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President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, dear colleagues,

I want to thank all the employees of the Interior Ministry, all and everyone who took part in preventing the act by rebels in Kizlyar – I will speak with the heads of the FSB about this and about caring for the families of employees who were killed. If anything is needed from the Government, please specify what this is, and we will help. This is the first point. And secondly, please say a few words about how the relocation of the 126th regiment of internal troops in Ingushetia went.

Rashid Nurgaliev: According to your order, on 28 July the 126th regiment of internal troops began to carry out military operations in the Republic of Ingushetia. The main goal is to support protection of public order and security in the republic, but also to solve operational tasks. Cooperation was organised directly with the 503rd regiment of the Defence Ministry, the border detachment of the Federal Security Service, the Department of the Federal Security Service in the republic and the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Ingushetia. The main issues, shall we say, related to stationing, relocating and service have been solved in a short time, and I believe that this regiment is capable of performing the tasks you have set it.

Vladimir Putin: Good. How have the issues of arms for the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic units been solved?

Rashid Nurgaliev: Virtually all the issues that we had to solve on arming the special regiment have been completed. The armoured equipment is now in the North Caucasus region and will be delivered directly to the relocation area. There are individual problems which require decisions by the Government of the Russian Federation, but on the whole they are already performing the tasks set.

Vladimir Putin: How are the Chechen units of the Interior Ministry working?

Rashid Nurgaliev: I would say that over the last month we have seen very serious, high quality work by the interior ministry of the Chechen republic.

Vladimir Putin: Staffed by Chechens entirely?

Rashid Nurgaliev: Yes, we have 900 people there on a contract basis. The most professionally trained people from the regions of the Russian Federation provide direct assistance in forming the main services and departments of the Chechen Republic interior ministry. Very serious crimes within the criminal investigations department have been disclosed recently, as have been revealed economic crimes, but there is also very serious joint work underway on uncovering secret underground organisations in the rural regions of the Chechen Republic, and particularly, there are also results of joint work in Ingushetia.

Vladimir Putin: You mentioned economic crimes. How is the public commission for restoring Chechnya working? Is it helping?

Mr. Nurgaliev: Yes, exactly, Vladimir Vladimirovich. All issues relating to payment of indemnities and problems of financing the main construction objects that are almost ready now are practically all under our control.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Sergei Borisovich, you are preparing manoeuvres, please tell me about them.

Sergei Ivanov: This week two quite serious military training exercises will be held. The first is on the Kola Peninsula tomorrow, on protecting and defending nuclear weapons storage facilities, and also transporting these weapons in the presence of observers from most of the NATO countries. We planned this a long time ago in the framework of our partnership with NATO, and want to conduct this quite openly, and demonstrate the capabilities we have, above all in technical security capacities. And exercises also begin on Thursday in Kyrgyzstan, at the training ground in the area of Lake Issyk-Kul’, which I have already reported to you about. Or rather, their active phase is beginning within the framework of the collective swift deployment forces of the Collective Security Agreement Organisation. We continue to develop the mobility of the Armed Forces, and the possibility of transporting divisions over large distances using planes. But this time it is not about the number of our troops taking part in the exercises – around 150 soldiers from the special Defence Ministry troops will participate – but the use of military aviation: helicopters, planes, the A-50 long-distance radar plane for airspace control, and most importantly the use of high-precision weapons.

Vladimir Putin: And how are you preparing for the military training exercises with our American partners in the north? And what forces will be used?

Sergei Ivanov: The first phase of talks with our American partners has already been held, and exercises are planned for the second ten-day period in September. They will be held at the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. We will use two anti-submarine vessels of the Northern fleet; besides that, there will be joint calls and manoeuvres in the territorial waters of Norway and Great Britain, with calls at the ports of the corresponding countries. The second phase – a staff meeting – will for once and for all determine roles and set tasks for the fleets of Russia and the U.S., not in the framework of NATO, but on a bilateral basis, a Russian-American basis. I will give you a final report on the exact dates and procedure for military manoeuvres and operations.

Vladimir Putin: Will an aircraft-carrier take part in the exercises?

Sergei Ivanov: We plan for the aircraft-carrier to be ready for use by the beginning of September. Pilots are now completing training at our training ground in Ukraine, and literally in a few days when they return to the Northern fleet, they should begin practicing in landing on deck. We expect that the aircraft carrier will be ready for use and able to put out to sea beginning of September.

Vladimir Putin: And shortly before this there will be exercises with the Italians, is that right?

Sergei Ivanov: Yes, this will be a bit earlier, with the Black Sea fleet. The flagship cruiser of the Black Sea fleet, the “Moscow”, and several small anti-submarine vessels, will go to an Italian naval base. There will be exercises there with Italian naval forces, and at the same time, or immediately afterwards, two of our surface ships will go to patrol the eastern Mediterranean, where they will conduct patrols together with NATO ships as part of this programme.

Vladimir Putin: I talked with the Italian Prime Minister several days ago, and he intends to visit the participants of these exercises.