After the unlawful decision to recognize Kosovo, everyone expected Russia to respond by recognizing the independence and sovereignty of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This is true, this is how it was. Everyone was waiting for Russia's decision. And we had the moral right to make it but we did not. We were more than restrained. I don't even want to comment on it. In truth, we "swallowed" it.

Not everyone likes the stable, gradual rise of our country. There are some who are using the democratic ideology to interfere in our internal affairs.

I think the international community should unite to fight such inhuman phenomena as terror attacks and the murder of totally innocent people.

There is no such thing as a former KGB man.

We 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.

Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order to prove that you are right.

I would prefer to abandon the terminology of the past. 'Superpower' is something which we used during the cold war time. Why use it now?