Under the international agreements, the Russian peacekeepers are committed to protect the population of South Ossetia.

I am sure that, after all, any man in my place should set a positive example for other people.

I see that not everyone in the West has understood that the Soviet Union has disappeared from the political map of the world and that a new country has emerged with new humanist and ideological principles at the foundation of its existence.

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.

I believe that the Europeans, first and foremost, the Germans, will also understand me. Let me remind you that in the course of political consultations on the unification of East and West Germany... some nations that were then and are now Germany's allies did not support the idea of unification. Our nation, however, unequivocally supported the sincere, unstoppable desire of the Germans for national unity. I am confident that you have not forgotten this, and I expect that the citizens of Germany will also support the aspiration of the Russians, of historical Russia, to restore unity.

Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.

People in Russia say that those who do not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union have no heart, and those that do regret it have no brain.