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The President was presented with new and renovated laboratory buildings of the Rospotrebnadzor hygiene and epidemiology centres in Mariupol, Volnovakha, Orenburg, and Voronezh. New laboratories of the Volgograd Research Anti-Plague Institute and the anti-plague station in Simferopol are also starting operation.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, good afternoon.

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service. I congratulate all the Rospotrebnadzor employees on this date.

It is marked on September 15, because formally this service was created in 1922, though we know – and you know this better than anyone – that its history is even longer: it began back in the times of Ivan the Terrible. I believe this was when the Apothecary Order was established.

I would like to thank all of you, as well as your colleagues in the regions of our vast country, for responsibly fulfilling your duties and effectively addressing tasks to protect consumers’ rights and people’s health.

Thanks to you, and to many generations of your predecessors – talented doctors and scientists – Russia has built a unique system of sanitary and epidemiological control. Today, it is recognised as one of the most advanced in the world and, importantly, it continues to evolve dynamically.

Its core principles – prevention and risk mitigation – remain the foundation of your work. Every day, you monitor the quality of the environment, water, air, and food. This work often goes unnoticed, yet it is of paramount importance. You promptly detect and counter dangerous infections, carry out vital scientific research, and implement advanced methods of monitoring and forecasting epidemics, thereby safeguarding people’s lives.

The coronavirus epidemic clearly demonstrated this. The well-coordinated, professional actions of Rospotrebnadzor specialists became a crucial part of the nationwide efforts to fight this dangerous disease.

The experience gained during that challenging period largely formed the basis for the federal project to create the so-called sanitary shield of Russia. Its primary goal is to protect people from new biological threats. I would like to ask Head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova to elaborate on what has already been achieved in this area.

Please, Ms Popova.

Anna Popova, Head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor): Mr President, colleagues,

Mr President, first of all I would like to thank you for this opportunity to report on our achievements on this very day – on our day. We have made good progress, because thanks to your support and attention our laboratory infrastructure and scientific institutions are developing at an accelerated pace.

Within the Rospotrebnadzor system – which, as you noted, was established many years ago – there are three tiers of response and laboratory support.

The first is the municipal, or inter-municipal, level. Today, we have more than 560 laboratories operating at this tier.

The second is the regional level, represented by large, well-equipped laboratories with significant capabilities.

And the third level consists of our research organisations, which provide scientific research and support for the practical institutions and solutions. This component is of particular importance to us.

We have implemented a half of the Sanitary Shield programme, and we still have four years to go. I would like to report on the results of the first four years.

This large number of laboratories produce a lot of information, which is all digital today. We are working very quickly now: data from any laboratory device is available to us within just a few hours.

We have also expanded our laboratory capacity through mobile laboratories. These are now operating in 37 Russian regions, providing invaluable assistance in emergency situations and in remote areas of the country. They are also deployed in our four new regions – our historical regions. Our colleagues there are trained and capable of working effectively. Since the summer of 2022, our mobile laboratories have been ensuring epidemiological safety in Mariupol [the Donetsk People’s Republic] and Melitopol [the Zaporozhye Region], and they continue to operate there to this day, preventing any complications – a result that speaks for itself.

We have strengthened monitoring and sanitary-quarantine control at the borders. The system has been completely restructured and reinforced with mobile sanitary and quarantine control points wherever needed.

Another task you set for us in developing the Sanitary Shield is rapid diagnostics. The sooner we can identify a disease, the faster we can make effective management decisions. Today, we have revised our approaches to creating and deploying tests. To date, 124 new rapid tests are already available, capable of detecting an infection in just one hour, which allows us to respond much more quickly.

This entire system is supported by 154 research centres using our tests, as well as 54 sequencing centres. I would like to emphasise that in 2020, when this work was just beginning, there were only a handful of such facilities. Now there are 54 of them, including 24 in the Russian regions. In other words, we have turned this highly scientific, high-tech method into a routine and accessible tool for practical institutions in regional capitals.

We also devote particular attention to laboratory support for monitoring environmental factors at a new technological level. As you mentioned, this includes air, water, and food products. Our laboratories are being upgraded, and the pace of this work is quite fast.

In order to prevent risks associated with drinking water, we have introduced a new research method: an integrated toxicity assessment. Within just a few hours, and within one hour if necessary, we can determine whether water is dangerous, even before identifying the chemical compounds responsible. This method is already being used in 26 regions, with more than 11,000 samples analysed to date. We are continuing to expand this important work.

All provisions of the Sanitary Shield have been implemented as scheduled. We have fully achieved all targets, and all tasks set for the 2020–2025 period are being carried out clearly and on time.

Looking ahead to 2030, we have readjusted our approaches, given the rapid pace of technological change and global developments. We are identifying new risks: the spread of infections into regions where they were previously absent, the emergence of novel pathogens, hostile reactions from unfriendly countries, and the challenges posed by advances in synthetic biology.

We have slightly revised our plans for the establishment of new facilities and adjusted major investment projects in 2022. Today, we are ready to present the first of these projects that have already been completed. Capacities were revised depending on geography. All imported components have been fully replaced. In every facility currently under construction, only domestic construction and finishing materials are used. These materials are subject to special requirements, given the biological safety standards. At present, 73 percent of the equipment is domestically produced. This is already a high figure, and everything available domestically is being transferred here. Our industry is developing dynamically, meeting the tasks we set, thanks to our close cooperation.

I would also like to stress that these facilities are highly complex engineering structures with advanced support systems. All climate control, air purification, and wastewater treatment systems are exclusively Russian-made, as is the software we use. Naturally, none of this would be possible without the constant support of the Russian Government, the direct involvement of Ms Golikova in all our projects, and the constructive cooperation of the construction sector, which adapts to changing requirements.

I must also emphasise that from the very beginning all our projects have been stewarded by the Federal Security Service, which provides an additional guarantee of success – and it is working, Mr President. As a result, facilities are being commissioned on time, and in some cases, even ahead of schedule. This year, four of our facilities were completed four to six months earlier than planned, while fully maintaining the quality standards set at the outset.

Today, we are opening new facilities at all three levels. At the municipal level these are: laboratories in Volnovakha and Mariupol in the Donetsk People’s Republic. At the regional level: major laboratory complexes in the main cities of two regions, Orenburg and Voronezh. At the scientific level: a new building at the Volgograd Anti-Plague Research Institute and an anti-plague station, now practically an institute, in Simferopol.

Each of these facilities is of great importance for ensuring the protection of the Russian Federation from various threats, above all biological ones.

Today we are here in Mariupol, which is our first “bulwark,” our “front line.” The effectiveness of our municipal-level colleagues determines how quickly and efficiently we can respond to any challenge or threat.

Of course, Mr President, I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all my colleagues – those working in Rospotrebnadzor, in other agencies, and in the security services who safeguard sanitary and epidemiological wellbeing – on our professional day, and to thank them for their selfless work.

Once again, Mr President: we will not let you down. We will do everything within our duty to ensure the safety of our country.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: No doubt.

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