Before starting out on his journey, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin answered journalists' questions:

Question: Mr Putin, why have you decided to drive along this route? And why are you going to take the wheel yourself?

Vladimir Putin: First, I am not going to drive all the way and, second, I want to see how it has been done. This is no ordinary event, and that's why I want to see it for myself. What we will witness today is an extraordinary event for the entire country. I don't want to sound pompous or overstate it, but this is a symbolic event for Russia, even a somewhat historic event, because Russia, the country with the largest landmass in the world, for the first time in its history will have a road network that stretches its entire length. Never before has the entire country been connected by motorway. Never before has every single constituent entity in the country been connected by a road network.

I have already mentioned this and it is something you are well aware of, a railroad was built very rapidly before the 1904 Russo-Japanese war. Before that people could only get from the European part of Russia to the country's Far East via the Indian Ocean or by the "ice roads" in winter. However, that is an arduous journey in winter, when the temperature can fall to minus 30, 40 or even to minus 50. Then the Baikal Amur Mainline was built, once again this was prompted by escalating tensions with China rather than any desire for eastward economic development.

So, this is the first time when, under absolutely ordinary conditions, unaffected by any external stimuli, we have built a motorway here. Earlier one could get from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok by car and from Chita one could drive west, to the European part of Russia, but this area between Chita and Khabarovsk had not been incorporated into the road network. And now we have finally accomplished this. And I want to see what it's like. That is the first reason.

And the second is that, as a rule, and again this is something of which you are no doubt aware, as soon as infrastructure like this appears, it becomes a hub of activity, primarily economic activity. A number of good facilities are already planned for this area, including a hydropower station, which will be one of the largest in the country, and Russia's second space centre and launch site. Experts chose this site very carefully and it is absolutely ideal for launching spaceships into orbit. Then there is Skovorodino, where, as you know, we are implementing a joint project on crude oil supply with the People's Republic of China. There are also other facilities that I would like to take a look at as future development loci. Those are the main reasons behind our decision to set off on a drive from here.

Question: Mr Putin, why a Lada Kalina car?

Vladimir Putin: It was made by Russia's largest car manufacturer and they asked me to include this car in the motorcade to see how it copes with distances like this.

Question: Did you choose it yourself?

Vladimir Putin: No. To be frank, I didn't really mind. They asked for this particular car to be included, so why not?

Let's not forget that AvtoVAZ manufactures Russia's most popular car - driven by millions of people. We have to see how it handles. They have installed some equipment in it, as I hope the company representatives have already explained, including GLONASS positioning systems and other state-of-the-art devices. We will see how they will fare on the open road.

Question: How do you like the colour?

Vladimir Putin: The colour... I only saw it yesterday evening, it's fine. It is quite bright and sticks out on the road. It is a beautiful colour probably most suited to young people, I think. So why not? Let's have it with us on our journey.

Question: I would like to ask you to comment on the situation regarding the Khimki Forest. This issue came up yesterday. The State Duma proposed a new initiative. How would you comment on that?

Vladimir Putin: First, there is always a natural contradiction between development and nature conservation. But it is clear that we need to build that new motorway just as we need to build other infrastructure facilities, for example, new homes, to improve people's quality of life.

Everyone knows what major transport issues Moscow and other large cities face. We need a new motorway between Moscow and St Petersburg, the country's two largest cities. This is absolutely evident both from the economic standpoint and in terms of public opinion. The question is where to route this motorway. This is naturally a very important question.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have always paid great attention to nature conservation issues. Just take for example how long discussions about building the pipeline to the Pacific Ocean lasted. Eventually, a decision was taken to build the pipeline 400 km away from the drainage basin of Lake Baikal.

Just recall how meticulous we were in our discussions of where to locate the Olympic venues in Sochi. Eventually we made concessions to environmental organisations and I myself took the decision to relocate certain venues. We even set aside additional funds for this.

Nor should we forget the discussions about the Nord Stream pipeline. We worked in very close cooperation with experts and international environmental protection organisations and managed to make the best possible decision.

All this reflects our approach to these issues, and demonstrates what we have done in previous years. Unfortunately, and this is clear, environmental issues are sometimes used for commercial gain.

Both then and now we have had every reason to believe that the campaign against the construction of port facilities in Russia's north-west, in the Gulf of Finland, was fuelled by our competitors. We have reliable information on that.

Environmental issues are sometimes also used for political ends, as was the case with the Nord Stream project. In these situations it is best to arm yourself with patience and try not to let yourself be guided by others' ambitions, first of all, the authorities' ambitions. However, I must say that representatives of various environmental organisations have their ambitions, too. It is a universal vice.

We have also faced situations when certain people came to us and said: "Nothing personal, just business. You'll have to pay. And you'd better do so immediately." And they named very specific sums.

I don't mean to suggest that we are in a situation like this now.

I believe that the decision made on this was sound and correct. It was an issue Dmitry Medvedev and I discussed.

I would like to repeat that this decision is in full keeping with our approach and our actions to date. Is that all? All the best.

Remark: Have a good trip!

Vladimir Putin: You too.