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