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.
Vladimir PutinWe are expanding and improving the infrastructure of our relations. You must have heard about China's plans to participate in building a high-speed railway line between Moscow and Kazan in the Volga region, in central Russia. And then we plan to extend it to Kazakhstan and on to China.
Vladimir PutinI was brought up in a very ordinary family, in fact, a worker's family. Both my father and mother were ordinary citizens.
Vladimir PutinNowhere is it written that NATO had to accept certain countries. All that would have been required to refrain from doing so was the political will. But people didn't want to.
Vladimir PutinAs for the criticism we receive, you know, even Mr. [Donald] Trump's team criticize us. For instance, one of the participants or members of his team claimed that Russia was giving money to the Clintons through some funds and that in fact Russia is controlling the Clinton family. This is nonsense.
Vladimir Putin