Transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon, friends! Today is a very good day. We have good weather in Moscow. Exactly one year remains before the start of the 11^th Paralympic Games in Sochi. This is precisely the reason we met – not to sum up results but to welcome each other and discuss what we still have to do.

The 11^th Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi are the first Paralympic Games we will be hosting, and we are proud of this. We consider them to be a very important event. The Paralympics is becoming an increasingly more important sporting event. The forthcoming Games are no exception – they will be attended by more than 1,300 athletes from the most diverse countries – 45 in all. This is a very large number of Paralympic athletes. I’m confident we will create all the necessary conditions for their training. We are looking forward to a wonderful sports festival with the participation of Paralympic athletes from all over the world.

There will be more than 70 medal packages at the Games. No doubt, emotions will be running high, but I’m sure that everything will go well. I’m confident that the athletes will show brilliant results in every competition.

Of course, a vast number of our fans, myself included, would like our Paralympic team to win. They do not yet have much experience. Our Paralympic team competed for the first time in Atlanta in the 1990s. Today it has become very strong and shows wonderful results. We met a while ago and discussed prospects and problems.

Friends! We always watch the competitions of Paralympic athletes with admiration, because they are always about the concentration of will power in every person, in every event and in every moment. We are, of course, particularly pleased when our Paralympic team wins. That said, I believe every Paralympic victory is a sports achievement for all of humankind. We must do everything we can to complete our preparations in full during this year. I’m confident that in a year’s time, when the Paralympic Games will open in Sochi, all athletes will be at the peak of their fitness, and everything will be ready for competitions at the top level.

I’d like to wish all athletes good luck and success. I’d like them to take advantage of the new opportunities that are opened up by the Paralympic Games. Naturally, our state will do everything to make this possible. I'd like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to the 11^th Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi. Thank you very much. Until next time!

Sir Philip Craven (President of the International Paralympic Committee) (via interpreter): Good afternoon Mr Medvedev, my good old friend Dmitry Chenyshenko (Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of the autonomous non-profit organisation, the Sochi-2014 Organising Committee), Paralympic athletes and friends! I am glad to be here. It is a great honour for me to be here, in this city that is known all over the world. Exactly one year remains before the start of the first Paralympic Games in Sochi. These will be the first Paralympic Games in Russia. I’m confident that, as Mr Medvedev said, the Sochi-2014 Organising Committee will do everything it can to conduct these games in the best way.

There is much work that has to be done by the start of the Games on March 7, 2014, and I am certain that everyone involved in this work will gain invaluable experience during the trial competitions. These will be the first time the Russian team is at home for the Paralympic Games, and I think its members will make every effort to win as many medals as possible. Given recent results, the Russian team has the potential to become the most successful team in the history of sport competition.

Two days ago, the 2013 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships ended in Solleftea, Sweden. The Russian team won 56 medals and once again finished first in the total medal count. The team won three times more medals than its closest rival, the Ukrainian team. The Russian athletes who won the most medals are Mikhalina Lysova, Roman Petushkov and Nikolai Polukhin. My congratulations! Last week, I was in La Molina, Spain, where I saw Russian athletes finish third in the overall team classification at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships. Russia can also be proud of its recent success in wheelchair curling and sledge hockey. I am certain that next year the team will be a strong competitor and tough to beat.  

History shows that medals won at Paralympics in the home country garner media attention. We see it today as well, and Russia will be no exception. The 2012 Summer Paralympics in London showed that wide coverage of events by the media and presenting the Games’ medal winners as role models can change the audience’s overall view and make them reconsider their attitude towards people with disabilities, and inspire a whole generation.

I know that Mr Chernyshenko, who is a good friend of mine, has witnessed the success of Russian athletes during several Paralympic Games. I am certain that he aims to replicate this success in Sochi and across Russia. Such projects as the programme for raising public awareness of the Paralympic Games and Paralympic values, as well as the availability map, will certainly contribute to reaching this goal.

The 2014 Winter Paralympics will be the most covered in the history of the Games. The recent agreements made with British broadcasting company Channel-4 and the European Broadcasting Union is a direct demonstration of this, proving that the 2014 Games will be broadcast in a greater number of countries than ever. With one year left, the aim of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee is to create a great Paralympic spirit, which we saw on display at the Summer Paralympics in London six months ago, and also, following on the success of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games, to hold the best Winter Paralympics ever.

As with all our events, we have to continue to develop and progress. I hope, and I am certain, that in one year, in Sochi, I will be able to say that Russia’s first Winter Paralympics have contributed to the advancement of the Paralympic movement, which has been around since 1960. The Games start in just one year – let’s celebrate that. See you in Sochi! Thank you.  

Dmitry Medvedev: Thank you. See you in Sochi!