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The meeting was attended by 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, Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov and Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,

We have several issues to discuss with you today regarding cooperation with the CIS countries. I met with the heads of the secret services from the CIS countries this afternoon, and they raised a number of issues that are certainly of interest to Russia.

But first of all, I would like to discuss a very important, vitally important issue for us, I mean the management of activities on partial mobilisation.

You know that, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff, a partial mobilisation has been underway in Russia since September 21.

All the instructions to the Government, the Defence Ministry, the General Staff and the heads of the regions have been issued. The criteria for partial mobilisation have also been formulated.

I repeat: Citizens in the reserve, above all, those who have served in the Armed Forces, have needed military specialties and the relevant experience, are subject to conscription. At the same time, those called up for military service must undergo additional military training before being sent to their units. I would like to emphasise that this coordination and personnel training is a requirement that must be strictly observed.

At the same time, in the course of mobilisation we receive a lot of information from citizens about the organisation of conscription, the quality of supplies, the living conditions and other issues. A lot of questions are being raised during this mobilisation campaign, and we must promptly correct our mistakes and not repeat them in the future regarding those citizens who, for example, are eligible for deferment, such as fathers with many children, or people who have chronic illnesses, or who are already over the call-up age. We need to deal with each case separately, and if a mistake has been made – I repeat – it must be corrected, and those who have been drafted without proper grounds must be sent home.

There are also cases where, for example, doctors and highly qualified specialists in other professions, and with many years of experience, are enlisted in motor-rifle units, instead of serving where they are really needed, and what they are ready for and needed for, for example, in hospitals. Why? And at the same time, volunteers who go to military enlistment offices themselves, and there are many such men, are turned away. They allegedly do not have the necessary military specialties, or they are rejected for other grounds. All of this should be dealt with without fuss, calmly, but quickly, in detail and thoroughly.

I have instructed the conscription commissions, headed by the regional governors, to include prosecutors of the relevant levels. I ask the Prosecutor General to respond promptly to every signal.

In a number of regions, working groups have been set up at military enlistment offices to provide citizens with the necessary assistance. Today, I am asking you to report on the measures that have been taken, and for all officials to ensure the closest possible cooperation with the prosecution authorities at all levels.

Let’s hear from the Prosecutor General of Russia, Igor Krasnov, on this matter. Please, Mr Krasnov.

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