Vladimir Putin Quotes

I do not think I have the right to determine the political future of Syria, be it with or without al-Assad. This is for the Syrians themselves to decide. Nobody has the right to claim the rights that belong to the people of another country.

Shouldn't the General Assembly adopt a declaration on the inadmissibility of interference into domestic affairs of sovereign states and nonrecognition of coup d'etats as a method of the change of power?

The constitution ought to specifically state that every nation is left entirely independent and supreme in its internal affairs, such as regulating emigration and all other similar matters.

What we did say is that it is up to the Syrians themselves to decide how to run the country, how to introduce the reforms, what kind reforms, without any outside interference.

Let us keep clear of interfering with their [Egypt’s] internal affairs; let us leave reforms to them and their peoples.

Nations are equal in respect to each other, and entitled to claim equal consideration for their rights, whatever may be their relative dimensions or strength, or however greatly they may differ in government, religion, or manners. This perfect equality, and entire independence of all distinct states, is a fundamental principle of public law. It is a necessary consequence of this equality that each nation has a right to govern itself as it may think proper, and no one nation is entitled to dictate a form of government or religion, or a course of internal policy, to another. No state is entitled to take cognizance or notice of the domestic administration of another state, or of what passes within it as between the government and its own subjects

The issues of political nature should be solved in any country, including in Syria, primarily by its people.

Russia should recognize the freedom of countries, such as Ukraine, to choose their alliances.

...though it is England's right to enforce the law of Europe [i.e. treaties] as between contending states, she has no claim, so long as her own interests are untouched, to interfere in the national affairs of any country, whatever the extent of its misgovernment or its anarchy.

Such a conspiracy does not accord with the general sentiments or views of the United States to intermeddle in the domestic contests of other nations..

Any nation's right to form a government and an economic system of its own choosing is inalienable.... Any nation's attempt to dictate to other nations their form of government is indefensible.

.all for just a word – “neutrality” – [It is] just a scrap of paper!!!

The government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other.

We believe in freedom, freedom for the people of each country to follow their destiny without external interference.

Well, I think both Russia and China have a very strong aversion to interference in internal affairs.

You cannot force a country to do something that is against its own interests or against the democratic process.

I want to make clear, in the most emphatic way, that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept measures that, in a unilateral way, one government wants to impose on another. That we are not going to accept.

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.

We do not worry about how a sovereign country keeps its relations with others.

India continues to be guided by the principles of being non-interfering, non-prescriptive, and non-judgemental. In other words, India remains ready to provide any support but strongly believes that it is for the Arab countries to decide their destiny without any external interference or diktats from outside.

I can't stress enough how strongly I am against any state intervention in a sovereign nation's affairs.

For us, sovereignty of Syria is very important.

Every country has the right to own its own sovereignty.

I do not support individual countries taking military action against another country because of its human rights record, or subsequently justifying taking such action on human rights grounds.

We have a much bigger objective. We've got to look at the long run here. This is an example - the situation between the United Nations and Iraq - where the United Nations is deliberately intruding into the sovereignty of a sovereign nation.... Now this is a marvelous precedent (to be used in) all countries of the world.