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After The Unlawful Decision To Recognize Kosovo, Everyone Expected Russia To Respond By Recognizing The Independence And Sovereignty Of South Ossetia And Abkhazia. This Is True, This Is How It Was. Everyone Was Waiting For Russia's Decision. And We Had The Moral Right To Make It But We Did Not. We Were More Than Restrained. I Don't Even Want To Comment On It. In Truth, We "swallowed" It.

-Vladimir Putin

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After The Unlawful Decision

Vladimir Putin

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After The Unlawful Decision To Recognize Kosovo, Everyone Expected Russia To Respond By Recognizing The Independence And Sovereignty Of South Ossetia And Abkhazia. This Is True, This Is How It Was. Everyone Was Waiting For Russia's Decision. And We Had The Moral Right To Make It But We Did Not. We Were More Than Restrained. I Don't Even Want To Comment On It. In Truth, We "swallowed" It.

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I Have Always Thought And I Still Think That The Central Bank Should Act Independently. Indeed, It Does, You Can Take My Word. I Do Not Interfere In The Decisions Of The Central Bank And I Do Not Give Instructions To The Bank Management Or To Its Head.

If Everything Stops Functioning Our Level Will Be Able To Ensure Our Trade Turnover Using Its Gold And Foreign Currency Reserves For At Least Six Months Or More, Which Is More Than Enough.

[yasuhiro] Yamashita Is A Respected Judo Master Not Only In Japan But Across The World. To Me, He Is An Example Of An Outstanding Athlete And A Very Good Man.

At Any Rate, Those Problems [ Non-proliferation Regime For Weapons Of Mass Destruction ] Would Not Be So Acute, With Numerous Terror Attacks And Victims Of Those Attacks In Many Areas Of The World - In Europe And In The United States. We Also Never Would Have Had Such An Urgent Problem With Refugees, I Have No Doubt About It.

Mass Destruction

We Have Created Islands, Small Islands Of Power, But We Have Not Built A Bridge Between Those Islands, .. The Center And The Territories, Regional And Local Authorities Are Still Competing With Each Other, Competing For Power. Those Who Take Advantage Of Disorder And Arbitrary Rule Are Watching Their Mutually Destructive Fight.

I Believe, I Am Pretty Certain That Virtually Everyone Speaking From The United Nations Platform Is Going To Talk About The Fight, About The Need To Fight Terrorism, And I Cannot Avoid This Issue, Either. This Is Quite Understandable Because It Is A Serious Common Threat To All Of Us; It Is A Common Challenge To All Of Us.

We Were In Negotiations, But Then The Japanese Side Suspended Them Unilaterally. Now, At The Request Of Our Japanese Partners, We Have Reopened These Talks.

I Believe The U.s. Already Understands And Will Understand More And More That Only A Strong Russia Will Respond To The Genuine Interests Of The United States.

It Is Wrong To Make Anyone Into An Enemy; It Is Wrong To Scare The People Of One's Own Country With That Enemy And Try To Rally Some Allies On That Basis.

It Is Clear That The International Community Has No Other Universal Organisation Of The Likes Of The United Nations.

There Is Also A Huge Potential For Developing The Aviation And Space Industries. As You Might Have Noticed We Have Launched A New Russian Spaceport In One Of The Far Eastern Regions.

I Will Not Offer My Thoughts On What Japan Could And Should Have Done, This Is None Of My Business, It Is The Business Of The Japanese Leadership. But We Should Understand How Practicable All Our Agreements Are As A Whole Given The Allied Obligations Japan Has Assumed, How Much Independence There Is In Making Those Decision, And What We Can Hope For, What We Can Ultimately Arrive At.

Then There Is Another Area Of Activity - Economic Interaction Between Russia And The United States. Right Now, For Example, It Has Already Been Made Public That We Signed A Large Deal To Privatise One Of Our Biggest Oil And Gas Companies, Rosneft. We Know For Sure That Us Companies, As Well As Japanese Ones, By The Way, Are Keenly Interested In Cooperation In Russia's Oil And Gas Sector, In Joint Work. This Has Immense Significance For World Energy Markets And Will Directly Affect The Whole World Economy.

I Have A Huge Interest In Japan, Which Is Well Known, Including Its History And Culture, And So It Will Be Very Interesting For Me To See And Learn More About Japan.

There Is Always A Chance [for Negotiations With Japan], Or Else It Makes No Sense To Talk. How Great Is It? Right Now, It Is Difficult For Me To Say, Because This Will Depend, Among Other Things, On The Flexibility Of Our Partners.

The Chechnya Problem Is A Centuries-old Problem. The Thing Is That Today, Fundamentalists And Terrorists Are Exploiting Those Centuries-old Problems To Accomplish Their Own Objectives That Have Nothing To Do Whatsoever With The Interests Of Chechnya.

It's Better Not To Argue With Women.

They Are Constantly Trying To Drive Us Into A Corner Because We Have An Independent Position, Because We Maintain It And Because We Tell It Like It Is And Don't Engage In Hypocrisy. But There Is A Limit To Everything. And With Ukraine, Our Western Partners Have Crossed The Line, Playing The Bear And Acting Irresponsibly And Unprofessionally.

This Is The Political Culture Of The United States, Which One Should Accept As Is. The United States Is A Great Country And It Deserves Non-interference And No Third-party Comments.

We See Serbs As Our Spiritual Brothers. And That Is What Is At The Base Of Our Relations Today And In The Future.

When The Ruble Is Weaker, It Is Easier To Sell, To Produce Here For A Cheap Ruble And Sell For An Expensive Dollar, Get Revenue In Dollars And Then Exchange It For Rubles And Get A Bigger Income. This Is Simple.

Therefore, Let Me Reiterate That The Rate Should Not Meet The Interests Of A Specific Group Or One Or Two Groups, It Should Meet The Fundamental Development Interests Of The Economy Itself.

Looking At The Map Of The Russian Federation, One Can See A Country Covering Mostly Northern Areas; Today More Than 70 Percent Of Our Territory Is Or Can Be Referred To As Northern, If Not The Far North. We Have A Rather Small Warm Black Sea Strip In The South And - To Tell The Truth - Quite A Few Regions With A Hospitable Warm Climate.

My Position Is That The Rate Should Align With The Level Of Economic Development. Because It Is Always About A Balance, A Balance Of Interests, And It Should Reflect This Balance. A Balance Between Those Who Sell Something Across The Border And Those Who Benefit From A Low Rate, As Well As A Balance Between The Interests Of Those Who Buy, Who Need The Rate To Be Higher. A Balance Between National Producers, For Example, Agricultural Producers Who Are Interested In It.

Ukraine Is Going Through A Difficult Time. There Is Nothing Extraordinary Of The Resignation Of The Ukrainian Government Ahead Of The Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

There Is No Other Way To Settle The Syrian Conflict Other Than By Strengthening The Existing Legitimate Government Agencies, Support Them In Their Fight Against Terrorism And, Of Course, At The Same Time Encourage Them To Start A Positive Dialogue With The "healthy" Part Of The Opposition And Launch Political Transformations.

Boris Nemtsov, Left His Mark On The History Of Russia, In Politics And Public Life. He Worked On Important Positions In The Difficult Transition Period For Our Country. He Always Openly And Honestly Stated His Position, Defended His Point Of View.

How Long Has It Taken The Democratic Process To Develop In The United States? Since It Was Founded. So, Do You Think That As Regards Democracy Everything Is Settled Now In America? If This Were So, There Would Be No Ferguson Issue, Right? There Would Be No Other Issues Of Similar Kind, There Would Be No Police Abuse. Our Goal Is To See All These Issues And Respond To Them Timely And Properly. The Same Applies To Russia. We Also Have A Lot Of Problems.

Our Economy Has Become Completely Different, On The Whole. The Size Has Changed. The Economy Has Almost Doubled In Size. And The Quality Is Changing, Not As Fast As We Would Like It To, But The Structure Is Changing. Our Armed Forces Are Completely Different Today From What They Were, Say 15 Years Ago Or So. All Of This, Including Our Great History, Great Culture, All Of This, Not Just What We See Today, Is What Makes The Vast Majority Of Russia's Citizens Feel Proud For Their Country.

The Baltic Republics Have Invented Something Totally New. Do You Know What? They Use The Word 'non-citizens' For People Who Have Been Living For Decades In The Territory Of Baltic States And Have Been Deprived Of A Number Of Political Rights. They Cannot Participate In The Election Campaigns; They Have Limited Political And Social Rights. Everybody Keeps Quiet About It, As If This Is The Way It Should Be. Of Course, This Cannot But Cause A Certain Reaction.

I Remember My Very First Encounter With Japan. At That Time, I Was Deputy Mayor Of St Petersburg. Out Of Nowhere, Japan's Consul General In St Petersburg Came To My Office And Said Japan's Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Wanted To Invite Me To Japan. I Was Very Surprised Because I Had Nothing To Do With Japan Except Being A Judoka. This Was An Opportunity To Visit Tokyo And A Couple Of Other Cities. And, You Know, A Capital Is A Capital Everywhere: There Is The Official Script And Certain Protocol. It Is Always Easier To Talk In The Provinces, The Conversation Is More Natural.

Of Course, We Will Work Towards That End. Of Course, We Will Work To Achieve This Result. However, You Have Just Mentioned The 1956 Agreement, And One May Recall That These Negotiations Were Later Terminated, In Effect, On Japan's Initiative.

We Have Seen Very Clearly Over These Past Years That There Are Quite A Few People Who Are Sceptical, Or Let Us Put It Another Way, Are Cautious About The Development Of Russian-american Relations, But The Underlying Fundamental Interests Of The United States And Russia Demand That Our Relations Be Normalised.

I Have Great Love And Respect For Russian History And Culture. But The World Is Changing And Russia Is Too. Russia Is Part Of The Modern World, Not The World Of The Past But The Modern World. And I Believe It Has An Even Greater Future Than Some Other Countries That Can't Take Care Of Their Young People, Of The New Generations, Of Their Children, And Believe That They Can Just Let Things Slide.

I Assume Most People Trust Me, If They Vote For Me In Elections. And It Is The Most Important Thing. It Places Great Responsibility On Me, Immense Responsibility. I Am Grateful To The People For That Trust, But I Surely Feel Great Responsibility For What I Do And For The Result Of My Work.

We Believe We Have No Territorial Problems At All. It Is Only Japan That Believes It Has Territorial Problems With Russia. We Are Ready To Talk About This.

It Is A Major World Power, And Today It Is An Economic And Military Leader - No Doubt About It. That Is Why America Has A Strong Influence On The Situation In The World In General.

I Believe It Is No Secret That I Like Japan Very Much - Japanese Culture, Sport, Including Judo, But It Will Not Offend Anyone If I Say That I Like Russia Even More.

We May Have More Control, But My Point Is That, Strictly Speaking, Rosneft Is Not A State Company. I Think That This Is An Obvious Fact, As A Foreign Investor Has A 19.7 Percent Stake In It.

Presidents Come And Go, And Even Parties Come To And Away From Power. But The Main Policy Tack Does Not Change.

I Have To Say That Oil And Gas Revenues Make Up A Large Part Of The Russian Budget Revenue. This Is A Serious Component For Us In Addressing Economic Development, Budget Funding For Our Development Programmes And, Of Course, And Meeting Of Our Social Commitments To Our Citizens.

Our Anti-crisis Policy Is Aimed At Supporting Domestic Demand, Providing Social Guarantees For The Population, And Creating New Jobs. Like Many Countries, We Have Reduced Production Taxes, Leaving Money In The Economy. We Have Optimised State Spending.

We Have Wide-ranging Joint Projects In The Nuclear Energy Sphere, Logistics, Machine Building And Trade As A Whole [with China].

Whoever Is The First To Cry "stop The Thief" Is The One Who Is Guilty.

Bike Is The Most Democratic Transport Vehicle. Bike Is The Most Daring, Challenging As It Gives Its Owner The Tempting Feeling Of Freedom, That Is Why One Can Say Without Any Exaggeration, Bike Is A Symbol Of Freedom

I'll Be Honest, I Felt An Urge To Squeeze Him Like A Kitten And That Led To The Gesture I Made. There Was Nothing Behind It Really.

We Have Very Close Humanitarian Contacts [with China], Wide-ranging Youth Exchanges, Educational And Regional Contacts, And All Of Them Continue To Develop.

I Simply Noted That One Of The Groups, Especially Exporters, Would Prefer To Have A Weaker Rouble.

Let's Recall Bosnia In 1995. As We Know Well, The European Peacekeeping Contingent, Represented By The Dutch Troops, Did Not Want To Get Involved With One Of The Attacking Sides, And Allowed It To Destroy A Whole Village. Hundreds Of People Were Killed Or Injured. The Tragedy In Srebrenica Is Well Known In Europe.

Our Common Goal Should Be The Development Of A System Of Equal Security For All Governments. System Adequate [to Deal With] Modern Threats, Built On Regional And Global Nonaligned Bases. Only Then Can We Ensure Peace And Tranquility In The World.

I Would Like To Say, You Know, That, Unfortunately, We Have Many Unresolved Problems. But A Great Number Of People In Russia Know Japan And Love Japan, And I Am Sure That Eventually We Will Resolve All Our Problems.

Our Intention Is To Develop Music, Theatre And Exhibition Activities On The Far Eastern Regions.

There Can Be No Democracy Without Observing The Law And Everyone Must Observe It - That Is The Most Basic And Important Thing That We All Should Remember.

Where In The World Have You Seen Construction People Who Do Everything On Time, With Good Quality And At Minimal Prices? Just Give Me One Country Like That. A Country Like That Doesn't Exist In The World, You Know. There's Not One Such Country Anywhere In The World.

We Ask That (other Countries) Do Not Interfere In Our Regulation.

Love For One's Motherland Is One Of The Most Powerful And Uplifting Feelings. It Manifested Itself In Full In The Brotherly Support To The People Of Crimea And Sevastopol, When They Resolutely Decided To Return Home, This Event Will Remain A Very Important Epoch In Domestic History Forever.

There Are No Russian Units In Eastern Ukraine - No Special Services, No Tactical Advisors. All This Is Being Done By The Local Residents, And The Proof Of That Is The Fact That Those People Have Literally Removed Their Masks.

All Civilised Countries Should Unite In The Fight Against International Terrorism.

The Fact Is That There Was A Long War In Which Serbia And Its Capital Belgrade Were Bombarded And Attacked With Missiles. It Was A Military Intervention Of The West And Nato Against The Then Rump Yugoslavia.

Sanctions Have Nothing To Do With This [relations With The People's Republic Of China]. The Decline In Our Mutual Trade Has Objective Causes, Which Are The Energy Prices And The Exchange Rate Difference. But The Physical Volumes Have Not Decreased, Quite The Opposite Actually. They Are Growing.

The Soviet Union, And Russia As The Successor State To The Soviet Union, Is A Founding Member State Of The United Nations And A Permanent Member Of Its Security Council.

If Britain Pursues A More Independent Foreign Policy, It Might Be Possible Then. And If It Is Guided By Commitments To Its Allies And Considers This To Be Of A Bigger National Interest Than Its Cooperation With Russia, So Be It.

I Believe That The Presidential Term Should Be Limited.

As Far As I Know, Russians Are The First Among Tourists Going To Turkey; Last Year Three Million Russians Visited That Country, Although Its Climate Zone Is Almost The Same As The One Of The Black Sea Region. Therefore, We Have Had An Important Task To Develop An Infrastructure In This Region Of The Russian Federation.

I'd Rather Not Deal With Such Questions, Because Anyway It's Like Shearing A Pig - Lots Of Screams But Little Wool.

Democracy Means The Power Of The People And The Possibility Of Influencing The Governing Parties. Russia Had Had Enough Experience With A One-party-system - We Will Not Go Back There.

Today's Meeting Was Extremely Important And Brought Exceptional Results, ... The Talks Have Shown That The Long-term National And Geopolitical Interests Of Russia And India Coincide.

The Issues Of Political Nature Should Be Solved In Any Country, Including In Syria, Primarily By Its People.

If European Countries Want To Cater To U.s. Foreign Policy Interests, I Don't Think That They Stand To Gain Anything.

I Was Brought Up In A Very Ordinary Family, In Fact, A Worker's Family. Both My Father And Mother Were Ordinary Citizens.

All Issues - Purchasing And Selling Of Currency - Are Related To The Regulation Of The National Currency Market. However, It Is Still Difficult To Say What Will Be The Reaction Of The Central Bank And If It Would Lead To Increasing The Gold And Foreign Currency Reserves.

Millions Around The World Increasingly See America Not As A Model Of Democracy But As Relying Solely On Brute Force.

I Must Admit That We Have Yet To Understand How [donald Trump] Will Develop His Idea, His Pledge To Make America Great Again, But I Hope This Will Not Hinder The Development Of Our Cooperation.

Notably, It Was Only Possible [ Negotiating On The Tarabarov Island], And This Is Very Important, Due To The High Level Of Trust Russia And China Reached In Their Relations By That Time. If We Reach The Same Level Of Trust With Japan, We Might Be Able To Reach Certain Compromises.

Russia Is Opposed To The Proliferation Of Mass Destruction Weapons, Including Nuclear Weapons, And In This Context We Call Upon Our Iranian Friends To Abandon The Uranium Enrichment Programme.

Mass Destruction

Donald Trump Is A Brilliant And Talented Person, Without A Doubt.

One Must Not Allow Oneself To Skid Down To Isolationism And Unbridled Economic Egoism. ... The Second Possible Mistake Would Be Excessive Interference Into The Economic Life Of The Country. And The Absolute Faith Into The All-mightiness Of The State.

We Had A Very Good Situation In 2005. The Common Budget Had A Volume Of 80 Billion Dollars Per Year. Thousands Of Jobs Were Created In Germany By Russian Investments. At The Same Time, A Large Number Of German Companies Invested In Russia. There Were Countless Cultural And Social Contacts.

We Are Marking The Anniversary Of The Arctic Convoys.we Really Do Consider Members Of The Arctic Convoy To Be Heroes. This Is True. I Am Not Saying This As A Fashion Of Speech.

It's Difficult To Talk To People Who Whisper Even At Home, Afraid Of Americans Eavesdropping On Them. It's Not A Figure Of Speech, Not A Joke, I'm Serious.

Russia Has Made Its Choice In Favor Of Democracy. Fourteen Years Ago, Independently, Without Any Pressure From Outside, It Made That Decision In The Interests Of Itself And Interests Of Its People - Of Its Citizens. This Is Our Final Choice, And We Have No Way Back. There Can Be No Return To What We Used To Have Before.

Changing Things Is Not Easy, And I Say This Without Any Irony. It Is Not That Someone Does Not Want To, But Because It Is A Hard Thing To Do. Take Obama, A Forward-thinking Man, A Liberal, A Democrat. Did He Not Pledge To Shut Down Guantanamo Before His Election? But Did He Do It? No, He Did Not. And May I Ask Why Not? Did He Not Want To Do It? He Wanted To, I Am Sure He Did, But It Did Not Work Out. He Sincerely Wanted To Do It, But Did Not Succeed, Since It Turned Out To Be Very Complicated.

In Some Cases, I Would Not Want Us To Follow Their [donald Trump And Hillary Clinton] Pattern. I Do Not Believe They Are Setting The Best Example.

A Very Interesting And Promising Cluster Has Formed Here [in The Russian Far East ], And We Would Be Happy If Our Potential Investors, Our Counterparts From Abroad, First Of All Those From The Asia-pacific Region, Knew More About It.

Our Task Was Not To Conduct A Full-fledged Military Operation There [in Crimea], But It Was To Ensure People's Safety And Security And A Comfortable Environment To Express Their Will. We Did That. But It Would Not Have Been Possible Without The Crimeans' Own Strong Resolution.

I Want To Say That Russia Is Developing Along A Democratic Path, This Is Without Question So. No One Should Have Any Doubts About That. The Fact That, Amidst Political Rivalry And Some Other Domestic Developments, We See Things Happen Here That Are Typical Of Other Countries, I Do Not See Anything Unusual In It. We Have Rallies, Opposition Rallies. And People Here Have The Right To Express Their Point Of View. However, If People, While Expressing Their Views, Break The Current Legislation, The Effective Law In Place, Then Of Course, The Law Enforcement Agencies Try To Restore Order.

Spying Has Always Gone On Since Ancient Times.

I Believe That The G20 Should Not Interfere [foreign Policy], Because There Are Other Platforms For That.

I Have Called President Obama, And President Obama Called Me On Various Issues. This Is Part Of Our Regular Contacts, There Is Nothing Unusual Or Extraordinary About It.

Some Years Ago Our Japanese Counterparts Asked Us To Resume The Discussions Of The Issue And So We Did Meeting Them Halfway. Over The Passed Couple Of Years The Contacts Were Practically Frozen On The Initiative Of The Japanese Side, Not Ours. At The Same Time, Presently Our Partners Have Expressed Their Eagerness To Resume Discussions On This Issue [the Kuril Islands].

In 2000 The Then Prime Minister Of Japan [yoshirō Mori] Asked Me To Return To This Process, This Conversation, These Talks, And To Do So, Incidentally, On The Basis Of The 1956 Declaration. I Agreed. Since Then We Have Conducted Dialogue In This Regard But I Cannot Say That Our Japanese Partners And Friends Have Remained Within The Limits Of The 1956 Declaration.

Radicals Can Be Found In Any Environment.

When Saddam Hussein Was Eliminated, The Iraqi Statehood And Thousands Of People From The Former Baath Party Were Also Eliminated. Thousands Of Iraqi Servicemen, Who Were Part Of The State's Sunni Elite, Found Themselves Thrown Out Into The Street. No One Gave A Thought About Them, And Today They End Up In The Isis Army.

As Regards Humanitarian Issues And How To Handle Them, That Was The Prime Minister's [shinzō Abe] Initiative. He Brought The Matter Up At Our Last Meeting In Lima And Asked Me Straightforwardly Whether We Would Agree To Let Japanese Citizens Travel On A Visa-free Basis, Resolve The Issue In Such A Way As To Enable Them To Visit The South Kurils, Visit Their Native Areas. I Said At Once That It Was Quite Possible.

Some Western Politicians Are Already Threatening Us With Not Just Sanctions, But Also The Prospect Of Increasingly Serious Problems On The Domestic Front. I Would Like To Know What It Is They Have In Mind Exactly: Action By A Fifth Column, This Disparate Bunch Of 'national Traitors', Or Are They Hoping To Put Us In A Worsening Social And Economic Situation So As To Provoke Public Discontent? We Consider Such Statements Irresponsible And Clearly Aggressive In Tone, And We Will Respond To Them Accordingly.

Nobody And Nothing Will Stop Russia On The Road To Strengthening Democracy And Ensuring Human Rights And Freedoms.

We Do Not Trade Territories Although Concluding A Peace Treaty With Japan Is Certainly A Key Issue And We Would Like To Find A Solution To This Problem Together With Our Japanese Friends.

If I Said That Oil Production Would Collapse I Was Wrong.

It Is Impossible To Solve Health Problems Of Millions Of People With The Help Of Pills. People Need To Put It Into Practice, Have Passion For It; Healthy Lifestyle, Fitness And Sports Should Become Fashionable.

Brazil Does Have Every Right To Develop Its Own Peaceful Nuclear Programme.

History Proves That All Dictatorships, All Authoritarian Forms Of Government Are Transient. Only Democratic Systems Are Not Transient. Whatever The Shortcomings, Mankind Has Not Devised Anything Superior.

Here Is An Example: While Resolving Current Issues, Our American Colleagues Made A Proposal On The Syrian Settlement But Then Suddenly Declared At The Un That They Were Not Going To Discuss Anything With Us. It Is Necessary To Understand What People Want In One Department Versus Another Department Of The United States. Do They Have A Common Position? And This Happened Many Times On Very Many Areas Of Our Cooperation.

This Gentleman Has Taken On The Very Fashionable Theme Of Fighting Corruption And I Say Again: In Order To Fight Corruption You Have To Be Crystal Clear Yourself. But There Are Problems Here, And In This Regard I Unfortunately Have A Suspicion That This Is Just A Way Of Getting Votes And Not A Genuine Desire To Solve The Problem.

For Me, It [crimea] Is Not Borders And State Territories That Matter, But People's Fortunes.

Opposition Can Be Useful. Every Opposition Movement Is Good And Useful If It Acts Within The Law... If There Are People Who Act Outside The Law, Then The State Must Use Legal Means To Impose Law In The Interests Of The Majority. That's The Way It's Done In The U.s. And That's The Way It's Done In Russia.

Russia Hosts A Lot Of Forums, Including The International Economic Forum In St Petersburg, [usually In The Beginning Of Summer], As Well As The Economic Forum In Sochi.

The Sooner The Iraqi People Are Able To Take Their Country's Destiny In Their Own Hands And Establish Their Own Control Over It And Its National Resources, The Sooner The Process Of Pushing The Forces Of International Terrorism Out Of Iraq Will Be Able To Begin. And The Sooner The Process Of Consolidating Iraqi Society Itself Will Also Be Able To Begin.

Mrs. [hillary] Clinton Is Focusing On A Different Part Of The Voters Trying To Influence Them In Her Own Way As Well; So They Attack Each Other [with Donald Trump].

I Only Had A Telephone Conversation With [donald Trump], Whereas [shinzō ] Abe Met With Him In Person.

It Was At A Certain Stage (you Might Have Forgotten, Haven't You?) That The United States Actively Collaborated With Saddam When He Was At War With Iran: Weapons Were Supplied, Diplomatic And Political Support Was Provided And So On. Then The Us Fell Out With Him For Some Reason And Decided To Do Away With Him.

All We Need Is Good Will, And We Have To Start Working In A Way That Considers Each Other's Interests [with U.s]. In My View, This Is A Mandatory Condition.

Why Don't You Meet Osama Bin Laden, Invite Him To Brussels Or To The White House And Engage In Talks, Ask Him What He Wants And Give It To Him So He Leaves You In Peace?

For Russia, There Is Not And There May Not Be Another Political Option But Democracy. However, Russian Democracy Is... Not At All The Realization Of Standards Imposed On Us From Outside.

If We Act Together Along These Lines, We Will Create Conditions, The Conditions For Trust That Shinzō Abe Speaks About, So As To Take Another Step And Conclude A Peace Treaty On Certain Terms. However, First, It Is Essential To Cover This Part Of The Way And Then Agree On The Terms For Signing A Peace Treaty. Both Are Challenging Tasks But They Are Feasible.

The Democratic Choice Russian People Made In The Early 90's Is Final.

Frankly Speaking, We All Know That Provoking Military And Political Instability, Regional, And Other Conflicts Is A Helpful Means Of Distracting The Public From Growing Domestic Social And Economic Problems In Certain Countries. Such Attempts Cannot Be Ruled Out, Unfortunately.

We Want Full-scale Normalisation Of Relations [with Japan].

In Accordance With The Constitution Of The Russian Federation, The Issues Of Foreign Policy And Defense Are Fully In The Hands Of The President.

I Think Russia Has Already Turned The Toughest Pages In Its History. We're Only Moving Forward Now, Only Get Stronger.

In The Soul Of A Russian Person There Is Always A Drive Toward Some Kind Of Lofty Moral Ideal, Lofty Moral Values. That Definitely Sets Us Apart, And I'm Certain It's In A Good Way.

Yet Our Interests, The Interests Of The Russian Federation, Include The Normalisation Of Relations With Japan, Which Is Not At The Bottom Of The Agenda. The Whole Range Of What Will Be Proposed For A Solution, The Entire Range Of Matters Related To The Normalisation Of Our Relations And What That Would Bring After Normalisation, This Is The Whole Range Of Issues To Be Discussed And Decided, And Those Decisions Should Be Of A Practical Nature.

The Us Tactical Nuclear Weapons Are In Europe, Let Us Not Forget This. Does It Mean That The Us Has Occupied Germany Or That The Us Never Stopped The Occupation After World War Ii And Only Transformed The Occupation Troops Into The Nato Forces?

We Certainly Would Not Want To Have The Same Kind Of Democracy As They Have In Iraq, I Can Tell You Quite Honestly.

There Are Some Gestures, Of Course, That You Can Only Interpret One Way, But No One Has Ever Seen Those Kinds Of Gestures Directed By Obama At Me Or By Me At Obama, And I Hope That Never Happens. Everything Else Is Fantasy.

We Have A Professional Relationship [with Chancellor Angela Merkel].2016 Is The Year Of The German-russian Youth Exchange, So The Relations Are Moving On.

Speaking About Our Largest Oil Company Rosneft, And I Recalled In The Beginning That Almost 20 Percent Of It [19.7] Belongs To Bp. Who's Company Is That? British Petroleum, Isn't It? I Suppose That Is Not Bad. I Have To Tell That British Petroleum's Capitalization Is Significantly Related To The Fact That It Owns More Than 19 Percent Of Rosneft, Which Has Vast Oil Reserves Both In Russia And Abroad. This Has Its Impact On The Company's Stability As Well.

Here We Have 40 Million Russian Citizens Involved In The Sphere Of Agriculture One Way Or Another. This Is Very Important.

My Job Is Not Only To Give Medals, You Know, Which Certainly Is Part Of My Function. First And Foremost, Though, My Job Is About Ensuring Success Of The Work In Various Spheres. It Is A Kind Of Day-to-day Spadework.

What Happened In Ukraine? The Coup D'état In Ukraine Has Led To A Civil War, Because, Yes, Let's Say, Many Ukrainians No Longer Trusted President Yanukovych. However, They Should Have Legitimately Come To The Polls And Voted For Another Head Of State Instead Of Staging A Coup D'état. And After The Coup D'état Took Place, Someone Supported It, Someone Was Satisfied With It, While Others Were Not. And Those Who Did Not Like It Were Treated From The Position Of Force. And That Led To A Civil War.

We Are Working In Other Areas [like Alrosa] As Well, So There Are No Radical Changes To Our Position. It Is Not The Case When We Have To, As We Say, Make A Lot Of Fuss About It. In Other Words, We Do Not Have To Be Obsessed With Privatizing Immediately And At Any Cost.

Our Microeconomic Indicators Are Stable And It Gives Me Reason To Believe That We Will Calmly And Steadily Pass This Uneasy Period In Our Economy, Which Has Already No Doubt Adapted To The Current Situation.

Agriculture Specialists Say Our Farm Production Is Increasing And Will Go On Increasing. Thank God.

The Philosophy Of Fifa Is To Expand World Soccer Space, To Spread Out The World Football Space.

In 2009, Us President [barack] Obama Said That The Missile Defense Only Serves As Protection From Iranian Nuclear Missiles. But Now There Is An International Treaty With Iran That Bans Tehran From Developing A Potential Military Nuclear Project.

Prime Minister [shinzō Abe] And I Have Spoken A Lot, And We Said All The Right Things, In My Opinion, About Creating An Atmosphere Of Trust And Friendship Between Our Nations And Peoples.

I Believe That The Europeans, First And Foremost, The Germans, Will Also Understand Me. Let Me Remind You That In The Course Of Political Consultations On The Unification Of East And West Germany... Some Nations That Were Then And Are Now Germany's Allies Did Not Support The Idea Of Unification. Our Nation, However, Unequivocally Supported The Sincere, Unstoppable Desire Of The Germans For National Unity. I Am Confident That You Have Not Forgotten This, And I Expect That The Citizens Of Germany Will Also Support The Aspiration Of The Russians, Of Historical Russia, To Restore Unity.

People In The Eastern Regions [of Ukaraine] Are Talking About Federalisation, And Kiev Has At Long Last Started Talking About De-centralisation. Order In The Country Can Only Be Restored Through Dialogue And Democratic Procedures, Rather Than With The Use Of Armed Force, Tanks And Aircraft.

Indeed, Russia And The U.s. Were Allies During The Two Tragic Conflicts Of The Second And The First World Wars, Which Allows Us To Think There's Something Objectively Bringing Us Together In Difficult Times, And I Think - I Believe - It Has To Do With Geopolitical Interests And Also Has A Moral Component.

This Issue Is Not Economic But Political. I Hope That All Market Participants Interested In Maintaining Stable And Reasonable World Energy Prices Will Finally Make The Right Decision.

We Were Also Going To Develop Relations With The Current Administration [of Barack Obama], But Somehow They Did Not Work Out Well In Key Areas And, I Believe, Not Through Our Fault. I Will Not List All The Problems That Emerged In The Past Few Years.

I Do Not Remember When I Said This [oil Production Would Collapse ], Maybe In The Heat Of The Moment, But I Do Not Think I Even Said It, But I May Just Not Remember It. I Was Saying That At A Certain Level Of Oil Prices New Deposits Will Not Be Explored. That Is What Is Actually Happening. However, Surprisingly, Our Oil And Gas Workers [mainly Oilmen] Continue To Invest.

Sanctions Against Such Country As Russia Are Unlikely To Be Effective.

I Do Not Exclude This, But I Would Like To Draw Your Attention To One Absolutely Key Aspect: In Line With International Law, Only The U.n. Security Council Can Sanction The Use Of Force Against A Sovereign State. Any Other Pretext Or Method Which Might Be Used To Justify The Use Of Force Against An Independent Sovereign State Is Inadmissible And Can Only Be Interpreted As An Aggression.

The Nationalists' Coup In The Ukrainian Capital Of Kiev In February 2014 Has Hugely Scared 2.5 Million Russian People Living On Crimea. So What Did We Do? We Have Not Gone To War, We Have Not Fired, Not A Single Person Was Killed. Our Soldiers Have Merely Prevented The Ukrainian Troops On Crimea From Impeding The Freedom Of Expression Of The People.

The European Union's Enlargement Is Part Of The Natural Process Of Integration And Globalisation That Is Underway In The World Today.

Russia Is A Very Reliable And Big Market. I Don't Remember The Figure But, For Example, The German Machine-building Industry Has Been Increasing Its Supplies To Russia Every Year. These Supplies Are Huge. Does Someone Want To Discontinue These Supplies? We'll Buy From Somebody Else.

A Foreign Threat Is Useful To Put Things In Order In One's Own Camp, To Make One's Allies Follow The Bloc Discipline. Iran Does Not Fit This Role Too Well, And It Is Very Tempting To Revive Russia's Image Of The Enemy. But Nobody In Europe Is Afraid Anymore.

They [leaders In Western Europe] Do Not Misuse Financial Instruments, Financial Injections, But, First Of All, Seek Structural Change. This Is Urgent For Our Economy As Well, Maybe Even More Urgent Bearing In Mind The Problem That We Cannot Yet Deal With, Namely The Prevalence Of The Oil And Gas Sector In The Russian Federation And, As A Result, Dependence On Revenue From Oil And Gas.

I Would Like To Draw Attention To The Fact That We Have Gone From Pure Trade [with China] In Traditional Goods [energy Resources, Such As Hydrocarbons, Oil And Now Natural Gas, Petrochemicals On The One Hand And Textiles And Footwear On The Other] To A Whole New Level Of Economic Cooperation. For Example, We Are Working Together On Space Programmes. Moreover, We Are Developing And Soon Will Begin The Production Of A Heavy Helicopter. We Are Now Tracing The Plan For The Creation Of A Wide-body Long-range Aircraft.

I Am The Wealthiest Man, Not Just In Europe, But In The Whole World. I Collect Emotions.

Greatest Wealth

Russia Should Be Competitive, Be Able To Protect Its Own Interests And Influence The Processes That Are Important To It.

Their [the U.s.’s] Defense Budget In Absolute Figures Is Almost 25 Times Bigger Than Russia’s. This Is What In Defense Is Referred To As ‘their Home — Their Fortress.’ And Good For Them, I Say. Well Done!

The Central Bank Has A Lot To Handle And It Is Best Not To Interfere With Its Competence.

The Centuries-old History And Culture Of India, Majestic Architectural Monuments And Museums Of Delhi, Agra And Mumbai Have A Unique Attractive Force.

As For The President-elect [donald Trump], He Has His Own Views On Things, And This Is Also Fairly Natural.

In Russia All People Enjoy The Equal Rights, Including Homosexuals.

It Is Well Known That Russia Has Many Interesting And Promising Developments In The Military-technical Sphere. We Are Ready To Deliver The Needed Equipment And Ready For Joint Cooperation In Arms Production With Brazilian Specialists. This Is An Area That Is Very Closely Linked To High Technology In General. In This Respect, We Hope To Develop Closer Cooperation Between The Scientific Communities In Our Two Countries.

The Comrade Wolf Knows Whom To Eat, As The Saying Goes. It Knows Whom To Eat And Is Not About To Listen To Anyone, It Seems.

Terrorists Are Always A Threat To Someone. If We'll Be Scared Of Them, It Means They Have Won.

Now We Are Talking About Concluding A Free Trade Agreement Between The Eurasian Economic Council, Recently Established In The Post-soviet Space, And China. A Similar Agreement Was Concluded A Short Time Ago With Vietnam. Then, We Will Coordinate, At Least We Are Ready To Do This, The Chinese Concept Of The Silk Road Economic Belt With Our Newly-created Regional Organisation. So, Do You Understand How Diverse, Multi-faceted And Deep Russian-chinese Ties Have Become Over The Last Couple Of Decades? And We Resolved The Border Issue.

I'm An Adult And I Know What Power Means In The Modern World. In The Modern World, Power Is Mainly Defined By Such Factors As The Economy, Defence And Cultural Influence. I Believe That In Terms Of Defence, Russia Is Without Any Doubt One Of The Leaders Because We Are A Nuclear Power And Our Nuclear Weapons Are Perhaps The Best In The World.

I'm Eternally Grateful To Fate And The Citizens Of Russia That They've Trusted Me To Be The Head Of The Russian Government.

Donald Trump Is Targeting The Traditional Republican Voters, The Average Person With An Average Income, The Working Class, A Certain Group Of Entrepreneurs And Those People Who Embrace Traditional Values.

In My Opinion, Provision Of Military Support To Illegal Structures Runs Counter To The Principles Of Modern International Law And The United Nations Charter.

The Prime Minister [shinzō Abe] Proposed Advancing To A New Level Of Economic Engagement, Putting Forward Eight Lines Of Cooperation In The Most Important And Interesting Areas Both For Russia And For Japan.

I Love The Russian Classics Very Much, The Russian Classical Literature. But I Also Read Modern Literature. As Far As Russian Literature Is Concerned, I Am Very Fond Of Tolstoy And Chekhov, And I Also Enjoy Reading Gogol Very Much.

They Act As They Please: Here And There, They Use Force Against Sovereign States, Building Coalitions Based On The Principle 'if You Are Not With Us, You Are Against Us.' To Make This Aggression Look Legitimate, They Force The Necessary Resolutions From International Organizations, And If For Some Reason This Does Not Work, They Simply Ignore The Un Security Council And The Un Overall.

I Believe That In Fact It Would Be Economically Reasonable And Logical To Reach A Compromise [on Oil Production], I Am Sure That Everybody Understands This.

Do You Think That It Is Possible To Have A Dialogue With The Representatives Of Lugansk And Donetsk If They All Are Being Prosecuted And Subject To Criminal Proceedings? That Is Exactly Why The Minsk Agreements Establish To Adopt An Amnesty Law. However, It Has Not Been Adopted.

We Will Keep A Close Eye On What Is Happening And Wait For The Election Results And After That We Will Be Ready To Work With Any Administration Given That It Wants To Work With Us.

Election Results

There Is No Need For The Russian State To Hold Such Large Stakes And We Do Intend To Put Our Plans Into Practice. It Is Not About Whether We Want It Or Not, It Is About This Being Practical Or Not And The Best Timing. In General, It Is Practical From At Least One Point Of View - From The Point Of View Of Structural Changes In The Economy.

I Hope That There Will Be No Particular Need For Us To Attract External Funding. It Is Worth Noting That Despite The Fact The Turnover Is Smaller Now We Are Still Maintaining A Trade Surplus.

But If The U.s. Were To Leave Now And Abandon Iraq Without Establishing The Grounds For A United Country, That Would Definitely Be A Second Mistake.

What Are We Seeking To Achieve? We Are Seeking To Optimize Budget Spending. I Believe That Even In Such Uneasy Times We Employ A Very Pragmatic Approach Towards Economic And Social Issues. We Do Address Major Social Problems And Deliver On Our Promises To Our People.

I Believe That Meetings At The Top Level In A Relatively Informal Atmosphere Are Always Useful, And There Is Reason To Hope That We Will Make Progress In Resolving The Matters We Will Be Considering.

Ukraine Is The Closest Country To Us. We Have Always Said That Ukraine Is Our Sister Country And It Is True. It Is Not Just A Slavic People, It Is The Closest People To Russia: We Have Similar Languages, Culture, Common History, Religion Etc.

After All, China Is Our Largest Trading Partner. As I Said, Country-wise, Russia Trades The Most With China. That Is My First Point.

We Understand That The Iranian Position Is Very Bad Because Of The Well-known Sanctions Against That Country, And It Would Be Unfair To Leave It On This Sanction Level.

How Can A Bureaucrat Or A Politician Be Trusted If He Says Loud Words For The Sake Of Russia's Good While Trying To Take His Funds, His Money Abroad?

I'm Asking : If The Kosovars Have The Right To Self-determination, Why Should People On Crimea Not Have It? I Would Say: Everyone Should Comply With Uniform International Rules And Not Want To Change Them Any Time One Feels Like It.

I Believe That Global Common Interests Are A Good Foundation For Finding Solutions Together.

If Nato Troops Walk In Crimea, They Will Immediately Deploy Their Forces There. Such A Move Would Be Geopolitically Sensitive For Us Because, In This Case, Russia Would Be Practically Ousted From The Black Sea Area. We'd Be Left With Just A Small Coastline Of 450 Or 600km, And That's It!

As For The Criticism We Receive, You Know, Even Mr. [donald] Trump's Team Criticize Us. For Instance, One Of The Participants Or Members Of His Team Claimed That Russia Was Giving Money To The Clintons Through Some Funds And That In Fact Russia Is Controlling The Clinton Family. This Is Nonsense.

Russia Needs A Strong State Power And Must Have It. But I Am Not Calling For Totalitarianism.

Back In 1956, We Signed A Treaty And Surprisingly It Was Ratified Both By The Supreme Soviet Of The Soviet Union And The Japanese Parliament. But Then Japan Refused To Implement It And After That The Soviet Union Also, So To Say, Nullified All The Agreements Reached Within The Framework Of The Treaty.

All People Here Have Political Rights, Social Rights, Rights To Employment, And No One Should Face Discrimination, But Our Strategic Choice Is For Traditional Families, Healthy Families And A Healthy Nation. One Does Not Exclude The Other And Does Not Hinder The Other. I Think This Is A Balanced Approach And Is Entirely The Right Approach.

I Assure You That Interest In Japanese Culture In Russia Is Just As Strong As Interest In Russian Culture In Japan.

If You Want To Lower The Significance Of Russia In The World, You Actually Just Want To Elevate Your Own Country. That Is A Mistake.

Berlusconi Is Being Tried Because He Lives With Women. If He Was Homosexual, No One Would Have Lifted A Finger Against Him.

My English Is Very Bad.

The Aviation Industry, Including Combat Air Force, Has Been Traditionally Developing Here. It Is The Russian Far East Where The Su Aircraft, Which Are Well Known Worldwide, Are Manufactured.

There Is Something That I Have In Common With Every Citizen Of Russia, The Love For Our Motherland.

I Do Not Know Whether The Government Will Be Able To Get Ready To Conduct This Transaction Together With The Management Of Rosneft Itself, Whether The Appropriate Strategic Investors Will Be Found. And I Believe It Is About Such Investors That We Should Talk. But We Are Getting Ready, And It Is In The Current Year That We Are Planning To Do This.

Frankly Speaking, I Could Never Even Imagine That Such Information Would Be Of Interest To The American Public Or That The Campaign Headquarters Of One Of The Candidates - In This Case, Mrs. [hillary] Clinton - Apparently Worked For Her, Rather Than For All The Democratic Party Candidates In An Equal Manner. I Could Never Assume That Anybody Would Find It Interesting.

We Should Find Other Platforms, Other Forums For That [foreign Policy], And There Are Plenty Of Them, Including, For Example, The Un And The Security Council.

The Most Obvious Risk Was That The Russian Speaking Population Was Threatened And That The Threats Were Absolutely Specific And Tangible. This Is What Made Crimean Residents, The People Who Live There, Think About Their Future And Ask Russia For Help. This Is What Guided Our Decision.

We Discussed This Very Important Issue Yesterday Over A Beer.

First, The Constitution [of Ukraine] Has To Be Reformed. Only Then Can Confidence Building And Border Security Follow.

However, Given The Fact That The State Has A Controlling Stake In The Company [rosneft], It Might Not Be The Best Course Of Action When One Company Under State Control Buys Another One Fully Owned By The State. This Is One Point.

I Do Not Want To Answer Provocative Question.

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