After all, China is our largest trading partner. As I said, country-wise, Russia trades the most with China. That is my first point.

This work is either useless or harmful, because there is nothing good about populism. If you wanted to hear my opinion on this issue, that is what I think.

We are not going to waste our reserves and burn them for any political ambitions. We will act very carefully.

If we do it, if we work to achieve all this [cultural exchange with Japan], we can and should talk about joint efforts toward ensuring international security, and not only in the Far East.

My job is not only to give medals, you know, which certainly is part of my function. First and foremost, though, my job is about ensuring success of the work in various spheres. It is a kind of day-to-day spadework.

Of course one always has to follow international law. This was also the case in Crimea. According to the Charter of the United Nations, every people has the right to self-determination.

Russia will not take part in any field operations on the territory of Syria or in other states; at least, we do not plan it for now. But we are thinking of how to intensify our work both with President al-Assad and our partners in other countries.