Let's recall Bosnia in 1995. As we know well, the European peacekeeping contingent, represented by the Dutch troops, did not want to get involved with one of the attacking sides, and allowed it to destroy a whole village. Hundreds of people were killed or injured. The tragedy in Srebrenica is well known in Europe.

Looking at the map of the Russian Federation, one can see a country covering mostly northern areas; today more than 70 percent of our territory is or can be referred to as northern, if not the Far North. We have a rather small warm Black sea strip in the South and - to tell the truth - quite a few regions with a hospitable warm climate.

Absolute trust is something hard to achieve even in a family, and it is much harder to achieve on an international level.

It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.

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.

I'd rather not deal with such questions, because anyway it's like shearing a pig - lots of screams but little wool.

One of the most important tasks is to broaden the energy supply ... Energy determines today international security and social as well as economic development in many respects. In reality the wellbeing of millions of people is directly dependent in energy security.