- The Skripal case occurred in the midst of the election campaign; How do you see Russia's relations with Europe in the future? Is Europe our partner, or potentially, our main opponent?
Vladimir Putin: "As for the tragic case that you mentioned, I learned about it from the media, and the first thing that came to mind was that if it was a chemical warfare agent, people would surely have died on the spot. This is an obvious fact, we must understand this. Secondly, Russia has no such means; we destroyed our chemical weapons under international supervision. By the way, we were the first to do this, unlike some of our partners who promised to do this, but, unfortunately, have not fulfilled their responsibilities yet.
We are ready to cooperate — we said this immediately; we are ready to take part in required investigations, but in order to do this, we need the other side to be cooperative as well. We do not see this yet, but we keep the possibility of cooperation on the agenda. As for the whole experience, any sane person understands that it would be complete nonsense for anyone in Russia to conspire to do such things, especially right before the presidential election and the World Cup; simply unthinkable. Nevertheless, despite all these difficulties, we are ready to cooperate, discuss any questions, and overcome any obstacle".
