On the day I became Soviet leader, in March 1985, I had a special meeting with the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries and told them: 'You are independent, and we are independent. You are responsible for your policies, we are responsible for ours. We will not intervene in your affairs, I promise you.'

Many people who live in big countries like ours thought that we had resources that would work for us for many, many years, but that was a mistake. Our natural wealth corrupted us. In this country, you were among the first to raise environmental issues. In Russia, despite all of its problems today, people are concerned about the environment, and it's become a central issue on the agenda.

Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.

Politics is my second love, next to my love for Raisa [Gorbacheva].

The shortage of fresh water is the major ecological problem of this moment.

The most important thing is who counts the votes.

To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.