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Excerpts from transcript of meeting of Council for Civil Society and Human Rights

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,

I am happy to welcome all of you to our meeting, which is traditionally held on the eve of Human Rights Day. This date is certainly important to each of you, our Council as a whole and, I think, for our society as well.

I know that you not only analyse law enforcement practice, law-making and other issues of general nature, but also spend much time and effort helping people in specific situations; you respond to their requests to help them find a fair solution to their problems.

Of course, I am grateful to you for your caring attitude to this cause, for your sincere generosity, patience, your ability to convince others in your position, and, if necessary, your firm stand and persistence, and a striving to listen to all parties and to find compromises.

All these traits are of tremendous importance in the human rights cause. You have these traits in full measure and achieve a lot because of them. Thank you and your colleagues at both the federal level and in the regions – for your much needed and noble activities.

I would also like to tell you that the Council has undergone a planned rotation. The relevant executive order was signed recently. The Council now includes five members – they are prominent people in the field of human rights and civil society development. I would like to wish you success and, most importantly, to join the Council’s current determined effort as soon as possible.

Colleagues, at our meeting a year ago we had an in-depth discussion on issues that are particularly important in our uneasy times. The discussion was lengthy and frank. Much has been done to address almost every issue you brought up: instructions have been given to the relevant ministries and departments, while the regional authorities received recommendations. Much, as I said, has been done while some issues are still being looked into. Today, we will listen to detailed information about the status of the instructions.

One of the major and traditional efforts of the Council’s activities is protection of people’s social rights. This year special attention has been given to teachers’ working conditions, including their salaries, efforts to improve prestige of teaching, and the level of equipment at educational establishments.

I believe our Council needs to keep addressing these issues. For example, you came up with a proposal to prepare a new single social sciences textbook and later joined this work. Of course, this deserves support. I believe your experience in human rights activities is definitely needed here.

Today, of course, one of the main issues the Council is addressing is support for our servicepeople, our men and women on the frontlines, our heroes. Present here are Council members who have been to the special military operation zone more than once.

At the previous meeting you raised the issue of targeted support for the participants in the special military operation and their families. This year, the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation was established, with its branches opened in every region. It is important that you work closely with them.

I am aware that you regularly go to Donbass and Novorossiya, meet with local people, know what their concerns are. I ask you to speak openly and in detail about matters that need additionally consideration and resolution.

Colleagues, at our meeting a year ago we had an in-depth discussion on issues that are particularly important in our uneasy times. The discussion was lengthy and frank. Much has been done to address almost every issue you brought up: instructions have been given to the relevant ministries and departments, while the regional authorities received recommendations. Much, as I said, has been done while some issues are still being looked into. Today, we will listen to detailed information about the status of the instructions.

One of the major and traditional efforts of the Council’s activities is protection of people’s social rights. This year special attention has been given to teachers’ working conditions, including their salaries, efforts to improve prestige of teaching, and the level of equipment at educational establishments.

I believe our Council needs to keep addressing these issues. For example, you came up with a proposal to prepare a new single social sciences textbook and later joined this work. Of course, this deserves support. I believe your experience in human rights activities is definitely needed here.

Today, of course, one of the main issues the Council is addressing is support for our servicepeople, our men and women on the frontlines, our heroes. Present here are Council members who have been to the special military operation zone more than once.

At the previous meeting you raised the issue of targeted support for the participants in the special military operation and their families. This year, the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation was established, with its branches opened in every region. It is important that you work closely with them.

I am aware that you regularly go to Donbass and Novorossiya, meet with local people, know what their concerns are. I ask you to speak openly and in detail about matters that need additionally consideration and resolution.

Colleagues, on December 10, it will be 75 years since the UN adopted its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Unfortunately, we are observing this anniversary against the backdrop of the continuing degradation of the international system for the protection and promotion of human rights. Its institutions, which are being de facto controlled by the West, demonstrate political bias, hypocrisy and undisguised selectiveness. Thus, for eight years we have seen how helpless they are and how directly they ignore glaring violations as regards the people of Donbass.

These structures not only “fail to notice” but also even encourage manifestations of Russophobia and support the countries that are hurrying to win first place in this disgraceful competition of Russophobes.

As you know, Russia has withdrawn from a number of international human rights organisations. However, this does not mean that we are rejecting the principles of the Declaration. On the contrary, we are willing to cooperate with any interested country or partner and find solutions to create an effective, fair, and equal system for the protection of human rights.

As we have noted, civilian institutions are more flexible and, hence, better adapted to a prompt search for possible solutions in this area. The Council has already taken certain steps in this respect. Thus, it hosted an international conference on this subject in November. Needless to say, it is necessary to continue the intensive effort in this area.

I would like to emphasise, in particular, that our Council has noticeably increased its influence in the past few years. Much is associated with its name and many people in both public organisations and government structures take into account the Council’s opinions. This is primarily facilitated, of course, by your focus on the essence of the most complicated problems and your ability to hold a dialogue with different departments and civil society agencies and jointly achieve concrete results.

I would like to wish you success in these endeavours in the interests of civil society and all Russian people. Let’s discuss issues that you consider the most important today.

Now I would like to give the floor to Mr Fadeyev.

<…>

Vladimir Putin: (Commenting on the report by the Chair of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Valery Fadeyev who spoke about migrant labour and environmental issues, in particular, those related to Lake Baikal).

Mr Fadeyev, there is something to be said on each issue, and we will discuss. The format does not provide for a detailed discussion of every report delivered since there will be a lot of speakers, but there are some issues I must comment on. Migrant rights is a very pressing issue and this is understandable, and, of course, I agree that it is necessary to maintain a balance – an ethno-cultural balance – in this respect.

Of course, everything that is taking place in this area is primarily dictated by the interests of the economy, the shortage of workers but it is certainly necessary to make these people ready for work. We must attract the kinds of workers that are in the interests of the Russian economy. This is most important. This means that these people should know the language and ethno-cultural aspects of our country. They should know our traditions and so on. They should know our laws and respect them.

We are working on this in cooperation with our colleagues from the CIS countries, from Central Asia. You could not fail to notice – and this is public knowledge – that we are opening Russian schools there with instruction in Russian and conducting other events. But this does not rule out that all people arriving – I will repeat it again – must comply with Russian laws and respect our cultural traditions, traditions of our people and so on. That said, we should also guarantee their rights like a civilized country.

This is a huge set of issues, and it is very important for us to resolve them comprehensively, while giving priority to the interests of the citizens of the Russian Federation in all areas – let’s be straight about this. I would appreciate if the Council continued working to this end.

As for Lake Baikal, it is a very important issue as well. Here we need to strike a balance between the interests of people living in this region and the need to protect the lake. In general, many issues there require constant attention, considering this lake is our national treasure.

As for human rights in Novorossiya, in Donbass and the adjacent regions, we must take it extremely seriously. This issue will require professionalism and persistence because those who don’t want this would rather the problems not be noticed at all. But we know that problems exist and so we certainly need to deal with them.

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Vladimir Putin (Commenting on the speech of Alexander Tochenov, president of the Centre for Applied Studies and Programmes, executive secretary of the Council. Mr Tochenov addressed, in particular, the Council’s relationship with the authorities, assistance to participants in the special military operation, and responsibility for actions performed by representatives of law enforcement agencies that may be qualified as “torture.”): Mr Tochenov, thank you very much.

A couple of comments if you do not mind.

You said that sometimes a faster response is needed from various government and management bodies. I do not remember whether we discussed this or not. I think we need to do our best to ensure that our agreements take the form of Presidential instructions, and then the Control Directorate and the Presidential Executive Office as a whole will get involved in this issue. And it seems to me that then we can enhance the quality of the Council’s work even more, because there are certain deadlines for acting on a Presidential instruction. You, and I see that the Council is working very actively, will act essentially on the Presidential instruction, issued in a proper way. I believe this would qualitatively improve and help you in your work and would improve the work of the Council itself.

Also, I would ask for your continued support of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. You know, the Foundation does not directly manage money, it has no money, but it has a very important function – to monitor how the state responds when providing assistance to participants in the special military operation and members of their families, whether the state achieves the goals that it sets itself in this area. It is necessary to get feedback from those people for whom the Foundation is designed, for whom it is intended – the target group of participants in the special military operation. The State Duma is also thinking about this, as well as the relevant ministries and the deputy prime minister in charge of the social sector. And I would ask you not to forget this area of ​​activity under any circumstances.

Now as for the problem of torture, no matter how unpleasant it is to utter the word, still I have to. Of course, we need to continue monitoring the situation in this area, without any doubt, and identify any such ugly acts, if they occur, in our penitentiary system and in general in the activities of law enforcement and special agencies. We definitely need to keep an eye on them.

Otherwise, if we miss anything here even for a moment, we will have very serious consequences from the point of view of both the unity of our society, which is very important, and the social justice that you are talking about. Many things will look different for us, and our self-assessment will be completely different, which will not allow us to achieve the results we need in many areas of our activities and development.

This also applies to the timing of preliminary investigation. There were many decisions here, I will not dwell on this issue now, but not everything has been resolved. People are still under investigation for years, this is unacceptable, it should be monitored very carefully.

This is a very important area of ​​work, as well as digitalisation, education, environment, non-profit organisations, and the attitude of financial institutions towards them. I cannot see any minor issues. I want to thank you for doing all this. Thank you.

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Chairman of the Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Standing Commission on International Cooperation in Human Rights Kirill Vyshinsky: Good evening, Mr President.

With your permission, I will start with what we discussed during the same meeting a year ago. We agreed that a very high wave of Russophobia had risen in the countries of the European Union and the so-called collective West. We asked you then to instruct officials to study thoroughly our legislation, introduce a legal definition of Russophobia and provide for the possibility to toughen measures against it legislatively.

During this year, we held several roundtable discussions with lawyers, our colleagues from the State Duma, as well as ministries and departments that directly deal with issues of law and order.

For all the difference in our legal approaches, we still agreed that Russophobia was really a serious problem, that it had practically turned into a discriminatory ideological agenda. It is actually aimed at dehumanising the citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots – all those who associate themselves with Russia and the Russian World, broadly speaking.

Owing to your instruction, serious work was carried out on a large scale. We know that a big package of draft laws has been prepared by the State Duma and it is now undergoing expert review in the Government. We are hoping that this package will be soon implemented and amendments on tougher measures against Russophobia will be introduced in our laws.

But these are measures we are taking inside the country, being well aware of the fact that far from abating, this wave has become even bigger now.

Here is the clearest example and I am sure you know about it. We are well aware that even special instructions have been issued in this regard. I am referring to the situation with our citizens living in Latvia on temporary residence permits. They had to go through a rather humiliating process of taking a language exam.

But, most importantly, they had to fill in absolutely humiliating forms to demonstrate their disloyalty to the Russian Federation. Let me repeat that they are citizens of the Russian Federation living in Latvia in accordance with Latvian laws, on Latvian territory with residence permits.

As a result, in accordance with the information of the Foreign Ministry, over 3,000 people or 3,255 to be precise, have now found themselves in a situation where they may be forcedly deported from Latvian territory starting December 1.

Let me repeat that I know that a special meeting of the Russian Federation Security Council was held, and special instructions were issued to all competent departments and the heads of the regions bordering on Latvia. However, I would still ask you to pay attention to this problem once again because we may face a situation where Latvian court bailiffs will simply bring people in wheelchairs to the border.

Maybe it would make sense to organise a direct line of the Red Cross that people could simply call if they were evicted by force. They could use it to report that this is happening to them and receive some initial organisational assistance right on the Russian-Latvian border. But, let me repeat that this is a particular case of Russophobic manifestations. It shows that they are gaining momentum.

In Germany, our citizens, living there on residence permits or due to some other circumstances, our citizens, simply Russian speakers that moved there at one time, have their bank accounts closed. Confiscation of cars with Russian license plates, Russian registration is common knowledge. Let me repeat that it will only get worse. This is what we think and our view is shared by many people, including NGOs that are dealing with the problems of our compatriots living abroad.

I think it is very important to emphasise repatriation from unfriendly countries. In effect, our compatriots are finding themselves there in the extreme situation where they are starting to be forced out of their homes or deprived of some social guarantees, even the ability to exist in the infrastructure of the countries where they lived. They are ready to move to Russia but are facing a big tangle of complicated problems.

I think it is important to give them a signal that we are waiting for these people from unfriendly countries, and also to let them really hear the words that should have been voiced openly a long time ago. It is simple: home is best, come back, the country is waiting for you.

We all remember well the processes that took place in the late Soviet years and the early post-Soviet years. We remember this largely economic migration. I think that the time is ripe for the reverse process. We will be waiting for people ready to return to Russia from the states that are unfriendly for the time being, which, unfortunately, are growing in number. If this message works, if it is voiced and heard, I think we will receive some serious human capital. These people are socially active; they made a life for themselves in a different environment, created some businesses and jobs; they have serious experience and know innovative technology. In brief, they will certainly not be idle in our country.

I think the country is ready to give them this signal. Therefore, I would like to ask, if possible, for you to issue an order introducing the concept of “repatriation from unfriendly countries” and maybe creating some infrastructure so that this process could receive serious support from the state.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, Mr Vyshinsky.

We know what Russophobia is; we have been experiencing it for a long time. This attitude was especially pronounced in the Baltic countries; they were doing it for the whole world to see, long before the special military operation. The special military operation has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Some politicians may have decided to take advantage of Russia’s special military operation to achieve their political goals at home. This is their business, and it does not make them look any better, of course. There is also no doubt that any country, Russia included, when it comes to immigrant workforce, any country wants, quite legitimately, such people to respect the host country’s traditions and culture, including its language. I mentioned this at the beginning of our meeting,

But when it comes to the category you just mentioned, these are, first of all, the people who lived there in the Soviet time, and often, due to various circumstances of previously living in one single country, they ended up where they live today, and their children were born there, and so on. So of course, their status as “non-citizens” has no place in the legal plane of most civilised countries – this bizarre invention of those who claim to be democracies is undeniably ugly, and it is now evolving on a bigger scale. We all see this clearly.

It has always been our view that, in the modern world, a person can choose the country where they want to live – if it is their choice, if it did not happen for objective reasons such as moving around in the Soviet Union. In general, if a person decides to live in another country, it is their choice.

But what you have said, what we are facing, these processes certainly require closer attention. We are compelled to adjust our relations with the countries where such things are happening, and we need to show consideration in regard to people who want to return to their historical homeland.

We certainly need to take some systemic measures here. And Mr Vyshinsky, you are right, we need to think about this. We will formulate our approaches to these processes accordingly. On the other hand, if people want to stay but are being expelled, there is nothing we can do about it either. Nonetheless, we will need to create conditions for these people as well.

Let us think about how to respond to what is happening together – with you, with the Council for Human Rights, the Foreign Ministry, and the Russian Government.

I do not think that those who pursue such a policy will be blessed with happiness. As far as a I know, the Russian-speaking population accounted for about 40 percent in Latvia; I do not know how many there are now. But there are certainly a lot of them. If the country pursues a policy like this with regard to people who want to live there, who have worked there and created added value for that country, if these people are treated like dirt, then surely these governments will face the same dirt in their own countries in the end.

Vladimir Putin (commenting on the remarks by Ulyanovsk Region’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Yekaterina Smoroda on schooling problems): Everything you said is extremely important.

School is a very sensitive and important sphere of society and public administration. It is about teaching, textbooks, salary, and the prestige of the teaching profession. As for homeroom teachers and regulating their activities (I made a note for myself for further reference), we will by all means take a close look at it. I will instruct the ministry accordingly, and the Presidential Executive Office will review it as well.

I was taken somewhat aback by what you said about reporting. Everything related to computerising teachers’ work was aimed at lessening the burden of their work and cutting red tape. You have mentioned mandatory computerisation. Frankly, it struck me as a very strange, unexpected and perfunctory approach to IT development. I will definitely discuss this with the minister, I promise.

Let us talk some more about the acute issue of the children of migrant workers. It is a challenging issue, and I have jotted down everything you said almost to the letter. We need to think about ways to resolve these issues. Migrant children should attend school, but this process should not affect the quality of education of our children, the children of our citizens. This is a separate issue, and we cannot pretend it does not exist. I will issue an instruction to draft proposals accordingly, and I hope you will take part in developing these solutions. Separate groups can be formed to address this issue. There is a lot that can and should be done in this regard, except one thing which is to pretend that the problem does not exist. They do exist, that is true, and you are absolutely right.

Now, with regard to numerous attempts to discredit teachers and educators. Without a doubt, this is an important and delicate area that should be subjected to regulation by the latest available means, especially considering that we live in a modern information society. Shouting and banning things alone will not solve anything. No need to get into the details now.

The issue that you have raised is probably among the most challenging issues, but we absolutely need to protect teachers from unwarranted interference in their lives and from undue pressure in the information space. Again, we need to think and make appropriate decisions that will improve the situation in terms of protecting teachers' rights.

Vladimir Putin: (Commenting on the remarks by Olga Demicheva, head of the Doctor Liza’s Fair Aid International Charity Foundation, which touched on the problem of organising social and medical assistance for people of no fixed residence): The topic you have raised is very sensitive. People who find themselves on the street due to various circumstances – I will not discuss the reasons behind this right now – without a place of permanent residence and often without work, of course, need special attention from society. After all, perhaps the fault for what happened is largely their own, but it is also the fault of society as a whole. This means that society as a whole has allowed people to get like this, that is the point.

If that is what has happened, then we all must think of ways to fix this to the extent possible. Let us look at the experience of the Tyumen Region and think together how it can be used and extended to the entire country.

Thank you very much for raising this issue. I would like to ask you to continue working on this topic with your colleagues from the Government and the Presidential Office and to convey to them everything that you consider necessary in order to make appropriate adjustments in this line of work.

Vladimir Putin (commenting on Archpriest Kirill Kaleda’s speech on perpetuating the victims of political reprisals): You know, when we speak about victims of political reprisals, we are referring to many different people. Some of them really opposed the Soviet system. Others supported the system but landed in prisons for different domestic political reasons. Some of them were accused, rightly or wrongly, of taking part in some internal political groups that were fighting each other and were arrested because of these clashes. Some of them fell into this category by sheer accident. All this matters, but some things are more important for us in this respect.

It is more important for us to prevent any repetition of this in our national history because it inflicted enormous, hard-to-correct damage on our people and our state. The lack of law per se in resolving human destinies is unacceptable if we want our country to have a future. This is really important, and thus, the conclusion – this work should definitely continue.

<…>

Vladimir Putin: I would like to thank all of you for your hard work this year, and to ask you not to slow the pace of this work. You see how important it is for the country, and maybe even more important for those you help.

Thank you very much, and Happy New Year to you.

Thank you. Goodbye.