OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2013. The meeting focused on the Natural Resources Ministry’s plans for 2013, which has been declared the Year of the Environment in Russia.

The Minister briefed the President about the planned activities for 2013, in particular, on projects to clean up contaminated sites in the Arctic, the Baikal natural site, the Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions; on the implementation of the Public Control information system; and on the National Congress on Environmental Protection to be held in December 2013.

Other issued discussed related to expanding the regeneration of mineral resources, including minerals such as oil, gas, coal, iron and copper.

Vladimir Putin emphasised that the Ministry must improve discipline in the use of mineral resources, providing a quick and tough response to violations of licensing requirements by the developers.