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The meeting was attended by Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Anton Vaino, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin and Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Today we will discuss a very important matter, namely the developments in the Caspian region.

Needless to say, this is crucially important for Russia. This applies both to economic activity and interaction with our closest partners and allies. And, of course, we are speaking also about ensuring the security and the interests of Russia in the Caspian region in general.

As you well know, we have been implementing major projects in energy. Plans call for not only the completion of the existing projects but also – representatives of our largest companies and the Government report on this – for the expansion of our economic activity and the activity of our economic operators.

Naturally, we understand that one of our neighbours in the Caspian “five” is Iran. There is much being done to resolve matters pertaining to its nuclear programme. I hope that everything related to the JCPOA will be restored to its initial state and we will be able to build relations with all participants of the Caspian club and implement all our plans, including those in the Caspian region.

Overall, let us talk about the entire range of issues related to ensuring Russia’s interests in the Caspian region.

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