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Attending the meeting were Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Anton Vaino, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin, and Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon.

Today we will hear two reports: from Mr Naryshkin and from Mr Shoigu.

All those attending know the topic very well. We will discuss the developments in the Middle East, in close proximity to our borders. Russia traditionally has paid close attention to this region. We have a lot of interests, friends and partners there. It is a region with great potential for developing our foreign economic ties, and also traditionally friendly for Russia.

Let us get down to the current state of affairs and development prospects in this region for the short term.

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