The Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation , commonly known as Rossotrudnichestvo , is an autonomous Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n federal government agency

Government of Russia

The Government of the Russian Federation exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister , the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers...

 under the juridstiction of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The agency was set up by Presidential decree, signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...

 on 6 September 2008, with the aim of maintaining Russia's influence in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

, and to foster friendly ties for the advancement of Russia's political and economic interests in foreign states.