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Taking part in the meeting were Chair of the Russian Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova; Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Law and State Building, Co-Chair of the Working Group to Draft Proposals on Amending the Constitution Andrei Klishas; Chair of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, Co-Chair of the Working Group to Draft Proposals on Amending the Constitution Pavel Krasheninnikov; Head of the Federal Supervision Service for Consumer Protection and Welfare, Chief State Sanitary Physician of the Russian Federation Anna Popova; Director of the Government Institute of Legislation and Comparative Jurisprudence, Co-Chair of the Working Group to Draft Proposals on Amending the Constitution Taliya Khabriyeva.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Greetings to you.

Colleagues, the members of the working group on developing proposals for amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation took the initiative to hold a meeting today in such a representative composition.

Of course, I would like to listen to and I hope to hear your opinion on how the work on amending the Constitution is proceeding. But first, I would like to remind you of a few things.

We all know all too well, the whole country knows well that a specific date has been set for the nationwide vote on the constitutional amendments. But due to the spread of the coronavirus infection, I made a decision, and on March 25 this decision was framed by a relevant regulatory act – we postponed the date of the nationwide vote on constitutional amendments based on the basic, main priority – the preservation of the life and health of our citizens. Nothing could be more important than this.

But taking into account the fact that the situation with this pandemic is improving, we are certainly returning to normal life, including the need to think about further work on the amendments to the Constitution.

Serious events have taken place since we started the fight with the pandemic, and on the whole, I would like to emphasise this, we all together managed to solve the main problem – to prevent the explosive development of the situation in a negative scenario. This allows us to return to normal life. The situation, as we can see, is gradually stabilising.

Therefore, we need to come back with you again to working together on the amendments to the Constitution. I understand, I share your position on this issue. Let us specifically talk about what needs to be done in the near future.

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Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,

Proceeding from today’s discussion, from what you have said and proposed, we will hold a national vote on approving amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation on July 1, 2020.

I would very much like to ask Ms Pamfilova and Ms Popova to focus on safety and security matters. Our colleagues have just discussed this subject. I hope everything will be carried out.

I am addressing the leaders of the Russian regions. I am asking you to help organise the national vote in the context of caring for the health of our people and their lives. This remains our unconditional, basic and main priority.

And, of course, I will address our citizens, the people, so they take an active part in this vote. This implies the Constitution, our Fundamental Law. It is the foundation of this country’s life, the current life of our children, it determines the main legal guarantees in social relations and labour relations, and it determines our principles of cooperation with our international partners.

It is hardly surprising that they call the Constitution the country’s Fundamental Law. I hope very much that the citizens of Russia will take an active part in determining the parameters of the Fundamental Law and will vote on these constitutional amendments.

Thank you very much.