Vladimir Putin Quotes

There are both things in international law: the principle of territorial integrity and right to self-determination.

History has shown that the life, borders and forms of states are changeable as created not only on the territorial and ethnic, but also economic, political, military and other suchlike grounds

The rogue states have to be told that there are lines that cannot be crossed.

The thing people forget is that the entire world - or, at least, Europe, U.S., transatlantic, Russia, Soviet Union - that security architecture has been in place since 1945 and has been refined. Already, the U.N. charter that everyone signed is that you can't change borders through use of force or even threat of use of force.

Try to think for your own why the Russians and the Chinese do not like the idea that whoever takes aggressive steps to keep order within his sovereign borders should not accept others to intervene physically.

Working as a Foreign Office lawyer in 2003, I was less worried by the quibbling over U.N. resolutions on Iraq than the coalition's capacity to effect positive change.

Russia's actions on the Crimean Peninsula were a serious violation of international law and of the principles upon which European peace is based. That is why we cannot let pass or ignore what took place.

We need to find a fair and viable solution on the basis of U.N. resolutions and the incompatible with the fact that Cyprus is an E.U. member state.

I think we do have an interest in combating states that try to cross borders and steal parts of other people's country.

How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to.

The United Nations Security Council is there to protect the interest of the Americans and the British.

Regime change cannot be the objective of military action.

No country can be expected to make peace with a nation that denies its right to exist.

If governments do not want to work with the U.N. and the international organizations, there is a limit to what you can do. And there is also a limit to patience.

I wouldn't say the nation-state is dead, but the Sovereignty has been greatly circumscribed ... even for a country as large as the U. S.

World politics is not a kindergarten.

When the big powers are in agreement, the U. N. performs. When they aren't, the U. N. is paralyzed.

The existence of the United States as a nation presupposes the power enjoyed by every nation of extending their territory by treaties.

Americans must not be given the impression that they have a duty to go to war against every evil leader in the world and against every transgression of the international order.

American foreign policy must uphold the sanctity of international treaties. That is the cornerstone on which all relations between nations must rest.

Preserving peace does not always coincide with the promotion of human rights.

The UN doesn’t take any moral stands unless its against Israel.

Newly emerging states are challenging settled opinion on transnational justice and humanitarian intervention, which they often interpret as victor’s justice and regime change.

A multipolar world means more compromise [on Human Rights violations]… more back-scratching and less principled denunciation.

...In practice it is found that International Law is always on the side of strong battalions...It is puerile...to apply to the dealings of a nation with its neighbor's territory the morality which would be applicable to two individuals possessing adjoining property, and protected from mutual wrong by a law superior to both.