i must say your candy a positive happy warrior outlook -- [laughter] is inspirational, and we have high regard for you as an orator come as when compared to the highly independent and very healthy bilateral relationship. so thank you very much for being here. it's been our great pleasure. >> thank you. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> this weekend is full of live event coverage on the c-span network. with politics on c-span "l.a. times" vessel of books on booktv and historians discuss the end of the civil war on

american history tv. on c-span saturday morning beginning at 10 eastern 10 eastern life all day coverage of the new hampshire republican party first in the nation leadership summit. speakers include ted cruz scott walker, john kasich and rand paul your saturday at 1:30 p.m. eastern on c-span2. booktv his life in the university of southern california for the "los angeles times" festival of books with panels on journalism and publishing, author call-in programs throughout the day. some of the authors you hear from include scott berg tava smiley and hugh hewitt. live coverage of the "l.a. times" festival of books continues sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. with panels on crime and u.s. history.

>> at age 25 she was one of the wealthiest widows and the colones entering the revolution while in the mid '40s she was considered an enemy by the british. who threaten to take her hostage. later she would become our nation's first first lady at age 57. martha washington this sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2 radio series "first ladies" influence and image.

as a complement to the series of c-span's new book first ladies, presidential stories on the lives of 45 iconic american women providing lively stories of these fascinating women creating an illuminating come entertaining and inspiring read. it's available as a hardcover or an e-book through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. >> russian president vladimir putin answered questions on domestic and foreign policy in his annual call-in program. more than 2 million questions were submitted and the entire event lasted four hours. we'll show you an hour and half portion we talked about ukraine and iran. >> we are watching the russian president as getting ready for his annual q&a address over 2 million questions posed to the russian president.

he set records in the past by going on for over four hours before and as he gets enough for his annual q&a address live, i will step aside and let the russian president man the helm from here. [speaking russian] >> translator: hello colleagues, president of our calls and has been working for a week and, of course, we'll keep taking your calls and questions. right now our operators are prepared for peak load of questions. you can call us at 88064040 or send a text to us if you call from abroad, use of the phone number you see on the screen right now. and during the last seven days we have set a record. as of now we've received more questions than last year by the time the show was over. so we have 2486,000 calls and

text messages. this year we had an interesting novelty. you can send your nms your photo question to the president demonstrating your problem that are described in so many words. we also take video questions that you upload them to the moscow putin website. and again, we have sign language translation available. we will keep taking your questions until the end of this show come and send your questions and. maybe the president will answer your question. here in this study we have people of different professions from different segments of russian society, teachers, agricultural workers, rescue

workers, military officers and they all have their question. shall we start? good morning. mr. putin, this year united face a lot of challenges. this was a time for you to make executive decisions and you were the only person who is capable of doing that. you have to take counter sanctions to get this situation with crimea, fiscal economic situations, outside pressure come and join personally get involved in these matters to which the outcome of this new? what would you say could you give us a list of successes and failures? >> that the traditional question. well i knew that it would be coming anyway i would have to give the results of the year. so i jotted down some of the figures for myself, so just to give you some fresh data i will

be happy to share them with you and the whole country. so you mentioned some of the results. we now have a reunification with crimea. we also worked on the difficult conditions. it was last year when we had the sochi olympic games that was a very successful sports event. that was what would happen last year. also we faced for four partners and had an impact on our pace of growth. the ruble has been strengthening. the stock exchange is a growing

inflation has stayed within certain limits. if you take last year's real gdp grew by 0.6%, flight growth is still the economy is growing. manufacturing has been up for us. the output is 1.7 and processing is 2.4%. and oil production has been at a record high. it's 525 million tons. rushes out one of its biggest targets in its history, 1.53 million tons their agriculture has been growing 3.7% growth. this year first quarter has demonstrated some good results.

we also have good figures across other categories petrochemical 4.1, fertilizers 4.2. sure, we do have problems and so the cat has been down, that's the best signal and also direct investments were down 2.5% but we still have good results in housing construction. i would like to highlight the record amount of construction. again, among -- mother rush has never seen such figures and even the soviet union wasn't able to match the figures. 81 or even 82 million square meters. these are stunning figures.

also unemployment was up. it was 5.3 in mid-2014. now it is my .8, but still we kept the growth of unemployment at a certain limit. inflation in the consumer sector was 11-point for. it's not good. of course, it hasn't living standard on our people. inflation was down threefold. as for the real income of the people was down 1% while wages grew by 1.3%. as you know we have indexed pensions. we have adjusted them to inflation, but still there is a lot of economic uncertainty and there's been a lot of capital

outflow. we have to bear that in mind. before they are for the questions on this issue, i would be happy to take them and we plot in more detail but despite fluctuations in the stock market demonstrating good growth. the their retail loans were up and the assets of the russian banking system grew by 7 trillion rubles, so it is the first time they have bypassed a gdp of the country. so that's a good sign that the russian banking system has been very stable. and it's great that both legal entities and now we have the individuals that take their

currency that they have purchased and now put it on deposits come and we see the number of deposits has grown 9.4%. and we see the amount of deposits is still growing. this year it's 1,945,000,000,000,000 rubles. and legal entities -- 19.5 trillion rubles. legal entities now have 26 trillion rubles in the deposits in russian banks. now moving onto the budget we have 80.5% deficit, but nevertheless it's still not very much. so i think we will stay within

3.7% the maximum. one of the positive results of 2014 was a positive demographic trend. we see that the birth rate was up and mortality was down and has been going across russian regions. this is a very good sign that it means we have the upward trend in the sentiment of the people that is positive. so that's the overview of the 2014. >> mr. president the figures you just give us our most macroeconomic indicators and to look mostly positive. if we talk about the, persons experience judging by the questions we have received instantly sitting on our hotline, it does look as rosy and there's a great number of problems. let's talk about economics first. let's start with economic issues. i would like to start with a question that came after a

recent article in a certain periodical. person who was present at your meeting with businessmen said that you wanted businessmen that sanctions will not be lifted anytime soon. first of all did you actually say that? and if yes, what do you think the situation? [speaking russian] >> translator: well, you didn't listen carefully to what i said. you miss some things that i said. i said positive things. i talk about macroeconomic factors that has critical importance for our growth but also said that of course, income has shrunk so that was due to inflation, 11.4%. so i mentioned that. now to sanctions. indeed we had that meeting and

i said it's highly unlikely that sanctions will be lifted anytime soon. if they politicized issue. some of our partners have had the strategic character and we want to restraint our growth. and i don't think it has any relation to the conflict in ukraine because you know come we're doing everything we can to make agreements but our partners have not caught up. but the most important thing is for us to use some more sophisticated ways of management. and, of course, a lot depends on us domestically.

i just mentioned inflation. i just mentioned real wages. but what is the reason for the decline? of course there have a lot of pressure on the ruble. the ruble has depreciated. it depends on oil prices. it's well known unfortunately we have this economy that is too dependent on oil. it's difficult to change the situation. but over the past years we sell real wages are growing at a higher pace than productivity gains. this is something very important. so regardless of any sanctions an adjustment was imminent. essential bank and the government actually you know

took those sanctions as a helping hand so to speak. so if he could have said that, okay, these were the majors that we need for adjustment and we have to be careful of the sanctions. that adjustment took place. it's very important and the markets have responded to that. it means that our economy is getting healthier. it means we have the basic conditions for growth. of course, sanctions have an impact. we will talk further about that with questions, talk about the issues but it's not the most important thing. [speaking russian] >> translator: still is it possible that the situation in russia we similar to that in iran with a decade of sanctions? [speaking russian]

>> translator: we don't have a policy in terms of energy that iran is conducting. so we have the energy sector which is much more market-based than many other countries. so it's not a very good comparison. now, in terms of how long we should wait for the sanctions to be lifted, i would like to rephrase the question. we have to take advantage of the situation to reach new levels of development. now look at the substitution. we are now forced to government these measures to implement measures. we have high-tech industries in our economy and we will achieve their development faster than when we projected earlier.

so look at agriculture especially after joining wto. we have made this sector healthier. sure their groceries are more expensive. we have to wait for some time. you just have to be patient but the agriculture sector will surely happen. i know that agriculture producers are not very happy about the situation. i would like to say this question is to provide the government still provide support and, of course, we make sure that we have the agricultural and food safety. [speaking russian] >> translator: what about the food embargo? we implement them because of

sanctions. >> russia is a strong nation and we can tolerate a lot of things but i know many foreigners think the main thing is that they don't leave sanctions because we are currently developing our own reduction and it took a real disaster. if you lived sanctions are do. we can talk about this later. people talk about your big press conference six months ago and you said it will take two years to rebuild the economy. would you digester forecast a little bit faster? [speaking russian] >> translator: we see the ruble strengthening, the stock market is going. the ruble i think will take about two years, maybe faster. so this year the output will be down given all the factors internal and external. but evidently at the beginning of the we projected that the outputs will be significantly down. but this has not happened. according to the latest data if

we take march data year on year, then the output is 99% of all we had last march. so the production has been stable. of course, it depends on the interest rate. it depends on the policies by the government but so there's been flat growth but we still need to do everything to kickstart the economy. [speaking russian] >> translator: but now he had the feeling that maybe shouldn't something differently? [speaking russian] >> translator: breath you might always is something particularly. i think we've taken the right measures.

[speaking russian] >> translator: right, but this is a very important question to do we have enough strength and resources? [speaking russian] >> translator: well, we have enough resources. we have enough human capital. we are proud of our talented people. we are very determined. they want to work hard that i talk to people about. i know the sentiment, especially in relation to sanctions. i'm sure russians are very discerning, but the job of the president, this into a government, essential bank they can needs to pass this with minimal cuts. can we do that? and yes. and it's not just about patients. we have to take advantage of this time, and we can do it. [speaking russian] >> translator: and what are the new threats that can emerge for our country this year? [speaking russian]

>> translator: there are so many threats, we cannot forecast but if we maintain the domestic political situation if we still have our society there are no threats that will be dangerous for us. [speaking russian] >> translator: mr. president so what ascii but negative aspects. a situation of a crisis. there's a set of measures taken by the government but frankly speaking come at this point we don't see how this is supposed to work and it seems like the primary strategy is to wait for oil prices to rebound. went on the price start to go up we will have more money and this will take care of all our problems. [speaking russian] >> translator: well this is an overly critical assessment. certainly you must always criticize the government and

president and the coverage of the russian regions. when you have criticism it makes you look at things with a fresh look. so you need some outsider opinion. nevertheless a the plan to stabilize the economic situation is something that takes a lot of professional professionalism. i mean, we cannot waste our money. certainly the government needed some time to understand what should be done and what kind of resources could be used. and the plan that i mentioned was adopted last december and it's now rolled out.

where perhaps a steps could have been faster, too. nevertheless the steps provided by this plan are well thought out and they reflect the state of our economy. i mean, that it's a large-scale blueprint, and we have 2.3 trillion rubles earmarked for the implication of this plan. 900 billion rupee channel to support the russian banking system. that's the backbone of our economy. and, of course everyone criticized the central bank and the government but still these are the right steps. we just take a look back at the 2009 crisis. we also have 250 billion rubles that will be spent for the real

sector of the economy. of course, this will go to the banks and then the banks will help. then we will send 100 billion rubles to support aviation aircraft construction. we will also have 82 billion to support employment 200 billion as guarantees for loans for certain projects and essential bank has a number of steps that are being implemented. it's critical to kickstart the economic growth. we are also adjusting pensions to inflation, and also we have a number of steps to take in taxation to ensure we're going to talk about that during the session. in terms of the altar we have drafted a new support point in

terms of internal logistics and transportation systems. we have a plan that is coming. the plan will be made zero for commuter traffic and also that with the cat 10% for passenger traffic. aviation. so a whole range of issues which are being implemented so it is not fair to say there are no results. sure, prices are up but not in all and we saw a decline in prices, not in all region but the average prices are down. the ruble has strengthened. so we can't see that come you can't say that nothing is being done. that's not fair. maybe the expectations were higher, but that's why i'm just urging everyone to be patient.

you just have to find the right with the lord and the government has taken the right way forward. [speaking russian] >> translator: but the ruble is turning or a different reason now. because oil prices grew a little bit and they are stable now and then a matter of speculation because people convert their money to rubles just interest rates grew. [speaking russian] >> translator: yes, oil prices are up. they see this link with oil prices. ..

>> translator: mr. boudin i would like the 1st question. we launched a firm two years ago. we're now the best young

business project. but we have our problems with human capital. when young people graduate from university i don't know what kind of challenges our ahead. they don't know how they can help russia. so maybe the government can help us? and help young people to understand what kind of professions they want to work. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so now it is confectionary. train children. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: this is the best way to do things. personal training especially in productive segments is one of our priorities.

the processes are getting increasingly complex. we need a skilled workforce that. we work a lot in this area with industry associations representing sne representing bigger companies. any number of measures together. competencies in different areas working together to organize internships and so on and so forth. we can't proceed without that obviously. the government has a special program for that but you are also right. it is better to visit an earlier stage of their still in school. yesterday i had a discussion with my colleagues and cities like moscow, almost 40 percent of young people want to go to the university

hungry for knowledge. but this also indicates that we don't have this kind of vocational training in school. we will keep working on that together. >> and let's have another question. >> finance minister. recognized as the best finance minister in the world. [applause] >> translator: >> hello. my question will be on the economy. so your 1st presidential term saw 7 percent growth. and oil prices were around 130.

even if the oil prices are 65. our gdp would be around 1.5 percent. the share of the russian economy will shrink. investment in modernization, high-tech sensors. so we will be lagging further and further behind. might have an impact on the defense industry. of course the defense industry depends heavily on the state of the economy and the state of technology as well. the figures that i just mentioned we will have these figures until 2,018. so it means we will be lagging behind from the world average these next

three years. the government is making some adjustments, but i think adjustments are not enough. the all development model is now has matured and is insufficient. but we don't have a knew development model. so what is needed to develop a knew development model. >> well, we work together for a large number of years. we are good friends, you may say. i know your position very well and your forecast is quite accurate very close to what is likely to happen in reality. first of all you you are one of the authors of the development program for our country until 2020. this is very well known. the 2020 program and basically i have not changed

radically. so if we could not foresee certain things in the program together with you part of the blame is yours. but of course we have to consider the current situation. what is happening with the economy today we know what we need to do. we have to build better conditions for businesses. we need to create better conditions for private investment. we need to improve our monetary policy. we need to significantly improve the system and the country as a whole command the government and in various sectors we need to improve law-enforcement and the judicial systems. it is a multidimensional task.

of course, it is easier said than done, but we definitely have to do it. so even though it may look scary somebody has to deal. and definitely there are certain things which are well known to everybody. it requires political we will. as you know, in spite of our difficult conditions we still make certain efforts in the direction recommended by you and other people who share your views. for example, this year the government froze some of the social benefits and did not index them. your colleagues will share your views and say this is insufficient.

we should actually lower it further cut back salaries and comes. they say we should raise the retirement age you soon as possible. otherwise we will not be able to balance the pension system where we have to take money out of the budget, a lot of money. and this stands in the way of our development. theoretically all those things on right. but to have a healthy economic policy you definitely need very much. we want people to justice you also have to have the heart. you have to be able to see how people live how an ordinary person lives.

if if we have the people's trust people will support everything we do. and sometimes they will be able to. but if we disregard how people feel and what happens in real life i am afraid that very soon we we will end up in a situation like we had in the early 90s where the government will lose the trust of the people and we will have to plug up our economic calls spending much more money than we can now when we move forward modestly was still making progress. for example, when we monetized the benefits we took a step. then eventually we had to spend a lot of our resources to take care of this problem. the situation will take the approach i described.

as the government recommends this is sufficient. will this cause our country to lag behind other significantly? let's wait and see. the public debt of the us is higher than the gdp. this is an alarming signal, not just for the united states, before the economy in general. what will what we will happen with the situation there? we don't know at this time. the euro zone the situation is very bad. what will happen to countries which have their public debt or 174 percent of their gdp. what will happen to those countries of the leaders of the euro zone be able to tackle the situation? we don't know. some we will certainly be guided by a consideration of

higher growth rate. rate. but we will do this in a way that will not put too much burden on our people. and you all know -- i don't know if you all know this but he is a member of the expert counsel working with the president of the russian federation. you know that you know that we always respect your opinion, including me. i mean, it. we always listen to your conditions. >> a small follow-up question. the structure of reforms the reform of the social center. we don't propose to stop the growth of real wages. no. wanted to make targets payments, maybe some categories might need a

higher salary while some of the categories do not need their salaries to be adjusted that i. so we believe that this targeted approach is more efficient especially in a crisis situation like we're facing today. also our proposals are aimed to tackle inflation. currently 17 percent. so we could have avoided this jump if other measures were taken and then real wages would not fall too much. as i said earlier we can have real wages growing higher than productivity gains. now we sort -- we saw the

adjustment. of course the presidential council has been working not too hard. i think we need to step up our activities. also, the 2020 strategy was drafted but not adopted. it is still on paper. and only 25 percent of its potential has been employed leveraged. so i am saying currently we need a program with the frontiers that we can reach regardless of the sanctions. >> well, well, the 2020 problem is a guideline for our development. we still use it. and i completely agree with you on the.of selective approach and offering social benefits. i have told the government to work. you also mention salaries growing ahead of productivity.

and i have presented my acquisition to you. inquisition to you. i agree with you to a certain extent, but in reality this is easier said than done. when you talk -- it is easy to talk about such things during hotlines because salaries especially with school teachers, this is true. you can't expect staff to achieve real results. of course, this can create difficulties like you have mentioned, on a whole we should do our best for salaries to grow and come up to the productivity level. you are right about that.

side to reach a compromise on the iranian issue. for all of the stakeholders now confirm and the just technicalities that need to be finalized. and that is why we have the decision. i did not see the statement by the chancellor of germany but maybe our counterparts are not aware of the fact that the un sanctions do not include military equipment legacy hundred we now see that there are positive trends.

there are no grounds to continue with this unilateral ban. as for the sanctions list the resolution of the un security council. our contribution is been significant. the resolution of the iranian. also the enterprises have produced this equipment. very expensive. no one has compensated is losses. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: the situation is changing. is better to encourage iranian counterpart. they continue along this path. also mentioned the report from israel. well, when we supply our military equipment to a certain region we take into account the big picture. of the biggest supplier of equipment and weapons to the middle east. the un supplies more equipment to this part of the world. and just recently and they selectively the political changes.

no crime will be able to. so we have the consultation. and one of the partners understood those concerns. pay back the advance. and it is not a threat. the defensive equipment. so it is only used for defense. and even if you talk about situations unfolding in yemen it can only be a

deterrent. we help we help the people of ukraine 1st and foremost. this is number this is number one. number two, we want to see the ukrainian economy,. they are our neighbors partners. we are interested are interested in having a stable situation on our borders and developing economic relations with our neighbors. the reason we offer them a lower price is because we know the economy will not be able to pay the market price. and the same goes for cold. the end of 2013.

going to you than $15 million year. and 5 billion dollars more for construction through commercial banks. and what did ukraine get? 17.54 billion years. we offered them a reduced price as long as they pay regularly and settle the debts. we reduced the price of natural gas. and now it is 300 percent higher. we keep our cooperation times intact. of course our situation is not so good. good. there's situation is really bad. they lost high-tech competencies construction

shipbuilding and so on and so forth. i think the consequences are severe. it is not clear why still, this is the situation we are in today. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: mr. president the famous poet once said i here the ball on ukraine's independence. he wrote about the list in ukraine. millions of ukrainian something there.

and now under threat. ask people to frame other people. one of the former mps was killed by gun down. the threat from nationalists. the ukrainian parliament head of may 9. the policy against the russian speaking population.

they are asking for discounts for natural gas. you look realistically how under what conditions we can normalize a relationship. >> this is not a simple question. we could talk about russians and ukrainians being one. pressure does not expect anything. treat us as equal partners. the important that important

that they respect the legitimate rights of ethnic russians living in the ukraine. people who consider themselves russians regardless of what it says in the passport people who consider the russian language is the mother time and you think they belong to the russian culture. any country of course including russian. so there is nothing extraordinary about that. normalizing our relations with ukraine. will do all we can. we expect that ukrainian authorities will abide by all the minsk agreements. first and foremost and actually started talking about that, they have to set up a working group as part

of the process and start working on several areas political reform constitutional reform the the economy, border issues and so on and so forth. they have to start doing those things. stop talk about these things were doing and practically. at this.unfortunately we only see attempts to continue to exert pressure and there is no real desire to resolve the conflict through political means. it is my understanding that there is no other solution except for political want, and i and i hope that everybody will come to the same realization. >> another question from our studio. thank you. well known in russia. she has a question on ukraine.

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: mr. president my question to a number one is about the tragic deaths. it shook me as a person. it is really painful. so what is your take on the investigation? will we know who word that contract killing? it looks more like a terrorist act. and what about the political competition your political opponent be ready?

will the beep conditions for them to take part in poetry elections? maybe that we will stabilize the situation and stimulate the private sector and draw in the private investment. also another question during the funeral western journalists came up to me. online reports that boris and self got some information on the presence of russian troops in southeast of ukraine and also during the funeral western journalists asked me about it. can you clarify? can you give us more details? were there russian troops are not? >> okay. the possibility to participate officially and legally in politics.

number one, of course they can and should. number two, if they make it in the parliament me if they have people support the activity will have an official status and they will certainly be responsible to a degree. but you are but you are an experienced person. you have been in the government. it is one it is one thing to be in the opposition and to criticize. there is no responsibility not too much responsibility. still, this brings you to the forefront and it is something positive, i think. in the long run the bottom line is it is up to the people to decide who should be in parliament. i think this would be a positive development. now in your 2nd question

he was in the opposition. he criticized me in the government even though i used to have a pretty close relationship with him in the past. and like i said in the past, this is tragic and shameful with this assassination. now, about the investigation, i can tell you that just one day or maybe 36 hours after police investigators knew the names of perpetrators really question and was how the rest of. let's give credit to our law enforcement agencies. this was objective data.

they have many different technical capabilities available to them. i don't want to say too much because i don't want to die voltage their advanced methods that they use in the work. but on the whole this matter was taking care of within a few hours. whether to fund -- and so they did a very professionally and quickly and you several channels simultaneously. simultaneously. different agencies work simultaneously and achieve the same result. whether they we will find a mastermind behind this and whether there is such a person, i don't know yet. it will become clear with time. they are working. finally i can tell you

clearly where there are no russian troops in ukraine. actually, during the recent conflict in south eastern ukraine the head of the general staff of the ukrainian army openly and publicly said will not worried about the ukrainian army. >> is a follow-up question the reason foreign-policy failed in ukraine they invested up to $33 billion. in the us only $5. >> well, it is not our failure. it is the failure of

ukraine's domestic policy. yes, we helped ukraine when it was a very difficult time for us ourselves. a brace there price there was much lower than the international marketplace. dozens of billions of dollars. this is no exaggeration. "operation and hope that maybe recovers amount of future. >> of what happened is people should be tired of poverty of fraud,

embezzlement greedy government officials corruption, oligarchs in the government. people got tired of all that. mr. looking for ways out. unfortunately sometimes i turned to people who take advantage of this current difficulty and offer some simple solutions including what happened in russia in the 1990s. we had what we had what they call the sovereignty parade and nationalism. very similar situation in russia. this is what happens in other countries as well.

this is what happens in the ukraine. ukraine. all the national forces take advantage of the situation. and. as a result you have the situation today. is that our failure but the failure of ukraine itself. perhaps remiss that. >> translator: and media and other post-soviet countries we have western partners working very actively. if you look at the number of nonprofits financed to deal with political activities financed by the us there like 1200. how much does russia spend on these activities? >> well, you well you have what they call a freudian slip. the alienation of ukraine. there was no alienation. ukraine is an independent country. you should respect that. in the 1990s the alienation and we declared

sovereignty of the russian federation. this was quite a step liberated them from ourselves. this was our decision. and since and since we made this decision we have to respect there independence now. this is the choice that the people of ukraine have made. it's up to them to decide how to build this relationship. during the previous ukrainian crisis come out of the 2nd? that the 3rd round of elections. it was not violent. well we turned a blind a blind eye and working with the. now now it's a. we can put up with that it's unacceptable. we unacceptable. we have the respect other countries to build

relationships with them. other than that is beyond her control these are independent nations and we can't meddle in their affairs over here and. the eurasian economic union with belarus, the significance is that to me is nations closer to us we don't care if a person with you in this territory or across the border exit the living standards of proof. their rights their rights and not been infringed upon.

if that's the case we don't care. people people have a good life in those countries that are treated fairly, this is the kind of relationship we have a cast on, belarus, you mentioned armenia. we would like this to be developed. this is the main thing. is not that we want to keep those countries in our sphere of influence. is not our goal to rebuild an empire. now, this is a natural integration process. the whole world is taking this latin american in with north america also, the us and canada, europe, asia. in what we do the same thing they tell us were building an empire. we can't have integration? is not our goal to rebuild an empire. we don't have imperial aspirations, but we want to make sure that neighboring

countries have this decent life by developing cooperation with the. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so russia is a country where thousands of ukrainians find refuge. take the time on the border with ukraine. across to the town. ♪ ♪ [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: we're at the hotel. refugees from the ukraine live your most of them came here weeks ago.

whether they we will find a job. currently there are 19 people including seven children. and all the necessary conditions have been created for them. the children go to school with younger children have therapy sessions. we spend a few days hearing get to know. how old are you? >> four. >> for, and where did you come from? tell us much downtown. can you tell us about? >> it was bombed when we were on sabbatical. and so now it's been destroyed. >> all. >> all right. let's go to the living room now.

where you come from? >> the have any relatives left? >> my grandmother. >> what about your friends. >> classmates? >> of course. what was the last time you talk to them? >> it's been a while. social networks. do you miss them? >> yes. >> you can address them directly, tell them whatever you want. >> i just want to say hi to all of my friends in my grandmother grand. >> there are 38,000 refugees of course they have lots of questions. >> hello. the people really want to

know what we will happen to our region in the future. >> what other prospects? even though many people there because of this conflict there is no way for us to live together. >> you mean the status of the territories. >> yes basically this will talking about the future of mother russia. >> first of all, we need to get life back to normal in these territories that you call the republics. [inaudible]

>> of course that region as a whole and. [inaudible] >> you have to have conditions for. seems to be interested. you need to revive economic ties. power generation is based on call by call from south

africa sabbatical from australia. we see it. [inaudible] as part of the minsk agreement we might find some provisions that will help to restore the single political space. but, of course, it's the people that have the ultimate right to decide.

it will depend on the flexibility and the ukrainian leadership. >> one more question. >> people who live here have many difficult questions as well. >> we are very much afraid for children and grandchildren during the hostilities. and we had our suitcases packed. to think of think of will start? >> i think it's impossible. so don't worry. >> plenty of influences. some of the shelves.

but i still think it's just an accident not an intended don't on russia but to damage russian infrastructure. >> mr. president, we have received news just now. a man was shot and killed, one of the brightest well-known ukrainian journalists a very well-known to the audience. he participated in talk shows the russian channels hours ago. just the other day people

were killed. >> is not the 1st political going. there were a series of assassinations. that's about the investigation. it's a disgrace to russia and law enforcement will do everything to find those who executed those who ordered and ukraine wants to be a democratic state. welcome it has to do the same. nothing like that is happening. >> europe and the us turn a blind eye to. >> of. >> of course 1st and foremost to express condolences to the family and his colleagues.

>> we all agree this is -- in every family any attempt to rewrite history is rejected. the the red army is no longer regarded as liberators. it's on the same board is nazi germany. what do you think about that as a son of a person who was in more. >> i have mixed feelings very difficult issue. i'll try to be brief. certainly you cannot compare nazis and stalinism. simply because nazis opened

says they going to destroy jews, gypsies. stalin was not an angel. [inaudible] it doesn't make sense to compare these two figures. secondly, maybe not that pleasant but there was still some ground for these allegations. after world war ii i tried to make many eastern european countries live like we lived in the soviet union commend it was done by force. it's not good.

of course the same with the us admitted they tried to impose their model of development around the world , they are doomed to fail. >> mr. president have a question on isis. we know that they are rushing to fight alongside isis and we have very special camps with a drop people in central asia. in their russian citizens have serious is the threat in europe and a capable of withstanding this basis

1st imagine. i would love to.out to you that any rack is very undemocratic regime but there was no terrorism at the time. then after they kill saddam hussein committee actually cooperate with the united states to a certain.and they supported him. had not been a while with anybody anyway after they destroyed the country and after some of the people there smaller part of the population was still part of

the elite was sidelined lost their offices, lost their jobs and had no way to survive. they joined extremist organizations and set up isis. a a large number of former military officers from the iraqi army this is what makes them so effective. they are professionals. a lot of military professionals, and then begin to attract other radicals and extremists of all sources region. of course, there is no direct threat for us from isis but you mentioned we are concerned that there are our people appearing. they get certain training

and in a can come back to russia. there are people from us eis countries to get the military training there and then they come back. we are aware of that. we're taking the necessary steps. i can tell you that we know all their names. at least we know the approximate number and places where they get the training. we do know certain names. our security agencies are working very well in this area. actually, they cooperate with the college mother's eis countries on this issue. >> a a radio station, some tough questions. yes? >> i i would love to go back to political assassinations.

we just mentioned the killing in ukraine. also the killing of bias. bias. i am mostly surprised when sometimes investigators cannot question someone. someone might hide one of the russian regions, and they cannot get it. a person is still 200 200 meters away from the kremlin. so he just walking with a girl. know who killed. can't find the person who ordered the killing. it also, you have people who lay flowers. it may be just hundreds of people that have some kind of memorial. now they are not allowed to do it. it's just a waste. flowers and russian flags

plastic bags internally year from st. petersburg in him from moscow. we don't have a street named after us that they might make a proposal and then the moscow government might rename street. and maybe we might have a bridge named after boris ¥quex with regard to the assassination i have already said what i think about it and don't think there is any need for me to repeat myself

with regard to flowers in the names of streets, you know that it is up to local authorities and regional authorities to decide that there is a lot according to which flags can be after ten years since his death. but i repeat moscow authorities can and should make an appropriate decision as for flowers and others things of similar nature i don't know why there is a need for such restrictions restrictions, and i don't welcome that. on the contrary there is nothing wrong with that. what is wrong with people playing flowers, if this does not interfere with other people i think there

is no problem interfere with that. you mentioned -- it is also strange. i definitely think that he deserves considering all that he did, to have a street named after him in moscow. and i we will also talk to the moscow mayor about that. thanks a study the laws. the russian president has the right to propose it and then a decision will be taken very soon. please introduce that proposal. >> welcome i don't mind. and maybe is right. if i have that that does not

mean i should use it immediately. there are other ways to do this. i can talk to the mayor and we can sort this out. don't worry. >> a question from the audience. in the present of suntrust. a list of presidents mistrials, helicopter carriers the 2nd helicopter carrier was just so will we demand they hand over compensation or what? what about military technical operations with europe in france? what is the future of such cooperation? >> well, the decision not to deliver under an existing contract is certainly a bad sign.

but in terms of our defense capabilities frankly this is absolutely insignificant. we signed those contracts in the 1st place in order to support our partners make sure that there shipbuilding shipyards are busy. and we also plan to use those helicopter carriers in the far east. so they are not critical. still, i believe that the french will give her money back to us. making some extra payments fines.

the reliability of our partners who are part of nato and give up part of their sovereignty. this means their reliability is questionable and we will certainly take this into account in our future and defense contracts with them. >> well, everyone would relax, you, you know, if you say the penalty is not needed to be paid. >> this weekend that c-span city store has partnered with comcast to learn about the history and literary life of saint augustine florida. >> may or may not have been searching for these -- the fountain of eternal youth. a

lot of people said he was out for additional property for the king of spain and colonization attempt and gold which is very decidedly true. .. by henry morrison. flagler is little known outside the state of florida but he was one of the wealthiest men in america. essentially he had been a co-founder of standard oil company with jeon d

rockefeller. he was a man who always wanted to take a great enterprise and as it turned out, florida was it. he realized that he needed to own the railroad. between jacksonville and st. augustine too, to ensure that guests could get to his hotel conveniently. so clearly the dream was beginning to grow on flagler. he wasn't a man with big dreams. he was a visionary. watch our events from st. augustine saturday at noon eastern on c-span 2 's, book tv and sunday afternoon on american history tv on c-span 3 chlt. c-span 22 providing live coverage of the senate floor proceedings and key policy events and every weekend book tv now for 15 years the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors.

c-span 22 created and brought to you by a satellite and cable provider. watch us in hd and like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. how should the west deal with russia? panelists in the debate of toronto debated if the west will engage more or less with russia when it comes to the international affairs. and arguing for more than gaugement is the veteran journalist vladimir poser in by the new york university russian study's professor steven cohen and further engagement is russian born political dissident and issue with a wash post columnist. the debate is a by annual event in toronto the. bringing together the newsmakeres to debate current issues. this is an hour and a half.

we created communists. >> you don't know your arguments would be totally destroyed. >> immediately, is it possible to complete a sentence? >> then you are going to come back you are shaken up. >> let's save the bleeding hearts for someone else. >> have you to say something. when you have a creation and a plan it makes us object in accrual experiment and over us in installed a celestial dictatorship. a kind of vine north korea. [laughter] jiesh the question is obsolete, the question is no. i will not let you be useless. we are going to fix -- [applause] >> nor are we in the house of commons. so what big deal. with a performance like

that, we will get there. i promise. i quoted them saying show me where the program as you can keep screaming that it will not change the point. barack obama has rebuilt the trust of the world and other institutions. you must not talk to anybody in the world. any our allies in order to believe that. we are in, this the united states cannot pull itself out by running a trade surplus unless we will find another planet to sell to. are we prepared to say if you are successful enough we will rip you off? you owe us,ing how dare you be so successful? that is the hypocritical argument. i find annoying. you are finding it as annoying. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, welcome. [applause]

my name is griffith to organize this debate series and once again to hold as a moderator. i want to start the night's proceedings by welcoming the north american wide television radio audience tuning into the debate everywhere from cbc radio ideas to c pact public affairs channel to c-span across the continental united states. a warm hello also to our online audience watching right now on munk debates.com. it is terrific to have you as virtual participants in the night's proceedings. hello to you the over 3,000 people that have filled roy thompson hall to capacity for yet another month's debate. bravo. [applause] bravo tonight represents a milestone of sorts for the

munk debates. the 15th semi annual event. we have been at this for 7 1/2 years now. our ability it to bait in and bait out to bring the brightest minds, sharpest thinkers here to dront owe to debate the biggest issues facing the world and canada would not be possible without the for site and the generosity, and the commitment of our hosts tonight. ladies and gentlemen. join me in an appreciation of the co-founders of the organization peter and melanie mu nk. thank you guys. [applause] well let's get this debate underway. debaters are here on the centerstage. arguing for the residence lieuing be it resolved and emmy award-winning journalist top rated and russian tv broadcaster and

best selling author vladimir posnor. vladimir. [applause] posnor's teammate tonight is a celebrated scholar of soviet and post soviet russia and contributing editor to the nation's magazine from new york city. welcome stephen f cohen. [applause] one team of great debaters deserves another. and arguing against the resolution be it resolved the west should engage not isolate russia is the warsaw based pulitzer prize winning author and "washington post" columnist and -- come on in.

debating partner tonight, is the prominent dissident and human rights foundation and as the world's greatest living chess player. thank you. well a little predebate business to take care of. four quick items. number one power up your smart phones we have the hashtag going tonight. munk debate much the imput of what you are hearing on stage to get analysis and comentary on the debates. and also we have an online poll going that is available to the people here in the audience and those of you watching online. url is triple wwwmunk debates.com/vote.

that will take us through the next hour and a half with instant audience reaction to the proceedings here on stage. and next. very important. counting down already, the clock. it will keep the debate on time and the debaters are on their toes. when you see the clock reach zero or approaching zero. i will want to you join me in the round of applause and again that will move us into the evening quickly. and keep us on time. let's now review thoeshgs how this audience here in the room voted on tonight's resolution. coming into this debate. you were asked agree or disagree. should the west engage or isolate russia? if we can have those results right now, up on the screen? there we go. 57 agree. 43% disagree.

quite close. this debate could go either way. and to get a sense of how much of this room and how much public opinion is in play right now. we asked you second question. depending on what you hear tonight. you are opened to changing your vote? so let's have those. that is a yes, no. 86% of you. this is an indecisive audience what is going on here. 86% will go either way. debater it's will debate very much in play. and as we have agreed beforehand, the order of the opening statements, mr. vladimir posnor your 6 minutes starts right now. thank you. i have not yet started and the clock is moving. could you go back to 6 please? thank you. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen. i have not come here to argue rush's case. i have come here to argue the case that isolating country is not only counter

productive but dangerous. especially when the country is big, wealthy, and powerful and unpredictable as russia. allow me to share with all of you a little bit of history. when the russian empire crumbled in 1917 in the bows vick came to power, the west refused to recognize. first soviet russia and the soviet union. isolation and no engagement was the word of the day. and for a decade or so cast by western media. and an evil power and left to stew in their own juices and would fall apart. and economic and dead in the water and people drive up to destroy the regime. as we all know none of this happens. the west was hit by the worst economic crisis in history meanwhile. they announced the first plan of economic

development. over those years of nonrecognition and soviet leadership headed by stalin was able to conduct a bloodbath in the country and physically wiped out all of the political opposition. it had destroyed millions and millions that had refused to adhere to the collective farm system. it had starved to death millions of ukrainian farmers that would not bow to demand for wheat and flour. it was the process of the annihilating the most precious human resource. it was in the process of a human entity. homeless. and a great terror laid just ahead and no recognition. no engagement. isolation. and no interferences on the west part. absence of any outcry. and all played no small role in the soviet system to allowed the way it did. it would be remisof me on

the eve of the 70th anniversary of the nazi germany not to mention the fact that by the end of the 1930s the west in great britain and france engaged in the alliance against hitler. and consequence being the infamous pact of august 1939 with the secret protocol whereby the independent states of estonia. and latvia and lithuania would be sold off to the soviet union as part of pole land. and while it is true. it was ultimately the soviet union that broke the nazi's back. it was testified to. and the likes of roosevelt it. is true that the soviet union went onto occupy all of the countries of eastern europe as well as some of the central europe. and so it is a true. it became a military superpower. we should thank our lucky

stars that world war iii never happened. thank you to mad. mutually assured instruction. the ussr fell apart not because it was isolated or nonengagement on the part of the west. but in fact actually made it stronger. but it fell apart because of the system that ceased a function. it was simply not viable. when it fell apart when gorbachev and yelts incame into power. did if engage a new russia. is the deeper than good old boris pr policy was this and you lost the cold war you can pay for it. just shut up go back into the cave you are a second-rate country. we don't care about you anymore. have the west the united states first and foremost, and decided to engage gorbachev's soviet union and

russia. to engage with the same that did not engage postwar germany and postwar italy. they will create and support the democratic development and institutions. russia today would be a very different country. in conclusion let me say this. the russia that exists and a large measure of no engagement by the west. of the policy that is aimed to humbling the nafgs the proud people. i vote foreign gaugement, i want to see the change in russia. change positive. both for russia and to the west. thank you. [applause] and you're next. thank you very much.

thank you so much to the fantastic sell out audience. no thanks to whoever wrote the resolution which gary and i most oppose this evening. i like the west rest of you believe strongly that engagement is a positive thing. engagement peace and prosperity are linked. and isolation is negative and confrontation. have i long promoted the engagement of eastern europe and advocated the integration with the west. and i believe that the engagement that works so brilliantly could work for this. and after a long experience for the moment it can't. and as it exists it cannot be engaged. and putin's russia is not just a traditional dictatorship as stephen cohen will tell you this. is russia's current leaders, not political rulers of the nation but literally the country's owners and control all of the major companies.

all of the media. and natural wealth. in the 1990 thinks took over the russian state and lead with organized crime with theft, graft and money laundering and russia's most unequal countries in the world 110-count control 35% of the nation's wealth. and many of the people work in and without the kremlin. whatever you want to quality system. the mafia estate. future i'll empire, this is a disaster for ordinary russians and it is dang rou for everybody else. and for the order to stay in power, in order to keep this tiny group of people enrun enriched. future initial has needed not only the spread of the assistance to the immediate neighbors but underlining those democracies in the west. how does it work? they badly need to keep the international financial system safe for corrupt money. to do so western politicians for example and the german chancellor and gerhard schroeder.

he stopped in the investigation into the financial scam here closely connected to future initial. future pite putin's cronies have hoped by doing so they will acquire the pluckal fln they need to protect their dishonest schemes. they make ample use of tax a sxenz enrich the providers of the corruption services and deprive the revenue. how to stop this only by disengaging and isolating the problem. and let's get russian money out of the western financial system. a second example, putin is henchmen are often frustrated by the multilateral institutions like the eu and nato. the united energy policy will make it more difficult for russia to use the gas pipe lines as it does right now to blackmail and bully the neighbors. as it worked for nato. russia will find it easier for the land to take it badly wants in the arctic.

and the russian regime has invested in anti-european and transatlantic and fascist political movements all over europe. a russian bank has lent to those leader of the far right in france. and russia also maintains the strong political financial links to theant semitic far right party in hungary. and far right groups in germany shallitily. and those of the other countries. what to do about this problem? we will need to disengage and isolate. let's get russian money out of politics. and thirdly. investing in the enormous situation television stations and multiple languages and websites. and a vast army of internet trolls whose work is documented. and have designed and efforts would be designed for chaos and confusion. this is not propaganda and saying that russia is a great country. no, when the malaysian plane was shot down by a missile

over the ukraine last summer, the russian media respond with the multiple absurd conspiracy theories for example that the plane was full of dead people when it took off. and even on an ordinary day. russia today, the russian english russian chan sell capable of reporting on the cia invention of ebola. and the point of the stories is to create a fog of disinformation so that no one knows anymore what is true and what is not. how can we breakthrough this fog and shore up our traditions of the objective reporting? yes, we have to disengage and isolate. let's work together to fight russian lies and get them out of our media. you will note that you have not mentioned ukraine. you cannot understand the recent crisis unless you understand the described. russia has maintained the control by investing in the politicians and disinformation. and a copycat. and political version invented in russia and he

almost succeeded. the young pro european and democracy ukrainians were not fighting russia as a nation but fighting all of the corruption and putinism. how can we assist the ukrainians? i repeat we will need to disengage to isolate putinist russia and maintain the sanctions of the cronies on the 110 people around him that will control their country. we will need to make putin pay a high price for invading the neighbor so that he will not invade another one. and the best way to do this is through disengagement and the isolation in the sense, isolate russian money. isolate those and russian political influence and propaganda a and prevent the russian violence and corruption from distorting the politics of eastern europe. and western europe and north america. putinism is the danger to russia and ukraine and all of us. thank you very much. [applause]

ten seconds on the clock. that is impressive. unlike miss apple baum. i come here on my first trip to canada as patriot of the american and national security. on behalf of my family and yours. to achieve that type of security and the world we will need aparter in in the kremlin. not a trend but the partner that will share our fundamental interest. and to achieve that we must not not gauge russia. but we must pursue full cooperation on the security and other matters with russia. that is our real reality today that the national security hours and yours, mine and yours runs through

moscow. this is the truth. why? in this debate there is a favor to ask of you. and patrick moynahan says that it is profound. everyone is entitled to his or her own independence and facts. please keep this in mind. here are the facts. the world today is much more dangerous. let's less stable. less ordered than it was 25 years ago. there are more nuclear states and less control over the nuclear weapons and nuclear no how and regional conflicts. and ethnic religious hatred. political extreme sxichl intolerance. as a result there. is more terrorism. in more places. and making this work worse, there is more economic and social deprivation and

recentment. as we all flow. are more environmental dangers and foreseeable shortages of the earth's resources. here is the other fact this. is not an opinion. but it is a fact not one of these dangers can be dealt with effectively without russia's cooperation no matter who sits in the cem len. and in the after the soviet union. russia remains the largest territory country. and the one that straddles the fateful front line between the western and islamic civilization. russia has proportionally and more of the world's natural resources and energy, and fresh water than any other nation and russia has an arsenal and stockpiles of every conceivable weapons of mass destruction. still, more, what when we like it or not russia has sympathizers and partners and allies around the world. even in europe. and even in the western hechls fear. these are the not opinions.

what is the alternative. our opponents say that it is to isolate russia. they want to weaken and destabilize and regime change as if they could in russia. and they rely not on fact but on the three fundamental fallacies based on opinions. and for which there are very little of any facts. falacy number one. and in this globalized world it is impossible. impossible to isolate russia. russia is too big. too rich. and too interconnected in the day's world. and russia has so many options apart from the west and in the west. one example ever since several months ago. president obama said that it was american policy to isolate russia. the russian state under putin has signed more foreign and agreements. financial political economic and military and foreign states than has washington. and russia has been

connected. russia has other places to go. and if we push them out of the west. falacy number two and isolating russia from the west will not make moscow more cooprative or compliant. initial stead we know what russia will do. this is doing it today. it will turn elsewhere. above all to the east. above all to china. and to many of the other dozens of regions and regime that's harbor recentments against the west and america. and europe. and canada. what will russia do if we so isolate them and it will sell the nuclear weapons. nuclear reactors and it will sell them excellent weapons. it will give them credit. it will protect them politically. if the united nations with its veto. and falacy number three. a weakened and destabilized russia will make every danger listed worse. and create new ones. consider for example if this policy of isolation with its subpolicy of

weakening moscow were to succeed what would become of russia's weapons of mass destruction. and if moscow's control over them. and diminished. think about that. think of yourselves and your children and think of this type of madness is. that what we really want? finally. what arguments at base do our opponents make in favor isolating russia? nonthat i can see. the towering example and what apple bomb would mention is ukraine. is this entirely putin's fall fault. there is no responsibility. the first time in modern history. one side is entirely what we made no mistakes in the policy whatsoever. and this is not factual. believe ukraine to the other debate if you wish. i want to end by pointing out what the ukraine has already cost us in terms of our national security. it is losing the security partner in the kremlin. not just future initial. but perhaps for generations or at least years to come. it is splitting europe

against american leadership and possibly, undermining the transatlantic alliance. and having plunged this into the new cold war. it is bringing this closer to a war with nuclear russia than we had been in the cuban missile crisis. these are the facts. [applause] gary. you're six minutes please. thank you so much. >> i am here in this audience. a neighbor our. and up the west side. and new york. but in russia. um when i was a kid. playing into the russian

flag was to not gauge my country. to make a defect or in the humanity. i knew that despite the regime that i hated, russia saw at the time a huge potential. it is intellectual. and cultural. and also resources. it seemed to me. that for many others for millions in my country. in eastern europe and elsewhere in the world that in 1991 i will our dream came true much of and the regime collapsed. we will remember this day you know. celebrating for talking about pure cage. and it is escaping from a cage. it was not an easy time because as we will remember also it collapsed and it ended in a terrible civil war. russia had not escaped that so boris yeltsin and the ability to understand that

we needed an agreement with the republic to make sure that we can move into the future. russia was i would not say rewarded but it was engaged from the very beginning. what about the billions and billions of money as yeah i to support russian economy. during the financial collapse i am an alone to help russia to escape. and you know. by the end of russia who was on the verge of recovery. and highs in the year. year 2000. and then putin comes in. and that was probably the greatest mistake ever made. nine years after the collapse of the soviet union and reserved that for those that had ears to hear and along term agenda a and