In the referendum - which was still decided to take place by the Crimea's old parliament - the majority of citizens voted for belonging to Russia. This is democracy, the people's will.

This is the large range of issues we have to discuss [with Shinzō Abe] and make a decision on each one of them. Look, after the resumption of the negotiating process in 2000, we did not refuse to consistently work toward signing this peace treaty.

In 2009, US President [Barack] Obama said that the missile defense only serves as protection from Iranian nuclear missiles. But now there is an international treaty with Iran that bans Tehran from developing a potential military nuclear project.

If you want to become an Islamic radical and have yourself circumcised, I invite you to come to Moscow... I would recommend that he who does the surgery does it so you'll have nothing growing back afterward.

There is no uniform, global model for democracy.

If anybody,wants to get rid of us, then this is a different approach. However, we will get over it; you never know who is going to lose more with such an approach.

The stability of the rate is the main issue and the Central Bank manages to ensure it one way or another. This was finally achieved after the Central Bank switched to a floating national currency exchange rate.