This press message was released by the Government of the Federated States of Rutania.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federated States of Rutania announces that Steve Armstrong, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, has decided that he will complete his current term, but that he will not seek another term as Minister during the next Government formation. He also decided to resign as Party Chairman of the Rutania Social Democrat Party, but will continue to fulfill that function until a new one has been elected by the RSDP's Party Congress.
Steve Armstrongs' political career began in 2034 when he joined the Rutania Social Democrat Party, which had been recently founded, at the age of twenty. Two years later he already ran for President for the RSDP and he remained the RSDP's Presidential Candidate until 2072. He effectively served 8 terms as President of the Federated States of Rutania.
In 2072 he succeeded George Campbell, who resigned as a result of the RSDP's major electoral defeat in 2072, as Party Chairman of the RSDP. That meant the end of his presidential career. But in 2077, Steve Armstrong became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federated States of Rutania, and he remained so until this very day.
Steve Armstrong's foreign policy was, and is, dedicated to establishing peace and friendship amongst the nations and ensuring worldwide respect for human rights, and he took several noteworthy initiateves to that end, amongst which the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Conference on the Establishment of an Inter-Parliamentary Union and, more recently, the Conference on Peaceful Resolution of the Endralon Question.
He also proposed Treaties of Non-aggression with all nations on the continent of Artania in order to protect and preserve the peace. And he has always striven for Rutania to participate actively on the international scene.
Before he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he already proposed, with success, the ratification of the International Waters for Life Initiative and the Convention on the Law of the Sea. And more recently he initiated negotiations with the Independent Davostan Republic on the right to innocent passage of Rutanian vessels through the waters between the island of Davograd and the Darkuth peninsula.
The Party Council of the Rutania Social Democrat Party has already announced that Steve Armstrong will be replaced as candidate for Foreign Affairs by Paul Abbott, a young politician aged 26 with a Masters degree in International Relations, who has already served as Steve Armstrong's Chief Diplomatic Advisor for the past two years. Signed,
the Government of the Federated States of Rutania
