Meeting with Head of the Federal Customs Service Valery Pikalev

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Mr Pikalev, how's everything going? What are the results?

Head of the Federal Customs Service Valery Pikalev: Mr President,

Thank you for this opportunity to report on the Federal Customs Service's key performance results ahead of Customs Officer Day.

This year, we have completed the first stage of implementing the Service Development Strategy and have summed up its results. Given the unprecedented sanctions pressure from unfriendly countries, we have made the necessary adjustments to the measures of the second stage of the Strategy, which runs until 2030, and have already begun its implementation. We have carried out the required structural and organisational staffing measures and addressed matters pertaining to service progression and the training of customs personnel.

Thanks to your support, the process of replacing civil service positions with staff positions is continuing. Starting this year, nearly 4,000 customs officers will benefit from more competitive salary levels and an expanded package of social guarantees.

In furtherance of your instruction, work is underway to organise the construction of service housing near checkpoints in the Far East. Between 2028 and 2029, we plan to allocate 388 apartments to customs officers.

We are improving medical provision, expanding the departmental health resort network, and creating the necessary infrastructure for service operations in the historical territories. In the near future, we plan to complete repairs in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. We will do everything to ensure worthy conditions for our officials.

This year, we have opened 15 specialised customs classes in 12 schools located in Vladivostok, Murmansk, Perm, Kazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Lugansk, and Donetsk. We are developing targeted training programmes at the Russian Customs Academy, and starting next year, we will provide additional scholarships to students enrolled in them.

To be continued.