Sergei Shoigu

"They say that we are engaged in the militarization of the country, so that everyone would walk in formation there. This, of course, is far from the case."

"What is on Britain’s] coat of arms, a lion, isn’t it? There is an old saying: every lion is a cat, but not every cat is a lion. Everyone should deal with their affairs. We do not think that there is an animal in their zoo that can tell a bear what to do."

"After everything Germany has done to our country, I think, they should not talk on the issue for another two hundred years. Ask your grandparents about their experience of talking to Russia from the position of strength. They will probably be able to tell you."

"The greatest focus should be on fighting international terrorism, which in short time became the largest threat to global security. The situation is compounded by the numerous local conflicts in the world and the failure of the West to overcome differences and to ensure the creation of a United front against this evil."

"The joint dialogue between the foreign policy and defenсe departments of Russia and Japan makes a serious contribution to creating an atmosphere of mutual trust and security in the Pacific Rim."

"We have achieved a high level of interaction between our armed forces on land, in the air and at sea. This increase is an important trend towards further activity."

"After everything that happened in Syria, we were those who established peace in Syria, from those who had the main influence on the situation in this country, defeated terrorism, starting an operation when Damascus controlled that 18 per cent of Syrian territory, and today in fact more than 90 per cent, then, naturally, they [the West] began to say that "Russia is behaving somehow wrong in Syria.""

"We were lucky in that, we still managed to stop [the West] in time. The process of returning to common sense… began in 1999. Starting from that moment, by putting a lot of effort, we have achieved that the world today has ceased to be unipolar."

"The meaning of what is happening, from my point of view, is as follows: patterns and algorithms for overthrowing any legal authority in any country inconvenient for West, have long been created. Of course, all this is done under the banner of promoting democracy. Well, in which country where they 'came with democracy' did this democracy take root: in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya? Or in the former Yugoslavia, which they forcibly divided into 6 countries with their 'democratic' bombing in 1999. And you can simply forget about sovereignty and independence after any American intervention."

"Our strategic and long-range bombers have started to conduct flights to areas where they used to fly in the past. These flights are carried out according to schedule… How is it possible to bully your neighbors using strategic bombers?"

"I would not speak about Ukraine as a threat. I think that Ukraine and the Ukrainian people is a brotherly nation. They are not just our neighbors, we are a single people."

"The main goal for us is to protect the Russian Federation from the military threat posed by Western countries that are trying to use the Ukrainian people in the fight against our country."

"During the special operation, we strictly adhere to the norms of humanitarian law. The strikes are carried out with high-precision weapons against the objects of the military infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – control points, airfields, warehouses, fortified areas, objects of the military-industrial complex. At the same time, everything is done to avoid casualties among peaceful citizens, of course, it slows down the pace of the offensive, but we do it deliberately."

"Ukraine lost half of the army: 61,207 dead, 49,368 wounded."

"Losses of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - 5937 people."

"A total of 300,000 reservists will be called up during partial mobilization."

"Today we are at war not only with Ukraine and the Ukrainian army, but with the collective West."

"Victory, like the New Year, is inevitable."

"We firmly believe that elimination of the ISIS in Syria is possible only by the joint efforts of all countries."

"We do not exclude the possibility of closer Russian-American coordination in fight against the ISIS and creation of additional communication channels for rapid resolution of crisis situations."

"I would like to emphasize that Russia's actions for strengthening the defence are the balanced response to the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance, the development of military infrastructure in the bordering countries, and the deployment of additional military contingents. NATO is a military-political coalition but not a group of philatelists."

"The activity of the NATO’s "police" aviation mission on patrolling the Baltic states’ airspace has actually become a part of the so-called limited access zone, covering the Kaliningrad region and the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. We consider such activities of the NATO as a violation of the power balance in the region, endangering the Russian Federation security."