We are working in other areas [like ALROSA] as well, so there are no radical changes to our position. It is not the case when we have to, as we say, make a lot of fuss about it. In other words, we do not have to be obsessed with privatizing immediately and at any cost.

We will work with any Administration and with any President in whom the American people have placed their trust. That is, of course, if they wish to cooperate with Russia.

There is always a chance [for negotiations with Japan], or else it makes no sense to talk. How great is it? Right now, it is difficult for me to say, because this will depend, among other things, on the flexibility of our partners.

My English is very bad.

Only a developed society, for example, only a strong democratic system in modern conditions can create a climate in which any manifestation of terrorism is unacceptable and can also make the state itself stronger.

Though we still come first in the sphere of gas export, national production has diminished due to the increasing volumes of hydrogenation for the electric power industry and therefore there is a lower need for gas at thermal power plants.

The Soviet Union, and Russia as the successor state to the Soviet Union, is a founding member state of the United Nations and a permanent member of its Security Council.