from the influence of destructive information from extremist and terrorist organizations, foreign special services, and propaganda structures; -- the comprehensive development of the law enforcement agencies and special services is being carried out, strengthening welfare guarantees for their employees, improving scientific and technical support for law enforcement agencies, bringing advanced special tools and equipment into service, and developing the system for the professional training of specialists in the areas of state and public security; -- the social accountability of the bodies ensuring state and public security is being increased. 48. National security in the border region is to be ensured by the deployment on the Russian Federation state border of high-tech and multifunctional border complexes and systems, by increasing the effectiveness of border protection, by improving interagency cooperation and cross-border cooperation, and by stepping up the process of international legal formalization of the state border and the socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation's border areas. 49. National security in the area of protecting the population and territory from natural and manmade disasters, and in the area of fire safety, is to be ensured by improving and developing UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED the unified state system for preventing and handling emergency situations, its geographical and operational subsystems, and cooperation with equivalent foreign systems; by increasing the effectiveness with which local self-government bodies exercise their powers in the area of ensuring the population's health and safety; by updating technical equipment and manufacturing technologies at potentially dangerous facilities and public infrastructure facilities; by developing the system for monitoring and predicting emergency situations; by introducing modern technologies for informing and alerting the public, by maintaining the up-to-date equipping and training of fire and rescue services at the required level; and by developing the system for taking preventative measures to reduce the risk of emergency situations and fires through improving oversight measures, taking preventative action, and also creating a culture of safety among the public. Improving the Quality of Life of Russian Citizens 50. The strategic objectives of ensuring national security in the sphere of improving the quality of life of Russian citizens are the development of human potential, the satisfaction of citizens' material, social, and spiritual needs, and the reduction of the level of social and property inequality in the population first and foremost through increasing their income. 51. The threats to the quality of life of Russian citizens are unfavorable dynamics in the development of the economy, laggardness in technological development, the imposition of restrictive economic measures against the Russian Federation, the improper expenditure of budget appropriations, the intensification of differentiation within the population in terms of income levels, and the reduction in the quality of consumer goods and services offered to the population. 52. The improvement of the citizens' quality of life is guaranteed through ensuring food security, greater affordability of comfortable housing, high-quality and safe goods and services, modern education and health care, sports facilities, the creation of highly efficient jobs, and also the creation of favorable conditions for improving social mobility and the quality of labor, decent pay, support for socially significant employment, accessibility of social, engineering, and transportation infrastructure facilities for people with disabilities and other population groups with low mobility, and decent pension provision. 53. In order to counter threats to the citizens' quality of life, organs of state power and local selfgovernment organs in collaboration with the institutions of the civil society: -- improve the protection of human rights and freedoms through the development of legislation and the judicial and law enforcement systems; -- promote the growth of citizens' well-being, the reduction of differentiation within the population in terms of income levels, and the reduction of poverty, by means of, inter alia, developing the pension system and social support for individual categories of citizens and improving the social services system; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- provide support for employment of the population and ensure monitoring of the observance of working people's labor rights, improve the system of protection from unemployment, and create the conditions for involving people with limited physical potential in labor activity; -- create the conditions for stimulating the birth rate, reducing mortality, pursuing a healthy way of life, and developing mass children's and youth sport, and organize the promotion of a healthy way of life; -- improve and develop the transportation, housing, and utilities infrastructure; -- adopt measures to protect the population against natural and manmade emergencies and also to reduce the risk of such emergencies occurring in the territory of the Russian Federation; -- support the development of the information infrastructure, accessibility of information on various issues relating to society's sociopolitical, economic, and spiritual life, and equal access to state services throughout the territory of the Russian Federation, by using information and communications technologies inter alia; -- improve the system of monitoring of the use of budget appropriations and the mechanism of state-private partnership with a view to improving the citizens' quality of life. 54. The safeguarding of food security is ensured through: -- achieving food independence for the Russian Federation; -- the accelerated development and modernization of the agro-industrial and fisheries complexes, the food industry, and the infrastructure of the domestic market; -- increasing the effectiveness of state support for agricultural commodity producers and widening their access to the market for sales of products; -- developing livestock breeding, selection, seed raising, and aquaculture (fish breeding), forming sufficient federal reserves of seeds of agricultural plants (including reserve seed stocks), and developing the production of mixed feeds, protein, vitamin, and mineral supplements and pre-mixes, and veterinary (livestock) preparations; -- increasing soil fertility and preventing the depletion and reduction of areas of agricultural lands and pastureland; -- preventing the uncontrolled circulation of genetically modified organisms intended for release into the environment and products obtained through the use of such organisms or containing them; -- improving the system of technical regulation, hygiene and phytosanitary oversight, and monitoring in the sphere of ensuring the safety of food products for human health; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- training scientific workers and highly skilled specialists in the sphere of agriculture. Economic Growth 55. The strategic objectives of ensuring national security are the development of the country's economy, the safeguarding of economic security, and the creation of the conditions for the development of the individual, the transition of the economy to a new level of technological development, Russia's entry into the ranks of leading countries in terms of the volume of gross domestic product, and the successful countering of the influence of internal and external threats. 56. The main strategic threats to national security in the sphere of the economy are its low competitiveness, the persistence of the export/raw-materials model of development and a high level of dependence on external economic circumstances, laggardness in the development and introduction of future technologies, the lack of protection of the national financial system against the actions of nonresidents and speculative foreign capital, the vulnerability of its information infrastructure, the imbalance of the national budget system, the registration of ownership rights to a significant proportion of organizations in foreign jurisdictions, the deterioration in the state of the raw-materials base and its depletion, the reduction in extraction and reserves of strategically important minerals, the progressive shortage of labor, the persistence of a significant proportion of the shadow economy, of the conditions for corruption and the criminalization of economic and financial relations, and of illegal immigration, the unequal development of regions, and the decline in the stability of the national system of settlement. 57. A negative impact is exerted on economic security by the restrictive economic measures imposed against the Russian Federation, global and regional economic crises, the intensification of unscrupulous competition, the illegitimate use of legal resources, and the disruption of the stability of heat and power supplies to national economic facilities, while in the future the shortage of mineral, raw-material, water, and biological resources will also have an impact. 58. The safeguarding of economic security is ensured through the development of the industrial and technological base and the national innovations system, the modernization and development of priority sectors of the national economy, the boosting of the investment attractiveness of the Russian Federation, the improvement of the business climate, and the creation of a favorable business environment. The most important factors in ensuring economic security are an increase in the effectiveness of state regulation of the economy with a view to achieving stable economic growth, an increase in labor productivity, the opening up of new sources of resources, the stable functioning and development of the financial system, an increase in its level of protection, currency regulation and control, the accumulation of financial reserves, the preservation of financial stability and balance in the budget system, the improvement of budgetary relationships, the overcoming of the exodus of capital and of qualified specialists, an increase in the volume of domestic savings and their transformation into investments, and a reduction in inflation. Furthermore vigorous measures are needed to combat corruption and the shadow and criminal economy and also to ensure state protection of Russian producers active in the sphere of military, food, information, and energy security. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 59. In order to ensure economic security the main efforts are geared toward the elimination of imbalances in the economy, territorial development, the development of the labor market, and the transportation, information, social, and educational infrastructures, the formation of a new geography of economic growth and new sectors of the economy and centers of industry, science, and education, the stepping up of fundamental and applied scientific research, the improvement of the quality of general, vocational, and higher education, the improvement of national investment and financial institutions, and the stimulation of the migration of production from other countries into Russia. 60. One of the main avenues of ensuring national security in the sphere of the economy for the long term is an increase in the level of energy security, which includes stable provision of internal demand for standard-quality energy sources, a growth in energy efficiency and energy savings and in the competitiveness of Russian energy companies and producers of energy resources, the prevention of shortages of fuel and energy resources, the creation of strategic fuel reserves and reserve capacities, the production of subassemblies, and the stable functioning of energy and heat supply systems. 61. The necessary conditions for ensuring energy security are an increase in the effectiveness of state management of the fuel and energy complex, reliable and uninterrupted deliveries of energy resources to consumers, the safeguarding of the country's technological sovereignty in the world energy market, the introduction of promising energy-saving and energy-efficient technologies, an increase in the level of processing of energy resources, the prevention of discrimination against Russian suppliers of energy sources on foreign markets and against Russian extraction companies in the exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits outside the Russian Federation, the countering of attempts by a number of states to regulate markets in energy resources on the basis of political rather than economic expediency, and the development of promising energy-saving technologies and the international exchange of such technologies. 62. With a view to countering threats to economic security, organs of state power and local selfgovernment organs in collaboration with the institutions of civil society implement a state socioeconomic policy making provision for: -- ensuring the stability of the macroeconomic situation, stimulating economic growth rates in excess of the corresponding figures for developed states, and supporting the real sector of the economy; -- increasing the efficiency and quality of state management of the economy, reducing costs and inefficient budget expenditures, combating the improper use and embezzlement of state resources and corruption, and increasing the effectiveness of management of assets belonging to the state; -- strengthening the financial system, ensuring its sovereignty and the stability of the ruble rate of exchange, optimizing currency regulation and control, reducing inflation, developing the national infrastructure of financial markets, reducing bank interest rates, increasing the level of direct investments and availability of credit using "long" money, attracting domestic savings, de-offshoring companies, and repatriating Russian capital and reducing its exportation; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- ensuring balance in the budget system and improving budgetary relationships in the Russian Federation; -- increasing the attractiveness of Russian jurisdiction, improving the conditions for entrepreneurial activity, developing competition, formulating new approaches to the activity of state control (oversight) bodies, ensuring the stability of the taxation and legal systems, and guaranteeing the protection of private property rights and the fulfillment of contracts; -- implementing rational import substitution, reducing critical dependence on foreign technologies and industrial products, and accelerating the development of the agro-industrial complex and the pharmaceutical industry; -- developing new high-tech sectors, strengthening positions in the sphere of the exploration of space and nuclear energy, regaining the leadership in traditional industrial sectors (heavy machine building, aircraft manufacturing, and instrument making), and reviving electronic and light industry, shipbuilding, and machine tool manufacturing as well as the system of statistical evaluation of the technological level of sectors of the economy; -- developing the country's defense industry complex as the motor for the modernization of industrial production, updating the manufacturing base of organizations in the defense industry complex on a new technological basis, improving their cadre potential, and promoting their production of in-demand civilian products; -- creating strategic reserves of mineral and raw-material resources sufficient to guarantee the mobilization needs of the Russian Federation and the requirements of the country's economy for the long term; -- forming a single transport space based on the balanced preferential development of an efficient transportation infrastructure and a rise in the level of transport links in the Russian Federation, creating transport corridors and multimodal transport-logistics centers, and increasing the volume and improving the quality of highway construction; -- widening the use of the instruments of state-private partnership to perform strategic tasks in the development of the economy, the completion of the formation of the basic transportation, energy, information, and military infrastructures, particularly in the Arctic, East Siberia, and the Far East, and the development of the Northern Sea Route and the Baykal-Amur and TransSiberian Main Railroads; -- stimulating the development of small and medium-sized business in the production sphere through the reduction of expenditures associated with the start of entrepreneurial activity, support for it at the stage of formation through the reduction of the taxation burden, the creation of business incubators, industrial parks, and techno-parks, the creation of demand for the output of small and medium-sized enterprises, the widening of access to state companies' purchases, and participation in the implementation of major projects; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- reducing informal employment, legalizing labor relations, and increasing investments in the development of human capital; -- ensuring the balance of the interests of the indigenous population and migrant workers, including foreign citizens, with due account being taken of their ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious differences, improving immigration records, and ensuring the justified territorial distribution of migrant workers on the basis of the regions' requirements for labor resources; -- developing international business contacts, attracting foreign investments and technologies, implementing joint projects, widening markets for the sale of Russian products, and countering attempts by foreign states to regulate world markets on the basis of their political and economic interests. 63. The strengthening of economic security is promoted by improving state management on the basis of the strategic planning documents of the Russian Federation, the components of the Russian Federation, and the macro-regions. 64. The stable condition of national security at the regional level is ensured through the balanced, comprehensive, and systemic development of the components of the Russian Federation and the widening and strengthening of economic links among them. 65. One of the main avenues in ensuring national security at the regional level (in the medium term) is the creation of a mechanism for reducing the level of interregional differentiation in the socioeconomic development of components of the Russian Federation through the balanced territorial development of the country, the elimination of infrastructure restrictions, the introduction of a mechanism for coordinating the placing of transportation, engineering, and social infrastructures at all levels, the improvement of the system of strategic and territorial planning, the reciprocal coordination of sector and territorial development, and the improvement of the national system of settlement and the system of placing production forces in the territory of the Russian Federation. 66. In the long term it is expedient to eliminate threats to national security connected with disproportions in the development of the regions of Russia by stimulating the autonomous economic development of components of the Russian Federation and coproduction among them, increasing investment and entrepreneurial activeness, strengthening budget support, improving budgetary relationships, and expanding the number of centers of economic growth, including territories with preferential socioeconomic development. Science, Technologies, and Education 67. The strategic aims of ensuring national security in the spheres of science, technologies, and education are: -- the development of a system of scientific, planning, and scientific-technological organizations that will be capable of ensuring the modernization of the national economy, the realization of the UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Russian Federation’s competitive advantages, the country’s defense, and state and public security, and also the shaping of scientific and technical groundwork for the future; -- the enhancement of social mobility, of the quality of general, vocational, and higher education, and of its availability to all categories of citizens, and also the development of basic scientific research. 68. Factors that have a negative influence on national security in the spheres of science, technologies, and education are laggardness in the development of high technologies, dependence on imported supplies of scientific and test equipment, instruments and electronic components, computer software and hardware, and strategic materials, the unsanctioned transfer abroad of competitive Russian technologies, unsubstantiated unilateral sanctions against Russian scientific and educational organizations, insufficient development of the normative-legal base, an ineffective system for encouraging activity in the spheres of science, innovations, and industrial technologies, and the decline in the prestige of the professions of teacher and engineer, in the level of social protection for engineering-technical, professorial-teaching, and scientificpedagogical personnel, and in the quality of general and secondary vocational and higher education. 69. One of the main areas for ensuring national security in the spheres of science, technologies, and education is the raising of the level of technological security, including in the information sphere. To this end the state innovation and industrial policy, the federal contract system, and the system of the state order for training highly qualified specialists and workers are being improved, basic and applied science and education are receiving priority development, public-private partnership is being developed in the sphere of science and technologies, conditions are being created for the integration of science, education, and industry, and systemic research is being conducted in the interests of resolving the strategic tasks of military, state, and public security and of the country’s stable development. 70. To resolve the tasks of national security in the spheres of science, technologies, and education it is necessary to ensure: -- the comprehensive development of scientific potential and the reinstatement of the complete scientific production cycle, ranging from basic scientific research to the introduction of the achievements of applied science into production in accordance with the priorities of the Russian Federation’s socioeconomic, scientific, and scientific-technological development; -- the development of a national innovation system and encouragement and support for the development of the innovations market and science-intensive output, including science-intensive output with high added value; -- the formation of a system of basic and applied scientific research and state support for it in the interests of organizational-scientific support for the realization of strategic national priorities; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- the development of promising high technologies (genetic engineering, robotic engineering, biological, information, communications, and cognitive technologies, nanotechnologies, and convergent technologies that resemble Nature); -- the development of cooperation between educational organizations and scientific research centers and industrial enterprises and the broadening of the practice of cofunding by the state and by entrepreneurs for long-term basic scientific research and programs with long implementation times; -- the enhancement of the quality of training of scientific personnel, engineers, and technical specialists capable of resolving the tasks of modernizing the Russian economy on the basis of technological innovations and ensuring the development of science and education, the development of competitive technologies and models of science-intensive output, and the organization of science-intensive production; -- the development of a system of secondary vocational education for the purposes of training qualified workers in accordance with the best world standards and advanced technologies; -- the creation of favorable conditions for scientific activity; -- the ensuring of Russia’s leading positions in the spheres of basic mathematical education, physics, chemistry, biology, technical sciences, and humanitarian and social sciences; -- the development of interdisciplinary research; -- the enhancement of the role of schools in educating young people as responsible citizens of Russia on the basis of traditional Russian spiritual-moral and cultural-historical values and also in preventing extremism and radical ideology; -- the raising of the quality of teaching of the Russian language, literature, Russian history, the fundamentals of secular ethics, and traditional religions; -- the development of a system of support for talented children, out-of-school additional education, and children’s technical and artistic creativity and the resolution of the problems of overcrowding in general educational organizations; -- the active development of international ties in the sphere of science and education, the buildup of exports of good-quality educational services, above all to the CIS member states, and the enhancement of the attractiveness of Russian-language education on the world market for educational services. Public Health 71. The development of health care and the strengthening of the health of the Russian Federation’s population are a most important area for ensuring national security, for whose UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED implementation a long-term state policy is being pursued in the sphere of protecting the health of citizens. The strategic aims of this policy are: -- to increase longevity, lower the level of disability and mortality in the population, and increase the size of the population; -- to improve the availability and quality of medical assistance; -- to improve the vertical system for monitoring the quality, effectiveness, and safety of medicines; -- to observe citizens’ rights in the sphere of health protection and to ensure the state guarantees associated with these rights. 72. Threats to national security in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health are posed by the emergence of epidemics and pandemics, the mass spread of diseases such as oncological, cardiovascular, endocrinological, and HIV infections, tuberculosis, drug addiction, and alcoholism, an increase in instances of trauma and poisoning, and availability of psychoactive and psychotropic substances for illegal consumption. 73. Factors that have a negative influence on national security in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health are shortcomings in implementing state policy in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health with regard to ensuring the availability of medical assistance and implementing guarantees that it will be given to the population, the imperfect nature of the current medical insurance system, inadequate funding for the system of high-tech medical assistance, the low standard of qualifications of medical personnel, and the not fully formed normative-legal base in the said sphere. 74. The aims of state policy in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health consist in preventing diseases, averting the growth of diseases that pose a danger to people nearby, increasing the availability of medical assistance to the population, improving the effectiveness and quality of medical services, reducing the level of disabilities, and developing and introducing new medical technologies and medicines. To implement state policy in this sphere it is necessary to shape a long-term strategy for the development of the citizens’ health protection system, to improve the organizational foundations of health care and its management, to specify the powers and responsibility of federal organs of state power, organs of state power of the Russian Federation components, and local self-government organs in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health, to determine the procedure for cooperation among health care management organs, and also to create national scientific-practical medical centers for the prevention and treatment of socially significant diseases. 75. For the purposes of countering threats in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health, organs of state power and local self-government organs, in cooperation with civil society institutions, ensure: UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- the fulfillment of state guarantees of the free provision of medical assistance to citizens, the enhancement of the financial stability of the compulsory medical insurance system, and the completion of its transfer to insurance principles; -- the enhanced effectiveness of normative-legal regulation in the sphere of licensing medical services, control over the work quality of medical organizations, and the introduction of single criteria for assessing the work of preventive medicine establishments at the level of Russian Federation components and municipal formations; -- the development of preventive medicine and primary medical-sanitary assistance and the introduction of new organizational forms of providing medical assistance, including in rural localities and localities where access is difficult; -- the enhanced effectiveness of providing specialized, including high-tech, medical assistance and first aid, including specialized medical first aid, and the improved organization of medical evacuation; -- the development of the motherhood and childhood protection service; -- the development of palliative medical assistance, including for children; -- the development and introduction of innovative methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, and also the creation of the foundations of personalized medicine; -- the accelerated development of basic and applied scientific research in the interests of health care, and also the introduction of its results; -- the introduction of modern information and communications technologies; -- the creation of conditions to develop the pharmaceutical sector and to overcome its raw material and technological dependence on foreign suppliers, and also the availability of goodquality, effective, and safe medicines; -- the development of a system to monitor the biological situation on the Russian Federation’s territory; -- the development of the population’s medical rehabilitation and the improvement of the system of sanatorium-resort treatment, including for children; -- the training of sufficient numbers of specialists in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health, the enhanced quality of such training, and also the creation of a system of continuous medical education; -- the revival of traditions of charity; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- the wide introduction of public-private partnership instruments in the sphere of protecting citizens’ health; -- the enhanced competitiveness of Russian health care on the world market. Culture 76. The strategic aims of ensuring national security in the sphere of culture are: -- the preservation and augmentation of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values as the foundation of Russian society, and the education of children and young people in a civic spirit; -- the preservation and development of the common Russian identity of the Russian Federation’s peoples and of the country’s unified cultural area; -- the enhancement of Russia’s role in the world humanitarian and cultural area. 77. The foundation of the common Russian identity of the Russian Federation’s peoples is the historically evolved system of unified spiritual-moral and cultural-historical values, as well as the distinctive cultures of the Russian Federation’s multinational people as an inalienable part of Russian culture. 78. Traditional Russian spiritual and moral values include the priority of the spiritual over the material, protection of human life and of human rights and freedoms, the family, creative labor, service to the homeland, the norms of morals and morality, humanism, charity, fairness, mutual assistance, collectivism, the historical unity of the peoples of Russia, and the continuity of our motherland’s history. 79. Threats to national security in the sphere of culture are the erosion of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values and the weakening of the unity of the Russian Federation’s multinational people by means of external cultural and information expansion (including the spread of poor-quality mass cultural products), propaganda of permissiveness and violence, and racial, ethnic, and religious intolerance, as well as the decline in the role of the Russian language in the world and in the quality of its teaching in Russia and abroad, attempts to falsify Russian and world history, and unlawful encroachments upon cultural objects. 80. To achieve the strategic aims of ensuring national security in the sphere of culture, the state cultural policy and the state nationalities policy are being implemented and are aimed at strengthening and augmenting traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, ensuring ethnic, religious, and racial tolerance, fostering mutual respect among the Russian Federation’s peoples, and also developing interethnic and interregional cultural ties. Coordination of the activity of interested federal organs of executive power and the Russian Academy of Sciences in implementing the state cultural policy is being stepped up. 81. Special significance for strengthening national security in the sphere of culture attaches to the implementation of state policy on realizing the function of the Russian language as the state UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED language of the Russian Federation, a means of ensuring the country’s state integrity and interethnic communication among the Russian Federation’s peoples, the basis of the development of integration processes in the post-Soviet area, and a means of meeting the language and cultural requirements of compatriots abroad. Russia is implementing programs to support the study of the Russian language and culture in the CIS member states so as to accelerate the processes of Eurasian integration. 82. The strengthening of national security in the sphere of culture is aided by: -- recognition of the paramount role of culture in preserving and augmenting traditional Russian spiritual-moral and cultural values and strengthening the unity of the Russian Federation’s multinational people; -- ensuring of the Russian Federation’s cultural sovereignty by means of taking measures to protect Russian society against external expansion of ideologies and values and destructive information and psychological impacts, the implementation of control in the information sphere, and prevention of the spread of extremist products, propaganda of violence, and racial, religious, and interethnic intolerance; -- the creation of a system of spiritual-moral and patriotic education of citizens, the introduction of the principles of spiritual and moral development into the education system and the youth and nationalities policy, and the widening of cultural educational activity; -- the improvement of the material-technical base of cultural organizations and the creation of conditions to organize the leisure and encourage the creative development and the artistic education of citizens; -- the development of internal cultural-cognitive tourism; -- the formation of a state order to create cinematographic and printed output, television and radio programs, and Internet resources; -- the strengthening of state control over the condition of cultural heritage facilities (monuments of history and culture) and the enhancement of responsibility for violating the demands of their preservation, utilization, and state protection; -- the improvement of the system of training specialists in the sphere of history and culture, as well as their social protection; -- the development of a common humanitarian and information-telecommunications medium on the territories of the CIS member states and in contiguous regions; -- the utilization of Russia’s cultural potential in the interests of multilateral international cooperation. Ecology of Living Systems and Rational Use of Natural Resources UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 83. The strategic goals of environmental security and the rational environmental management are: -- the preservation and restoration of natural systems and support for the quality of the environment necessary for human life and the sustained development of the economy; -- the elimination of environmental damage from business activity in conditions of growing economic activity and global climate change. 84. The state of environmental security is being negatively impacted by the depletion of reserves of minerals and raw material, water, and biological resources, as a result of inefficient and "predatory" use of natural resources, the predominance in the economy of extractive and resource-intensive sectors, the large proportion of the shadow economy in the sphere of use of natural resources, and the presence of environmentally unfortunate territories characterized by a high degree of pollution and the breakdown of ecosystems. Problems in the sphere of the environment are exacerbated owing to the presence of a significant number of environmentally hazardous manufacturing processes, a lack of capacity for the removal of atmospheric discharge and industrial and municipal effluent and for the treatment, neutralization, recycling, disposal, and reprocessing of solid industrial and consumer waste and also owing to environmental pollution caused by the trans-border transfer of toxic substances, infectious-disease pathogens, and radioactive substances from the territories of other states. The insufficient effectiveness of state control of the state of the environment and of observance of environmental standards by businesses and also the low level of environmental education and environmental culture of the population contribute to the increased impact of these factors. 85. The strategic goals of environmental security and rational use of natural resources shall be achieved through the shaping and execution of long-term state policy geared to the protection and reproduction of the natural and ecological potential of the Russian Federation and a rise in the level of environmental education and environmental culture of the citizens. 86. For countering threats in the sphere of environmental security and rational use of natural resources, institutions of state power and organs of local self-government shall in collaboration with institutions of civil society take action geared to: -- incentivizing the introduction of innovative technology and the development of environmentally secure manufacturing processes; -- the development of recycling industry and the secondary use of industrial and consumer waste; -- the creation of facilities meeting modern environmental standards for the disposal, recycling, and reprocessing of solid industrial and consumer waste; -- the building and modernization of waste-treatment facilities and also the introduction of technology for reducing the quantity of discharge of harmful substances and effluent; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- a rise in the technical potential and provision with equipment of the forces participating in activities to prevent and eliminate the negative environmental effects of industrial disasters and other emergencies; -- elimination of the harmful effects of mankind's impact on the environment and also the rehabilitation of territories and waters contaminated as a result of this impact, includuing in the course of military activity; -- minimizing the damage caused to the environment in the prospecting for and recovery of minerals, and re-cultivation of the damaged land; -- development of a system of state environmental control and oversight and state monitoring of the environment, flora and fauna, and land resources, control of radiation, chemical, and biologically hazardous waste, and observance of sanitary-epidemiological and public health standards in regard to drinking water, the atmosphere, and soils; -- raising the demands of environmental standards and the formation of a system of environmental funds; -- development of a system of specially protected natural territories, maritime included, and the preservation of rare and disappearing types of plants and animals, unique natural scenery, and living systems; -- development of international cooperation in the sphere of environmental protection, including for the purpose of reducing environmental risks on the Russian Federation's border territories. Strategic Stability and Equal Strategic Partnership 87. The safeguarding of national interests is furthered by an active Russian Federation foreign policy geared to creating a stable and enduring system of international relations relying on international law and based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, noninterference in states' internal affairs, mutually beneficial cooperation, and a political settlement of global and regional crisis situations. 88. The Russian Federation is increasing collaboration with its partners within BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), RIC (Russia, India, China), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the G-20, and other international institutions. 89. The development of relations of bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Republic of Abkhazia, and the Republic of South Ossetia is for the Russian Federation a key area of foreign policy. Russia is developing the potential of regional and sub regional integration and coordination on the territory of the participants in the Commonwealth of Independent States within the Commonwealth itself and also the Collective Security Treaty Organization , the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Union State exerting a stabilizing influence on the general situation in the regions bordering the UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED participants in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Republic of Abkhazia, and the Republic of South Ossetia. 90. The Russian Federation advocates the quality development of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and its conversion into a universal international organization capable of confronting regional challenges and military-political and military-strategic threats (including international terrorism and extremism, the illicit traffic in narcotics and psychotropic substances, and illegal immigration) and also threats in the information sphere. 91. The formation of the Eurasian Economic Union began a new stage of integration in the Eurasian space. The Russian Federation is furthering to the utmost the consolidation of the Union for the continued integration, stable development, all-around modernization, cooperation, and enhanced competitiveness of the economies of the Union's members within the global economy and also to raise the living standard of their population and to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor resources and the implementation of joint infrastructure and investment projects. 92. The Russian Federation attaches importance to building up the political and economic potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and to the stimulation within it of practical actions furthering mutual confidence-building and partnership in Central Asia and also to the development of cooperation with the members, observers, and partners of the Organization, including in the form of dialogue and bilateral collaboration. Particular attention is paid to work with countries displaying a desire to join the Organization as full members. 93. The Russian Federation is developing relations of all-embracing partnership and strategic cooperation with the Chinese People's Republic, regarding them as a key factor of the maintenance of global and regional stability. 94. The Russian Federation assigns the privileged strategic partnership with the Republic of India an important role. 95. The Russian Federation advocates the building in the Asia-Pacific region of reliable mechanisms of support of regional stability and security on a non-bloc basis, the enhanced efficiency of political and economic cooperation with the countries of this region, and expanded interaction in the field of science, education, and culture, including within regional integration structures. 96. The Russian Federation is developing political, trade and economic, and military-technical cooperation, collaboration in the field of security, and also humanitarian and educational contacts with states of Latin America and Africa and with regional associations of these states. 97. The Russian Federation advocates the consolidation of mutually beneficial cooperation with European states and the European Union, the harmonization of integration processes in Europe and on the post-Soviet territory, and the formation in the Euro-Atlantic region of an open system of collective security on a clear treaty and legal basis. UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 98. The Russian Federation is interested in establishing full-fledged partnership with the United States of America on the basis of coincident interests, in the economic sphere included, and with regard to the key influence of Russo-American relations on the state of the international situation as a whole. The improvement of the mechanisms of arms control specified by international treaties, confidence-building measures, the solution of questions involving the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, expanded cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and the settlement of regional conflicts remain most important areas of this partnership. 99. The development of equal and mutually beneficial international cooperation in the Arctic is of particular significance. 100. Conditions conducive to the steady development of the Russian Federation for the long term are formed by ensuring strategic stability, including by phased progress toward a world free of nuclear weapons, in conditions of strengthening universal reliable and equal security, bearing in mind all factors influencing global strategic stability, and on the basis of common and just principles of international law. 101. In relations with the international community the Russian Federation relies on the principles of the preservation of stability and predictability in the sphere of strategic offensive arms. The practical fulfillment of these relations is furthered by observance of existing international accords on reducing and restricting strategic offensive arms, and by the drafting, if necessary, of new agreements in this sphere. 102. The Russian Federation contributes to the enlistment of other states -- primarily those possessing nuclear weapons, but also those interested in joint actions in support of general security -- in the process of support for strategic stability. 103. The Russian Federation acts internationally on the basis of the immutability of a policy of participating together with other states in a strengthening of international mechanisms for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related goods and technology, and for the prevention of the use of military force in violation of the United Nations Charter, and also on the basis of commitment to arms control and a rational sufficiency in military organizational development. 104. To preserve strategic stability the Russian Federation: -- contributes to the preservation of the stability of the system of international law and the prevention of its fragmentation, attenuation, and selective application resulting in instability and conflicts; -- honors international treaties and agreements in effect in the sphere of arms limitation and reduction and participates in the drafting and conclusion of new accords corresponding to national interests; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- is prepared for further discussion of a reduction of nuclear potentials based on bilateral accords and in multilateral formats and also contributes to the creation of fitting conditions permitting a reduction in nuclear arms without detriment to international security and strategic stability; -- contributes to the strengthening of regional stability through participation in processes of a reduction and limitation of conventional armed forces, and also through the development and application of confidence-building measures in the military sphere; -- considers international peacekeeping an effective instrument for settling armed conflicts, and participates in it and advocates the strengthening of this institution strictly in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter; -- contributes to the formation of a system of international information security; -- participates in activities pursued under the aegis of the United Nations and other international organizations to deal with natural and manmade disasters and other emergencies, and also in rendering humanitarian aid to countries affected. 105. To ensure strategic stability and equal multilateral cooperation in the international arena the Russian Federation makes every necessary effort to maintain at the least costly level deterrence potential in the sphere of strategic offensive arms. 106. A determining factor in relations with NATO is still the unacceptability for the Russian Federation of the alliance's increased military activity and the approach of its military infrastructure toward Russia's borders, the building of a missile-defense system, and attempts to endow the bloc with global functions executed in violation of the provisions of international law. 107. The Russian Federation is prepared for the development of relations with NATO based on equality for the purpose of strengthening general security in the Euro-Atlantic region. The depth and content of such relations will be determined by the readiness of the alliance to take account of the interests of the Russian Federation when conducting military-political planning, and to respect the provisions of international law. V. Organizational, Regulatory-Legal, and Information Foundations for Implementing This Strategy 108. The state policy of the Russian Federation in the sphere of ensuring national security shall be executed through the concerted actions of all elements of the system for ensuring it under the direction of the president of the Russian Federation and with the coordinating role of the Russian Federation Security Council. 109. This Strategy shall be executed on a planned basis by consolidating the efforts and resources of organs of state power and local self-government organs, by developing their cooperation with institutions of civil society, and also by making comprehensive use of political, organizational, socioeconomic, legal, information, military, special, and other actions developed as part of strategic planning in the Russian Federation. The provisions of this Strategy are UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED binding for all organs of state power and local self-government and represent the basis for the drafting and adjustment of strategic planning documents and programs in support of the national security and socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation and also documents concerning the activity of organs of state power and local self-government. The activity of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation as a participant in strategic planning shall be exercised in support of national interests and the achievement of strategic national priorities. 110. Oversight of progress in implementing this Strategy shall be exercised as part of the state monitoring of the state of national security; its results shall be reflected in an annual report of the secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council to the president of the Russian Federation on the state of national security and measures to strengthen it. 111. For the purpose of implementing this Strategy, improvement of the system of state administration and strategic planning in the sphere of ensuring national security and the socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation shall be pursued under the leadership of the Russian Federation president, strategic planning documents drafted and executed, and measures taken to train skilled specialists in the field of national security and strategic planning. 112. The information basis for implemening this Strategy is provided by the federal strategic planning information system, which incorporates the information resources of organs of state power and local self-government, and also by the systems of distributed situation centers and state scientific organizations. 113. In implementing this Strategy, particular attention shall be paid to ensuring information security in light of strategic national priorities. 114. The Russian Federation Security Council has a coordinating role in the information and information-analytical support for the implementation of this Strategy, and also in its amendment once every six years in light of the results of the monitoring of its implementation and of changes that substantially influence the state of national security. VI. Main Indicators of the State of National Security 115. The main indicators necessary for an evaluation of the state of national security are: -- the citizens' degree of satisfaction with the protection of their constitutional rights and freedoms and personal and property interests, including against criminal infringements; -- the proportion of modern models of arms and military and special equipment in the Russian Federation Armed Forces, other troops, and military formations and organs; -- life expectancy; -- per capita GDP; UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED -- decile coefficient (ratio of the income of the most prosperous 10 percent of the population and the least prosperous 10 percent of the population); -- inflation; -- unemployment; -- proportion of expenditure in the GDP on the development of science, technology, and education; -- proportion of expenditure in the GDP on culture; -- proportion of territory of the Russian Federation not conforming to environmental standards. 116. The list of the main indicators of the state of national security may be refined in light of the results of monitoring it. Implementation of this Strategy is designed to help develop the national economy, improve the quality of life of citizens, strengthen political stability in society, ensure the defense of the country and state and public security, and enhance the competitiveness and international prestige of the Russian Federation.