MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Keeping good relations with close partners is Russia's top priority, President Vladimir Putin reminded permanent members of the Russian Security Council at a meeting.

"While building relations with our partners in the international arena, you and I always say that relations with our closest partners, our friends and our neighbors are what matters most to us," the Russian leader emphasized.

Commenting on Russia's ever-growing economic and political ties with its neighbors, Putin maintained that building these relations based on mutual interest was a must as he ceded the floor to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Apart from Lavrov, the meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the speakers of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, and the Federation Council, or the upper chamber, Vyacheslav Volodin and Valentina Matviyenko, respectively, Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev, Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief, Sergey Naryshkin, and other senior officials.