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Taking part in the meeting were Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Anton Vaino, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, and Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon,

You know that very recently my colleagues and I addressed the issue of interethnic relations in Russia at the Presidential Council. This is an extremely important matter for the Russian Federation, considering that this country has 190 ethnic groups.

Today we will also address these issues in relation to ensuring Russia’s security, in this case domestic political security, considering the efforts our ill-wishers are still taking and stepping up in order to escalate the situation inside Russia. We must do everything we can to prevent this from happening at any cost.

We have two speakers today: Director of the Federal Security Service [Alexander Bortnikov] and Interior Minister [Vladimir Kolokoltsev].

Mr Bortnikov, please, you have the floor.

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