Foreign relations have become a key instrument in Medvedev’s grand modernization project. Having the full prerogatives of foreign policy, the president is actively seeking to transfer gains made in international relations to his home ground, an area where his powers are far more restricted. Symptomatically, he told his ambassadors that «we should more efficiently use our foreign policy instruments for solving domestic issues, for the modernization of our country, its economy, social sphere and partly its political system – for the resolution of the very various tasks which our society is confronted with». Russia must change, the president argues, and it will have to do so in cooperation with foreign partners.
