The president stressed that the criminal environment emerged "taking advantage of the economic instability and weakening of the state" during the period of on-going economic reforms in the country, which was aptly named "the shock therapy".
The growth of crime was greatly prompted by wide-spread unemployment, poverty, socio-economic uncertainty among the people, uncontrolled migration. It is the nutrient medium for crime, the president said.
"Crime threat and social instability are major obstacles on the road of the normal development of the North Caucasus, Southern Federal District and Russia as a whole", Putin stressed.
He said that people are not feeling that their life, tranquillity and property are reliably protected by the state. "Without this it is impossible to attract investments and put to use the wealthy natural potential of the territory. This is why I see as the main goal the efficient assistance of organs of the Interior Ministry in the general rehabilitation of the region", the Russian president said.
Putin demanded putting things in order in the statistical reports of the Russian Interior Ministry.
The quality and trustworthiness of the ministerial statistics are still in question, he said.
"Latent and glaring crime still remain unregistered", the president noted. "Old practices like the refusal to initiate criminal cases and direct falsification of statistical reports are, as before, in use".
The head of state noted that the number of unexposed crimes, including grave, is still high. "Meanwhile, violation of the principle of inevitability of punishment instigates crime and produces a negative effect on public morality", Vladimir Putin said.
