President Putin making a statement during a meeting with high-ranking military officers to confer higher ranks and promotions.
The President said that security agencies should concentrate on strengthening all aspects of national security. He said he believed that they ought to engage in teamwork and close cooperation, but he ruled out any steps towards merging them and transforming them into “a super system”. Mr Putin added that he believed it was urgently necessary to set up agencies responsible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the federal districts.