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Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Our past week was fairly packed, and next week will be just as packed. You know that quite recently the Security Council of the United Nations adopted a resolution on Iraq. I want to confirm once again that this was the result of a compromise, but for us – an acceptable compromise, the result of the joint work of all members of the Security Council of the United Nations.

This is crucial for us – and that's how this resolution is seen by all UN Security Council permanent members – that no mechanisms of an automatic use of force are set into it. This is what we were able to achieve as a result of the joint work. We regard this result as highly positive.

This week the Government will have to discuss a number of very important matters for the economy of the country, which will in the end affect every Russian citizen. I mean, first and foremost, the bill on currency regulation and the insurance of bank deposits. Only recently these bills had seemed absolutely ready, but I agree with the leadership of the Government that time was required to check all the provisions of these bills more carefully. I hope that the final touches will be put this week.

In an hour I have a scheduled meeting with representatives of the Chechen public. You know that prominent figures of Chechnya – religious and public – came up with an initiative to speed the constitutional processes in the republic. Frankly, I felt that this could have been held later, but after reading the text concerning the appeal of the representatives of the public of Chechnya to the Chechen people I think that their decision was the right decision. There can be no delay in this. On the contrary, everything should be done to create the conditions in Chechnya for accelerating the process of political stabilisation in society. This is what both the Chechen people and the whole of Russia are interested in.