MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - Russia's foreign policy will not change when the new president takes the office, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview in the Thursday issue of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

"Vladimir Putin told George Bush in Sochi that Dmitry Anatolyevich [Medvedev] has been directly involved in the shaping of our foreign policy for the past eight years. I think we can affirm the continuation of our course," he said.

Medvedev, who worked with Lavrov at Russia's Security Council, "is well aware of the situation and the development of the foreign policy in line with the guidelines elaborated over the recent years," he said.

Lavrov denied claims that his ministry was allegedly drafting a new foreign policy doctrine.

"That is not necessary. The fundamentals of Russia's foreign policy were defined in the concept 2000," he said.

"At the same time, we are making certain corrections in line with the changes that have occurred on the international scene," he said.