Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Your Excellency, I am very glad to make your acquaintance. This is your first visit to Russia, and I hope that you will enjoy it and come back to see us on a regular basis.

Of course we value highly our relations with the Principality of Liechtenstein. In recent years, in the past 15 years they have taken on a new momentum since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Liechtenstein. Of course this is in large measure thanks to your father, the reigning Prince Hans-Adam II, and I hope you will make your own contribution to these relations in the future.

Our countries are linked in many different ways, and you have just let us witness one of them, at the gift-giving ceremony where you donated a brooch version of Monomakh's Cap [the crown of all Muscovite Grand Princes and Tsars from Dmitry Donskoy to Peter the Great].

Once again I would like to thank you for this gift. It shows that our cooperation is developing in various spheres, including the fields of culture and education.

You and I share an interest in the development and prosperity of Europe. I believe that we have very similar positions in this regard, especially at a time when we are mired in a financial crisis. I think that we need to coordinate our positions on these issues. We will be discussing the crisis once the media have gone.

Again we would like to welcome you to Russia and thank you very much for your visit.

Crown Prince Alois of Liechtenstein (as translated into Russian): Mr President, thank you very much for your invitation.

Before coming to see you here I had the opportunity to tour Moscow, to see some of its sights and the Kremlin museums. They made a big impression on me, as this is my first visit to Moscow.

As you said, over the past 15 years Russia and Liechtenstein have enjoyed close relations. This is of particular interest in view of the fact that Russia is one of the biggest countries in the world and Liechtenstein one of the smallest.

Despite these differences in the past 15 years we have established close relations mainly in the cultural area. My father gave Russia the so-called Sokolov archive. As I was told during my visit, this archive is extremely important for Russia's history. At the same time, we found a part of our family archive, which is also extremely important for the history of our family and of our entire country, in Russia.

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