Russia does not want confrontation of any kind. And we will not take part in any kind of 'holy alliance.'

The participants expressed anxiety about the problems the Defense Ministry had been meeting in realizing its plans for future development.

If the United Kingdom considers it necessary to start a dialogue on certain issues, we are ready for that, we are not going to pout or sulk. We take quite a pragmatic approach towards cooperation with our partners and we believe that it would be beneficial for both our countries.

The path towards a free society has not been simple. There are tragic and glorious pages in our history.

We see that leaders in Western Europe [there are some debates of course, we also see that and analyse it all] stick to, I cannot say right or wrong ones, it always depends on someone's view, but I think, very pragmatic approaches in addressing economic issues.

Therefore today we have an absolutely sufficient level of gold and foreign currency reserves in order to ensure economic stability and sustainable foreign trade turnover.

The Prime Minister [Shinzō Abe] proposed advancing to a new level of economic engagement, putting forward eight lines of cooperation in the most important and interesting areas both for Russia and for Japan.