President Putin raised the subject of the independence of judges as part of the efforts to enhance popular trust in the justice system. He noted the extreme importance of the judicial system, especially in combating corruption.
Vladimir Putin supported the decision of the Constitutional Court on the article of the Law on Elections that deals with election campaigning. In his opinion, the article would enable the political parties and deputies to campaign and the citizens would get unbiased information from the media which would be free of artificial constraints.
The Constitutional Court established clear-cut criteria for distinguishing between campaigning and informing the electorate. Under the Constitutional Court resolution, a media pronouncement could only be regarded as campaigning if it has been proven in court that the journalist intentionally sought to support a specific candidate. The resolution is also aimed at preventing the prosecution of journalists who were campaigning unintentionally or through negligence.
Taking part in the meeting was Dmitry Kozak, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office.