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.

Brazil is one of the biggest Latin American countries, the biggest, no doubt, and, more importantly, it is a country with immense development potential.

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.

Our trend in the privatization process and gradual withdrawal of the state from certain assets remains unchanged.

We will keep a close eye on what is happening and wait for the election results and after that we will be ready to work with any Administration given that it wants to work with us.

Of course, it's always bad to lose, of course it's always a hardship when you lose to yesterday's miners or yesterday's tractor drivers. But life is life. It'll surely go on.

I stress that we unambiguously support strengthening the non-proliferation regime, without any exceptions, on the basis of international law.