Vladimir Putin

“Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.”

“The democratic choice Russian people made in the early 90's is final.”

“The Russian people have their own cultural code, their own tradition.”

“My parents told me that children were taken from their families in 1941, and my mother had a child taken from her - with the goal of saving him.”

“I love soccer.”

“Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.”

“Stalin is the most popular figure in all of Russia.”

“Thieves must sit in prison.”

“Russia needs a strong state power and must have it. But I am not calling for totalitarianism.”

“There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy.”

“No one should be allowed to violently trample on the law.”

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

“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.”

“I was brought up in a very ordinary family, in fact, a worker's family. Both my father and mother were ordinary citizens.”