We had a very good situation in 2005. The common budget had a volume of 80 billion dollars per year. Thousands of jobs were created in Germany by Russian investments. At the same time, a large number of German companies invested in Russia. There were countless cultural and social contacts.

A very interesting and promising cluster has formed here [in the Russian Far East ], and we would be happy if our potential investors, our counterparts from abroad, first of all those from the Asia-Pacific region, knew more about it.

Not all G8 members take the view that chemical weapons were in fact used by the Syrian Army. Some actually agree with us that there is no proof.

People are always teaching us democracy but the people who teach us democracy don't want to learn it themselves.

We conducted talks on border issues with our friends in the People's Republic of China for 40 years. There were also issues related to specific territories.

It is wrong to make anyone into an enemy; it is wrong to scare the people of one's own country with that enemy and try to rally some allies on that basis.

One thing is clear, everyone, no matter what their professional or material status, no matter what their influence on various state structures, must obey the law.