Yes, life in Chechnya so far looks more like a life after a natural disaster.
— Vladimir Putin
Terrorism has once again shown it is prepared deliberately to stop at nothing in creating human victims. An end must be put to this. As never before, it is vital to unite forces of the entire world community against terror.
We shall fight against them, throw them in prisons and destroy them.
The path towards a free society has not been simple. There are tragic and glorious pages in our history.
Nobody should pin their hopes on a miracle.
Russia is a part of European culture. Therefore, it is with difficulty that I imagine NATO as an enemy.
Russia needs a strong state power and must have it. But I am not calling for totalitarianism.
The task of the government is not only to pour honey into a cup, but sometimes to give bitter medicine.
Russia does not have in its possession any trustworthy data that supports the existence of nuclear weapons or any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we have not received any such information from our partners as yet.
I think the American people should express their preferences, and we'll accept their choice.
To pay more is the easy way. In fact, the solution possibilities to the problem are many.
The democratic choice Russian people made in the early 90's is final.
Nobody and nothing will stop Russia on the road to strengthening democracy and ensuring human rights and freedoms.
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.
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.
We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
We don't need a weakened government but a strong government that would take responsibility for the rights of the individual and care for the society as a whole.
You must obey the law, always, not only when they grab you by your special place.
The strengthening of our statehood is, at times, deliberately interpreted as authoritarianism.
Our aims are absolutely clear: They are a high living standard in the country and a secure, free and comfortable life.
No references to the need to fight terror can be an argument for restricting human rights.
Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.
My notion of the KGB came from romantic spy stories. I was a pure and utterly successful product of Soviet patriotic education.
