Ahead of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the Russian President gave an interview to reporters from BBC, ABC News, CCTV, Rossiya-1, Channel One, and Around the Rings. The interview was recorded in Sochi on January 17.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: It seems to me that you know everything about the coming Olympics and I wonder if there’s anything else I can tell you. Or, maybe, you believe that you know everything and I would hardly be able to make you change your mind. But a chance still exists and I am taking this opportunity to talk to you with great pleasure.

ED HULA (translated from Russian): I have been traveling to this city for eight years and I can see some serious changes here – a whole new cluster has been built in the mountains with sports arenas, stadiums, various tracks and a biathlon range. A great deal of money has been put into Sochi to host the Olympic Games – the estimates put the figure at $50 billion. But we did not have a chance to know the exact figure yet and to understand how much the Olympics cost. Well, how much are they? And are they worth that money? What legacy will the Olympics leave?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: The overall cost of the Olympics has been announced; it is 214 billion rubles. You can calculate the dollar amount by dividing this figure by 33, which is the current exchange rate.

But that is not what I want to tell you here. I want to begin with what we had in plans even before the Olympics, back in 2006/07 when we adopted the Sochi Development Master Plan. Looking at the map of the Russian Federation, one can see a country covering mostly northern areas; today more than 70 percent of our territory is or can be referred to as northern, if not the Far North. We have a rather small warm Black sea strip in the South and – to tell the truth – just a few regions with a hospitable warm climate.

And so far we have had no modern resorts that Russian people could enjoy throughout that huge area. Today we are at the top of the list of those traveling on holiday abroad. As far as I know, Russians are the first among tourists going to Turkey; last year three million Russians visited that country, although its climate zone is almost the same as that of the Black sea region. Therefore, we have had an important task to develop the infrastructure in this region of the Russian Federation. And again, to this end we have adopted a special program. But as usual – this is something that is true both for Russia and any other country in the world – there is not enough money to deal with what seems to be of the first importance. And when it comes to the resort development activity, which is never seen as a priority, there is never enough money. Therefore, in fact our goal was to address several tasks at the same time.

The first and the most important one was to develop the south of the country, and primarily its infrastructure. And – to my mind – we have made a real progress here since a completely new transport, energy and environment infrastructure has been set up. In terms of current emissions into the atmosphere and those of 2007, today, when the project is nearly over, the air pollution is half its 2007 level. We have achieved that result by using a more eco-friendly fuel in electric power sector, building two new gas pipelines and eight or nine electrical substations, cleaning up two constantly fuming dumps in the Greater Sochi area, and building a new transport infrastructure. All those measures helped ease the environmental burden. Let’s admit that it is crucial for a resort.

The second task we focused on was to re-establish training bases for high-ranking athletes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia lost nearly all its training facilities in regions of middle-altitude mountains. All of them are not ours anymore; they are either Georgian or Armenian, or Kazakhstani, I mean the Medeu skating rink.

It is shameful and embarrassing but our ice skating professionals had to hold the Russian national championship in Berlin due to the lack of adequate skating rinks. Then, we also lost all facilities related to ski jumping. Today we have built a few centres not only in Sochi, but the two new Sochi ski jumps are absolutely unique from a technical point of view; for purposes of Olympic training we have also built the most sophisticated ski jumps in some other regions.

Finally, the third task was to create a new mountain cluster in order to transform this part of the Russian Federation into a resort, which can be used in any season, in winter or in summer. I think that we have accomplished this task as well. Therefore, if we consider only the preparations for the Olympics, they cost 214 billion, as just 15 sport facilities have been built, while most of the money was spent on infrastructure. If we take into account the expenses associated with the development of relevant infrastructure, the sum may be larger, but those expenses are not directly related to the Olympic Games.

SERGEI BRILEV: Mr President, you have just called the ski jump a unique facility. But it is unique not only from the sports and technical point of view. The foreigners are very unlikely to know anything about your question Where is Mr Bilalov?, your visit to the jumping facility and demonstration of how things must function. Mr Bilalov was severely punished in front of the entire nation. Did it frighten the others so as to push them to fulfil their promises? And in general how do you feel about it?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: First, let me finish the answer to Ed's question. Public investments make up 100 out of 214 billion; the rest comes from private companies. This money is primarily invested in hotel infrastructure. By the way, we have built more than 40,000 (between 41,000-43,000, as far as I know) brand new hotel rooms, which is a crucial component of resort development. That is where private investments of our companies have been allocated.

As for the missed deadlines, well, we both understand that over the past several years the Sochi Olympic project has been the largest construction site in the world. Without exaggeration, the biggest building site on the planet. And it is only natural that some problems would come up given the scale of the project and, frankly, lack of experience in implementing such large-scale construction projects in our country, in modern Russia. Certainly, we had to engage in unpleasant discussions about prices, deadlines and quality of work. It could not be otherwise. Absolutely impossible. Constant praise would have brought us nowhere. My job is not only to award medals, you know, which certainly is part of my functions. First and foremost, though, my job is about ensuring success of the work in various spheres. It is a kind of day-to-day spadework. Where in the world have you seen builders who meet all deadlines and provide high-quality work at low prices? Just give me at least one country. Not a single country in the entire world. We see the attempts to overvalue construction prices everywhere – in Europe, North America, Asia. Same story everywhere.

However, this struggle between the customer (in this case, it is either the state or the private sector that has built hotels here) and the executors, the contractors, is quite common. Contractors are always after large profits; customers always want a high-quality end product in due time and as cheap as possible. This struggle never ends, but this is natural. Obviously, there is a line beyond which the struggle gets criminalised, but this is the job of the law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on that, and they have shown tough and good work here. We have tried to prevent anyone from crossing that line. All in all, I think we have managed it.

As for this specific case, yes, Russia’s Sberbank has taken up this project and accomplished it providing excellent quality and modern solutions. There are no other jumping facilities like that in the world.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: It was said that the issue of corruption is really serious: $18 billion were plundered, a Swiss said, is it true or not?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: First, the Swiss did not say that. Of course, we are not indifferent to what our partners around the world, especially in the Olympic movement, say. I have seen the transcript of his meeting with some journalists, your colleagues tried to drag him to this topic, and I can understand journalists, it is their job – always drag out “hot” topics. But the Swiss specialist, the President, as I understand, of the International Ski Federation, he did not say that, as it seemed to me based on the report. This is the first point.

Second, if anyone has concrete data on instances of corruption in implementing the Sochi Olympics Project, we ask to furnish us with objective data. We will be glad and grateful and we will use this information to put things right in this sphere.

What are instances of corruption? In this case they mean theft of public funds with the help of state officials in whose hands these funds fall. If anyone has such information, give it to us, please. I repeat once again, we will be grateful. But so far there was nothing but talks. We understand and we know, and we are even used to it; there are always some forces that are always against everything, even the Olympics project. I do not know why, but, probably, it is their job, probably that’s the way they feel, maybe somebody offended them in their life. But if there is objective data, give it to us, please, as soon as possible. So far we do not have it; nobody provides it. Our law enforcement agencies work on this issue. There were cases, I have already said about it, some years ago local officials tried to trade land designated for Olympics venues. An investigation was conducted; people were convicted by the Russian court and are serving their sentences. We have not seen any big, large-scale instances of corruption in connection with the Sochi Olympics Project implementation. There are things I have already mentioned, attempts by executors, contractors to drive up the price. But this, I repeat, happens in any country of the world, and our task is to lower the prices and achieve good quality of project implementation and compliance with construction deadlines. You understand, there’s always a conflict in such case, we always talk about it openly, and in this regard we always fuel rumours about corruption instances a little bit. What should we do? Either always keep silence about it, or not be afraid of such reaction and work openly? We chose the second way. If we see problems, we talk about it openly.

Well, that is my comment on this issue. I do not see serious corruption instances for the moment, but there is a problem with overestimation of construction volumes. You know, I can give another comment on that. What are the reasons for construction overestimation? During tenders and competitions, bidders for this or that project often low the cost of the project or their cost proposals on purpose in order to win the project. As soon as they win, they understand that they cannot manage with those prices and start to increase them. It too happens almost everywhere. Our case is not unique. Here we can probably discuss the way tenders are organised. But this price increase, it is sometimes due to contractor’s deliberate acts, and sometimes it is due to the fact that the professional valuation of necessary investments, especially in mountain conditions, for a mountain cluster, are not efficient enough.

The Caucasus Mountains are young mountains, and there are a lot of seismic related problems, a lot of problems with landslides, etc. Sometimes, assessments of all these things have not been done in a timely and professional manner at the initial stage of project price evaluation. These are all work related things, but this is not corruption.

ANDREW MARR: Mr President, now the British choose between France and Switzerland when they want to go skiing, and you want to persuade them to go to Russia to ski. If they go, how difficult it would be to get a Russian visa? Unilaterally, can you without any agreement with the European Union, without negotiations with the EU, undertake steps to relax visa regime, simplify visa procedures and entry?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: As far as the Sochi Olympics’ guests are concerned a unique decision was made. It is unique because we decided that the guests, the tourists coming to the Olympics can arrive to the Sochi Olympic Games without visas, just on the basis of their accreditation. And they can get this accreditation at special offices open in all our diplomatic missions. But they don't need any entry visa. That’s the first point.

Second, we consider that in recent years we have built a unique site from the point of view of its ski track mileage (150 kilometres) and as I mentioned more than 40,000 hotel rooms. May be it is necessary to improve the quality of servicing, but in general the material base created here is good enough for a major, world-class tourist centre. I think that it will be very interesting to see – even for those who will not be able to come to the Olympics – what is Sochi where the Olympic Games took place. People all over the world always show such interest in Olympic Games’ places and we will be glad to see the winter sports fans coming to Sochi to look what Russia did here and how it implemented this project. And if people like it, this place may become a favourite resort for our friends from the United States or Europe, or the Asian countries, including China – why not? We should not forget that people who love winter sports like to see different places, and they will be happy to go to Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Italy, France and to Sochi, I hope.

Now, let me say a few words about visas. We offer exclusions for some tourist routes. For example, tourists arriving by water transport may enter St Petersburg without visa for a certain period of time. We offer other exclusions as well. But we are talking about exclusions anyway while the general regime is as follows: in the world, all visa and visa-free travel issues are regulated on the basis of reciprocity. And we would very much like to finally reach an agreement on such visa-free travel with our colleagues from the European Union. I have spoken on many occasions that the European Union has introduced visa-free travel with a number of Latin American countries where the criminal situation is not better – and in many cases is worse – than in the Russian Federation. And where is Latin America, and where is Europe? If we look at Russia and Europe, they are very close, as I see it. True?

That is why it seems to me that we should agree on visa-free travel in general. And as far as some exclusions are concerned, we may talk about some separate events.

IRADA ZEYNALOVA: Mr President, at the beginning of December you spent three days in Sochi inspecting Olympic facilities. And you mentioned then that we should speak now not about the work done, but about the work that should be done, about the unfinished work, you stressed that it needed polish. Can we say that now everything is ready, what do they report to you? What were the most difficult parts of the work? What else needs to be completed, if there is anything left?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Everything is already done and now we have to clean up. We have to get hotels functioning well, we have to remove the construction equipment, we have to clear construction waste that is to get ready to receive guests just like any hosts do before their guests arrive. Be ready to welcome guests in such a way when everything looks nice and complies with the spirit of the event, and all facilities are ready. As you know, many test events have already been held here, including World Cup stages and other major international competitions. The athletes, our guests and specialists in general were satisfied and stressed the high degree of readiness already a year ago, and now all the facilities are completed.

SHUI JUNYI: Mr President, before I ask my question there is one thing I would like to mention. This is my fifth interview with you in 14 years - sometimes it was face-to-face, sometimes together with my colleagues. You are very popular in China. Before my coming here I said to our Internet users in the Central TV Office that I'm going to Russia to interview you. As soon as I posted this message, it got two million “likes” and many questions.

You have just mentioned that you invite tourists from different countries to come to Sochi. And what do you think about the Chinese investors coming after the Olympics to build hotels here? What chances does this situation provide for Chinese investors?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: First of all, I would like to convey my best wishes to all my friends in China both through social networks and via other media. I know that I have many friends in China. It is not surprising, because we have special relations with China. And I have special feelings for China. China is a great country with a great culture, with very interesting, hard-working and talented people.

Give them a big thanks for such an attitude. This is a mutual feeling.

As far as investors are concerned, we will welcome investors from all countries, including China. China has a great investment potential. China is a country with the largest gold reserves. There are very good investment tools in China, including a whole network of major funds. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, the RDIF, works with some of them, with major Chinese investment funds. They already have joint projects.

Generally, it is quite difficult for foreign investors to find the most effective ways of investing their capital, which are efficient and well-protected at the same time. They often do it together with the relevant national bodies. Such a body, I have just named it, the RDIF, works with our Chinese partners, it can work in any region of the Russian Federation and in any area.

If our Chinese partners are interested in the tourism cluster in the south of Russia or, say, the agriculture cluster, we have it here, in Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, these are neighbouring territories, Rostov Region – this is our breadbasket, as we call it, these are the regions where agricultural production is particularly well developed, the climate here is very good. But in some regions, for example, in Rostov Region, which borders with Krasnodar Territory, engineering is also well-developed, the aviation cluster is developing, and in many of these areas we have promising, very interesting joint plans with our Chinese friends. That is why we invite them not only to Sochi and Krasnodar Territory, but also to whole of Russia’s south.

IRADA ZEYNALOVA: Mr President, at all times and in all countries the Olympic Games have attracted extremists wishing to make a global name for themselves. Unfortunately, in the context of the recent terrorist attacks and threats in the south of Russia, we have to discuss that in relation to Sochi. Several agencies are working to ensure security during the Games, and European and American experts have offered their assistance. What reports do you receive regarding the scope of threats, regarding what we are already confronting and what we will have to confront?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You are right, extremists are always trying to make a name for themselves, especially in the run-up to some major events, and not only sports events, but also political ones. You know very well what security measures were taken during the meetings of the Heads of State within the framework of the G20, the G8 or other forums, for example, APEC in the Asia-Pacific region. The same applies to major sports events. I have already spoken about this, and I want to repeat that extremists are usually narrow-minded people who do not realise that even if they, as they think, set themselves noble goals, by committing terrorist acts they are drifting further and further away from achieving those seemingly noble goals to the extent that these goals stop being relevant. The whole world considers them criminals, criminals in the worst sense of this word, bloodthirsty people who not only disregard human rights and freedoms, but also set a person's life at naught. No matter what motives they have for committing such acts, there will never be excuses for them, and in the eyes of all sensible people in the world they will always remain criminals. Therefore, they immediately cast a criminal shadow on the goals they set for themselves. But the world is what it is; we remember well the tragic events during the Olympic Games in Munich, when the Israeli sports delegation was killed almost in its entirety. And of course, since that time all countries in the world without exception take special, extraordinary security measures.

We do everything with understanding, with a clear understanding of the operational situation developing around Sochi and in the region as a whole; we have a perfect understanding of what it is, what is that threat, how to stop it, how to combat it. I hope that our law enforcement agencies will deal with it with honour and dignity, just as it was during other major sports and political events.

IRADA ZEYNALOVA: I worked as a correspondent at several Olympic Games, including the London ones, the last Olympic Games. And when we got there, we found out that Patriot missile launchers had been deployed on the roofs of houses in the North and East London. At first it certainly came as a shock like military ships anchored in the bay near Greenwich. But the British government explained: "The threat is massive, we will resist it, and it is a necessity." So that is exactly what happened – Patriot missile launchers were in place. Are we going to see something like that in Sochi?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I hope you will not see anything, but we will do our best. As for London, we remember that one of the G8 summits there saw a number of terrorist attacks, including in the tube. I remember the painful reaction of the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the attacks, and I remember how we all provided him moral and, if necessary, special support. Actually, I would like to again thank all our partners from North America, the United States, Europe, and Asia who actively cooperate with their Russian law enforcement and special services’ counterparts. Such joint work is on-going.

SHUI JUNYI: Mr President, Volgograd saw two terrorist attacks a month before the opening of the Sochi Olympics, and many people have some concerns about the upcoming event. We are convinced that Russia will be able to take even more serious security measures. But might they affect athletes and other participants?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I would not want these acts of terrorism – crimes of the kind aimed at undermining international cooperation in the political, as well as, so to say, in the humanitarian area, including sports – to affect the upcoming events. For if we allow ourselves to show weakness, to show our fear, it means we will help the terrorists achieve their goals. I think that international community, working in all areas – humanitarian, political, and economic – must join forces in the fight against the inhumanity of terrorist attacks and killing entirely innocent people. Our task as organisers is to ensure the security of athletes and guests at this major sports event, and we will do our best.

ED HULA: Mr President, how do you plan to ensure an adequate level of security at the Olympics, and yet make it a happy and joyous occasion?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Answering your colleagues’ question I have already said that we will try to make certain that the security measures are not intrusive or too conspicuous, so they are not too noticeable for the athletes, the Olympics’ guests or journalists. But at the same time, we will do our utmost to ensure that they are effective.

Security is to be ensured by some 40,000 law enforcement and special services officers. Of course, we will draw on the experience acquired during similar events held in other regions of the world and in other countries. It means that we will protect our air and sea space, as well as the mountain cluster. I hope things will be organised in such a way that they don’t catch the eye and, as I have already said, will not, so to say, depress the participants in the Olympic Games.

I would also like to note that a special regime for movement of people and goods was introduced in the Greater Sochi area starting from January 7, 2014. We have set up round-the-clock headquarters to ensure security – I want to emphasise that it is round-the-clock – which coordinates the work of our law enforcement agencies and special bodies and maintains contacts with its counterparts abroad.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr President, let me change the subject. All Americans going to Sochi are concerned and some have even developed their own plans for evacuation in case something happens. Are you concerned that if something similar happens in other parts of Russia, these plans might be implemented?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Russia is a big country, and, like in any other country, different things happen. We are working to ensure security in Sochi, using many forces and means, but mostly those that are not engaged in ensuring security in other regions of the Russian Federation. We have enough such means provided by the Federal Security Service, the Interior Ministry, and army units, which will be engaged in ensuring security too, as I have already said, in the sea area and airspace. If anybody feels it is necessary for them to develop separate plans for guaranteeing their own security, it is okay as well, but, of course, it needs to be done keeping in touch with the Olympic Games organisers and our special services. As I have already said, we have permanent round-the-clock headquarters maintaining contact with colleagues from the foreign countries’ corresponding services and army units. By the way, these colleagues are represented in the headquarters, there is, I repeat, a direct professional interaction. If necessary, all these mechanisms can be used. I hope that it won’t come to this. Also, I have already mentioned that we have worked effectively during, say, important political events, including both G20 and G8 summits, and hosting of major international competitions, like, for example, the recent World Championships in Athletics in Moscow. Understanding the full scope of problems in terms of security, we still have great experience in hosting such events, and we will use it.

ANDREW MARR: A lot of British politicians and celebrities, including Elton John, express concerns over the attitude towards homosexuals in Russia. I would like to ask you, do you think there are fundamental differences between the attitude towards homosexuals in the West and in Russia? Do you think homosexuals are born or made? And what does the concept of propaganda imply, is it philosophical?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know, I am not in the position to answer the part of your question concerning homosexuals being born or made. This is beyond my professional interest, and I just can’t give you a qualified answer. And as I can’t give you a qualified answer, I would just prefer to leave it at that.

As for the attitude towards people of non-traditional sexual orientation, yes, I can give you quite a detailed reply. I would like to draw your attention to the fact, that in Russia, as opposed to one third of the world’s countries, there is no criminal liability for homosexuality. 70 countries of the world have criminal liability for homosexuality, and seven countries out of these 70 enforce death penalty for homosexuality. And what does that mean? Does it mean that we should cancel all major sport events in those countries? I guess not.

The Soviet Union had criminal liability for homosexuality; today’s Russia doesn’t have such criminal liability. In our country, all people are absolutely equal regardless of their religion, sex, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Everybody is equal. We have just recently passed a law prohibiting propaganda, and not of homosexuality, but of homosexuality and child abuse, child sexual abuse. But this has nothing to do with persecuting individuals for their sexual orientation. And there is a world of difference between these things. So there is no danger for people of such non-traditional sexual orientation who are planning to come to the Games as guests or participants.

ANDREW MARR: And as for the Orthodox Church, it calls for returning criminal liability for homosexuality. What is your opinion about that?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: According to the law, the church is separated from the state and has the right to have its own point of view. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that almost all traditional world religions are in full solidarity on this topic. And is the position of the Holy See different from that of the Russian Orthodox Church? And does Islam treat people of non-traditional sexual orientation in a different manner? It seems so, but this other position consists in a much tougher approach. Those 70 countries I have mentioned mostly belong to the Islamic world, and the ones enforcing death penalty all have Islam as state religion. Thus, there is nothing strange in the Russian Orthodox Church’s opinion as compared to that of other traditional world religions, there is nothing strange in that, but I repeat once again: the opinion of the church is one thing, and the opinion of the state is another thing. The church is separated from the state.

SERGEI BRILEV: Perhaps, to add to the issue. You know, once I was lucky to meet the smartest and the most beautiful girl, and I have been married to her for a long time, well, generally speaking, my sexual orientation detracts me a bit from being free to discuss this issue, but the thing is as follows.

All Russians of non-traditional sexual orientation, who I know, ok - not all, but the vast majority are people with excellent careers, who have never in their life-time faced any job restrictions and so on, though against the background of our law to ban gay propaganda among minors, our country is getting the reputation of being just about the most anti-gay country on the planet, however, to a certain degree quite the opposite.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It is not getting the reputation; there are attempts to create it.

SERGEI BRILEV: Yes, I agree. I wonder whether we should review this law causing all the fuss that has, actually, little to do with its name or content, and to adjust it a bit? Probably with a view to offering not less sex education needed for children, but less sex, in general, available to minors, no matter if it is homosexual or heterosexual, what would be demanded by many people who are quite heterosexual. Or, probably, to really examine this notion. Frankly speaking, I have never come across gay propaganda among minors. Basically, I agree with the idea, but I do not understand what it is in practice.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Why so? Take the time to read the law thoroughly, and pay your attention to its name. The law’s name is "Ban on propaganda of paedophilia and homosexuality". The law banning paedophilia, propaganda of paedophilia and homosexuality. There are countries, including European, where public discussions – I have just talked about this at the meeting with volunteers – for instance, on the possibility to legalise paedophilia currently take place. Public discussions in parliaments. They may do whatever they want, but peoples of the Russian Federation, the Russian people have their own cultural code, own tradition. It's not our business and we do not poke our nose into their affairs, and we ask for the same respect for our traditions and for our culture. My personal view is that the society should look after its children at least to be able to reproduce and not only thanks to migrants, but on its own base. We achieved what we had not experienced for a long time. In 2002, 2003, 2004 it seemed that we would never redress that absolutely terrible situation we had with the demographic crisis. It appeared that it was a demographic pit that would prove to have no bottom and we would continue investing in it endlessly.

And at that time we developed and adopted a program aimed to support demography, to increase birth rates in the Russian Federation. Frankly speaking, I was much worried myself: we allocated big resources, and many experts used to tell me: "Don't do this, there is such a trend, which is experienced by many European countries. And we won't avoid it either." This year in Russia, the number of newborns has exceeded the number of deceased for the first time. We achieved a specific positive result. If anybody would like to focus on, so to say, developing the cemetery, they are welcome. But we have different goals: we want the Russian people and other peoples of the Russian Federation to develop and to have historical prospects. And we should remove every obstacle in our way. But we should do this in a modern and humane manner without offending anybody and without introducing second-class citizens.

It seems to me that the law we adopted does not hurt anybody. Moreover, people of non-traditional sexual orientation can not feel like inferior people here, because there is no professional, career or social discrimination against them, by the way. And when they achieve great results, such as, for instance Elton John achieves, who is an extraordinary person, a distinguished musician, and millions of our people sincerely love him with no regard to his sexual orientation, and his sexual orientation does not affect attitude to him, especially as to a distinguished musician. I think that this quite democratic approach to people of non-traditional sexual orientation alongside with measures aimed to protect children and future demographic development is optimum.

SHUI JUNYI: I also would like to proceed on discussing this issue of homosexuality.

IRADA ZEYNALOVA: And I would like to ask why we are discussing this issue in the context of Sochi when we gathered to speak about Sochi?

Further reading please at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6545