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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

The subject on our agenda today is improvement of state policy in nuclear, radiation, chemical and biological security. This is a serious and multifaceted issue.

We know that the modern world has many technological threats, especially dangers related to the operation of large infrastructure, industrial and energy facilities. It is enough to remember the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 in Japan, or the recent tragedy in China, where more than 100 people were killed by a fire at a warehouse facility for highly toxic and explosive substances, and the material damage reached more than $1 billion.

In various parts of the world, we see regular outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases. As we know, the recent Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,000 people.

We must act to ensure reliable protection for our country and people against threats of this sort. Above all, we must ensure the security of our nuclear energy facilities and of facilities storing, producing or using dangerous radioactive, chemical or biological substances and materials. We must reduce to zero the risk of accidents or unlawful actions taking place at such facilities.

Which steps and measures do I think are our biggest priorities in this area? First, our current strategic planning documents contain many provisions on preventing nuclear, radiation, chemical and biological security threats, both in peacetime, and – let’s hope it never happens – in wartime. We must analyse these provisions, see how well they meet today’s demands, and make adjustments if need be.

Second, we must pay close attention to analysing the security threats and challenges in these areas. The Defence Ministry and several other agencies are working on this now. We need to establish common views on these threats and challenges. This will help us to protect our citizens more effectively against these threats.

Third, we need to implement our science and technology policy in the areas of developing and using modern radiation, chemical and biological protection methods. This policy should ensure effective prevention of all types of potential threats.

We should carry out an inventory over the coming period of individual protection means for people, identify which are outdated and technologically obsolete now, and draft measures to replace these protection systems with modern models. Of course, all of the development and production of these new systems should take place here in Russia. We already have a good technological base for this.

We must make more active use of safe and environmentally friendly technology in industry and the housing and utilities sector, and introduce tougher modern standards to encourage the use of technology that will reduce and, even better, totally exclude risks. For example, it is now possible for us to get by without using chlorine and other potentially dangerous substances in the housing and utilities sector.

We need to continue paying great attention to the health and epidemiological situation. We must minimise the risks of infections spreading and prevent them from entering Russia from abroad and from neighbouring countries.

Let me conclude by saying that work in all these areas must be closely coordinated at all levels, from the federal to the municipal level.

Let’s start discussing these issues.

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