The Centre's main goal is to protect the interests of the state, the rights and freedoms of citizens, and the rights of legal entities by conducting comprehensive, scientifically based forensic examinations.

To achieve this goal and to ensure high quality of expert work and reduce its overall time frame the RFCFS is striving to meet the advanced achievements of forensic science worldwide.

The Ministry of Justice of Russia poses a broad spectrum of tasks in front of the RFCFS as a leading scientific and methodical center in the system of forensic institutions. These tasks are related to establishing international relations and expanding cooperation with specialized forensic institutions in the countries of near and far abroad.

Within the framework of this activity the RFCFS’ tasks are as following:

• ensuring effective participation of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in international cooperation at the bilateral, regional and global levels, maintaining Russia's authority in the international arena;
• development of scientific and methodological support of the system of forensic institutions (FIs) of the Russian Ministry of Justice at the modern scientific and technical level;
• mastering foreign best practices and innovation of current developments of the world's forensic science as well as of tools and methods in expert performance;
• harmonization of legislation in the field of forensic activities.

To solve the tasks set forward and to comply with the instructions of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation the RFCFS is promoting international cooperation within the framework of:

• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO);
• • Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS);
• International contacts with forensic institutions of other countries.

Work in the field of forensic science within the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is important for efforts consolidation and interaction of the Ministries of Justice of SCO member states, forensic institutions, scientific community and educational institutions of the Eurasian space with the purpose of implementation of the Rule of Law principle, improvement of forensic activities and quality upgrading of forensic examination as one of the main forms of special knowledge use in current litigation.

Within the CIS, the RFCFS is an organizational platform for the Interstate Technical Committee ITC 545 "Forensic Examination". One of the ITC 545 tasks is to promote a unified quality management system in the forensic institutions within the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 2021, there was adopted the interstate standard GOST 34791-2021 "Forensic traceological examination. Terms and definitions". And the interstate standard "Forensic molecular genetic examination of objects of wild flora and fauna" is being prepared for approval after the vote on this standard has been held in the CIS countries.

The priority areas of partnership in the field of forensic expertise are the international standards introduction in forensic institutions of participating countries of international organizations, information resources exchange, scientific development and expert technologies advancement, training and retraining of professional staff. New developments, techniques and equipment are under ongoing monitoring to improve the efficiency of the FSI of the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

The RFCFS work on ensuring high quality of forensic production, including accreditation of laboratories according to ISO 17025 standard, allows for RFCFS experts to perform world level forensic examinations, which are accepted by international courts.

Bilateral agreements were signed with the institutes of forensic science of Armenia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and Uzbekistan. Within the framework of this interaction, meetings with colleagues at scientific and methodological events as well as exchange of delegations and meetings of directors are held annually.

Until 2022, RFCFS was actively involved in the work of the European Network of Forensic Institutions (ENFSI) and maintained working contacts with the American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS), the Australian-New Zealand Forensic Science Society (ANZFSS). RFCFS remains open for maintaining and continuing these contacts in the future.

In furtherance of its goals, the RFCFS continues to develop partnerships based on mutually beneficial cooperation. The priority areas of activities will mostly remain the same. These are the formats of the Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO member states, CIS and bilateral contacts with government forensic institutions.

Currently, the work continues on the following venues:

• scientific and methodological cooperation, including the issues of certification and validation of methodological support of forensic expertise;
• standardization and accreditation in the field of forensic activities;
• improving the system of retraining and advanced professional training of forensic institutions' employees.

Partnership relations of government forensic institutions within the framework of agreements between the Ministries of Justice allow for the effective and mutually beneficial cooperation of forensic experts of participating countries and assist in more effective address of complex theoretical and practical challenges associated with special knowledge use in criminal and civil proceedings, and promote the rule of law in all states.