As for myself, I was never against Russia.

Now, the entire world community recognizes Georgia. We are members of the United Nations and the Council of Europe. Everything is being prepared so that we will soon enter the European Union.

I don't want to go down in history as a man who allowed blood to be shed.

You know, to address crowds and make promises does not require very much brains.

But we cannot rely on foreign help indefinitely.

You know in the West they support realistic forces.

Zhvania was the general secretary of the organisation which I founded, the Citizens' Union. It was the biggest organisation and came first in all elections, and Zhvania was the leader.

As for myself, I was never against Russia.

I'm sure that was the right step, even though, formally speaking, it may seem disadvantageous for a president to resign. But, looking into what is happening today and what is going to happen in the future, I think history will show I made the right decision.

I don't plan to return. I have a lot of unresolved things to do.

True, other countries are helping us. Germany is determined to provide substantial help. So are the Netherlands and other states. But a day will come when we have to count on our own resources.

To sum up, what has been our policy? We looked for and found friends all throughout the world.

I was a member of the Politburo for seven years, a foreign minister.

Even the pyramids might one day disappear, but not the Palestinians longing for their homeland.

But eradicating corruption is not enough to sustain a country.

Germany is determined to provide substantial help. So are the Netherlands and other states. But a day will come when we have to count on our own resources.

The external world is committed to helping Georgia settle its problems.

When I came back to power, Georgia was completely isolated on the international stage.

Prospects of normalizing our relations with Russia look good.

I believe that with the help of foreign countries - and under that condition only, because they have no other source of financing - the new government may temporarily extricate Georgia from the current situation.

We also have a real opportunity to join NATO.

They're making a song and dance because that serves their immediate interests. But what will happen tomorrow? They will have to pay salaries and pensions.

I couldn't stand the idea of bloodshed, casualties.

But on second thought, after I decreed the state of emergency, I came to the conclusion that that was impossible to achieve without bloodshed because the street protesters were full of anger and nearly out of control. This is why I thought we needed to find another way out.

But the Americans have no extra money. They have their own problems. They can provide financial assistance for two, three, four, or six months at most.

I think my resignation was the only way to avoid bloodshed.

It is absolutely impossible to settle the debts to pensioners, teachers, and others. The country hasn't got enough money to do so.

No Georgian has the right to evade or neglect his duties and responsibilities.

In my life I have always found ways of dealing with a situation.

Corruption has its own motivations, and one has to thoroughly study that phenomenon and eliminate the foundations that allow corruption to exist.

I believe politicians should always remain realistic.

I am not responsible for the actions of Saakashvili and even for those of Gamsakhurdia.

Corruption has its own motivations and one has to thoroughly study that phenomenon and eliminate the foundations that allow corruption to exist.

Russia can be quite a dangerous place sometimes, but I never think about it.

The way the business things work in Russia is you have to meet people, you have to go through a certain amount of etiquette and business things are done just simply by a shake of the hand and whether they like you or not.

If Russia rises, it means that the USA falls down.

Men who are scandalized at the lack of freedom in Russia do not ask themselves how real is liberty among the poor, the weak, and the ignorant in capitalist society.

When I was 12, every little girl in Russia was trying to wear her hair like mine and playing tennis.

My dad was born in Chicago in 1908... his parents came from Russia. They settled in Chicago, where they lived in a little tiny grocery store with eight or nine children - in the backroom all together - and my grandmother got the idea to go into the movie business.

I think there is a good deal of promise in those discussions as well. I think there is a range of matters that might be discussed between NATO and Russia that can provide a mechanism for talking through these issues, a way to give reassurance on these issues.

In modern Russia, you have no official, formal assessment of this past. Nobody in any Russian document has said that the policy of the Soviet government was criminal, that it was terrible. No one has ever said this.

There is an enormous difference between Russia and Western Europe.

Russia also declared its independence. This was approved by the Supreme Soviet, and you know and remember that there was the Declaration on the Independence of Russia.

Ours is a country built more on people than on territory. The Jews will come from everywhere: from France, from Russia, from America, from Yemen... Their faith is their passport.

We, Russia, are prepared to work with others. I am convinced that stability and security in Europe cannot be considered without taking Russia into account.

I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early age by the culture, the language, the literature and the history to the place.

And look at the mess that Russia is; most Chinese don't want to follow that.

Russia knows of the vulnerability of her frontiers in this part of the world.

The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.