Kodokan is, to a large degree, a trendsetter in the sport. This school trained outstanding masters and is a kind of Mecca for all judokas. Certainly, I would be pleased to visit, if time permits.

Russia has made its choice in favor of democracy. Fourteen years ago, independently, without any pressure from outside, it made that decision in the interests of itself and interests of its people - of its citizens. This is our final choice, and we have no way back. There can be no return to what we used to have before.

In Russia, we are ready to listen to our partners, ready to listen to appraisals and assessments when it is done in a friendly manner, in order to establish contacts and create a common atmosphere and dedicate ourselves to shared values. But we absolutely will not accept when such things are used as a tool of political struggle. I want everybody to know that. This is our message.

We should find other platforms, other forums for that [foreign policy], and there are plenty of them, including, for example, the UN and the Security Council.

Russia is a part of European culture. Therefore, it is with difficulty that I imagine NATO as an enemy.

I'm convinced that democracy cannot be exported from one country to another, like you cannot expert revolutions, ideology.

Sanctions have nothing to do with this [relations with the People's Republic of China]. The decline in our mutual trade has objective causes, which are the energy prices and the exchange rate difference. But the physical volumes have not decreased, quite the opposite actually. They are growing.