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Russia’s ambassador to NATO says to combine public life with diplomacy

He said it in Rome where he held talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and officials from the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry

ROME, September 13 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, who is also a special envoy for the issues related to the antiballistic missile systems, plans to continue combining activity in social and public life and work in the field of diplomacy.

He said it addressing a group of Russian reporters in Rome where he held talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and officials from the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry. The talks were held at a request from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

“I never broke away from public or political life in Russia and along with it I’ve spent the past three and a half years in the capacity of a politician and diplomat,” Rogozin said.

“No one has ever forbidden the expression of a Russian citizen’s political position for me,” he went on. “I don’t see any contradictions between the execution of professional duties, which I have as a presidential envoy, and my civic position inside the country.”

“I don’t have the right to call into question the tasks that the President sets forth to me for the talks, and I’ll try to combine these things in some way,” Rogozin said when a reporter asked about his activity after a possible return to Moscow from Brussels in the run-up to a presidential election due next March.