Regional priorities of Russia's foreign policy in policy documents and initiatives of political parties

Introduction. Many of the current challenges are regional in terms of origin and localization, and this makes it necessary, in the context of indivisibility of domestic and foreign policy, to have a clear idea of primary goals and aims of the state as well as the methods of their implementation, at least in key regions, if not worldwide. Political parties, designed to convey the position of citizens to the ruling elite, can contribute to the formation or adjustment of the foreign policy priorities system by fixing their own expectations and the public request for certain actions. Aims. Comparative analysis of program positions and proposals of the Russian political parties that ran the 2016 parliamentary election campaign, looking at raising efficiency of regional vectors of modern Russia's foreign policy. Methods. The research is based on the methods of document analysis, comparative analysis, charting. Their combination made it possible to show the content and specificity of party positions on the priority regional directions of the state foreign policy, the dynamics and the degree of agreement on the main regional issues. Results. The positions of Russian political parties on the content and regional priorities of the current state foreign policy have been systematized and described. The research revealed a predominantly positive assessment of the foreign policy pursued by the top leadership of the country. Conclusion. The activities of political parties primarily affect the plane of internal political processes and phenomena. At present they are increasingly turning to international issues, combining the party ideology lines with and the commitment to the values of patriotism, based on the interests of Russia. The proposals formulated by the Russian parties on the regional directions of Russia's foreign policy generally reflect the trends of the official discourse and are correlated with the actions of the Russian Federation in the international arena, but are more emotional and often declarative in nature, dictated by the requirements of political expediency.