In 1995, Russia virtually gave Chechnya de facto statehood and independence even though, de jure, it didn't recognize Chechnya as an independent state. And I would like to emphasize strongly that Russia withdrew all of its troops, we moved the prosecutors, we moved all the police, dismantled all the courts, completely, 100 percent.Collection: Independence
Our military might is the guarantor of Russia's security and independence.Collection: Independence
Journalism, as concerns collecting information, differs little if at all from intelligence work. In my judgment, a journalist's job is very interesting.Collection: Intelligence
When the States already had nuclear weapons, and the Soviet Union was only building them, we got a significant amount of information through Soviet foreign intelligence channels.Collection: Intelligence
My notion of the KGB came from romantic spy stories. I was a pure and utterly successful product of Soviet patriotic education.Collection: Romantic
If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don't care about a person's sexual orientation.Collection: Attitude
I have a very positive attitude to anyone who is protecting the environment, but it's inadmissible when people are using it as a means of promoting themselves, using it as a source of self-enrichment. I don't want to name any specific examples... but often, environmentalism is used to blackmail companies.Collection: Attitude
I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world. I collect emotions. I am wealthy in that the people of Russia have twice entrusted me with the leadership of a great nation such as Russia - I believe that is my greatest wealth.Collection: Leadership
If there are people who act outside the law, then the state must use legal means to impose law in the interests of majority. That's the way it's done in the U.S., and that's the way it's done in Russia.Collection: Legal
You can do a lot more with weapons and politeness than just politeness.Collection: Weapons
It's better not to argue with women.Collection: Arguing
People are always teaching us democracy but the people who teach us democracy don't want to learn it themselves.Collection: Teaching
It's better to be hanged for loyalty than be rewarded for betrayal.Collection: Loyalty
I don’t regret anything. I did everything absolutely correctly.Collection: Regret
Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order to prove that you are right.Collection: Lonely
I insist that people - wherever they live - have their rights and they must be able to fight for them.Collection: Fighting
I think every person should have some faith inside him, in his heart. What matters is not an external display of this faith, but the inner state of the soul.Collection: Heart
I am the wealthiest man, not just in Europe, but in the whole world. I collect emotions.Collection: Believe
Europeans are dying out. Don't you understand that? And same-sex marriages don't produce children. Do you want to survive by drawing migrants? But society cannot adapt so many migrants.Collection: Sex
We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.Collection: Blessing
We in Russia have always considered Russians and Ukrainians to be one people. I still think so.Collection: Thinking
There is no such thing as a former KGB man.Collection: Men
Hitler wanted to destroy Russia- everyone needs to remember how that endedCollection: Russia
A country in which the people are not healthy physically and psychologically, are poorly educated and illiterate, will never rise to the peaks of world civilization.Collection: Country
Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.Collection: Regret
If you are a Christian, you are in danger. If you decided to abandon your faith and become an atheist, you also are to be liquidated according to their concept. You are in danger if you decide to become a Muslim. It is not going to save you anyway because they believe traditional Islam is hostile to their goals.Collection: Christian
Maybe they have nothing else to do in America but to talk about me.Collection: America
Nobody should pin their hopes on a miracle.Collection: Miracle
When Saddam Hussein was eliminated, the Iraqi statehood and thousands of people from the former Baath party were also eliminated. Thousands of Iraqi servicemen, who were part of the state's Sunni elite, found themselves thrown out into the street. No one gave a thought about them, and today they end up in the ISIS army.Collection: Party
History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior.Collection: Government
Frankly speaking, we all know that provoking military and political instability, regional, and other conflicts is a helpful means of distracting the public from growing domestic social and economic problems in certain countries. Such attempts cannot be ruled out, unfortunately.Collection: Honesty
Everything will probably never be Ok. But we have to try for it.Collection: Trying
It's better not to argue with women... When people push boundaries too far, it's not because they are strong but because they are weak. But maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman.Collection: Strong
Russia doesn't negotiate with terrorists. It destroys them.Collection: Russia
Everyone must hoe his plot daily.Collection: Hoe
How was Kosovo recognized? They forgot about the territorial integrity of a state, as well as UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which they had themselves adopted and supported. Why could it have been done there, but not in Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Why not?Collection: Integrity
One thing is clear, everyone, no matter what their professional or material status, no matter what their influence on various state structures, must obey the law.Collection: Law
We will not allow the past to drag us down and stop us from moving ahead. We understand where we should move.Collection: Moving
Democracy is not possible without effectively working legal system.Collection: Democracy
I'm convinced that democracy cannot be exported from one country to another, like you cannot expert revolutions, ideology.Collection: Country
The transfer of power is always a test of the constitutional system, a test of its strength.Collection: Tests
Besides, does it really matter who hacked Mrs. [Hillary] Clinton's election campaign team database? Does it? What really matters is the content shown to the community. This is what the discussion should be held about.Collection: Team
Political populism always poses a great danger because it disorients people, creates excessive expectations or, on the contrary, prioritises objectives that are clearly not priorities or are simply impossible to achieve.Collection: Expectations
All civilised countries should unite in the fight against international terrorism.Collection: Country
Terrorists are always a threat to someone. If we'll be scared of them, it means they have won.Collection: Mean
Some are addicted to cigarettes, some, God forbid, to drugs, and some become addicted to money. They say that the worst addiction is to power. I have never felt that. I have never been addicted to anythingCollection: Addiction
The Russian people chose democracy at the beginning of the 1990s and this was their final choice.Collection: People
Respecting the sovereignty means preventing coups, unconstitutional actions and illegitimate overthrowing of the legitimate government. All these things should be totally prevented.Collection: Mean
I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.Collection: Permit
Russia will not soon become, if it ever becomes, a second copy of the United States or England - where liberal value have deep historic roots.Collection: Second Chance