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Attending the meeting were 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 Min ster 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: Good afternoon, colleagues,

The New Year holiday is approaching but it is not yet here and so we continue our work. This meeting of the Security Council permanent members will focus on the current situation in the CIS.

This is a very, if not the most important area of our work on the foreign policy track. These are the closest countries for us, not to mention that they are our neighbours, states with which we are connected by many things – many years, decades and even centuries of being part of a unified state. We have the most advanced economic, cultural, humanitarian, family and friendly ties with them. To sum up, this is a special area of our work on the foreign policy track.

Let us listen to reports of our colleagues on different areas of this work and tailor it, if need be, to the requirements of the present time and of the incoming year of 2021.

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