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Old March 4th, 2019 #14
Alex Him
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Gala evening marking Special Operations Forces’ Day



Vladimir Putin attended a gala evening marking the Day of Special Operations Forces, a branch of the Armed Forces of Russia.



February 27, 2019 - 20:45 - Moscow






The President congratulated Special Operations Forces’ personnel on their professional holiday.

“We will continue to work consistently to strengthen our Army and Navy. Our efforts in this area are strictly defensive and aimed at unconditionally ensuring Russia’s security and protecting its sovereignty and national interests,” the President noted, addressing the meeting.

Also, Vladimir Putin decorated Vladimir Kovtun with the Hero of Russia Star for his part in a special operation in Afghanistan.








President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Comrade officers, veterans,

Today you are celebrating the anniversary of your force, and I am happy to have this opportunity to extend my greetings to the commanders and personnel of the Special Operations Forces on your professional holiday. Please accept my congratulations.

But first of all I would like to express our gratitude to you and your comrades for your efforts, for your valour, courage and heroism and for the skilful and flawless accomplishment of your extremely demanding and important missions.

Of course, this is yet another opportunity to recall the events of the Great Patriotic War. A great number of special operations units had to be created at the beginning of the war due to the situation at the frontline.

Members of these units often went on their missions without proper training or special weapons. It is not surprising that the number of casualties was high.

My father fought in one of such units: 28 people were sent behind enemy lines. Only four of them returned.

But as the war moved forward, our special operations units improved their skills.







They delivered scathing blows to the enemy, destroying its headquarters and communications and gaining vital intelligence.

Our Spetsnaz troops fought courageously, gaining victory in many hot spots. The operation carried out by one of such groups in Afghanistan, which seized the latest shoulder-fired [Stinger] missile system and hence saved many lives of our pilots, men and officers, is a brilliant example of courage and daring worthy of going down in textbooks.

One of the men on that legendary group was Vladimir Kovtun. Today I will have the honour to present the Hero of Russia Gold Star medal to him, as well as state decorations to other deserving servicemen.

Veterans’ heroic deeds and competence serve as example for the current generation of the Special Operations Forces. In the most complicated and extraordinary situations you act with precision and confidence, demonstrate the power of justice and dignity, endurance and faith in your rightful cause.

Exactly five years ago, soldiers and commanders of the Special Operations Forces did their best to maintain peace in Crimea and Sevastopol, to protect people from violence and punitive squads so that nobody could prevent the public from making their free and independent choice in a historic referendum.

The Special Operations Forces are always at the frontline, where it is most difficult. This is exactly how you have been operating in Syria. You have made a huge contribution to defeating terrorist groups, liberate Syria from the militants and, when you had to, accepted an unequal battle and drew fire upon yourselves.







Friends,

We will continue to work on consistent reinforcement and development of the Army and Navy. I have already said that our steps in this direction are purely defensive and intended to ensure Russia’s security, protection of its sovereignty and national interests.

Your unique experience will by all means be in demand during combat training of all troops and divisions. I am certain that you too will be constantly raising the bar for yourselves, improving your mastery, sharpening your tactical skills for special operations on the ground, in the air and at sea; successfully mastering the advanced and unique equipment produced by our defence industry and developed by Russian design bureaus.

If required, you will perform any task, carry out the most complicated and important combat orders, do everything possible and impossible to neutralise a threat against Russia whatever the source.

I am confident that serving in the Special Operations Forces will always be a goal for our best personnel and commanders and a dream for young boys and future defenders of the Fatherland.

Once again, congratulations on your professional holiday. I wish you to always come back home and come back with triumph. I wish you every success, good luck and all the best to you and your loved ones.




The source of information - http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/59906






Expanded meeting of the Interior Ministry Board



Vladimir Putin took part in the annual expanded meeting of the Interior Ministry Board.



February 28, 2019 - 14:30 - Moscow






The meeting focused on the performance of law enforcement agencies in 2018 and plans for 2019.

Before the meeting, the President visited an exhibition of advanced weapon models. He also viewed the stand of the equestrian and tourist police, and briefly spoke to female officers of those divisions. The female officers invited the President to visit them and watch the divisions at work.








President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Comrade officers,

Today we are discussing the performance of the Interior Ministry in 2018, the current and long-term tasks, including with regard to the approaches specified in the recent Address to the Federal Assembly.

Speaking about the positive trends in 2018, I would like to highlight the decreased number of crimes, including grave crimes, and improvement of the public order. By the way, public polls also indicate that the share of our citizens who believe the police provides significant help in resolving their issues has been growing over the past years. This is the most important criterion and the most important assessment. It is directly related to your everyday work on the ground and to the operation of local police officers. I would like to add that the number of people familiar with their local police officers is also growing, which is a good and important trend.

Of course, I would like to once again thank law enforcement officers for competent and well-coordinated work during the large-scale events we hosed last year. Naturally, one of them was the FIFA World Cup, which was notable for its high level of security. Many football fans and your foreign colleagues praised the security during the event.







It is important to build on this achievement, working consistently to reduce the crime rate and relying on strict standards and requirements in our daily work, so that the citizens of Russia know that police officers will respond to their pleas for help with understanding and sympathy and that their rights and freedoms are safely protected. All of our positive achievements are the result of hard work by a large number of personnel, including the staff of the Interior Ministry and ministry leaders.

However, we need to pay special attention to some issues. There are many unresolved problems. I will speak about this in more detail.

The law enforcement bodies face a number of challenging tasks, which they must address this year and in the short term. First of all, we must gradually increase the clearance rate. All the available resources, investigative and technical capabilities of the law enforcement bodies must be used towards this end. I pointed this out regularly, at every Interior Ministry Board meeting, yet improvements are taking too long. In 2018, just as in all the preceding years, half of the reported crimes remained unsolved. I ask you to seriously think what practical measures can be taken to dramatically improve the situation.







Another priority is to improve the system of preventing juvenile delinquency. Much has been done to enhance the efficiency and modernise this system. Statistics show that the number of crimes committed by minors decreased by 3.8 percent last year, but the number of crimes committed against minors has increased by 5 percent.

We must continue to closely monitor the so-called risk groups, working together with the social services, teachers, parents and volunteers to clarify each particular situation and promptly react to the attempts to involve minors in crime. Insufficient attention or treating the issue as a formality can break lives and lead to tragedies. Those of our colleagues who are working in this sphere know this very well.

We know that it is a difficult and time-consuming job, yet it must be done, without a doubt. We must consolidate our efforts in this sphere, again reviewing the work of children’s rights commissioners, regional authorities and civil society institutions and joining forces with them to achieve the desired positive result.







In the Address to the Federal Assembly, I talked at length about the problems that are a matter of concern for the business community, including the so-called pressure points in their relations with law enforcement agencies. As you know, the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office were instructed to carry out a detailed review and propose ways of addressing shortcomings both in legislation and in law enforcement. I expect the Interior Ministry to contribute to this work in meaningful ways.

I know that everyone has their own side of the story, and law enforcement agencies are not an exception. It is not uncommon for their position to be quite reasonable, to say the least. For this reason, what we need are joint positive efforts to improve the business climate in the country. This is crucial for economic development.

In addition, let me remind you that a pilot version of a dedicated digital platform is expected to be launched before the end of the year to enable entrepreneurs to report any pressure they face, and ask for support whenever their rights are violated. I would like to explain that this will not be some kind of an elusive unintelligible system for overseeing developments in law enforcement. This must be an additional tool for the relevant agency and ministry designed to make sure that their top officials are informed about these problems directly instead of information being filtered by the very officials who are more often than not directly targeted by these claims. This can be done effectively, swiftly and without delay with the help of the latest technology.







The Interior Ministry must promptly draft regulations for processing applications from entrepreneurs, just as all other law enforcement agencies. I ask you to work on this task in close cooperation with the business community.

Let me draw your attention to the fact that we do not need another complaint desk with applications buried in paperwork and formal replies. This is not what we need, as I have already said. This must be a mechanism that is effective and operational in terms of protecting the interests of citizens, as well as improving the performance and transparency of law enforcement agencies, enabling them to get rid of dishonest employees, which also happens.

Of course, another important task is to step up the overall efforts to combat corruption. I expect you to come up with new, advanced and effective approaches to identifying and investigating complex and covert types of crime.

Comrade officers, the second most important area of work is fighting extremism. Indeed, in 2018 the overall number of extremist crimes decreased by almost 17 percent, although these crimes were registered practically in every region of Russia in different forms and manifestations.







Law enforcement agencies, acting in cooperation with the public and local authorities, should rigorously thwart the activities of radical groups, avert ethnic and religious conflicts and take resolute measures to identify and bring to justice those who are trying to spread the ideology of aggression, violence and intolerance, including and above all among young people.

In the process, it is important to concentrate on investigating the most dangerous extremist crimes and take into account the legislative changes in this area, in particular, partial decriminalisation of Article 282 of the Criminal Code. Let me repeat, it is necessary to see where the real threat, the real danger is coming from rather than inflate the statistics by counting cases initiated without weighty grounds. But if the grounds are there, get down to work. Do you understand? You should not just watch the water flowing down the river. You must get to work.

Needless to say, in the struggle against extremism, Interior Ministry employees should be strictly guided by legal standards and make the utmost use of civil society institutions, such as religious, public and educational organisations.







Enhancing road safety remains a topical task. Despite certain improvements, the situation on the roads remains complicated. Every day, traffic accidents kill almost 50 people and injure around 600. This is a very high figure. I have already spoken about this at our meetings – this is a tragically huge loss. It is necessary to consistently develop technical means of monitoring compliance with traffic rules, expend the capabilities of automatic and video recording of traffic violations and to set higher requirements to traffic rules exams and issuing of driving licenses.

A few words about one more problem that we have already discussed. Last year rigorous measures were taken to reduce passenger transit accidents. As a result, the number of people killed in traffic accidents through the fault of bus drivers has decreased by 17 percent. This is a good result and thank you very much for this achievement. However, let me draw your attention to the fact that the total number of such traffic accidents has not decreased in the past five years. Please take additional measures in this area.

Countering illegal trafficking remains one of the main tasks for the Interior Ministry. According to statistics, the availability of most dangerous synthetic drugs is growing. This is an alarming trend that needs to be taken into consideration. Apparently, the existing measures are not enough and additional action is required.







It is necessary to suppress drug traffickers, expose organised criminal groups involved in the import of drugs from abroad and their production in the country. When doing this, I would like you to work closely with the Federal Security Service, the Federal Customs Service and other agencies, as well as your colleagues abroad.

Another complex job that requires attention is protecting law and order when it comes to migration. We do take long-term measures when it comes to this but it is important to focus on the current work. With the State Migration Policy Concept for 2019–2025 in place, I would like to stress the following. Any violation of the migration law must be meticulously suppressed. This requires consistent improvement of the quality of migration-related public services and the development of modern migration regulations that would be comfortable for law-abiding people who want to live and work in Russia, respect our traditions, culture and Russian law.

Therefore, I would like to point out that we of course must primarily take care of Russian citizens’ interests when it comes to migration.







I would also like to remind you about the task to simplify visa formalities. I am expecting specific proposals from the Interior Ministry and the other competent agencies.

Colleagues, finally, I would like to thank the senior officials and the personnel of the Russian Interior Ministry for their work. I am certain you understand it all too well that what you do for the country, our society and every person is very significant. A lot in this country depends on your performance. I am certain that you will continue to work efficiently and diligently to achieve positive results.

Once again, thank you all for your work.







<…>


Vladimir Putin:

Comrade officers, colleagues!

I would like to thank the Minister once again – not for the report, of course, but for your work and the results. Let me thank all of you once again because you deserve it – you have achieved results.







This is what I would like to draw your attention to. Yesterday I discussed this with Mr Kolokoltsev and he noted this now in his report – I would like to return to your work in the economy. This is a very important sphere and you see in what kind of conditions we live and develop, and there is only one effective answer to all external restrictions – to create the best possible conditions for the upsurge of the domestic economy. This is not a departmental task. This is a national, governmental task.

In this context, law enforcement agencies, including and primarily the Interior Ministry agencies, bear special responsibility because you are a key link in this environment in terms of work and the coverage of all problems. Yes, of course, Mr Kolokoltsev spoke about this but if we put it in simpler terms, not the language of a report, he said: Yes, entrepreneurs are largely to blame themselves; they come and complain about each other, and we are compelled to react to this by virtue of the current laws. We are obliged to do this.







Vladimir Kolokoltsev:

But they do not turn to the courts.



Vladimir Putin:

Indeed, they say they refuse to go to court. Maybe so but they come to us and start complaining and we have to react.

Look at what one has to do, who has to do this and where. I will take the situation with traffic accidents by way of example. Thus, 203,600 traffic accidents were registered in 2012. Regrettably, 27,900 people, that is, almost 28,000 were killed as a result. In 2018, 168,100 traffic accidents were registered. Of course, you understand that some cases might not be duly registered but these are approximately objective facts. Regrettably, 18,200 people were killed on the roads last year. In other words, this is a substantial difference. It is substantial. It is a result, an absolutely obvious result of your work. Almost 28,000 people died in the past against 18,000 last year. This is a tangible difference and I would like to thank you for this once again.







Now on the situation in the economy. Last year, 109,500 economic crimes were reported.

As for road accidents, those who are concerned with them, which is nearly everyone here, and the majority of them have a legal education, know that both drivers and pedestrians can be guilty, yet the bulk of responsibility rests with the drivers. This is because vehicles are a source of increased danger. Legislation places special responsibility on those who handle sources of increased danger, such as cars or rifles.







The same is true of our relations with businesses. We can draw a parallel here. Law enforcement officers bear special responsibility for this, because the state has placed its trust with them. Businesses do not have this responsibility, but you do. This is something you must never forget.

Last year, 109,500 economic crimes were reported, or 4.2 percent more than the year before. But what is the clearance rate? We must take a look at the figures. Businesses request the law enforcement officers’ assistance in dealing with their clients and business partners. But we are adult people. We know that few business people come to you without a personal recommendation. They primarily turn for help to those they know personally, or those recommended to them by their acquaintances or friends, or their shadow partners. Very few come without a recommendation. It is street crime that is investigated without a recommendation, but not economic crimes. We must take this into account.







The law enforcement agencies, those wearing uniforms, the people in whom the state has placed its trust and to whom it has given special rights must never forget about their duties, because these rights, including the right to carry weapons, entail special responsibilities. I would like you to take special note of this.







It is not a request but an appeal. Do you understand me? It is a vital national task. Not a departmental task, but a nationwide task.

Overall, I would like to thank you for your efforts and to wish you every success and all the best.




The source of information - http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/59913






Answers to media questions



After an expanded meeting of the Interior Ministry Board, Vladimir Putin answered journalists’ questions about relations between law enforcement and the business community and the outcome of the President’s talks with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.



February 28, 2019 - 15:10 - Moscow







Question:

Mr President, may I? One of the issues discussed at the Interior Ministry Board meeting concerned relations between law enforcement and the business community. What does this mean? You mentioned formal replies and said that the Interior Ministry has some ideas on this score and that they are justified, to a degree. What is your main message when you speak about how law and business interact?







President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

There is a problem and this fact is well understood. The people in general, and especially our businesses, believe that relations with law enforcement agencies are critically important for creating favourable conditions for doing business. I believe that they are right, that this is indeed so. At the same time, our law enforcement agencies admit that there are many questions and problems in this sphere.

For example, we need to improve existing laws so as to create conditions in which the breach of duties by law enforcement officers will be impossible, whereas the business community will respect the rules and laws that were designed to protect the interests of the overwhelming majority of citizens, not only the business community.

First of all, I was referring to all kinds of inspections held to protect people, the consumers of goods and services, from shoddy goods and services that do not meet modern standards. As for relations between law enforcement and the business community, they have always been in the focus not only in this country but also in other countries.

Business people complain, as always, about certain abuses. But the Minister said in his report today that business people often turn to law enforcement agencies asking them to protect their interests. They do not file lawsuits but seek the assistance of law enforcement officials. As I have said here, there are grounds to believe that business people do not come in right off the street, like ordinary people, but through connections they have in law enforcement, which bears special responsibility, just as drivers do because vehicles are a source of increased danger. Law enforcement officers bear special responsibility for preventing a situation in which business people have only themselves to blame.

On the other hand, I agree that we must pay special attention to this. We have decided that this issue must be addressed by a working group that has been established at the Presidential Executive Office. This group will work together with members of law enforcement agencies, prosecutor offices and courts to decide what we must do to improve the existing laws and create the foundation for effective law enforcement. In fact, this is what we discussed.






Question:

Mr President, sorry to lead you off topic. There was no press conference yesterday, after the meeting with Mr Netanyahu. However, Mr Netanyahu said a working group would be created between Israel and Russia on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Syria. First question: is this true? And the second question is, how do you assess the situation in that country now?



Vladimir Putin:

It is not my business to give assessments on the situation in any country, in this case in Israel.



Question:

No, sorry. I meant Syria. About developments in Syria.







Vladimir Putin:

I think everyone is familiar with the situation in Syria. We quite openly provide information and share as much as possible. The situation has stabilised. Isolated centres of resistance by terrorists remain, but they are being subdued now. I think that in the near future, they will be eliminated completely. True, there is the Idlib zone on the right bank of the Euphrates, which is not so stable. We need to work on this – I talked about it with the Prime Minister yesterday.

As for the working group, the idea is to create a working body that would manage the final normalisation after the last hotbeds of terrorism are subdued, involving all the stakeholders – primarily Syria, the leadership of the Syrian Arab Republic, maybe the opposition, other countries in the region, all parties involved in this conflict. Among other things, it would certainly cover the withdrawal of all armed forces from Syrian territory and the full restoration of Syrian statehood with its territorial integrity intact. We have long talked about this, and it is fully consistent with the Russian position. Yesterday we discussed this matter.

As for the development of our bilateral relations, there has been quite consistent progress. We must acknowledge the Israeli leadership’s efforts: Prime Minister Netanyahu is working on this personally, and we know his views on the outcome of World War II, and the role of the Soviet Union, the Red Army. You have heard about the initiative to create a memorial associated with the victims of the siege of Leningrad – we are certainly grateful to Israel for this work. I will try to attend the unveiling of this memorial in Israel. We hope that despite internal political events, the pre-election situation, no matter how it unfolds, continuity will be preserved in the development of Russian-Israeli relations.




The source of information - http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/59914
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