MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed with the permanent members of the Security Council the priority steps needed in relations with the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Putin announced the topic of the traditional Friday operational meeting, which took place via video link, at its onset.
"Today we will talk about our work in one of the most important areas of our policy, namely in the CIS space," Putin told the meeting. "Let's talk about working with some CIS nations, let's talk about top priorities in this area, what is important for us and what we should consider as our next steps and immediate goals."
The president then ceded the floor to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Other participants will also be able to speak, the head of state noted.
The participants include Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko, Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu, head of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, as well as heads of the FSB and SVR Alexander Bortnikov and Sergey Naryshkin.
The president holds operational meetings with the permanent members of the Security Council once a week, as a rule, usually on Fridays to discuss the most important issues in various areas of national security. The topic of the last such meeting was regional security.