Vladimir Putin

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

Indeed, Russia and the U.S. were allies during the two tragic conflicts of the Second and the First World Wars, which allows us to think there’s something objectively bringing us together in difficult times, and I think – I believe – it has to do with geopolitical interests and also has a moral component.

I would like right now to address my colleagues in the regions, to ask them to not allow, under any circumstances, for flea markets and the like to appear at these stadiums, as appeared in other sport-related buildings in Moscow during the middle of the 1990s.

The United States and Russian security services regularly exchange information.

We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Why does the world dislike Russia? I do not think that we are unloved or considered to be ignorant.

The House Armed Services Committee a couple of years ago described the role of Congress as that of a sometimes querulous but essentially kindly uncle who complains while furiously puffing on his pipe but who finally, as everyone expects, gives in and hands over the allowance.

Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed.

The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.

I believe that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

A reporter’s ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government.

America’s greatest strength has always been its hopeful vision of human progress.

For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.

In accordance with the prevailing conceptions in the U.S., there is no infringement on democracy if a few corporations control the information system: in fact, that is the essence of democracy.

The day I made that statement, about the inventing the internet, I was tired because I’d been up all night inventing the Camcorder.

Demographers affirm that choosing to have a second child is already a potential choice in favour of a third.

The revolution does not need historians.

There used to be the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. There used to be Soviet troops in the GDR. And we must honestly admit that they were occupation troops, which remained in Germany after WWII under the guise of allied troops. Now these occupation troops are gone, the Soviet Union has collapsed, and the Warsaw Pact is no more. There is no Soviet threat, but NATO and U.S. troops are still in Europe. What for?

No references to the need to fight terror can be an argument for restricting human rights.

Saudi Arabia itself has one of the most grotesque human rights records in the world. The ISIS beheadings, which shock everyone-I think Saudi Arabia is the only country where you have regular beheadings. That’s the least of it.