Answer: The past year was significant in many respects for the UN. The tragic events of September 11 in the United States highlighted with particular force the necessity of the UN as a mechanism for the joint search of effective answers to threats and challenges to international security in the 21st century. A confirmation of the growth of the authority and role of the UN in world affairs was the award to the organization and its Secretary General of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Our strategic line in the UN, approved by the President of Russia, was to help in every way the strengthening of the United Nations as the central mechanism for governance of international relations. We purposely used the authority and role of Russia as a world power and its status of a UN Security Council permanent member for the formation under the aegis of the UN of an international system based on international law, the UN Charter and multilateral approaches in dealing with global and regional problems.

The initiatives put forward by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and directed to creating under the aegis of the UN a global system of counteraction against international terrorism gained wide support at the concluded 56th session of the UN GA. With the most active participation of Russia the General Assembly and the Security Council of the UN adopted a number of important decisions that contributed to the formation of a broad international coalition for the struggle against this universal evil.

During the year Russia firmly upheld the key role of the UN in political settlement in Afghanistan. The decisions of the Security Council, adopted with the direct participation of Russia, helped to implement the measures for the eradication of the seats of terrorism and narco-threat on Afghan territory. Under the aegis of the UN conditions were created for the formation in the country of a widely representative and multiethnic government. In questions of humanitarian assistance and the reconstruction of Afghanistan Russia closely coordinated its efforts with the international community, primarily under UN auspices.

Russia's proposal for developing under the aegis of the UN a comprehensive strategy for cutting off the external sources of financing armed conflicts met with growing support within the UN. Also support was given to the proposal of Russia for reinvigorating the work of the Military Staff Committee of the UN Security Council, aimed at improving UN peacekeeping activities.

We firmly and consistently upheld our principled line on the necessity to reinforce strategic stability and to preserve and comply with the ABM Treaty. The results of the vote on this resolution at the General Assembly, where we were supported by 84 States with four against, attest to the increased support of the Russian stand in regard to this Treaty. Unanimously the 56th session of the General Assembly adopted another important initiative submitted by Russia - on international information security.

Assistance to the settlement of the conflicts in the CIS space, especially the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, remained in the center of our efforts in the United Nations.

Another question in the field of our constant attention is work to stabilize the situation in the Balkans and strengthen the positions of Russia in the region.

We continue to make consistent efforts in the Security Council for the search of mutually acceptable approaches to resolving the situation around Iraq.

Russia has been actively supporting efforts to build up the contribution of the UN to preventing and resolving the conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

It can be said with confidence that in the outgoing year much was done to make the UN even more effective in the domain of its main responsibility - in questions of maintaining international peace and security.

Question: What did the Russian MFA do in the past year to ensure the rights and lawful interests of Russian compatriots living abroad?

Answer: In the field of human rights the chief priority for the Russian MFA in the past year was work to ensure the rights and lawful interests of Russian compatriots living abroad. To improve the status of the compatriots in the countries where they live we employed our full arsenal of means. This included the promotion of a dialogue with the states of the diaspora, and the employment of methods of public diplomacy. We also tapped the potential of international organizations. We likewise provided support for the Russian language and culture. We helped the preservation of the Russian information space, and rendered assistance to compatriots' organizations. It should also be noted that the government commission for compatriots abroad stepped up its activities in the year 2001.

The main event of the outgoing year was the Congress of Russian Compatriots. It reaffirmed the Russian diaspora's unique commonality based on the multinational Russian culture, the Russian language and the Russian spiritual tradition. During its work, the main lines of policy were enunciated for the development of contacts by the Russian state with its compatriots abroad.

In international human rights forums Russia pursued a policy for the depoliticization of human rights issues and renunciation of "double standards." We also helped to get the most topical subjects included in the agenda of measures: terrorism and human rights, the protection of vulnerable strata of population, counteraction against extremism, discrimination and intolerance. Thanks to the position of Russia major provisions concerning the ensuring of the rights of national, religious and language minorities were included in the final documents of the World Conference on the Combating of Racism.