In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a grave social situation in Russia; our social protection system was destroyed; numerous problems emerged which we have not been able to cope with effectively yet, to get rid of them, in health, sports development.

Those who fight corruption should be clean themselves.

I was brought up in a very ordinary family, in fact, a worker's family. Both my father and mother were ordinary citizens.

Changing things is not easy, and I say this without any irony. It is not that someone does not want to, but because it is a hard thing to do. Take Obama, a forward-thinking man, a liberal, a democrat. Did he not pledge to shut down Guantanamo before his election? But did he do it? No, he did not. And may I ask why not? Did he not want to do it? He wanted to, I am sure he did, but it did not work out. He sincerely wanted to do it, but did not succeed, since it turned out to be very complicated.

Russia must realise its full potential in high-tech sectors such as modern energy technology, transport and communications, space and aircraft building.

The philosophy of FIFA is to expand world soccer space, to spread out the world football space.

I think the American people should express their preferences and we'll accept their choice.