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 are ready to meet [with Donald Trump] at any time, this is no problem for us, but I believe we should be patient and wait for the complicated process of forming the new administration to be complete.

The Prime Minister [Shinzō Abe] also highlighted the need to address general humanitarian issues. We already mentioned one of these issues: visa-free travel by Japanese citizens to the South Kuril Islands.

However, there is a fundamental difference between the issue related to Japan's history and our negotiations with China. What is it all about? The Japanese issue resulted from World War II and is stipulated in the international instruments on the outcomes of World War II, while our discussions on border issues with our Chinese counterparts have nothing to do with World War II or any other military conflicts. This is the first, or rather, I should say, the second point.

I was told that [Japan journalists] wanted to see my dog, Yume. You can see that she is in great shape.

I have been to Tokyo and several other cities, but I have never been to Yamaguchi Prefecture. I wonder what it is like, what interesting things it has to offer. I am sure that Prime Minister [ Shinzō] Abe will tell me all about it.

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.