Russian foreign ministry renames Department of Pan-European Cooperation: Department of Problems

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has renamed the Department of Pan-European Cooperation as the Department of European Problems.

Source: Russian media, citing the changes on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Details: Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the change was caused by the "changing geopolitical reality and the need to adapt the Foreign Ministry’s actions to it", as well as the "obvious degradation of the European multilateral cooperation institutions".

The department will continue overseeing issues involving international and European organisations, such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe, European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Vladislav Maslennikov will continue to head the department. He was appointed the director of the Department of Pan-European Cooperation on 18 October 2024.

Russia does indeed have problematic relationships with all of the organisations the department oversees. The OSCE is in crisis over Russia’s membership, Russia has been expelled from the Council of Europe, and Russia has no official relations with the EU and NATO and views their member states as unfriendly.

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