Russia has made its choice in favor of democracy. Fourteen years ago, independently, without any pressure from outside, it made that decision in the interests of itself and interests of its people - of its citizens. This is our final choice, and we have no way back. There can be no return to what we used to have before.

As to our trade and economic relations with China, they are growing more and more diverse each day, something we have worked on for a long time with our partners from China.

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.

Things are different in the international relations between states. In this respect, I am neither a friend, nor bride or groom [of the West].

NATO and the USA wanted a complete victory over the Soviet Union. They wanted to sit on the throne in Europe alone.

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.

Any country is hard to govern, even a very small country. It's not a question of whether the country is large or small. It's a question of how you relate to the work, to what extent you feel responsible for it. Russia is also hard to govern. Russia is at the development stage of both its political system and the creation of a market-based economy. It's a complicated process, but very interesting. Russia, actually, is not just a large country, it's a great country. I mean its traditions, and its cultural particularities.