Opening Remarks.

Money from the federal budget arrive late. The first payments come in somewhere in July-August, the final payment — in December, and in September, for example, the road must be finished. And it turns out that the state settles accounts with us fully only after construction is terminated.

The socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union did not appear as a relapse of the world revolution, but as a defensive reaction of Moscow after theoretical errors of the Soviet leadership and hard resistance of the West.

Methane is an insidious, but useful companion of coals. Its reserves are comparable to the gas reserves of traditional fields of the world.

Russian business is not ready for modernization. The owner wants to get maximum profit. He is not ready to introduce any improvements (as this is enormous amount of money).

Having such quantity of the population and such area, we can live only as an empire. This does not mean that Russia needs a monarchy — we can have any power, the most democratic, but the strategy should have an imperial character.

If there was a “golden age” in the history of Russian-French relations it certainly was the period since the end of 1880’s until October 1917. This time coincided with unprecedented economic leap of Russia, which occurred largely due to abundant inflows of French capital into our country.

Organizational changes, especially if they are long and unpredictable, can cause somebody a stomach upset.

Families of Russified French people in 1930’s faced a monstrous baseness of authorities. The flourishing of art during this period was accompanied by numerous arrests. Many people had to work in prison.

This year I was 75, I’m still alive and kicking, for the time being not going to die. And I swear to you that for 75 years I never understood what the theater is. Of course, you can spread shoe polish on your face and ask: “Have you prayed tonight, Desdemona?” But not this is the case.