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I don't like the mentality that comes with rich Russian men. Because they have money, they think they can buy a woman - and they do.

Many Russia experts note the deep and sad capacity of the Russian people for suffering.

Today in Ukraine, many people struggle to survive, older ones often see the breakdown of the Soviet system as a loss of stability and security for average people, and therefore a certain hostility to quickly acquired wealth is from their point of view quite understandable at the first look.

Russia has gone through eight years of continuing economic pain.

Before I left Russia in 1999, I was living in a very poor factory town with my family and friends, and nothing was ever going to change.

The Russians are a very sentimental people.

I don't have many Russian friends. My childhood friends are dead - either from bad health, or they died in perestroika.

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.

The way I understand it, the Russians are sort of a combination of evil and incompetence... sort of like the Post Office with tanks.

Russians aren't perfect. Their politics are messed up, and they keep going through self-defeating economic cycles. But I have a lot of respect for Russia, and a lot of love for Russians.