I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States.

We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today's complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not.

I will not offer my thoughts on what Japan could and should have done, this is none of my business, it is the business of the Japanese leadership. But we should understand how practicable all our agreements are as a whole given the allied obligations Japan has assumed, how much independence there is in making those decision, and what we can hope for, what we can ultimately arrive at.

I simply noted that one of the groups, especially exporters, would prefer to have a weaker rouble.

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.

There can be no democracy without observing the law and everyone must observe it - that is the most basic and important thing that we all should remember.

We have never meddled in the domestic affairs of any state and we never will.