If you want to lower the significance of Russia in the world, you actually just want to elevate your own country. That is a mistake.

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.

I see that not everyone in the West has understood that the Soviet Union has disappeared from the political map of the world and that a new country has emerged with new humanist and ideological principles at the foundation of its existence.

Nobody should have any illusion about the possibility of gaining military superiority over Russia. We will never allow this to happen.

I believe that the G20 should not interfere [foreign policy], because there are other platforms for that.

I am very grateful to our people who appreciate my work and for their support, as without that support it would have been impossible to get anything done.

We have very close humanitarian contacts [with China], wide-ranging youth exchanges, educational and regional contacts, and all of them continue to develop.