Taking part in a meeting on fighting crime, terrorism and extremism in Yessentuki, the President said that Interior Ministry officials should learn how to work professionally with the new procedural legislation. The ministry should also concentrate on ensuring higher standards of professional training for its personnel.
Mr Putin said he is sure that the transfer of responsibility for fighting tax crimes to the Interior Ministry has given the ministry considerable added powers. But he warned that the police should not let themselves be drawn into corporate conflicts and business disputes, as this kind of intervention only acts as a demoralising factor for ministry personnel and reduces the effectiveness of their work.
The President noted a number of problems with the ministry’s work, including poor quality ministerial statistics, refusal to open criminal cases, falsification of statistical reports and a large number of unsolved crimes.