ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that there were many heroes in Russia’s history, including poet Alexander Pushkin and Emperor Peter the Great, as he himself said at Thursday’s meeting with the heads of the world’s leading news outlets, when asked whom he considered to be Russia’s national heroes.

"You have named one of them yourself: Pushkin. It is impossible not to mention him on his birthday," Putin pointed out. "Peter the Great comes to mine next for he founded the city where I was born, he was a great reformer who reshaped our country," the president went on to say. "We have many [heroes], and it is impossible to choose just one. There are many from the creative community and statesmen," he said, adding that he was very fond of Tchaikovsky’s music.

"We have much to be proud of, we have many heroes," the head of state concluded.