MOSCOW, July 1. /ITAR-TASS/. A unipolar model of the world has failed, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said addressing a meeting of ambassadors and permanent representatives of Russia on Tuesday while specifying the main tasks of the country’s diplomacy.

“Peoples and countries are expressing more and more loudly their will to determine their destiny by themselves, to preserve their civilization and cultural identity, which comes into conflict with attempts by certain countries to keep their dominance in the military sphere, in politics, finance, economy and ideology,” Putin said.

“Western partners were trying to persuade us that they had good intentions, that they were ready to combine efforts with us to build strategic cooperation. But, at the same time, they were making steps to further expand NATO, to move their military and political control closer to our borders,” he noted.

“Those who keep on stating about their exclusiveness are averse to Russia’s independent policy. Developments in Ukraine have demonstrated this only too well. More than that, these developments have demonstrated that the model of relations with Russia based on double standards does not work,” Putin stressed.

The Russian leader called to “get rid of ambitions, to impose common rules for every society". He called to “begin building relations on the basis of equal rights, mutual respect, and respect to each other’s interests". “It is high time we recognized the right to be different, the right of each country to build its life on its own will, and not to anybody’s meddlesome dictation,” Putin underscored.

Russia will not wind down its relations with the United States, though they had been spoiled not by Russia's fault, the president stressed.