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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.

-Vladimir Putin

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The Baltic Republics Have

Vladimir Putin

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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.

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

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.

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

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 Still The Same. Take The Fight Against Terrorism: After The Attacks Of September 11, I Was The First To Side With Us President [george W.] Bush. And Now, After The Attacks In Paris, I Have Done The Same With The President Of France,[oliver] Hollande. Terrorism Threatens Us All.

You Too Would Prefer That Russia Maintained Good Relations With Both The United Kingdom And The United States, Wouldn't You? I Would Prefer It As Well. If Anybody In The U.s. Or In The United Kingdom Says: "i Would Like To Establish Good Partnership Relations With Russia", Then Both Of Us, You And Me, Should Welcome That. So Should People Like Me And People Like You. However, We Have No Idea Yet What Would Actually Happen After The Elections [2016]. That Is Why I Am Telling You That We Will Work With Any President Designated As Such By The American Public.

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.

We Can Tell The General Public That The Gold And Foreign Currency Reserves Of The Central Bank Are Not Designed To Finance The Economy, But Rather To Ensure Foreign Trade Turnover. Therefore, We Need This Level To Be Able To Provide The Necessary Foreign Trade Turnover For Such An Economy As Russia's For A Period Of At Least Three Months.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The Biggest Nationalist In Russia: That's Me.

My English Is Very Bad.

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

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.

An Increase Of Two Or Three Degrees Wouldn't Be So Bad For A Northern Country Like Russia. We Could Spend Less On Fur Coats, And The Grain Harvest Would Go Up.

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.

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

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

One Thing Is Clear, Everyone, No Matter What Their Professional Or Material Status, No Matter What Their Influence On Various State Structures, Must Obey The Law.

I Do Not Want To Answer Provocative Question.

There Is No Uniform, Global Model For Democracy.

The Fight Against Terrorism Is Something Very Real And Practical For Us. This Is A Fight To Preserve Our Territorial Integrity, And In This Sense We Need To Have The Instruments And Create An Environment In Russia That Would Make It Impossible For The International Terrorist Organisations To Achieve The Aims They Have Set For Themselves Here.

We Always Welcome When Somebody Says He Or She Is Ready To Work With Russia.

Equipping One Side Of An Ethnic Conflict And Then Prodding It To Resolve Its Ethnic Problems By Force Of Arms Is A Very Bad Policy.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

In 1995, Russia Virtually Gave Chechnya De Facto Statehood And Independence Even Though, De Jure, It Didn't Recognize Chechnya As An Independent State. And I Would Like To Emphasize Strongly That Russia Withdrew All Of Its Troops, We Moved The Prosecutors, We Moved All The Police, Dismantled All The Courts, Completely, 100 Percent.

We See That Leaders In Western Europe [there Are Some Debates Of Course, We Also See That And Analyse It All] Stick To, I Cannot Say Right Or Wrong Ones, It Always Depends On Someone's View, But I Think, Very Pragmatic Approaches In Addressing Economic Issues.

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 Am Convinced That International Terrorism Gave Itself The Goal Of Not Allowing The Re-election Of Bush. The Statement By Bin Laden In The Final Stages Of The Pre-election Campaign Is The Best Confirmation Of This.

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.

Life Would Be Boring Without Gossip.

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

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

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

Today, It Is Imperative To End This Hysteria, To Refute The Rhetoric Of The Cold War And To Accept The Obvious Fact: Russia Is An Independent, Active Participant In International Affairs. Like Other Countries, It Has Its Own National Interests That Need To Be Taken Into Account And Respected.

I Am The President Of 146 Million Russians. I Have To Represent Their Interests. We Are Willing To Settle This Without Any Conflicts And To Search For Compromises On The Basis Of International Law.

I Have Several Portraits Of Jigoro Kano And A Bust Too, A Very Beautiful One.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

The Proliferation Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction Also Represents A Serious Danger. If These Weapons Were To Fall Into The Hands Of Terrorists, And They Pursue This Aim, The Consequences Would Be Simply Disastrous.

Mass Destruction

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

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

We Are Currently Gradually Stabilizing Our Economy.

Those Who Fight Corruption Should Be Clean Themselves.

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

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.

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.

I Would Like To Repeat: I Know Absolutely Nothing About [hacker's Attacks], And Russia Has Never Done Anything Like This At The State Level.

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

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

I Believe There Are A Lot Of Questions Today That Require Expert Analysis By Various Agencies: Political Agencies, Foreign Ministries, Economic Agencies And Security Agencies. We Need To Assess Everything And Understand What We Can Agree On And What The Implications Will Be Both For Japan And For Russia So That Both The Russian People And The Japanese People Come To The Conclusion That These Compromise Solutions Are Acceptable And Are In Our Countries' Interests.

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.

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

The 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

There Are Also Other Areas. For Example, Culture. This Is Extremely Important. We Keep Revisiting Sport, Judo, Because I Practice It, But Other Than That, There Is Also Culture. Every Year Events That Are In Some Way Or Other Related To Russia Take Place In Japan.

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

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

Even If We Do Not Always Agree On Every Aspect, Nobody Should Take This As An Excuse To Declare Us As Enemies.

Kiev's Attempts To Exert Economic Pressure On Donbas (region Of East Ukraine) And Disrupt Its Daily Life Only Aggravates The Situation. This Is A Dead-end Track, Fraught With A Big Catastrophe.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Given The Cost Of Borrowings And The $100 Billion In Government Reserves, There Is No Reason For Us To Borrow. We Should Review The Situation Carefully. Besides, Borrowings Are Possible, But We Must Understand What Is More Profitable At This Point.

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

Everything Must Be Organized In The Most Rational Way. The State Won't Accept Excessive Prices.

America's Creative Approach To Solving The Problems The Country Is Faced With, Its Openness And Open-mindedness Which Make It Possible To Unleash The Potential Of The People. I Believe That Largely Due To These Qualities America Has Made Such Tremendous Strides In Its Development.

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.

I Have Worked Like A Galley Slave Throughout These Eight Years, Morning Till Night, And I Have Given All I Could To This Work. I Am Happy With The Results.

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.

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.

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.

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.

However, Crisis In World Trade Is, Among Other Things, The Result Of Using Political Tools In Competition Or Simply For Achieving Political Objectives With The Help Of Economic Restrictions.

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.

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.

I'm Sure Corruption In Chechnya Is Minimal.

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

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

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

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.

Homosexuals In Russia Live In Peace, Work, Are Promoted, Receive National Awards For Their Achievements In Science, Art Or Any Other Sphere, Medals Are Awarded To Them, I Have Awarded Them Myself.

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

It's Better Not To Argue With Women.

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.

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.

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.

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

Russia Has Not Taken Part And Is Not Going To Take Part In Any Actions Aimed At Removing Legitimate Government.

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.

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.

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

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

As To Our Trade And Economic Relations With China, They Are Growing More And More Diverse Each Day, Something We Have Worked On For A Long Time With Our Partners From China.

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.

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

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

International Terrorists Who Pursue Completely Mad Objectives Such As Establishing A World Caliphate Or Something Of The Sort, Are Quite Adept At Disguising Their Real Aims As A Struggle For Independence In Chechnya.

However, There Is A Fundamental Difference Between The Issue Related To Japan's History And Our Negotiations With China. What Is It All About? The Japanese Issue Resulted From World War Ii And Is Stipulated In The International Instruments On The Outcomes Of World War Ii, While Our Discussions On Border Issues With Our Chinese Counterparts Have Nothing To Do With World War Ii Or Any Other Military Conflicts. This Is The First, Or Rather, I Should Say, The Second Point.

Even If States Sometimes Have Problems With Each Other, Arts And Sports Should Not Suffer From That. Arts And Sports Are There To Bring The People Together - And Not To Divide Them.

I Guess I Can Call Myself A Pragmatist With A Conservative Perspective. It Would Be Hard For Me To Explain This, But I Always Take Realities Of Today, Lessons From The Distant And Recent Past Into Consideration.

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.

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.

We Believe In The Fundamental Principles Of The European Economy.

Let Us Resolve The Internal Political Problems Of Russia Ourselves

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

We Do Not Have To Borrow In The External Market, But We Have Used And Are Using This Traditional Instrument In International Financial Relations.

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.

Judo Has Been Part Of Japanese Culture For A Long Time. It Makes Sense To Me That This Sport, Which Is Both Athletic And Philosophical, Was Created In Japan. It Is Based On Respect For The Partner And For Our Elders As Our Teachers, Which Is Very Important And Makes A Strong, Positive Contribution To Human Relationships, And Not Only In Sports. I Am Happy That Life Brought Me To This Wonderful Sport As A Child. It Is Like My First Love.

As For Meetings, I Think The President-elect [donald Trump] Should Be Given An Opportunity To First Form His Administration And Assume Office. Meetings Will Come Next.

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.

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.

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

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

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

America Is A Powerful Country And It Has Earned The Right That Nobody From The Outside Can Interfere With It Or Comment On It. We Will Work With Any Administration, With Any President Who Will Win The Support Of The American People, If Of Course They Are Ready To Cooperate With Russia.

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

As A Rule, [populism] Is Done For The Sake Of Political Expediency By Those Who Do Not Care About The Consequences, Who Do Not Think Even One Step Ahead, Who Do Not Want To Think And Do Not Intend To Honour Their Commitments.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Fifteen Percent Of Russia Badly Polluted.

[egon] Bahr Even Said: If Russia Agreed To The Nato Expansion, He Would Never Come To Moscow Again.

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!

Iraq Is A Small But Very Proud Nation.

I Know Very Well About The Necessary Level Of Reserves Of The Central Bank As Well As The Purpose.

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.

[economic Restrictions] Is One Of The Elements That Is Destabilising The World Economic Order That Was At One Time Created Largely By The United States Itself At The Dawn Of The General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade That Was Later Transformed Into The World Trade Organisation.

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

Mass Destruction

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.

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

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.

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

It Is 60 Years Since The Restoration Of Diplomatic Relations, But Relations Between Japan And Russia Have Much Deeper Roots. In All, Our Diplomatic Ties Date Back 150 Years, More Than 150 Years Now.

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.

Another Point Is That Ultimately, As Far As The Budget Is Concerned, Of Major Importance Is Who Offers More Money During The Bidding That Must Be Organized As A Part Of The Privatization Process. In This Sense, We Cannot Discriminate Against Any Market Participants, Not One Of Them, But This Is Not Relevant At The Moment, As The Government Has Decided To Postpone The Privatization Of Bashneft.

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

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.

No One Except For Al-assad's Army Is Fighting Against Isis Or Other Terrorist Organisations In Syria, No One Else Is Fighting Them On Syrian Territory. Minor Airstrikes, Including Those By The United States Aircraft, Do Not Resolve The Issue In Essence; In Fact, They Do Not Resolve It At All.

Of Course, This Person Is To Have The Trust Of The American People, Then He Or She Would Not Only Have The Wish But Also The Supported Political Will To Implement All These Agreements.

You Recalled The 1956 Declaration, And This Declaration Established The Rules That Should Be Followed By Both Sides And That Should Be Put Into The Foundation Of A Peace Treaty. If You Carefully Read The Text Of This Document, You Will See That The Declaration Will Take Effect After We Sign A Peace Treaty And The Two Islands [kunashir And Shikotan] Are Transferred To Japan. It Does Not Say On What Terms They Should Be Transferred And What Side Will Exercise Sovereignty Over Them.

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

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

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

The Participants Expressed Anxiety About The Problems The Defense Ministry Had Been Meeting In Realizing Its Plans For Future Development.

It Is Well Known That Homosexuality Is A Criminal Offense In The United States, In Four Us States. If It Is Good Or Bad, We Know The Decision Of The Constitutional Court, But This Problem Has Not Been Dealt With Yet, It Is Still Being Addressed By The Legislation Of The United States. This Is Not The Case In Russia.

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.

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 Ability To Compromise Is Not A Diplomatic Politeness Toward A Partner But Rather Taking Into Account And Respecting Your Partner's Legitimate Interests.

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.

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

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