This gentleman has taken on the very fashionable theme of fighting corruption and I say again: In order to fight corruption you have to be crystal clear yourself. But there are problems here, and in this regard I unfortunately have a suspicion that this is just a way of getting votes and not a genuine desire to solve the problem.

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

The Russian people chose democracy at the beginning of the 1990s and this was their final choice.

They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle 'If you are not with us, you are against us.' To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organizations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.

One must not allow oneself to skid down to isolationism and unbridled economic egoism. ... The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country. And the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

Of course Germany's media are heavily influenced by the country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

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.