Official website of the President of Russia

News   /

Mr Putin told the gathering that a draft federal bill on the status of Cossacks was being circulated among Cossack communities.

The conversation also concerned the Meskheti Turk problem. Mr Putin considered that ethnic Meskheti Turks living in Russia had every right to resettle in Georgia, their ancestral land. The President had already discussed the issue with the Georgian leadership on several occasions, and Mr Putin said that Georgia had to postpone its consideration due to domestic problems. Mr Putin said that justice must prevail, and this was his firm conviction.

He said that in connection with this, Russia was steadily helping ethnic Russians to return home, whatever hardships the country might be facing.

Mr Putin laid flowers at the Heroes Square memorial in Krasnodar and talked to local residents.