Dmitry Medvedev met with President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

The meeting was held ahead of the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between the national teams of Russia and Croatia.

From the transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Dmitry Medvedev: Madam President, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you. Thank you for coming to Russia. Naturally, I understand why – you want to cheer for your national team. I am not going to conceal that we are here also to cheer for the Russian team. So I would like to say again that we are very happy that football offers an opportunity for us to meet.

Understandably, I cannot wish success to your team (laughter).

Nevertheless, I wish you a successful stay in the Russian Federation.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic: Thank you very much, Mr Prime Minister. (Speaking in Russian) Thank you. It’s great to be here. I’ve enjoyed my stay in Sochi today very much, and in Nizhny Novgorod a few days ago. I know unfortunately tonight one of us has to go home and the other team will stay. Of course I will be cheering for Croatia and wishing for Croatia to go forward. But I think that this football event and football diplomacy is very useful in terms of bringing our nations closer together. And I think tonight, regardless of the fact that somebody will go away from the stadium, I think that we will see a good game of cheering, fair play and of overcoming anything that in daily lives can present obstacles but in terms of sports can bring us closer together.