Putin Speaks On Work And Tasks Of Russian Police

Russian president Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the solemn soiree in the State Kremlin Palace on the occasion of Police Day. "Work in law enforcement bodies is always in the focus of the public opinion," said Vladimir Putin. Police is a strong state institution, he continued, and must remain such in deed. "The higher the Interior ministry's prestige is, the more authority its officers have and the more ordinary people believe in justice," said the Russian president. Vladimir Putin stressed that crime gives in only where on the basis of the law all bodies of the state power act efficiently, where the legal order rules. "That is why we are strengthening the law enforcement establishment and at the same time perfecting the judicial system," said the president. Putin drew the attention of those present to the most urgent issues of today, laying special stress on extremism. "We know in a jural state there should be no place for such manifestations," Putin indicated. Russia, he continued, is a multiethnic and multiconfessional state - it was founded and has existed for ages as such. "If we want to keep this for ages, we should put a strong barrier to extremism," indicated the president. According to him, the Interior ministry is now faced with another hard task all civilized world is faced with too - struggle against terrorism. The major line of this struggle, said the president, goes across Russian soil. We are grateful to Interior ministry officers, he said, who served and serve in Chechnya, to all those who help heal the sores caused by terrorism to this land, we are grateful to all who bring back normal life. Vladimir Putin noted that the Russian police have great authorities, but are subject to a serious account, too. Russia's citizens want order to be established in the country, said the president. However, there can be no order without honesty, stressed Putin, indicating that he is speaking first of all about professional and personal immaculacy of police officers. Vladimir Putin congratulated all police officers on their holiday and presented to some of them state awards.