Moscow gathering its ambassadors for a session

On Friday Moscow will host a session of Russian ambassadors to foreign countries. It will closely consider problems of strategic stability and international security, said Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov in an interview to RIA Novosti.

The Russian diplomacy "is to adjust practical cooperation" within the recently created Russian-NATO Council, as well as "to work for solving specific issues" in Russia's relations with the European Union, he stressed. Moscow's activities in these directions "should contribute to forming a new model of European and international security," Ivanov believes.

The session will discuss the Russian foreign policy priorities both in the West and in the East, he said.

The main of these is a diversified development of cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, consisting of Russia and other 11 former Soviet republics, according to Ivanov. Russian diplomats will also consider specific issues of expanding the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and developing partner relations with the leading Asian-Pacific countries, first of all China and India, the minister said. Special attention will be paid to improving the "economic diplomacy" as one of the main tools for Russia's integration in the world economy, he added.