President Putin Addresses Parliamentary Conference in St. Petersburg

Russian President Vladimir Putin counts on an "honest and constructive" discussion at a parliamentary conference in St. Petersburg to "help settle the acutest issues in the Baltic Sea region," including the issues dealing with national minorities in the Baltic States and life support of the Kaliningrad region, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea.

Russia greatly values the conference's contribution to the process of strengthening cooperation between the Baltic States, reads a message of greetings that the president sent to participants in the 11th Parliamentary Conference on Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. The region is "one of the most stable and dynamically developing regions in Europe, and undoubtedly the credit goes to you," wrote Putin.

He also stressed that "reliable guarantees of human rights are the basic principle of stability of a civil society." "I am sure that joint efforts made by our parliamentarians will help promote deeper mutually advantageous regional cooperation, good-neighbourly relations and partnership in the Baltic Sea region," the president emphasized.