Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be visiting Russia on a three day official visit starting from tomorrow. During this visit Mahinda Rajapaksa is also scheduled to meet Dmitry Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation on 8th of February.<br/><br/>The fact that Mr Rajapaksa has chosen Moscow as the first destination of his foreign travel after securing a second mandate from the people of the island nation has not gone unnoticed here in the political and diplomatic circles.<br/><br/>The west in general and the United States in particular have been critical of some of the initiatives of Mahinda Rajapaksa on the foreign policy front. For instance his travels to countries like Iran and Libya were perceived as a sign of defiance. However, officials maintain that the sole criteria of Mr. Rajapaksa in pursuance of his relations with the rest of the world were the `national interest' of Sri Lanka.<br/><br/>In his Independence Day speech at Kandy on Thursday Mr. Rajapaksa emphasized that the foreign policy of Sri Lanka is ‘independent and non-aligned’. He said that ‘it is no secret that we have maintained close friendly relationships with our neighbours such as India, China, Japan and others. We also maintain close affinity with Africa, the West, the Middle East and the European countries’.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, state of emergency in the island nation has been extended today by another month in Parliament. It received 102 votes in favour and 15 votes against. The United National Party (UNP) along with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against the extending of the state of emergency, while the Jana Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had been absent.