President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Comrades,
I would like to congratulate all of you on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Investigative Committee of Russia as a standalone federal agency entrusted with broad powers in the sphere of criminal proceedings and, in general, in ensuring law and order.
This high independent status helped you to take the operations of investigative authorities to a fundamentally new level, to create conditions for a more effective fight against corruption, crimes of terrorism and extremism, as well as other serious and socially dangerous criminal offences.
I would like to mention a sphere of your activities that has not only a legal but also a moral dimension, namely, the suppression of any attempts to rehabilitate Nazism.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that today absolutely all investigative officers are doing a responsible and complicated job of huge significance for the state and the people. Its vital features are persistence and integrity, high probity and moral uprightness, and, of course, strict commitment to law.
I am aware that the absolute majority of investigative officers have these professional and human qualities and are doing their jobs diligently and accurately, ensuring thorough and objective conduct of pre-trial investigations, which is a guarantee of a fair verdict and hence of public trust and respect for the law enforcement and the judicial system in general.
I would like to point out the importance of preventive measures in the work of the Investigative Committee. I would like to ask you to focus not only on exposing conditions that are conducive to crime, but also to eradicate them and do this systemically in coordination with the other agencies and bodies of executive and legislative authority.
At the same time, the investigative experience you have accumulated should be summed up and analysed in due time, to be able to promptly respond to changes in the crime situation and to new threats, including those in the sphere of cybercrime.
In light of this, investigative officers must upgrade their professional skills, on which the result of their work depends.
I would like to once again congratulate the agency workers and veterans on the 10th anniversary of the Investigative Committee. Thank you for your service in the interests of Russia and our citizens. I would like to wish you every success.