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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.

-Vladimir Putin

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Nato Remains A Military

Vladimir Putin

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We Will Not Allow The Past To Drag Us Down And Stop Us From Moving Ahead. We Understand Where We Should Move.

From The Beginning, We Failed To Overcome Europe's Division. The Berlin Wall Fell, But Invisible Walls Were Moved To The East Of Europe. This Has Led To Mutual Misunderstandings And Assignments Of Guilt. They Are The Cause Of All Crises Ever Since.

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

We Cannot Decide For The American People.

I Am In Regular Contact With Prime Minister [shinzo] Abe. We Have Met Several Times This Year [2016].

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.

We Have Every Reason To Say, And I Note This With Great Satisfaction, That A Truly Friendly Relationship Has Evolved With China, And In Many Key Areas These Relations, Without Any Exaggeration, Have A Strategic Character. As We Say, The Strategic Character Of Privileged Partnership.

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!

We See And Realise That The Political Situation In The United States Is Influenced By Those Who Have Lost The Elections But Refuse To Accept Their Defeat, And Who Continue To Use The Anti-russia Card And Various Allegations Most Actively In The Political Infighting. This Is Why We Are In No Hurry, We Are Ready To Wait, Yet We Strongly Hope That Russian-us Relations Will Become Normal Again Sometime In The Future.

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.

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 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.

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.

Though We Still Come First In The Sphere Of Gas Export, National Production Has Diminished Due To The Increasing Volumes Of Hydrogenation For The Electric Power Industry And Therefore There Is A Lower Need For Gas At Thermal Power Plants.

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.

Radicals Can Be Found In Any Environment.

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.

It's Not Considered Polite In Russia To Count The Money In Someone Else's Pocket.

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

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.

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.

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

If Anybody,wants To Get Rid Of Us, Then This Is A Different Approach. However, We Will Get Over It; You Never Know Who Is Going To Lose More With Such An Approach.

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?

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 Have Criticized It [europe], But I Repeat: We Keep 40 Percent Of Our Gold And Foreign Currency Reserves In Euros, We Are Not Interested In The Collapse Of The Eurozone, But I Do Not Rule Out The Possibility Of Decisions Being Made That Would Consolidate A Group Of Countries Equal In Economic Development And This, In My Opinion, Will Lead To A Consolidation Of The Euro. But There Can Also Be Some Interim Decisions In Order To Keep The Present Number Of Members Of The Eurozone Unchanged.

Stalin Is The Most Popular Figure In All Of Russia.

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.

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.

Admire? No, I Have Never Said That. I Still Appreciate Angela Merkel As A Very Professional And Open Person.

Economic Crimes Are Complex In Nature, Difficult To Untangle, And They Must Be Investigated According To The Procedures Set By The Law.

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.

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.

We Believe In The Fundamental Principles Of The European Economy.

Spying Has Always Gone On Since Ancient Times.

Russia Is Probably One Of The First Countries To Have Been Confronted With This Problem Of Terrorism. It Took Some Time Before The International Community Realised The Danger Terrorism Poses.

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

Cuban Missile Crisis

At No Time In The Past, Now Or In The Future Has Or Will Russia Take Any Part In Actions Aimed At Overthrowing The Legitimate Government. I'm Talking About Something Else Right Now - When Someone Does This, The Outcome Is Very Negative. Libya's State Is Disintegrated, Iraq's Territory Is Flooded With Terrorists, It Looks Like The Scenario Will Be The Same For Syria, And You Know What The Situation Is In Afghanistan.

We Conducted Talks On Border Issues With Our Friends In The People's Republic Of China For 40 Years. There Were Also Issues Related To Specific Territories.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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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We're No Longer In The Cold War. Eavesdropping On Friends Is Unacceptable.

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We Don't Need A Weakened Government But A Strong Government That Would Take Responsibility For The Rights Of The Individual And Care For The Society As A Whole.

Contractors Always Pursue Large Profit, The Customer - A High-quality End Product In Due Time And At A Lower Cost. This Struggle Never Ends, But This Is Natural.

The Mutual Sympathy Of Our Peoples Is And Will Remain The Foundation Of Our Relations [with Germany].

The Prime Minister [shinzō Abe] Also Highlighted The Need To Address General Humanitarian Issues. We Already Mentioned One Of These Issues: Visa-free Travel By Japanese Citizens To The South Kuril Islands.

Take The Creation Of The Pacific Partnership Or The Creation Of The Atlantic Partnership. We Are Somewhat Concerned Because This Is Being Done Bypassing The World Trade Organisation, Since It Has Proved Impossible To Reach Compromise Solutions With Developing Economies Within The Framework Of That Organisation. Is That Good? Not Really, In My Opinion.

We Have Issued Financial Instruments In The Past, And There Is A Strong Demand For Them, It Is Simply Unnecessary Now.

After The Demise Of The Soviet Union, We Had Many Problems Of Our Own For Which No One Was Responsible But Ourselves: The Economic Downfall, The Collapse Of The Welfare System, The Separatism, And Of Course The Terror Attacks That Shook Our Country. In This Respect, We Do Not Have To Look For Guilty Parties Abroad.

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

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.

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

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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.

Not All G8 Members Take The View That Chemical Weapons Were In Fact Used By The Syrian Army. Some Actually Agree With Us That There Is No Proof.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

If One Looks At The Map Of The World, It's Difficult To Find Iraq, And One Would Think It Rather Easy To Subdue Such A Small Country.

I Did Not Know That [ The Chancellor Angela Merkel Is A Bit Frightened Of Dogs]. I Wanted To Make Her Happy. When I Learned That She Does Not Like Dogs, I Apologized, Of Course.

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

I Believe It Is Right When Not Only Me, But Also My Colleagues - The Prime Minister, Ministers, Deputies Of The State Duma - When They, Like Today, For Example, Participate In Two Marathons, When They Visit Football Matches, When They Themselves Take Part In Sport Competitions. That Is How, Inter Alia, Millions Of People Start Feeling Interest In And Love For Fitness And Sports. I Believe It Is Extremely Important.

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.

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.

I See That Not Everyone In The West Has Understood That The Soviet Union Has Disappeared From The Political Map Of The World And That A New Country Has Emerged With New Humanist And Ideological Principles At The Foundation Of Its Existence.

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.

Some Countries Have A Parliamentary Republic, Some Are Presidential Republics And Some Are Still Monarchies, But No One Sees Them As Not Being Democratic. In Some Countries Regional Leaders Are Appointed From The Centre And In Others They Are Elected. In Russia, The President Is Elected Through Direct Secret Ballot, And In The United States, The President Is Elected Through A System Of Electoral Colleges.

Four Years Ago, The Perpetrators Believed They Would Bring America And The Rest Of The World To Chaos, ... But They Were Mistaken.

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.

Crimea Has Always Been And Remains Russian, As Well As Ukrainian, Crimean-tatar, Greek (after All, There Are Greeks Living There) And German - And It Will Be Home To All Of Those Peoples. As For State Affiliation, The People Living In Crimea Made Their Choice; It Should Be Treated With Respect, And Russia Cannot Do Otherwise. I Hope That Our Neighbouring And Distant Partners Will Ultimately Treat This The Same Way, Since In This Case, The Highest Criteria Used To Establish The Truth Can Only Be The Opinion Of The People Themselves.

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.

We Must Stop Using The Language Of Force And Return To The Path Of Civilized Diplomatic And Political Settlement.

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.

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.

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

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.

As Far As I Understand, The President-elect Of The United States [donald Trump] Is Ready For Such Joint Work. We Do Not Know Yet What It Will Be Like In Actual Practice. We Have To Wait For Him To Take Office And Form His Administration.

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.

How Can I Be A Gangster, If I Worked For The Kgb? It Is Absolutely Ridiculous.

We Still Have A Great Amount Of Work To Do In Social Development, Including Resolving One Of The Biggest Challenges We Face In This Area, Namely, Reducing The Gap Between High-income Earners And People, Citizens Of Our Country, Who Are Still Living On Very Modest Means Indeed. But We Cannot, Of Course, Adopt The Solution Used 80 Years Ago And Simply Confiscate The Riches Of Some To Redistribute Among Others. We Will Use Completely Different Means To Resolve This Problem, Namely, We Will Ensure Good Economic Growth.

You Know Every Stage Of Your Life Has An Impact On You.

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

Without Russia's Contribution, Prices Would Rise Even More. Some Members Of The Eu Meet 90% Of Their Demands For Gas With The Help Of Russian Hydrocarbons And Have No Complaints So Far. Everybody Is Happy. Russia Is A Reliable Partner And Has Never Failed Her Partners In Europe, Even In The Hardest Times Of Its Economic Development.

Russia Is The Biggest Country In The World. It Would Be Very Difficult To Surround It, And The World Is Changing So Fast That It Would Basically Be Impossible, Even In Theory.

There Are Enough Forces In The World That Are Afraid Of Our Strength, “our Hugeness,” As One Of Our Sovereigns Said. So, They Seek To Divide Us Into Parts, This Is A Well-known Fact. Look At What They Did With Yugoslavia: They Cut It Into Small Pieces And Are Now Manipulating Everything That Can Be Manipulated There, Which Is Almost Anything. Apparently, Someone Would Like To Do The Same With Us...

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Did Not Criticize The Central Bank's Position.

We Do Believe The Current Ukrainian Authorities Are Illegitimate. They Cannot Be Legitimate As They Do Not Have A National Mandate For Running The Country, Which Speaks For Itself. At The Same Time, We Do Not Refuse To Deal With Them. We Stay In Touch At The Ministerial Level.

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.

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.

Everything That We [with Shindzo Abe] Are Talking About Has Come To Us As A Result Of The Events Of 70 Years Ago. In Some Way Or Other, During These 70 Years We Have Been Involved In Some Kind Of Dialogue On The Issue, And That Includes The Conclusion Of A Peace Treaty.

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

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.

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

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.

I've Repeatedly Seen The Anti-russian Card Played During Domestic Political Campaigns In The States. I Think That It's A Very Short-sighted Approach. It Seems To Me That It Doesn't Fully Meet The Level Of Responsibility That Lies On The Shoulders Of The U.s. I Think That All This Should Be More Dignified, Calm And More Balanced.

We Have A Contract For The Delivery Of The S-300s. We Have Supplied Some Of The Components, But The Delivery Hasn't Been Completed. We Have Suspended It For Now. But If We See That Steps Are Taken That Violate The Existing International Norms, We Shall Think How We Should Act In The Future, In Particular Regarding Supplies Of Such Sensitive Weapons To Certain Regions Of The World.

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.

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

I Am A Human Being, A Citizen Of The Russian Federation, A Russian.

[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.

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.

Japan Has Joined The Sanctions Against The Russian Federation. How Are We Going To Further Economic Relations On A New And Much Higher Basis, At A Higher Level Under The Sanctions Regime?

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

In The 1990s And Early 2000s, There Was A Grave Social Situation In Russia; Our Social Protection System Was Destroyed; Numerous Problems Emerged Which We Have Not Been Able To Cope With Effectively Yet, To Get Rid Of Them, In Health, Sports Development.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Above All, We Should Acknowledge That The Collapse Of The Soviet Union Was A Major Geopolitical Disaster Of The Century. As For The Russian Nation, It Became A Genuine Drama. Tens Of Millions Of Our Co-citizens And Co-patriots Found Themselves Outside Russian Territory.

The Absence Of A Peace Treaty [with Japan] Is An Anachronism We Inherited From The Past And It Must Be Removed. However, How To Do This Is A Complicated Issue.

The Un, Of Course, Must Also Adapt To Modern Demands And Take Into Account The Reality Of The Modern World In Its Work.

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

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.

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

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,.

Very Interested In Expanding The Number Of Participants Who Will Take Part In Laying The New Gas Pipeline In Europe.

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

Napoleon Once Said That Justice Is The Incarnation Of God On Earth. I'm Telling You: The Reunification Of Crimea And Russia Is Just.

I Think That A Person Cannot Be Criminally Or Otherwise Prosecuted, His Or Her Rights Cannot Be Infringed Upon The Grounds Of Nationality, Ethnicity Or Sexual Orientation In The Modern World. It Is Absolutely Unacceptable. And It Is Not The Case In Russia.

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

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.

America's Development Began With A Large-scale Ethnic Cleansing, Unprecedented In Human History.

Terrorists Are Always A Threat To Someone. If We'll Be Scared Of Them, It Means They Have Won. But That Doesn't Mean We Can Have A Devil-may-care Attitude Toward This Threat. We Must Do Everything To Stop These Threats And Not Give The Terrorists A Single Chance To Demonstrate Their Brutality And Hatred Of Mankind.

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.

I Would Like To Deal With A Person Who Is Able To Take Responsible Decisions And Implement The Agreements Reached. The Name [donald Trump Or Hillary Clinton] Does Not Matter.

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.

Addressing Issues, Including Controversial Ones, As Well As Domestic Issues Of The Former Soviet Republics Through The So-called Coloured Revolutions, Through Coups And Unconstitutional Means Of Toppling The Current Government. That Is Absolutely Unacceptable.

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

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.

The Most Important Thing Is To Find Collective Solutions In Diplomacy And I Think That Is Possible.

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

We Are Ready To Deal With Any President [of U.s], But Of Course, And I Mentioned That, It Depends On The Readiness Of The Future Administration.

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.

The Last Time I Was In Japan As President Of Russia Was 11 Years Ago, If Memory Serves. I Later Visited In My Capacity As Prime Minister.

When You Start To Meet With Ordinary People You Understand That A Russian Person, Really Any Person From Russia, A Tatar, A Mordvin, A Chechen, A Dagestani, They Are Very Open People, Even A Little Naive. But There's One Defining Trait That Probably All Peoples Have, Although It Comes Out Especially Strongly In Us. That's A Drive Toward Fairness. It's One Of The Dominating, I Think, Traits In The Mentality Of A Person From Russia, A Russian Person.

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.

I Think Happiness Is Love.

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

We Have Spoken On Many Occasions Of The Need To Achieve High Economic Growth As An Absolute Priority For Our Country. The Annual Address For 2003 Set For The First Time The Goal Of Doubling Gross Domestic Product Within A Decade.

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.

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

If There Were Any In China And Russia In This Connection, Though We Both Made Some Compromises. But These Were Compromises Between Friendly Countries. I Think It Is Almost Impossible To Achieve Such Compromise In Other Ways.

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

Over The Course Of The Year 1990, The Then Chancellor Helmut Kohl And Foreign Minister Hans-dietrich Genscher Had Many Conversations With President [mikhail] Gorbachev And Other Soviet Officials.

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

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.

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

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.

Whatever We Do, All The Knowledge, The Experience, They Stay With Us, We Carry Them On, Use Them In One Way Or Another.

Russia Does Not Have In Its Possession Any Trustworthy Data That Supports The Existence Of Nuclear Weapons Or Any Weapons Of Mass Destruction In Iraq And We Have Not Received Any Such Information From Our Partners As Yet.

Mass Destruction

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.

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.

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

We Discussed This Very Important Issue Yesterday Over A Beer.

I Believe That A Country, Russia In This Case, Which Can Defend The Honour And Dignity Of Its Citizens, Protect Their Lives, And Fulfill Its International Legal Commitments Under The Peacekeeping Mandate, Will Not Find Itself In Isolation, No Matter What Our Partners In Europe Or The United States May Think, Expressing Their Bloc Mentality.

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.

Look, There Is Parliamentary Democracy In Most European Countries, There Is Parliamentary Democracy In Japan, There Is Parliamentary Democracy In Many Countries, But In The United States, For Some Reason, The State Is Organized Differently, There Is Quite A Stringent Presidential Republic.

This Is The Large Range Of Issues We Have To Discuss [with Shinzō Abe] And Make A Decision On Each One Of Them. Look, After The Resumption Of The Negotiating Process In 2000, We Did Not Refuse To Consistently Work Toward Signing This Peace Treaty.

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.

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.

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!

I'm Convinced That A Person In My Position Must Provide A Positive Example To People.

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.

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.

I Consider The Decision Of My Colleagues And Friends To Be The Best Birthday Present.

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

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.

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

I Think The International Community Should Unite To Fight Such Inhuman Phenomena As Terror Attacks And The Murder Of Totally Innocent People.

Challenging American Leadership Is Not At Stake.

American Leadership

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.

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