Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, said that he believes it is necessary to use all of Russia's historical heritage.

"We cannot give up anything: neither the positive things that were in Russian history, connected with the Tsarist Empire, nor the positive things, there were not a few positive things in the history of the Soviet Union," the president stressed.

He noted that both of these periods had their difficulties, were overcome in different ways and had different consequences.