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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.

-Vladimir Putin

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It Is Well Known

Vladimir Putin

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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.

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Yes, Life In Chechnya So Far Looks More Like A Life After A Natural Disaster.

It Is Simply That We Treat Japanese History, The History Of The Japanese People And Its Unique Culture With Greater Respect And Interest. This Generates Enormous Interest In Russia!

Of Course Germany's Media Are Heavily Influenced By The Country On The Other Side Of The Atlantic Ocean.

Those Who Fight Corruption Should Be Clean Themselves.

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.

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

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.

Therefore Today We Have An Absolutely Sufficient Level Of Gold And Foreign Currency Reserves In Order To Ensure Economic Stability And Sustainable Foreign Trade Turnover.

I Think That All Countries Of The Region Should Join Their Efforts In The Fight Against A Common Threat - Terrorism In General And Isis In Particular. It Concerns Iran As Well, It Concerns Saudi Arabia (although The Two Countries Do Not Get Along Very Well, Isis Threatens Both Of Them), It Concerns Jordan, It Concerns Turkey (in Spite Of Certain Problems Regarding The Kurdish Issue), And, In My Opinion, Everybody Is Interested In Resolving The Situation. Our Task Is To Join These Efforts To Fight Against A Common Enemy.

This Is A Region [ Far East] With A Substantially Developed Transport And Railroad Infrastructure. In Recent Years We Have Been Actively Developing Road Connection.

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.

I Would Prefer To Abandon The Terminology Of The Past. 'superpower' Is Something Which We Used During The Cold War Time. Why Use It Now?

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.

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.

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.

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

How Was Kosovo Recognized? They Forgot About The Territorial Integrity Of A State, As Well As Un Security Council Resolution 1244, Which They Had Themselves Adopted And Supported. Why Could It Have Been Done There, But Not In Abkhazia And South Ossetia? Why Not?

Only A Developed Society, For Example, Only A Strong Democratic System In Modern Conditions Can Create A Climate In Which Any Manifestation Of Terrorism Is Unacceptable And Can Also Make The State Itself Stronger.

This, For Instance, Is What Egon Bahr Said On June 26, 1990: "if We Do Not Now Undertake Clear Steps To Prevent A Division Of Europe, This Will Lead To Russia's Isolation."bahr, A Wise Man, Had A Very Concrete Suggestion As To How This Danger Could Be Averted.

I Go To The Gym, I Swim Daily And From Time To Time I Meet With Friends And Do Extra-curricular Stuff.

I Would Like To Assure You That There Is No Organization Or Any Sort Of Repression Against People Who Don’t Agree With Our Actions, For Example In Ukraine, Crimea, Or Any Other External Issue, No One From Official Government Organs Do This.

There Are Many Issues In The Global Economy In General And In The Western Economy As Well: Population Ageing, Drop In Labour Productivity Growth Rates. This Is Obvious. The Overall Demographic Situation Is Very Complicated.

It Is Not What Your Supporters, Friends Or Your Political Adversaries Call You That Matters. What Is Important Is What You Think You Must Do In The Interests Of The Country, Which Put You In Such Position, Such Post As The Head Of The Russian State.

It's A Historical Phenomenon That In 250 Years, A Nation Could Move From A Colony Into The Most Prosperous Nation Of The World And The Leader Of The World. It Is Indeed An Achievement, A Tribute To The Talent Of The American Nation, The American People And An Optimal Political And Economic System.

I Hope That Being In Places From The [shinzo Abe] Prime Minister's Past Will Motivate Us To Have A Sincere, Very Practical And, I Hope, Productive Conversation.

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

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

Radicals Can Be Found In Any Environment.

It Is No Accident That I Mention Our American Friends, As They Are Always Influencing Our Relations With Our Neighbors Either Directly Or Behind The Scenes. Sometimes You Don't Even Know Who To Talk To - The Governments Of Certain Countries Or Directly To Their American Patrons.

Behind The Scenes

Even With The Help Of Anti-russian Propaganda In The Mass Media, Germany Has Not Succeeded In Damaging This Sympathy.

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.

We Are Not Going To Waste Our Reserves And Burn Them For Any Political Ambitions. We Will Act Very Carefully.

Russia Should Be An Effective And Competitive State With A Sustainable Economy, Developed Social And Political System Flexible To Changes Domestically And Globally.

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.

I Stress That We Unambiguously Support Strengthening The Non-proliferation Regime, Without Any Exceptions, On The Basis Of International Law.

Irrespective Of When This May Happen, It Would Not Be An Exaggeration To Say That Today Millions Of People Living In Russia And, I Am Sure, Millions Of People Living In Japan Have An Urge To Get To Know Each Other, Cooperate And Exchange Useful Information, As Well As A Sincere Desire That All Problems That Still Remain Unresolved Be Resolved.

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.

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.

Political Activities In Russia Should Be As Transparent As Possible. Financing Political Activities From Abroad Is Something The State Should Keep An Eye On.

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.

Each Country Has Its Own Particular Features, Its Own Traditions That Find Their Reflection Today And Will Find It In Future. There Are Such Traditions In Russia But It Is Not A Question Of A Strong Figure, Although A Strong Figure Is Needed In Power, It Is A Question Of What Is Implied By This Term. It Is One Thing If It Is A Person With Dictatorial Tendencies. But If It Is A Fair Leader, Who Acts Within The Law And In The Interests Of A Vast Majority Of Society, Who Acts Coherently And Is Guided By Principles, It Is A Completely Different Matter.

In Other Words, We Do Not Have To Be Obsessed With Privatizing Immediately And At Any Cost. No, We Will Not Do It At Any Cost. We Will Do It In A Way That Ensures Maximum Benefit For The Russian State And The Russian Economy.

Russian Economy

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

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.

There Are A Lot Of Hackers Today, You Know, And They Perform Their Work In Such A Filigreed And Delicate Manner And They Can Show Their "tracks" Anywhere And Anytime. It May Not Even Be A Track; They Can Cover Their Activity So That It Looks Like Hackers Operating From Other Territories, From Other Countries. It Is Hard To Check This Activity, Maybe Not Even Possible. Anyway, We Do Not Do That At The National Level.

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.

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 G20 Was Established As A Forum To Discuss, First And Foremost, World Economic Issues. If We Load It With... Of Course, Politics Affects Economic Processes, This Is Obvious, But If We Bring Some Squabbles, Or Not Squabbles, Rather, Some Matters That Are Really Important But Relate Purely To World Politics, We Will Overload The G20 Agenda And Instead Of Addressing Such Issues As Finance, Structural Economic Reforms, Tax Evasion And So Forth, We Will Engage In Endless Debates Concerning The Syrian Crisis Or Some Other Global Challenges, Of Which There Are Many, Or The Middle East Problem.

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

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.

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

I Don't Think That Neutrality Is An Obstacle To Austria's Successful Integration Into European And World Structures... But This Is A Question That The Austrian People Themselves Must Decide.

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

No One Wants The United Nations To Suffer The Fate Of The League Of Nations, Which Collapsed Because It Lacked Real Leverage. This Is Possible If Influential Countries Bypass The United Nations And Take Military Action Without Security Council Authorization.

Anyhow, We Obviously Understand That, Being A United States' Ally And Having A Special Relationship With It, The Uk In Its Relations With Russian Has To Make An Allowance For The Opinion Of Its Partner - The U.s. We Take This Reality As A Given Fact, But Let Me Underscore Once Again That We Will Be Ready To Do As Much As Britain Will Be Ready To Do In Order To Resume Our Mutual Cooperation. This Does Not Depend On Us.

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

Russia Can Offer State-of-the-art Technology, .. For Example, We Can Help Other Countries Launch Space Devices Such As Satellites.

The Russians Have Turned Out To Be The Largest Divided Nation In The World Nowadays. Is That Not A Problem?

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 Believe A Healthy Lifestyle Is An Extremely Important Thing Which Underpins Solution To Numerous Important Problems, Including The Health Of The Nation.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My English Is Very Bad.

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

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

I Think That Both Russia And Other International Actors, Including Those Who Are More Actively Engaged In The Resolution Of The Ukrainian Crisis (that Is The Federal Republic Of Germany And France, The So-called Normandy Quartet, Certainly, With Close Involvement Of The United States, And We Have Intensified Our Dialogue On This Issue), We Should All Be Committed To The Full And Unconditional Implementation Of The Agreements That Were Achieved In Minsk. The Minsk Agreements Have To Be Implemented.

One Of Our Objectives Today Is Very Important For Many People, For Millions Of People On Our Planet - It Is Joining Efforts In The Fight Against Terrorism And Other Similar Challenges: Countering Drug Trafficking And Proliferation Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Fighting Famine, Preserving Environment And Biodiversity, Taking Efforts To Make The World More Predictable, More Stable.

Mass Destruction

Today, Terrorism Threatens A Great Number Of States, A Great Number Of People - Hundreds Of Thousands, Millions Of People Suffer From Its Criminal Activity. And We All Face The Task Of Joining Our Efforts In The Fight Against This Common Evil.

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.

We Will Work With Any Administration And With Any President In Whom The American People Have Placed Their Trust. That Is, Of Course, If They Wish To Cooperate With Russia.

This Is Not Our Job, But We Always Follow The Actions Of Our European Partners Closely And We Wish Them Luck.

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

I Have Never Changed. I Feel As Young As I Always Did And Remain Close Friends With Gerhard Schröder.

I'm Proud Of Russia, That's True. And We Have Something To Be Proud Of, But We Do Not Have Any Obsession With Being A Superpower In The International Arena.

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.

I Have Heard This A Thousand Times. Of Course Every State Has The Right To Organize Its Security The Way It Deems Appropriate. But The States That Were Already In Nato, The Member States, Could Also Have Followed Their Own Interests - And Abstained From An Expansion To The East.

Indeed, That Is Exactly What They [the Arctic Convoys] Were. We Know That The Conditions In Which They Fought Were Appalling. Time And Again They Faced Death In The Name Of A Common Victory And We Remember That.

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.

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.

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.

I Am Very Grateful To Our People Who Appreciate My Work And For Their Support, As Without That Support It Would Have Been Impossible To Get Anything Done.

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.

It's Better Not To Argue With Women.

Without The Values At The Core Of Christianity And Other World Religions, Without Moral Norms That Have Been Shaped Over Millennia, People Will Inevitably Lose Their Human Dignity. One Must Respect Every Minority’s Right To Be Different, But The Rights Of The Majority Must Not Be Put Into Question.

World Religions

Anything That Is Missing In The Implementation Of The Minsk Agreement Is - Without Any Exception - Up To The Kiev Central Government Of Ukraine. You Cannot Demand Something Of Moscow That, In Fact, The Rulers In Kiev Have To Deliver. The Most Important Aspect Is The Constitutional Reform, Point 11 Of The Minsk Agreement.

I Hope That The Responsible Figures In The Ukrainian Leadership Will Not Hinder Soldiers In The Ukrainian Army From Putting Down Their Weapons.

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.

Stalin Is The Most Popular Figure In All Of Russia.

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

In The Area Of International Security, Taking Into Account That The United States And Russia Are The Largest Nuclear Powers: We Are Ready To Jointly Work To Strengthen The Non-proliferation Regime For Weapons Of Mass Destruction And Their Means Of Delivery. We Are Ready To Work Together, And Much Closer Than Before, On The Problem Of Fighting Terrorism, International Terrorism, And Here We Certainly Have Vast Opportunities.

Kodokan Is, To A Large Degree, A Trendsetter In The Sport. This School Trained Outstanding Masters And Is A Kind Of Mecca For All Judokas. Certainly, I Would Be Pleased To Visit, If Time Permits.

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.

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.

60 Percent Of Syria Is Controlled Either By Isis, Jabhat Al-nusra Or Other Terrorist Organisations, Organisations That Have Been Recognised As Terrorist By The United States, As Well As Other Countries And The Un. It Is Them And Not Anyone Else Who Have Control Over 60 Percent Of Syrian Territory.

In General, Gazprom Is Doing Well And Is Increasing Export In Its Traditional Partner Countries.

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.

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.

The Natural Economic, Humanitarian And Social Integration, Do Not Require Any Armed Forces.

I Am Deeply Convinced That No Interference From The Outside, In Any Country, Even A Small One, Let Alone In Such A Vast And Great Power As The United States, Can Influence The Final Outcome Of The Elections. It Is Not Possible. Ever.

We Should Cooperate Much More Closely In Fighting Terrorism, Which Is A Great Challenge.

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?

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.

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.

Our Agreements On Creating The Conditions For Preparing A Peace Treaty [with Japan] Should Be Rooted In This Trust. This May Be Achieved, For Example, By Large-scale Economic Activities That Will Also Cover The Kuril Islands. It May Be Achieved By Solving Purely Humanitarian Issues, For Instance, Unhindered Visa-free Travel By Former Residents Of The Southern Kuril Islands To Where They Used To Live: Visiting Cemeteries, Native Places And So On.

The Us Wants To Subdue Russia, To Solve Us Problems At Russia's Expense. No One In History Ever Managed To Do This To Russia, And No One Ever Will.

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

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.

Nowadays, There Are Plans To Separate The Baltic States From The Common Power System Of The Former Soviet Union And To Integrate Them Into The European System. What Does It Mean For Us In Practice? In Practice, It Means That A Number Of Zones Will Emerge Between Several Regions Of The Russian Federation, Where We Will Have No Power Transmission Lines, Since Previously We Used To Have A Loop Transition Through The Baltic Countries.

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.

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!

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.

We Are Natural Partners [with Japan] In The World And The Far East, But The Absence Of A Peace Treaty Does Not Allow Us To Develop The Full Range Of Our Relations. Therefore, We Will Naturally Strive To Sign This Treaty.

Russia Will Not Take Part In Any Field Operations On The Territory Of Syria Or In Other States; At Least, We Do Not Plan It For Now. But We Are Thinking Of How To Intensify Our Work Both With President Al-assad And Our Partners In Other Countries.

Things Are Different In The International Relations Between States. In This Respect, I Am Neither A Friend, Nor Bride Or Groom [of The West].

The Stability Of The Rate Is The Main Issue And The Central Bank Manages To Ensure It One Way Or Another. This Was Finally Achieved After The Central Bank Switched To A Floating National Currency Exchange Rate.

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.

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.

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.

Chechnya Is Part And Parcel Of The Russian Federation.

We Have Made Mistakes! We Were Too Late. If We Had Presented Our National Interests More Clearly From The Beginning, The World Would Still Be In Balance Today.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I Did Not Criticize The Central Bank's Position.

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.

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.

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

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].

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.

We All Are Interested In An Open Development, Without Any Prejudice; This Refers Particularly And, Perhaps, Primarily To The Baltic Countries, For Them It Is More Important Than For Russia.

The Goal We Have Set For Ourselves, Which Is To Diversify Our Cooperation With China, Is Making Progress.

I Do Not Even Know Where Bill Clinton Delivered His Speech And I Know Nothing About Any Funds. Both Parties Simply Use It As A Tool In Their Internal Political Contention, And I Am Sure It Is A Bad Thing. But Again, We Welcome The Fact That Somebody Expresses Readiness To Work With Russia Whatever The Name Of That Person.

I Was Told That [japan Journalists] Wanted To See My Dog, Yume. You Can See That She Is In Great Shape.

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

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].

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.

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

It Is My Greatest Desire, I Want The People In Russia To Be Happy And I Want Our Partners Around The World To Seek To Develop Relations With Russia.

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

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

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

We Spoke About Economic Sanctions Only Recently In Lima, Within The Framework Of Apec. Almost All The Leaders Represented At Apec (the Asia Pacific Region), Pacific Countries, Spoke About The Same Thing, Namely, That We Are Going Through A Very Acute Crisis In World Trade, International Trade, Related, Among Other Things, To Restrictions On The Markets Of Certain Countries.

Economic Sanctions

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.

Russia Will Not Soon Become, If It Ever Becomes, A Second Copy Of The United States Or England - Where Liberal Value Have Deep Historic Roots.

It Is Only Up To The Syrian People Living In Syria To Determine Who, How And Based On What Principles Should Rule Their Country, And Any External Advice Would Be Absolutely Inappropriate, Harmful And Against International Law.

We Have Already Begun Taking Concrete Steps To Change The Structure Of Our Economy And, As We Have Discussed A Great Deal, To Give It A More Innovative Quality.

The Crimea Is Not A Disputed Territory. Unlike The Case Of Georgia And South Ossetia, There Has Been No Ethnic Conflict There.

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

President Al-assad And His Army Are The Only Force That Actually Fights Isis.

I Think Shidzo Abe's Proposal May Be The Only Way To Achieving Our Goal.

Next Year [2017], We Are Going To Hold A Series Of Events There That We Would Like To Call Russian Seasons [in Japan]. Over 40 Different Activities - And What Is More, In Different Cities.

If You Want To Become An Islamic Radical And Have Yourself Circumcised, I Invite You To Come To Moscow... I Would Recommend That He Who Does The Surgery Does It So You'll Have Nothing Growing Back Afterward.

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 Never Meddled In The Domestic Affairs Of Any State And We Never Will.

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.

A Happy Love Needs To Be Reciprocated.

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

Everyone Must Be Equal Before The Law, Abide By It, Pay Their Taxes And Bear The Punishment Should They Break The Law.

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.

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

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.

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.

Just Take Kosovo: Back Then, Un Bodies Decided That Kosovo Should Become Independent Of Serbia And That The Interests Of Serbia's Central Government Had To Be Subordinated. You Can Read That In All The Records, Also In The German Ones.

We Are Expanding And Improving The Infrastructure Of Our Relations. You Must Have Heard About China's Plans To Participate In Building A High-speed Railway Line Between Moscow And Kazan In The Volga Region, In Central Russia. And Then We Plan To Extend It To Kazakhstan And On To China.

Russia And The United States Are The Biggest Nuclear Powers, This Leaves Us With An Extra Special Responsibility. By The Way, We Manage To Deal With It And Work Together In Certain Fields, Particularly In Resolving The Issue Of The Iranian Nuclear Programme. We Worked Together And We Achieved Positive Results On The Whole.

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.

There Is Nothing In Common Between Al-assad And Isis, They Fight Against Each Other.

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.

Mohammed Bin Salman Is Deputy Crown Prince, But This Is Not So Important. He Is A Very Active Statesman, We Have Really Warm Relations. This Is A Person Who Knows What He Wants And Can Achieve His Goals. At The Same Time I Consider Him To Be A Reliable Partner With Whom One Can Negotiate And Be Sure That Agreements With Him Will Be Implemented.

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.

We Believe In The Fundamental Principles Of The European Economy.

We Are Ready To Build Large Underground Gas Storages In Turkey, To Participate In The Privatization Of Turkey's Gas-distribution Networks, To Use The Existing And Participate In The Construction Of New Pipelines In Order To Supply Our Energy Resources Through Turkey To Third Countries, Including In Southern Europe

We Would Like To Draw The Attention Of Our Partners, Of Potential Investors To The Russian Far East.

We Have Good Personal Relationship With President Obama, Our Relations Are Quite Frank And Business-like. And This Is Quite Enough To Do Our Job.

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

The Events In Crimea Themselves Have Nothing To Do With What Happened In Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya And Other Regions. In My Opinion, When The World Becomes Unipolar, Or When Someone Tries To Make It So, Then This One Pole Has The Illusion That All Issues Can Be Settled Through Power. And Only When There Is A Balance Of Power Does The Desire To Negotiate Appears.

Chess Makes Man Wiser And Clear-sighted.

We Would Like To See Science And Higher Education Developing Here [on The Russian Far East], So That It Could Become One Of The Major Research Centres In The Entire Apr System. Undoubtedly A Lot Remains To Be Done Here, But Given The Labour Market Demand, The Relevance Of Such A University Is Undeniable.

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

I'm Sure Corruption In Chechnya Is Minimal.

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.

The Thing Is, However Strange It May Seem, That The Interests Of The United States And Of The Russian Federation Do Coincide Sometimes.

One Has To Be Insincere And Promise Something Which You Cannot Fulfill. So You Either Have To Be A Fool Who Does Not Understand What You Are Promising, Or Deliberately Be Lying.

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.

Journalism, As Concerns Collecting Information, Differs Little If At All From Intelligence Work. In My Judgment, A Journalist's Job Is Very Interesting.

Collecting Information

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.

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.

One Can Feel Calm And At Ease. Just Leave Kids Alone, Please.

I See The Collapse Of The Soviet Union As A Great Tragedy Of The Xx Century.

Yume Is A No-nonsense Dog. There Are Many People Here, With Camcorders Running, Lights Shining And Cameras Clicking. She Is Being A Guard Dog.

Then, The Specialists Themselves, Probably Believe That In The Course Of Eu Expansion, For Example, Some Elements Concerning The Readiness Of Some Economies To Enter The Eurozone Have Not Been Taken Into Account.

If The United Kingdom Considers It Necessary To Start A Dialogue On Certain Issues, We Are Ready For That, We Are Not Going To Pout Or Sulk. We Take Quite A Pragmatic Approach Towards Cooperation With Our Partners And We Believe That It Would Be Beneficial For Both Our Countries.

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