Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good evening, Mr Mordashov. How is your company finishing the year?

Alexei Mordashov: Overall, the situation is somewhat difficult as the company, like many others, has been affected by current events. Still, there are some positive trends. We can clearly see that the market is recovering - although it is not yet back to previous levels, a recovery has begun. This helps us look to the future with confidence and speak of a return to development rather than simply survival.

Vladimir Putin: Is demand slowly increasing?

Alexei Mordashov: It is, no doubt. The main thing is that we are raising the company's competitiveness through restructuring and optimisation, which will enable us to take a greater market share. Our exports are growing as well. So, overall I can say that we are rebounding, slowly but steadily.

Vladimir Putin: How are you going about modernising and optimisation?

Alexei Mordashov: We have obviously adjusted our production schedule to current demand. We are optimising by closing inefficient facilities and making pinpoint investments in the facilities with the best opportunities to increase our productivity. We have initiated the operation of a blast furnace this year and plan to re-fire another one now standing idle.

Unfortunately, the crisis has resulted in personnel cuts at the company. Yet, we know that the regions where we operate have not seen considerable unemployment growth, with people still able to find jobs. With assistance from government agencies, we make every effort to provide people with retraining. The overall situation is stable.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Let's go into more detail.