Official website of the President of Russia

Документ   /

The meeting was attended by 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, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, and Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,

Today we are holding our meeting on a professional day, Border Guards Day. I would like to address current and former officers of the FSB Border Guard Service on this occasion.

Friends, let me congratulate you on your holiday. It was established to acknowledge the courage of the many generations of those who defend our country’s borders. Your service was difficult and honourable in all historical periods, demanding high professionalism, personal courage and awareness of your huge responsibility to the Fatherland.

This year we mark 80 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. On June 22, 1941, border guards were the first to engage the enemy, displaying unprecedented fortitude and doing their duty to the bitter end. Ordered to take up arms, the border posts fought to the last ditch.

Our border guards remain committed to their military traditions to this day, doing their combat duty at all sections of the Russian Federation border, from the Baltic Sea to the Far East, in the Caucasus and in the Arctic.

I would like to mention the skilful and coordinated actions of the Border Guard Service personnel during the coronavirus pandemic. Together with other agencies, they ensured reliable border control, and that external boundary played a crucial role in the first weeks and months of the spread of the pandemic, buying us time and, hence, saving numerous lives of our citizens.

At the same time, our border guards continued working effectively in all key areas, specifically, the fight against cross-border crime, drug trafficking, smuggling, the poaching of marine bioresources, and illegal migration.

I would like to thank all Russian border guards for their reliable and faithful service, and for their loyalty to our people and the Fatherland.

I would like to wish good health and every success to you, your families and friends.

As for the main issue on our agenda today, it has to do with the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation. We will take a look at the new elements in this sphere and discuss ways in which we should respond to the threats around our country, I mean our current agenda.

<…>