MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the staff and veterans of Russia’s investigative agencies on their professional holiday, the Day of Russian Investigative Authorities’ Employees.

"Honesty, legitimacy and justice have been the core principles of the investigative agencies since the Peter the Great era. Today, the activities of the Russian Investigative Committee and the investigative departments of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service are likewise based on them," Putin stressed in his message of congratulations posted on the Kremlin website on Thursday.

The head of state thanked the staff of the investigative agencies for their dedicated work for the benefit of the country and its citizens. He noted that, while handling the tasks set before them, they need to improve investigative practices, fight crime, terrorism, corruption, introduce new technologies for carrying out examinations and searching for evidence.

"Of course, it is essential to guarantee under any circumstances full impartiality during criminal investigations, ensure the inevitability of punishment for perpetrators based on reliable, irrefutable evidence and, which is no less important, reliable and effective protection of those who suffered from criminal offenses and who sought the law enforcement agencies’ assistance," the president stressed. Putin was confident that Russian investigators would work responsibly, impartially and flawlessly.

The Day of Russian Investigative Authorities’ Employees has been marked in Russia annually on July 25 since 2014. The date was chosen because Russia’s first investigative agency was established by decree of Czar Peter the Great on July 25, 1713.