Yes, life in Chechnya so far looks more like a life after a natural disaster.

Economic activity is moving from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific ocean... Russia has a certain natural advantage because it also borders the Pacific Ocean.

We were also going to develop relations with the current administration [of Barack Obama], but somehow they did not work out well in key areas and, I believe, not through our fault. I will not list all the problems that emerged in the past few years.

If we act together along these lines, we will create conditions, the conditions for trust that Shinzō Abe speaks about, so as to take another step and conclude a peace treaty on certain terms. However, first, it is essential to cover this part of the way and then agree on the terms for signing a peace treaty. Both are challenging tasks but they are feasible.

The participants expressed anxiety about the problems the Defense Ministry had been meeting in realizing its plans for future development.

NATO remains a military alliance, and we are against having a military alliance making itself at home right in our own backyard; in our historic territory. I simply cannot imagine that we would travel to Sevastopol to visit NATO sailors. Of course, most of them are wonderful guys, but it would be better to have them come and visit us, be our guests, rather than the other way round.

President Obama and I can meet, shake hands and discuss current issues, we - and I am personally - are always ready for such contacts.