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Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Today we are going to analyse the work of Internal Affairs Ministry bodies in key areas of their activity. I was not present at the last board meeting, but I agreed with Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, who was the acting minister at that time, that we would hold a nationwide meeting that I would take part in.

Today we are going to discuss key areas of the Internal Affairs Ministry’s work, which as I have said several times before, should be directed at protecting the rights and safety of citizens, their lawful interests, their property, and their lives.

I will begin with the situation in the Southern Federal District, above all in the North Caucasus. It is no coincidence that we are meeting in the south of Russia to discuss the tasks of the Internal Affairs Ministry. Here, along with common tendencies that are characteristic for the entire country, there are certain specific features. And these features directly affect the situation in Russia as a whole.

It is clear that in the 1990s, when the economy was unstable and the role of the state in the North Caucasus weakened, a criminal environment was formed.

It is important to remember that the growth of crime was helped a great deal by mass unemployment, poverty, socio-economic instability and uncontrolled migration. I have just discussed this with Alexander Chernogorov and Vladimir Yakovlev. This is undoubtedly a breeding ground for crime. At the same time, we need to realise that the criminal threat and social instability are a serious hindrance for the normal development of the North Caucasus, the district and the country as a whole. This has already been discussed a great deal, and the leaders of Russia’s southern regions constantly point this out.

People do not feel that their lives, their safety or their property are reliably protected by the state. And without this it is impossible to attract investment, to organise normal, effective economic life. It is impossible to develop the economy, to address social issues, or to make use of the rich natural potential of the area. As an end result, ordinary citizens suffer.

Therefore, I consider the main task for Internal Affairs Ministry bodies to be effective assistance for the general recovery of the region. It is our obligation to protect the economy from criminal pressure and bureaucratic rackets, and to help the establishment and development of small and medium-sized business.

Finally, we need to bring the migration processes here within civilised limits. This is a very important and painful topic. Furthermore, we need to root out attempts to cause inter-ethnic conflicts. We need to put an end to the slave trade and weapons markets. I would ask to give particular attention to neutralising crimes against individuals, above all in such serious crimes as murder, robbery, kidnapping and terrorism.

Recently, thanks to the law-enforcement bodies and special services, many organisers and perpetrators of terrorist acts have been discovered. Even more terrorist acts have been prevented. Employees in the law-enforcement sphere, of law-enforcement bodies, have been working selflessly, protecting people at the expense of their own health and sometimes even their lives. The state mechanism for fighting the most serious and socially dangerous acts, while it is not without flaws and not always effective, has nevertheless started working properly.

However, it must not be forgotten that even isolated cases of terror represent a threat to public safety and people’s lives. The fact that they take place is a clear sign of errors in work. New methods of fighting terrorism need to be found, and the effectiveness of operational and investigative actions need to be increased. This result can also be attained by strengthening inter-departmental cooperation of all law-enforcement bodies, including the relevant structures of CIS countries. I would particularly like to emphasise the role of the Internal Affairs Ministry in establishing peace in the Chechen Republic. The most important tasks today are supporting law and order, in reliable protection from criminal groups, who often continue to combine with the remaining groups of militants.

This work is primarily the responsibility of national and local bodies of law and order, and they now have the necessary resources, both of personnel and equipment. However, federal bodies and district personnel must provide them with the maximum assistance. This is a nationwide matter; and here the efforts of all government bodies, all Internal Affairs Ministry structures, must be concentrated.

The leaders of all seven federal Internal Affairs Ministry departments are present here today. I will not dwell on the nature of the general criminal situation in the country. I will note only the most important aspects.

Firstly, it has not yet been possible to curb the growth of crime. And the percentage of crimes against individuals is high, including serious, grave and especially grave crimes.

Secondly, despite the number of successful actions against violations in the economic sphere, criminal and corrupt pressure on the economy is not weakening. This is primarily felt in small and medium-sized business. I want to make it clear that with the transfer of the functions for fighting tax crimes to the Internal Affairs Ministry, your resources for detecting and preventing these crimes have increased significantly. At the same time, the police should not be dragged into corporate conflicts and disputes among companies. This interference demoralises personnel, and reduces the effectiveness of the department’s work.

Thirdly, there are still many questions about the quality and reliability of department statistics. Not only latent, but also obvious crime still remains outside the scope of registration. Old methods are still used, such as avoiding opening criminal cases, and direct falsification of statistical reports. The number of unsolved crimes remains high, including grave crimes. At the same time, breaking the principle of the inevitability of punishment helps crime and has a negative effect on public morale. You know this very well; it is a common and long-standing problem.

Fourthly, the quality of operative and investigative work still needs to be increased. People must learn to work properly with new procedural norms. Clearly, these new requirements should be expected from professional training of personnel.

Finally, there is another important aspect. The growth of crimes committed by teenagers and children needs to be noted. This is a very difficult topic, quite frankly, one that is unpleasant for everyone. And this growth has been registered in all federal districts. The number of homeless and neglected children is shamefully large for Russia. You must change this situation, in cooperation with social ministries and regional bodies of power. We have talked about this many times, but neither the prevention of youth crime nor fighting it has fundamentally changed.

In conclusion, I would like to say a few more words about administrative reform. Of course, this should also concern Internal Affairs Ministry bodies. Together with the Prime Minister and the Presidential Executive Office, the ministry should think about how to remove any parallelism in their work. There should not be any parallel work at all. Material and financial resources need to be concentrated in the main areas, and this should be done effectively. I do not want to make any decisions ahead of time, or predict what these decisions will be. They will not be and should not be decisions that violate the normal functioning of departments.

The Internal Affairs Ministry is one of the key ministries. There should not be any drastic changes here, but you should think for yourselves and make suggestions on how to improve your work.

I very much hope that the re-appointed Minister Nurgaliyev, who has a great deal of experience and knowledge about operative work, will do everything he can to ensure that the ministry leadership is on top of the tasks that lie ahead, and which are put before you by the country – I don’t want to say by the President, or the Government, but rather by the country, by the citizens of Russia.

The issue of security is one of the key problems in our country today. A great deal will depend on your work in both the economic sphere and in the sphere of social development, because without addressing security issues, many other problems will either be impossible to solve, or they will be solved ineffectively and not within the framework of the tasks which currently lie before the Russian Federation. A great deal depends on you, on your effective work. I ask you to make suggestions which would improve your operative, preventive and investigative work, so that the Internal Affairs Ministry is on the level of the tasks, on the level of society’s expectations which currently exist. The Internal Affairs Ministry possesses the personnel and necessary resources for solving these tasks.

They simply need to be made use of properly.