Russia not trying to 'rule whole world', seeks fitting international role - Medvedev
MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) - Russia is not trying to impose its rules on the whole world but wants to play a responsible role in geopolitics, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said in an interview with the German Handelsblatt newspaper, when asked if Russia, given its current economic situation, can afford to play a leading geopolitical role.
"It seems to me that this - assuming a decisive role in geopolitics - is not what we aspire to. And whoever aspires to assume this role should be responsible for the whole world and responsible for why wars begin, why migrants move around Europe in their hundreds," Medvedev said.
"We suffered from this complex during the Soviet period and we are definitely not trying to regulate the whole world," he said.
At the same time Medvedev said that, "Russia should, of course, occupy a fitting place in international relations," which is "predetermined by our history, our geography, our potential, and even formal considerations - our membership in the Security Council - and, finally, we are simply the biggest nuclear power."
"All this imposes on us responsibility, but we are not trying to rule the whole world and establish our rules contrary to what some have attributed to us by saying we are so-and-so, trying to take everything under our control," the premier said.
"That is absolutely not the case; in this sense we, too, are quite pragmatic people, no one can be responsible for the whole world, not even the United States of America," Medvedev said.