If my name had not been cleared, it would have been difficult, perhaps impossible, to continue as a journalist.

As the only woman, I was able to sit with the officers in front, with a glass of vodka in one hand and a cucumber in the other. That's how I went to my first war.

Even in a war, someone has to take care of daily life. Someone has to feed and clothe the children.

I think when you start to get afraid, it's time to leave.

There is nothing I would change - to change it I would have had to write a totally different book.

I always try to describe the situation just as it is. I try to find sentences that I believe tell the story best. Even my articles are more literary than ordinary news stories.

If you've lived in a dictatorship for thirty years, you're used to people lying to you.