Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. Mr Artemyev, the Antimonopoly Service will soon celebrate the anniversary of its founding.

Igor Artemyev: Our 20th anniversary.

Vladimir Putin: We have recently done much to strengthen the agency itself, as well as the legal framework on which it operates.

We have two packages of antimonopoly laws in effect. The first package was adopted some time ago, and enough time has passed to assess its effectiveness. The second package was adopted only recently, but it also plays a very important role in this area.

I think this package of laws must have generated some response. In any case, international organisations have evaluated it positively, which is a good sign. But we need to ensure that all these laws work in practice.

I would like to discuss several practical issues with you. As our country is recovering from the crisis, certain industries have independently expressed their wishes, unjustified in my mind, to increase prices.

It is clear that costs may increase and that the economic situation has changed. However, this is no justification for hiking up prices. You know what I'm talking about; we have recently discussed this issue. For example, the possibility of an increase in prices for metal products has recently been announced. We need to have a very serious discussion about this issue with our colleagues representing businesses. We need to look into the actual conditions, pricing policies and other elements affecting this process.

Igor Artemyev: Mr Putin, thank you very much for the opportunity to meet with you today. As for practical issues, we can see these negative trends developing in two areas. Prices are increasing rapidly in certain industries. You mentioned metal production.

We are monitoring this industry. Last week we launched an antitrust investigation into Evraz Group for setting high, monopolistic prices. We are currently examining the entire production chain, from the raw iron ore to iron ore pellets, metallurgical coal and metal, including rolled metal and other finished products.

The issue of greatest concern is that the pricing is based on inadequate assessments of global markets and trends. Therefore, expenditures and costs are exaggerated. The distribution systems often include intermediaries, so-called trading houses.

We are currently investigating the distribution system for the metal production industry. We often find companies that resell finished goods that can be bought at a factory with a 20% to 30% mark-up.

The same can be said about exports.

Now about the second trend that concerns us: despite your clear instructions to all levels of government, bureaucrats continue to set up administrative barriers to give preference to individual companies.

One important issue here, of course, is to what extent the government is ready to go to take control of this process, and use its own forces to counter the forces opposing it. Using force or the law to compel this or that bureaucrat to give up an administrative barrier and perform his or her duty within the time set by the law is very important for many construction and many other important investment projects involving government. Otherwise, this official should be fined for standing in the way of the overall development of the country, the economy etc.

This is an issue, along with local government reform, that you have spent a lot of attention on. You constantly issue orders to remove these barriers, which are then implemented. Those who introduce new barriers or do not remove the old ones, as instructed, should be fined - this is very important. The government should also expose such bureaucrats and accuse them of abusing their power.

As for markets, we are working with the Ministry of Economic Development to monitor them closely. We have three main problem markets that we are permanently monitoring. These are markets for petroleum products, medicines and food products - all of the greatest social importance. We not only issued recommendations, but are also launching legal proceedings, both in the regions and against officials in the central government.

I also would like to thank you for mentioning the 20th anniversary of our founding. We are very pleased that you remembered. We also would like to say that many good things have been said both about the Federal Antimonopoly Service and all of Russia in connection with this legislation. Today we, as the arm of Russian government dealing with this issue, are ranked 30th out of about 120 antimonopoly services worldwide.

The OECD [the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] has found that our antimonopoly service upholds the same level of practice as foreign antimonopoly services do; moreover, we had the honour of being among the first to join this organisation and serving as member of the OECD permanent committee, which resembles the structure of G8 very much.

We have continued to serve there since then, and we regard this service as a tribute to our country. Moreover, following your recommendations and the recommendations of the OECD, we have prepared a third antimonopoly legislative package, which would better address these administrative barriers and hold bureaucrats who break the law accountable. We have finished this work, and it is now being studied by Igor Shuvalov and the Ministry of Economic Development.

Mr Putin, could you please direct your attention to this issue in July, if you have time, because this is already an international obligation of ours to some extent, one that corresponds with the interests of Russia.

And secondly, this is a much more effective approach. We have acquired much experience in recent years, and we should resolve this problem so that none of these scam artists go unpunished.

Vladimir Putin: Ok, we will address this issue. We will do it in July, when you are ready. It is good that international organisations have evaluated us well, but, more importantly, everything you do should improve the Russian economy, so that our people can feel its effects. So we have to address all these issues and work with government officials and business representatives to remove administrative barriers.

Igor Artemyev: Of course.

Vladimir Putin: Everyone should feel responsible for their country.