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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

-Vladimir Putin

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Bike Is The Most

Vladimir Putin

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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

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

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.

Protest Actions And Propaganda Are Two Slightly Different Things.

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.

At The Request Of Our Japanese Partners, We Have Reopened These Talks [about Territories]. What Command Is Given In This Case In Judo? You Probably Know Better Than I Do: Yoshi (continue). So We Will Continue.

The Demise Of The Soviet Union Was The Greatest Geopolitical Catastrophe Of The Century.

President Obama Hasn't Been Elected By The American People In Order To Be Pleasant To Russia.

Not Everyone Likes The Stable, Gradual Rise Of Our Country. There Are Some Who Are Using The Democratic Ideology To Interfere In Our Internal Affairs.

There Is No One Else At All Who Is Fighting Isis On The Ground, Except For President Al-assad's Army.

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

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.

Under Our Regional Cooperation Projects, We Are Building Roads And Bridges. The Scope Of Regional Cooperation [with China] Is Constantly Growing.

Now They [nato And The Usa ] Are Sitting There, And We Are Talking About All These Crises We Would Otherwise Not Have. You Can Also See This Striving For An Absolute Triumph In The American Missile Defense Plans.

It Has Nothing To Do With Any Kind Of Exchange Or Sale [of Kuril Island To Japan]. It Is About The Search For A Solution When Neither Party Would Be At A Disadvantage, When Neither Party Would Perceive Itself As Conquered Or Defeated.

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.

I Always Had A Problem When Someone Was Trying To Place Sport In Social And Political Context. Sport Is A Separate And Unique Kind Of Human Activity, Which Functions Under Its Own Rules And Principles. It Has Nothing To Do With The Political Agenda, And Neither It Should. When Politics Interferes With Sport, Unjust Things Happen.

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.

Please, Accept The Most Sincere Words Of Sympathy Over The Natural Disaster That Affected The United States . I Know That Hurricane Katrina That Hit The Us South-western Coast Led To Casualties, Left Homeless Dozens Of Thousands Of Us Citizens And Inflicted A Strong Damage To The Economy Of This Region. I Ask You To Convey My Condolences To The Next Of Kin Of Those Killed,.

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.

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

Spying Has Always Gone On Since Ancient Times.

Every Head Of State And Government In The World Is Allowed To Have His Opinion And To Voice It.

It Is True That The Role Of The State In The Russian Economy May Be Too Big Today, But From The Fiscal Standpoint, It Is Not Always Practical To Do This In A Falling Market.

Russian Economy

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

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 Must Seek Support In The Moral Values That Have Ensured The Progress Of Our Civilization. Honesty And Hard Work, Responsibility And Faith In Our Strength Are Bound To Bring Us Success. There Should Be No Place For Despondency. The Crisis Can And Must Be Fought By Uniting Our Intellectual, Spiritual And Material Resources.

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.

Nato Remains A Military Alliance, And We Are Against Having A Military Alliance Making Itself At Home Right In Our Own Backyard; In Our Historic Territory. I Simply Cannot Imagine That We Would Travel To Sevastopol To Visit Nato Sailors. Of Course, Most Of Them Are Wonderful Guys, But It Would Be Better To Have Them Come And Visit Us, Be Our Guests, Rather Than The Other Way Round.

The Sanctions Have Nothing To Do With Our Relations With China, Because Our Relations With The People's Republic Of China Are At An Unprecedented High Both In Terms Of Their Level And Substance. They Are What We Call "a Comprehensive Partnership And Strategic Cooperation".

The Central Bank Is Constantly Purchasing, Purchasing And Selling And Vice Versa - This Is Their Job.

In Russia, We Are Ready To Listen To Our Partners, Ready To Listen To Appraisals And Assessments When It Is Done In A Friendly Manner, In Order To Establish Contacts And Create A Common Atmosphere And Dedicate Ourselves To Shared Values. But We Absolutely Will Not Accept When Such Things Are Used As A Tool Of Political Struggle. I Want Everybody To Know That. This Is Our Message.

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

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

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.

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.

It Is Well Known, Widely Known That The Us President-elect [donald Trump] Has Publicly Spoken In Favour Of Normalising Russian-american Relations. We Cannot But Support This. Of Course, We Understand That It Will Not Be An Easy Job, Taking Into Account The Degree To Which Russian-american Relations Have Degraded. But We Are Ready To Cover Our Part Of The Way.

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

A Lot Can Be Done, But Not Everyone Immediately Succeeds In Everything.

I Assume That Our Colleagues From Both The United States And The European Union Will Proceed From Current Humanitarian Law And Ensure Political Freedoms And Rights Of All People, Including Those Who Are Living In The Territory Of Baltic States After The Disintegration Of The Soviet Union.

Representatives Of The American Intelligence Agencies - And I Hope They Won't Be Angry - But They Could Have Been More Professional, And The Diplomats As Well. After They Found Out That He Was Flying To Us, And That He Was Flying As A Transit Passenger, There Was Pressure From All Sides - From The Americans, From The Europeans - Instead Of Just Letting Him Go To A Country Where They Could Operate Easily.

Personally, I Think That Children Should Be Left Alone, They Should Be Given An Opportunity To Grow Up, To Become Aware Of Themselves And Decide Themselves Who They Are: Men Or Women, If They Want To Have A Traditional Or Homosexual Marriage.

I Am Proud Of Russia And I Am Sure That The Vast Majority Of Russian Citizens Have Great Love And Respect For Their Motherland. We Have Much To Be Proud Of: Russian Culture And Russian History. We Have Every Reason To Believe In The Future Of Our Country. But We Have No Obsession That Russia Must Be A Super Power In The International Arena. The Only Thing We Do Is Protecting Our Vital Interests.

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

The Prime Minister [shindzo Abe] And I Will Negotiate Proceeding From Our National Interests: The Interests Of Russia And The Interests Of Japan. We Should Find A Compromise.

The Central Bank Should Take Into Account Other Things As Well: The Stability Of The Bank System In The Country, The Increase Or Decrease Of Money Supply In The Economy, Its Influence On Inflation.

The Cold War Is Over. The World Has Become Much More Complicated.

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.

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.

There Is Another Domain That We Consider Relevant And Having Good Prospects - Marine Biology. For Many Years This Region [russian Far East] Has Been Home For One Of The Leading Institutes Of The Russian Academy Of Sciences, The Institute Of Marine Biology.

Nobody Should Have Any Illusion About The Possibility Of Gaining Military Superiority Over Russia. We Will Never Allow This To Happen.

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.

Russian Police Force, Fortunately, So Far, Do Not Use Batons, Tear Gas Or Any Other Extreme Measures Of Instilling Order, Something That We Often See In Other Countries, Including In The United States. Speaking Of Opposition, Let Us Recall The Movement Occupy Wall Street. Where Is It Now? The Law Enforcement Agencies And Special Services In The Us Have Taken It Apart, Into Little Pieces, And Have Dissolved It.

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.

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.

Russians Have Different Far Lofty Ambitions; More Of A Spiritual Kind. It's More About Your Relationship With God .

No Doubt, The United States And The American People Are A Gear Country And A Great People. Nobody Disputes This, But Talking About Exceptionalism Is Way Too Much, And This Is Creating Certain Problems In Relations, And Not Only With Russia, As I See It.

Britain Is Leaving And Has De Facto Left The European Union; However, It Has Not Withdrawn From Its Special Relationship With The United States And I Believe That The Uk's Relations With Russia Depend On Britain's Special Relationship With The United States Rather Than On Its Presence In Or Absence From The European Union.

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

Nuclear Weapons And Other Weapons Are The Means To Protect Our Sovereignty And Legitimate Interests, Not The Means To Behave Aggressively Or To Fulfil Some Non-existent Imperial Ambitions.

As For These 60 Years, And In General More Than A Hundred Years, We Have Had Different Periods In Relations And There Have Been Tragic Pages In Our History, But Since 1956 When We Restored Diplomatic Relations, Regrettably, We Have Not Had A Foundation On Which To Build Ties That Would Correspond To Our Wishes And That Are Currently Required In Bilateral Cooperation With Japan.

When We Talk About The Far East We Usually Mean The Far East Itself, Including Primorye Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Kamchatka, And Chukotka, As Well As Eastern Siberia. All This Area Contains Tremendous Resources, Including Oil And Gas, 90 Percent Of Russian Tin, 30 Percent Of Russian Gold, 35 Percent Of Forest, 70 Percent Of Russia's Fish Is Harvested In The Local Waters.

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.

It's Better To Be Hanged For Loyalty Than Be Rewarded For Betrayal.

In Order To Preserve A Balance, While We Aren't Planning To Build A Missile Defence Of Our Own, As It's Very Expensive And Its Efficiency Is Not Quite Clear Yet, We Have To Develop Offensive Strike Systems. They [u.s.] Should Give Us All The Information About The Missile Defence, And We Will Be Ready Then To Provide Some Information About Offensive Weapons.

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.

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

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.

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!

Russia Always Has Been, And I Hope Always Will Be, One Of The Leading International Sports Countries. Our Athletes Still Produce Great Results In International Competition, Set New Records And Win Gold Medals. Yes, Like Any Country, We Might Have Experienced Certain Ups And Downs With Regard To Results, But In No Way Does This Cast Any Doubt On Russia's Status As One Of The Leading Countries In Sport.

This Is Not Only A Matter Of Relations Between Russia And The United States. In My View, Any Restrictions In The Economic Sphere That Are Dictated By Considerations Of Political Expediency Are Extremely Harmful For The World Economy As A Whole. This Destroys Unity And The Rules Of The Game.

If We Speak About Fundamental Things, Regulation Of The Rate Is Actually The Function Of The Main Regulator, Namely The Function Of The Central Bank. And It Should Think Of How The Economy And Industry React, But Also Of Its Fundamental Tasks In Order To Ensure The Stability Of The Rate.

The Period Of My Service Will Depend On Two Conditions. Firstly, Of Course, There Are Rules Stipulated By The Constitution, And I Surely Will Not Infringe Them. But I Am Not Sure Whether I Should Take Full Advantage Of These Constitutional Rights. It Will Depend On The Specific Situation In The Country, In The World And My Own Feelings About It.

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.

I Bow My Head To The Victims Of Terrorism. I Am Highly Impressed Of The Courage Of New York Residents. The Great City And The Great American Nation Are To Win!

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.

Therefore, I Do Not Think We Should Go Only 60 Years Back But Should Look Deeper, Centuries Back. Maybe This Will Give Us [russia And Japan] An Opportunity To Look At The Future From A More Remote Perspective.

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.

People In Russia Say That Those Who Do Not Regret The Collapse Of The Soviet Union Have No Heart, And Those That Do Regret It Have No Brain.

There Are Many Other Areas. And I Am Confident That Each Of Them Is Of Interest To Both The People Of The United States Of America And The Russian People.

25 Million Of Russian People Suddenly Turned Out To Be Outside The Borders Of The Russian Federation. They Used To Live In One State; The Soviet Union Has Traditionally Been Called Russia, The Soviet Russia, And It Was The Great Russia. Then The Soviet Union Suddenly Fell Apart, In Fact, Overnight, And It Turned Out That In The Former Soviet Union Republics There Were 25 Million Russians. They Used To Live In One Country And Suddenly Found Themselves Abroad. Can You Imagine How Many Problems Came Out?

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.

I Would Like To Inform You With Great Satisfaction Of A New Step Forward On Establishing Partnership Between Russia And Japan

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.

I Do Not Want To Answer Provocative Question.

Economic Activity Is Moving From The Atlantic Ocean To The Pacific Ocean... Russia Has A Certain Natural Advantage Because It Also Borders The Pacific Ocean.

The International Atomic Energy Agency Is Controlling This, The Sanctions Against Iran Are Lifted - But Still The Us Are Working On Their Missile Defense System. What Is The Point Of This?

I Have Always Loved And Avidly Read The Novels Of Jack London, Jules Verne And Ernest Hemingway. The Characters Depicted In Their Books, Who Are Brave And Resourceful People Embarking On Exciting Adventures, Definitely Shaped My Inner Self And Nourished My Love For The Outdoors.

Our Foreign Ministries Will Simply Need To Sort Out Some Purely Technical Matters. I See No Political Restraints Here. The Same Applies To Economic Matters. We, On Our Part, Are Ready. However, Let Me Repeat Once Again, Given That Japan Has Joined The Anti-russian Sanctions, How Ready Is Japan And How Can It Do That Without Breaching Its Commitments To Its Allies? We Do Not Know The Answer. Only Japan Itself Knows The Answer.

If We Do It, If We Work To Achieve All This [cultural Exchange With Japan], We Can And Should Talk About Joint Efforts Toward Ensuring International Security, And Not Only In The Far East.

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.

The Level Of Our Political Trust [with China] Is Also Very High. We Have Similar Positions On Major International Issues Or Even, As Diplomats Say, Our Views Are Identical. We Often Have Shared Positions On Key Issues Of The Modern International Agenda.

If Somebody Prefers To Work By Means Of Sanctions, He Is Welcome To Do So. But Sanctions Are A Temporary Measure. Firstly, They Contradict The International Law. Secondly, Tell Me Where This Policy Of Sanctions Proved To Be Effective. The Answer Is Nowhere.

To Pay More Is The Easy Way. In Fact, The Solution Possibilities To The Problem Are Many.

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.

Political Populism Always Poses A Great Danger Because It Disorients People, Creates Excessive Expectations Or, On The Contrary, Prioritises Objectives That Are Clearly Not Priorities Or Are Simply Impossible To Achieve.

Problems Between Countries Always Exist, Especially Between Such Big Countries As Russia And The United States. There Have Always Been Some Issues, But I Don't Think We Should Go To Extremes.

In Relations Between The States ... The Interests Of The Country Should Be Correlated With The Interests Of Other Countries, And Compromise Is To Be Found When Resolving The Most Complex Issues.

The Far East Is Of Particular Significance For Us In Terms Of This Region's Priority Development. Over The Last Few Years, Let Us Say Even Over The Last Decades, We Were Faced With Many Problems Here. We Paid Little Attention To This Territory Although It Deserves A Lot More Of It, Because It Concentrates Great Wealth As Well As Opportunities For Russia's Future Development.

You Made These Things Up Yourselves And Now Scare Yourselves With Them And Even Use Them To Plan Your Prospective Policies. These Policies Have No Prospects. The Only Possible Future Is In Cooperation In All Areas, Including Security Issues. What Is The Major Security Problem Today? Terrorism. There Are Bombings In Europe, In Paris, In Russia, In Belgium. There Is A War In The Middle East. This Is The Main Concern. But No, Let Us Keep Speculating On The Threat From Russia.

No Matter Who Uses Chemical Weapons Against People And Organisations, The International Community Must Formulate A Common Policy And Find A Solution That Would Make The Use Of Such Weapons Impossible For Anyone.

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

There Are Also Fundamental Issues Related To What The Current Leader, President [barack] Obama, Said. I Am Referring To His Idea About American Exceptionalism. I Am Skeptical About This Idea.

I Can't Believe That Omon [russia's Riot Police] Would Hit A Girl. I Simply Can't Imagine It.

Differences In Approaches Do Exist, And In One Short Moment It Is Impossible To Overcome All Of Them, But I'm Convinced Ahead Of Us We Have A Constructive Dialogue.

Mr. Mccain Fought In Vietnam. I Think That He Has Enough Blood Of Peaceful Citizens On His Hands. It Must Be Impossible For Him To Live Without These Disgusting Scenes Anymore. Mr. Mccain Was Captured And They Kept Him Not Just In Prison, But In A Pit For Several Years. Anyone [in His Place] Would Go Nuts.

We Have Good Joint Projects In The Helicopter And Aircraft Manufacturing Industry. We Are Considering Cooperation And Are Actively Cooperating In Space. There Are Good Prospects There [with China].

The Chancellor [angela Merkel] And The European Partners Would Be Well-advised To Address The Problems In Eastern Ukraine More Thoroughly. Maybe They Have Too Many Domestic Problems Of Their Own At The Moment.

No References To The Need To Fight Terror Can Be An Argument For Restricting Human Rights.

Absolute Trust Is Something Hard To Achieve Even In A Family, And It Is Much Harder To Achieve On An International Level.

Honestly, I Do Not Even Know Whether This Is On The Visit Itinerary, But If There Is Time, I Would Be Pleased To Go To Kodokan. For Anyone Interested In Judo, Who Loves Judo, Kodokan Is A Special Place.

If Regional Associations Are Created, They Should Work On The Basis Of Wto Norms, On The Wto Basis.

A Happy Love Needs To Be Reciprocated.

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.

I Hope That The Responsible Figures In The Ukrainian Leadership Will Not Hinder Soldiers In The Ukrainian Army From Putting Down Their Weapons, If They Aren't Capable Of Taking That Decision Themselves And Giving That Order, Then I Hope That They Won't Prosecute People Who Want To Save Their Lives And The Lives Of Others.

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?

This Terrible Tragedy.... The Entire International Community Should Unite In The Struggle Against Terrorism This Is A Blatant Challenge To Humanity.

The Constitutional Reform Is Supposed To Give Autonomy To Eastern Ukraine And To Be Adopted By The End Of 2015. This Has Not Happened, And The Year Is Over. That's Not Russia's Fault.

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.

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.

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.

Are We Not Concerned, For Example, By The Growing Danger Related To The Proliferation Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction And Missile Technology? All Of This Poses A Clear Threat To The World, To The Region. However, We Have Obvious Points Of Convergence That Are Related To Our Interests.

Mass Destruction

I Read Papers, Try To Watch News Programs On Television, But, As A Rule, Recorded. During The Day I Have No Time For That, So I Watch Something Taped. As For The Newspapers, I Try To Get Through Them Every Day. Additionally, Of Course, I Look Through News Bulletins.

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?

Syria Is Already In The Grips Of A Civil War, Unfortunately Enough, And Egypt Is Moving In That Direction. We Would Like To See The Egyptian People Avoid This Fate.

I Trust Angela Merkel, She Is A Very Open Person. She Is Also Subject To Certain Constraints And Limitations. But She Is Honestly Trying To Settle The Crisis, Also In The South-east Of Ukraine. However, What The European Union Is Doing With Those Sanctions Is Nothing But A Theatre Of The Absurd.

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

Greatest Wealth

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

People Are Always Teaching Us Democracy But The People Who Teach Us Democracy Don't Want To Learn It Themselves.

I Do Not Think I Am Entitled To Assess The President Of The United States. This Is Up To The American People.

Russian Culture Is Multifaceted And Diverse. So If You Want To Understand, To Feel Russia, Then Of Course You Need To Read Books, Tolstoy And Chekhov And Gogol And Others. Listen To Music. Tchaikovsky. Watch Our Classical Ballet. But The Most Important Thing Is That You Need To Talk With People.

Brazil Is One Of The Biggest Latin American Countries, The Biggest, No Doubt, And, More Importantly, It Is A Country With Immense Development Potential.

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.

Russia Doesn't Negotiate With Terrorists. It Destroys Them.

At Some Point A Few Years Ago Japan Unilaterally Stopped Those Talks And Broke Off Contacts With Us. It Was Not We Who Broke Off Contacts With Japan, It Was The Japanese Side That Broke Off Contacts With Us.

However, The 1956 Agreement Refers To Two Islands While The Prime Minister [shindzo Abe] Is Talking About Four Islands.

I Have Been To Tokyo And Several Other Cities, But I Have Never Been To Yamaguchi Prefecture. I Wonder What It Is Like, What Interesting Things It Has To Offer. I Am Sure That Prime Minister [ Shinzō] Abe Will Tell Me All About It.

We All Want At Renewal Of Our Dialogue And Restoration Of Our Relations With Turkey In The Interests Of Russian And Turkish Peoples.

Russia Must Realise Its Full Potential In High-tech Sectors Such As Modern Energy Technology, Transport And Communications, Space And Aircraft Building.

Democracy Cannot Be Exported To Some Other Place. This Must Be A Product Of Internal Domestic Development In A Society.

We Act In A Pragmatic And Careful Manner. We Reduce Spending On Budget Items That Do Not Constitute A Priority.

Russia Had To Take The Necessary Measures In Order To Prevent The Situation In Crimea Unfolding The Way It Is Now Unfolding In Southeastern Ukraine. We Didn't Want Any Tanks, Any Nationalist Combat Units Or People With Extreme Views Armed With Automatic Weapons.

Now We Characterise Russian-chinese Relations As A Strategic Partnership, Even A Special Strategic Partnership. We Have Never Had Such A Level Of Trust With China Before. China Is Our Major Trade And Economic Partner Among Foreign States. We Implement Joint Multi-billion Projects. We Cooperate Not Only Within The Un Security Council, Which Is Logical, As Both China And Russia Are Permanent Members Of The Un Security Council, But Also Within Such Regional Organisations As The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Brics, Etc.

Russia And China Also Cooperate In Mechanical Engineering, High-speed Railway Transportation, Lumber Processing, Nuclear Energy Production And So On. We Have Built The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant. Two Units Are Already Operational And Are Showing Good Results.

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?

Everyone Must Hoe His Plot Daily.

Life Would Be Boring Without Gossip.

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.

Strictly Speaking, Rosneft Is Not A Company. Let Us Not Forget That Bp Has A Stake In Rosneft And Bp Is A British Company.

In The Near Future, Despite The Development Of Alternative Energy, When You Look At The Economics And Environmental Standards, Then There's No Other Source Of Primary Energy In The World Than Natural Gas. Well, Perhaps There Is Nuclear Energy But There Are Also A Lot Of Issues There And There Are Opponents Of Nuclear Energy. Gas Doesn't Have Those Opponents. But There Is A Country That Is, Obviously, The World Leader In Gas Reserves. That's Our Country, The Russian Federation.

We [with Shindzo Abe] Should Understand That The Results Of That Terrible Tragedy Of The 20th Century, Namely World War Ii, Are Enshrined In Corresponding International Documents, And Finding A Way To Settle All Disputes Without Destroying The Entire Foundation Of International Law That Evolved As A Result Of World War Ii Is A Highly Delicate Task. Therefore, I Would Like To Reiterate That We Cannot Second-guess The Course, Let Alone The Outcome Of Our Negotiations.

Prisons Where People Can't Even Work Is The Worst Punishment You Can Think Of. And I Don't Think We Should Put All Convicts In Such Facilities Where People Are Deprived Of Their Freedom.

If The World Economy Is Divided Into Isolated Economic Blocs Of This Kind, It Will Be Rather Difficult To Achieve The Same Interpretation And Application Of International Rules Of Economic Activity And World Trade.

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

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

Fifteen Percent Of Russia Badly Polluted.

Radicals Can Be Found In Any Environment.

Unfortunately, The Relations Between The United Kingdom And Russia Have Not Developed In The Best Possible Way; However, It Has Never Been Our Fault. It Was Not We Who Decided To Discontinue Relations With The United Kingdom; It Was The Uk Who Preferred To "freeze" Our Bilateral Contacts In Various Fields.

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.

By The Way, Japan Is Also Known To Be Actively Engaged In Manned Space Flights As Part Of The International Space Station.

There Are Both Things In International Law: The Principle Of Territorial Integrity And Right To Self-determination.

President Obama And I Can Meet, Shake Hands And Discuss Current Issues, We - And I Am Personally - Are Always Ready For Such Contacts.

Policies Are Being Pursued That Place On The Same Level A Multi-child Family And A Same-sex Partnership, A Faith In God And A Belief In Satan. This Is The Path To Degradation.

Of Course, Nobody Does [want Another Cuban Missile Crisis].

Cuban Missile Crisis

There Is No Uniform, Global Model For Democracy.

We Shall Fight Against Them, Throw Them In Prisons And Destroy Them.

South Korea's Investment In Russia Has Not Been Smooth, ... Korea Had Planned To Carry Out 126 Investment Projects Worth 273 Million, But In Reality, Only 91 Projects Worth 137 Million Are Under Way.

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.

Take, For Example, Lithuania. Do You Know, What Was Its Population In The Soviet Times? It Was 3.4 Mln People. It Was A Small Country, A Small Republic. And What Is It Now? I Have Looked Though The Recent Statistics, Today The Population Of This Country Is 1.4 Mln People. Where Are The People? More Than Half Of The Citizens Have Left The Country.

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.

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.

I Wish That In The Course Of My Visit To Places The Prime Minister [shindzo Abe] Calls Home, All Of A Sudden, We Would Reach A Clear Understanding On How We Can Resolve The Matters. We Will Be Very Glad If That Happens. Are There Any Chances? Perhaps.

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

We Are Actively Preparing A Partial Privatization Of Rosneft Itself. It Is The Best Proof That Our Major Plans Have Remained Unchanged. Another Example Would Be One Of The Largest Russian Diamond Mining Companies In The World. We Are Privatizing Part Of Our Stake In That As Well.

I'm Not Really Saddened That [pussy Riot] Ended Up In Jail, Though There Is Nothing Good In That. What Saddens Me Is That They Took Things To Such A Level, Here, From My Point Of View, That They Degraded The Dignity Of Women.

This Work Is Either Useless Or Harmful, Because There Is Nothing Good About Populism. If You Wanted To Hear My Opinion On This Issue, That Is What I Think.

It Is A Fact That The Us Defence Budget Is Larger Than The Defence Budgets Of All Other Countries Taken Together. This Is Why I Understand The Us President When He Says That His Nato Allies Should Take Over Part Of This Burden. It Is A Pragmatic And Understandable Approach.

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.

I Have Already Spoken To Three Us Presidents. They Come And Go, But Politics Stay The Same At All Times. Do You Know Why? Because Of The Powerful Bureaucracy. When A Person Is Elected, They May Have Some Ideas. Then People With Briefcases Arrive, Well Dressed, Wearing Dark Suits, Just Like Mine, Except For The Red Tie, Since They Wear Black Or Dark Blue Ones. These People Start Explaining How Things Are Done. And Instantly, Everything Changes. This Is What Happens With Every Administration.

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.

This Is Also Evident In Europe, Not The Dependence On Oil And Gas, But The Fact That Structural Reforms Are Long Overdue, And I Think That The Leading Economies Are Very Pragmatic And Efficient In Addressing The Issues Facing The European Economy. That Is Why We Keep Approximately 40 Percent Of Our Gold And Foreign Currency Reserves In Euros.

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!

Russia Itself Is A European Country, And Not Just Because Our Major Political And Economic Centres Are In Europe, But Because Russian Culture Is Primarily European Culture.

In The Referendum - Which Was Still Decided To Take Place By The Crimea's Old Parliament - The Majority Of Citizens Voted For Belonging To Russia. This Is Democracy, The People's Will.

Russia, As Well As Any Other Country, Does Not Need Dictators, But It Needs Equitable Principles Of Organizing The State And Society: Just, Effective, Flexibly Responding To Changes Inside And Outside The Country - That Is What Russia Needs.

The People Who Lost The Elections Do Not Want To Admit That They Really Lost, That The One Who Won Was Closer To The People And Better Understood What Ordinary Voters Want. They Are Absolutely Reluctant To Admit This, And Prefer Deluding Themselves And Others Into Thinking It Was Not Their Fault, That Their Policy Was Correct, They Did All The Right Things, But Someone From The Outside Thwarted Them. But It Was Not So. They Just Lost And They Have To Admit It.

We Negotiated The Construction Of A Gas Pipeline System Along The Bottom Of The Black Sea To Bulgaria. We Signed Certain Treaties Of A Technical Nature, Contracts For Laying The Gas Pipeline. And Then Bulgaria Created Such Conditions That The Project's Implementation Became Impossible, Which Was Obviously Against Its Own National Interests. The Former Bulgarian Leadership Was, In Fact, Aware Of That And Acknowledged It. But We Trusted Them When We Were Launching That Project. We Sustained Losses Amounting To Millions, Several Million Dollars. We Would Not Want To Get Into Such Situations.

I Think Happiness Is Love.

There Are Complicated Processes Going On In Society In The Crimea. There Are Problems Of The Crimean Tatars, The Ukrainian Population, The Russian Population, The Slavic Population In General, But This Is Ukraine's Domestic Political Problem.

I Do Not Think I Have The Right To Determine The Political Future Of Syria, Be It With Or Without Al-assad. This Is For The Syrians Themselves To Decide. Nobody Has The Right To Claim The Rights That Belong To The People Of Another Country.

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.

Respecting The Sovereignty Means Preventing Coups, Unconstitutional Actions And Illegitimate Overthrowing Of The Legitimate Government. All These Things Should Be Totally Prevented.

Chechnya Is Part And Parcel Of The Russian Federation.

One Of The Most Important Tasks Is To Broaden The Energy Supply ... Energy Determines Today International Security And Social As Well As Economic Development In Many Respects. In Reality The Wellbeing Of Millions Of People Is Directly Dependent In Energy Security.

We Have Created Stability, Which Is A Necessary Condition For Development. But I Can't Call This System Authoritarian.

The Point Is That In Any Country, Including The United States, May Be In The United States Even More Often Than In Any Other Country, Foreign Policy Is Used For Internal Political Struggle.

The Russian People Chose Democracy At The Beginning Of The 1990s And This Was Their Final Choice.

I Repeat That, In My Opinion, The European Commission And The Leading European Economies Are Acting Very Pragmatically And Are On The Right Path.

The Problem Of Sexual Minorities In Russia Has Been Deliberately Made Controversial In Russia. There Is No Such Problem In Russia.

The Path Towards A Free Society Has Not Been Simple. There Are Tragic And Glorious Pages In Our History.

Some Are Addicted To Cigarettes, Some, God Forbid, To Drugs, And Some Become Addicted To Money. They Say That The Worst Addiction Is To Power. I Have Never Felt That. I Have Never Been Addicted To Anything

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