In addition to the President of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Government, the powers to resolve issues related to foreign policy belong to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (abbreviated as MFA) of Russia, which is a federal executive body and operates on the basis of a regulation approved by the President of the Russian Federation.
Who establishes the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia?
The decree of the President of the Russian Federation establishes the structure of this body, represented by the minister, his deputies, state secretary, and the central apparatus, consisting of departments, representative offices of Russia abroad, representative offices in the subject of the Russian Federation and subordinate organizations.
Central office
At the moment, the legislator is fixing the possibility of having 41 departments in the structure of the Russian Foreign Ministry in the main areas of activity. Departments are divided into territorial, dealing with issues related to relations with foreign states, and functional, performing certain functions assigned to it.
Territorial departments
- Departments of the CIS countries, of which there are 4 in the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The development of cooperation within the CIS is a priority for Russia. Sectoral cooperation bodies in the CIS are developing relations in the sectors of the economy, humanitarian cooperation, the fight against crime and terrorism, as well as in other spheres of life of the participating countries. In 2017, the Russian Federation acted as the presiding country in the CIS. During the year of the reign, the largest meetings of the Council were held, at which questions of trade and economic relations between the countries were raised, a decision was made on the need to carry out work in the field of removing obstacles to the movement of goods and services.
- European departments, of which there are also 4 in the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Department of pan-European cooperation. Within the framework of which issues of international European organizations are discussed.
- Department of North America. Relations between Russia and the United States are the main factor in the context of ensuring world security and stability. Due to various approaches to resolving a number of international problems, these relations periodically undergo difficult periods. At the moment, an intensive exchange of views continues on urgent international problems. The relations of countries in the field of culture are developing more successfully, as in recent years, successful tours of Russian classical music, theater, and ballet performers have been conducted in the United States. Significant efforts are being made to preserve Russian cultural and historical heritage in the United States, including a museum on the site of Fort Ross Fortress in California.
- Latin American Department.
- Department of the Middle East and North Africa.
- Department of Africa.
- Departments of Asia, of which there are three in the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Russia's policy in this direction is mutually beneficial and is aimed at assisting in socio-economic and cultural development, ensuring security, expanding military cooperation, as well as assisting Central Asian countries in solving other problems. The assistance provided by Russia over the past 5 years is estimated at $ 6.7 billion.
- Department of Asian and Pacific Cooperation.
Functional Departments
There are more of these in the structure of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in comparison with the territorial departments.
Allocate:
- The Department of International Organizations, within the framework of which questions of Russia's participation both in the UN as a whole and separately in the bodies, organizations and institutions of its system are raised.
- Department of Foreign Policy Planning.
- Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control.
- Historical and Documentary Department. An important area of historical and archival activity was the implementation of a large-scale program of events and projects dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the events of 1917 in Russia.
- The Department for New Challenges and Threats, which discusses issues in the field of combating terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy, as well as in the field of science, communications and technology and others
Subordinate educational institutions
Within the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various subordinate organizations are distinguished. So, the ministry is the founder of the Diplomatic Academy, which is the leading university in the world in training specialists in the field of international relations. In addition, under the leadership of the body, there are the Institute of International Relations, the College of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a secondary boarding school, and higher foreign language courses. Foreign Ministry institutions are also located outside of our country, so far 82 comprehensive schools have been opened at the Russian Embassy with in-depth study of foreign languages, located in 79 countries of the world.
An analysis of the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a whole and of individual departments under it allows us to conclude that this body is efficient and intensive, which creates the prerequisites for successfully resolving foreign policy issues in the future.