Official website of the President of Russia

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Question: A Caspian crusade has been announced today. What are its goals and tasks? Will it be a military exercise?

Vladimir Putin: It is the first time in ten years that Russia will be conducting military activities of this kind on the Caspian. The Caspian Flotilla ships are regularly put to sea, but no large-scale exercises of this kind have been held in the past ten years. There are very many military-political problems on the Caspian. Routes passing through the Caspian may be used by terrorists. You know that hostilities in Afghanistan which is in the immediate proximity of the region have not yet ended. We have yet to fully solve the problem of terrorism in the Caucasus, also next door. The drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan to Russia and Western Europe pass through the Caspian.

The first task that the military will be tackling during this exercise – and it will of course be a military exercise – is to practice cutting the channels that can be used by terrorists and drug traffickers.

The second task is to practice better coordination of the fleet in addressing the problem of rescue at sea. No Caspian country can claim that it has a comprehensive approach to that task today, but then no Caspian state has such a powerful fleet on the Caspian. I think it would be right for our sailors to set an example.

Question: Reports today say that Khattab has been liquidated. How will that impact the whole antiterrorist operation in Chechnya?

Vladimir Putin: If he has indeed been eliminated, that is another blow to terrorism.

As to whether the situation will change, if the reports are confirmed, I would say the following: I think it is not the question of Khattab, but the whole range of measures that we must conduct in the Caucasus in general and in Chechnya in particular. These are political as well as military, economic and social measures. If we do all this in a comprehensive, persistent and successful manner we will reverse the situation. If we grab just one link in the chain we will hardly achieve a satisfactory final result. But we will act in a comprehensive way and will be sure to achieve the result.

Question: You introduced a new term, “bioterrorism”, during the meeting today. How will you go about fighting that phenomenon at the government level?

Vladimir Putin: That the state has lost a measure of control over the biological resources is a manifestation of its weakness. It has manifested itself in many other areas of the country’s life. The problem at hand, the problem of terrorism, is also a sign of the weakness of the state which has been unable to control the processes for which it must be responsible. As for the topic you have raised, it has many facets and they were discussed at today’s meeting. It is not only about the people who engage in illegal fishing on the Caspian. It is also about the masterminds that transport and sell the products and engage in financial swindles. There too, a multi-pronged approach is needed on the part of the state. We will proceed in this way and address all the links in this chain.

But I believe that the challenge is larger and more important than just illegal fishing. We must think about preserving the very vulnerable ecosystem of the Caspian and that hinges on concerted actions of all the agencies and ministries involved in the exploitation and protection of Caspian natural resources. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. What is needed is a purposeful state policy to preserve these biological resources. It is the aim of our meeting today to work out such a policy. We will have such a policy and it will be implemented.