President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,
Following the tradition, we meet with you on the occasion of the Constitution Day that we mark on December 12. The Constitution was adopted 22 years ago, and next year we will mark the 25th anniversary of the Constitutional Court.
There is no need for me to stress yet again the importance of this institution – the Constitutional Court. The only thing I would like to point out today is that the entire building of Russian legislation hinges on the way you work, the way you interpret the Constitution, and this is extremely important.
I will not talk right now about your current work – you've considered 33 cases this year, if I am correct, so that's a lot of work. Besides, you have switched over to electronic submission of documents meaning that you are improving, keeping up with the times, and this gives our citizens additional access to the Constitutional Court’s capabilities.
And a very important thing is the decision made by Russia’s legislators giving the Constitutional Court the right to make a relevant decision regarding the activities of the European Court of Human Rights as far as it concerns Russia and Russian legislation. These are extremely important things. You and I know that we did not create anything new here; many European countries actually share the same path.
And it was pleasing to hear that you had a meeting with your colleagues from the European Court of Human Rights. Today I would like to hear more about this meeting, what was discussed there and what joint decisions you have come to with your European colleagues.
I want to congratulate you on the Constitution Day and wish you all the very best.
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