YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, April 7. /TASS/. Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has said that working under Russian President Vladimir Putin corresponded to the best years of her life in an interview for the documentary timed to her 70th anniversary, broadcast on the Rossiya-1 channel on Sunday.

"I have been working for Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin’s] team since day one, and I would like to say from the bottom of my heart that these have been the best years of my life. They have been tough, they have been difficult, but they have been very interesting and eventful," she said.

"If he [Putin] invites someone to his team, it means that he trusts this person, that is his principle," the speaker stressed.

Putin has praised Matviyenko’s work ethic in an interview for the same documentary. "Of course, Valentina Ivanovna [Matviyenko] is a very useful and important link in the whole state structure of our today’s work," the Russian leader stressed. He also noted the top senator’s diplomacy skills, which she uses in her current position.

Matviyenko was elected speaker of the Russian Federation Council in 2011 (reelected in 2014), after serving as the governor of St. Petersburg from 2003 to 2011. She is the first woman to occupy the position of senate speaker.