Taking part in the meeting were Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Anton Vaino, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Alexei Gromov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Kiriyenko, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office – Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, aides to the President Vladimir Medinsky and Yury Ushakov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Governor of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, Chief of the General Staff – First Deputy Defence Minister Valery Gerasimov, and Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,
I asked you to get into a meeting to inform you about the outcomes of our delegation’s visit to Alaska, the United States.
I would like to note from the outset that the visit was timely and quite useful. We discussed our interactions in virtually all their aspects with a focus, of course, on achieving a fair resolution of the Ukraine crisis. We certainly had an opportunity to discuss the origins and causes of this crisis, which we did. It is the removal of these root causes that must underlie the settlement.
We did not have direct talks at this level for a long time. Let me reiterate: We had a chance to convey our position in a calm and detailed manner. We definitely respect the US administration’s position which wants the hostilities to stop as soon as possible. So do we, and we would like to move forward with settling all issues by peaceful means.
The conversation was very frank and substantive which, in my view, moves us closer towards making necessary decisions.
Now I will give you a detailed overview of the conversation. I am ready to answer your questions if you have any.
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