The Protocol was signed on behalf of the Russian Federation on June 8, 2012, in Strasbourg. The Russian Federation has been a party of the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities since January 5, 2003. In 2008, the Russian Federation ratified Additional Protocol and Protocol No. 2 to the Convention.
The Protocol aims to facilitate cooperation between territorial communities and authorities, while maintaining political and administrative bodies as well as the states’ international obligations. The Protocol provides for the legal status, establishment and operation of the Euroregional Cooperation Groupings.
The purpose of the Euroregional Cooperation Groupings is to promote, support and develop transfrontier and inter-territorial cooperation between its members for the benefit of the residents of the areas within their competence and within the powers granted by national legislation of a respective state.