“Crimea has always been and remains Russian, as well as Ukrainian, Crimean-Tatar, Greek (after all, there are Greeks living there) and German - and it will be home to all of those peoples. As for state affiliation, the people living in Crimea made their choice; it should be treated with respect, and Russia cannot do otherwise. I hope that our neighbouring and distant partners will ultimately treat this the same way, since in this case, the highest criteria used to establish the truth can only be the opinion of the people themselves.”
![“For me, it [Crimea] is not borders and state territories that matter, but people's fortunes.” quote by Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e1a/vladimir-putin-261_borders_for-me-it-crimea-is-not-borders-and-stat_1235797.jpg)
![“Their [the U.S.’s] defense budget in absolute figures is almost 25 times bigger than Russia’s. This is what in defense is referred to as ‘their home — their fortress.’ And good for them, I say. Well done!” quote by Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ec3/vladimir-putin-261_absolutes_their-the-u-s-s-defense-budget-in-absolu_10791.jpg)
![“They [leaders in Western Europe] do not misuse financial instruments, financial injections, but, first of all, seek structural change. This is urgent for our economy as well, maybe even more urgent bearing in mind the problem that we cannot yet deal with, namely the prevalence of the oil and gas…” quote by Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fab/vladimir-putin-261_change_they-leaders-in-western-europe-do-not-mi_43180.jpg)
![“It is different [to perform in Israel] because it arises from very deep wells of affiliation.” quote by Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b7a/leonard-cohen-448_affiliation_it-is-different-to-perform-in-israel-bec_173237.jpg)
