WikiLeaks can damage relations between countries: Dmitry Medvedev

Terming diplomacy as a "quiet activity", Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today acknowledged that secret memos released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks could damage relations between countries.

"I see that it has pluses and minuses. ...may be all the issues discussed by diplomats should not be made public quickly. Ultimately they are bound to be made public in a hundred or two hundred years. But they damage relations between countries," Medvedev said.

The Russian president was responding to a question by a student at IIT-Bombay during an interaction programme.

Claiming that the cables released by WikiLeaks would cause no harm to Russia, he said, "We do not care about it, but sometimes people use rough words and others get emotional about it."

Describing diplomacy as a "quiet activity", Medvedev said sometimes unpopular and dramatic decisions have to be taken.

"Each person should realise that in inter-state relations, sooner or later, information would be made public," he said.