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Operations meeting with Security Council members

February 18, 2011, Sochi

The meeting examined measures to ensure security during the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Paralympics. Cooperation between Russia and NATO was the subject of a separate discussion.

Dmitry Medvedev noted, in particular, that the operations headquarters responsible for ensuring security during Sochi Olympics will begin its work in 2012, and will include Security Council members on its staff.

The President also announced that he has appointed Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, to the post of special presidential envoy for working with NATO on missile defence issues.

Taking part in the meeting were Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Speaker of the Council of Federation Sergei Mironov, Speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Naryshkin, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Mikhail Fradkov, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Southern Federal District Vladimir Ustinov, and Governor of Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachev.

* * *

President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Colleagues, we are meeting in Sochi today, and this is no coincidence, because one of the subjects on the agenda of today’s Security Council meeting is the preparations for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Paralympics. I am referring to the security aspects of these preparations, of course.

As you know, the operations headquarters responsible for security at the games will start work in January 2012. Many of you here are involved in this work and are among this headquarters’ members. This is why these security preparations require our separate attention and discussion.

Last May, I issued a special executive order setting the guidelines for this work and giving the headquarters’ members broad powers in this area, including with regard to coordinating the different state and local government bodies’ work with the counterterrorism commissions, including the main national counterterrorism commission and the one for the Krasnodar Territory. I hope that you will use the very latest security standards in this work and ensure that everything is done on time and to the highest quality.

We should not forget that the Olympics are always a complex event, and that their purpose is not simply to develop sports, but also to cement peace around the world. We must therefore remember that our Olympics also pursue this goal, and the forces who would seek to stop us must be duly tracked down and brought to justice, in cases when we talk about our own citizens. You know that we have a few problems in this area related to our neighbour, Georgia, and in this respect, the Foreign Ministry must pay the utmost attention to all the matters that come under its responsibility, and the same goes for the law enforcement and other security agencies. We must put reliable barriers in place against provocations of any sort.

I wish to inform you all that I have signed an order appointing Dmitry Rogozin to the post of special presidential envoy for working with NATO on missile defence issues. The European missile defence issue is very important for security in the Euro-Atlantic region, and we have agreed to work with NATO on this matter, and so we now need to take the steps needed to ensure that we make what will ultimately be the best possible choice for guaranteeing our country’s security. This involves deciding on the configuration of a future missile defence system, and the possible distribution of responsibilities among the different parties taking part, assuming we can reach an agreement with our partners, of course. The special envoy has all the required powers in this respect and has also been instructed to establish a working group for this task.

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February 18, 2011, Sochi