i have to give something back to me and i can apply chatrooms him to me on the first. point when surfers fighting against unseen pollution the city starting january seventh on g.w. . this is you know we news live from berlin russian president vladimir putin has cleared the first hurdle toward securing a nother term in office his backers have supported his bid to become an independent candidate this comes a day after his biggest critic alexina vonnie was barred from challenging him in

the march elections also coming up. here to stay russia's parliament signs off on a deal to extend its lease of a syrian naval force in the move to secure its moscow a port for its fleet in the western mediterranean and a presence in the middle east and. liberia prepares for its first democratic transition of power in more than seven decades the presidential runoff it's a former soccer star against the country's vice president. of the. great to have you along russian president vladimir putin is eyeing a nother six years in office and now he's been formally endorsed to participate in next year's vote for more than six hundred supporters including prominent long.

hers and actors have gathered in moscow for the endorsement because of their support putin can now submit documents to take part in the march election as an independent candidate while this follows the russian election commission's decision to reject opposition leader leader election of on these bid to participate in the race. all right so we can now go to moscow to do sure when who is monitoring developments there emily why is putin running as an independent candidate. well putin announced the decision to run as an independent candidate in december at his yearly press conference and he gave no official reason now there could be several reasons one could be to do with the polls if you look at polling when it comes to trust a much more people many more people trust putin then they trust the government for example the ratings of putin are much higher than of the prime minister. who is the

head of the government so putin may be trying to distance himself from the government and also from his united russia party this candidacy leaves him kind of floating above the party structure and it could also be a way of trying to keep public interest in these elections after all putin is running for a fourth term he's very likely to win according to polls and it's important for the kremlin to have turnout be high in fact there were media reports on the weekend that they wanted to turn out to be as high as seventy percent that's their goal apparently and that's of course important to show that these elections after for putin to or after three put in terms are legitimate still and they're trying to keep public interest perhaps by presenting putin as this independent new candidate or let's talk about putin's most outspoken critic alexina volley he won't be allowed to run against him let's watch and of all these reaction to being barred.

the election commission's vote was a setback for no vaal me twelve of the thirteen members supported the motion to bar him from running in next year's election with one member abstaining earlier the commission argued the opposition leader was in eligible due to a past conviction for embezzlement. but used. in a crime which alexei on the totally of it was charged with is a serious one which deprives a person who committed that crime of the right to run for the post of russian federation president. and you know. no valving can sense the charge was trumped up to thwart his political ambitions speaking before the vote the kremlin critic said a candidate was needed to confront the country's problems. it's not about an avanti but a candidate is needed who will finally speak openly about everything taking place

in our country now. one who will describe our reality honestly the lack of any future prospects and the poverty i did that and that's why you want to allow me to take part in the election. that me and i will but it just moments after the commission's decision to reject his bid in a volunteer released a prerecorded message calling on supporters to boycott next year's vote. we announce a boycott of the election and. the way they want to carry out the vote is not a real election it will feature only putin and the candidates he has personally selected the ones who don't pose any threat to him if they haven't campaigned and they will not campaign but it's integral part of. president vladimir putin is campaigning as an independent polls show him on course to win a fourth term. allowing him to stay in office another six years.

emily so no volley is out is there any other credible contender who can challenge the incumbent that's the question well there are two people worth mentioning two people potentially worth watching but the keyword here is credible i think. there is first of all saying yes up shock a well known public figure and journalist she has had her presidential bid accepted by the election commission today and she's a fierce critic of putin. and she has said that not only could join her campaign if he so wished so far that seems unlikely he's been rather scathing about her in the past and the question here is a lot of people have been saying that she is as a candidate actually a kremlin plot to make these elections look more legitimate a real opposition figure but potentially just an instrument of the of the kremlin that's the accusation and the other candidate who is interesting at the moment is

that is largely unknown the communist party put him forward also as an independent group g.m. and the communist party often does well in in elections so we'll have to wait and see but so far opposition candidates have always polled in the low single digits or are polling in the low single digits and we sure are reporting from moscow thank you. and meantime the upper chamber of russia's parliament has ratified a deal to extend the lease of a syrian naval port by forty nine years the vote means that moscow can now access syrian waters from the port of tartus the development is part of a deal between russia and syria that allows russia to boost its military presence in this war torn country as part of the deal russia will also be allowed to maintain a permanent indefinite presence at the humane airbase. well as syria as russia excuse me increases its footprint in syria what does it mean for

that war torn country kind of vehicle but race is a former senior warders correspondent based in damascus and he's also an independent researcher so glad to have you here with us to shed some more light about this latest developments why is russia committing in this way what's in it for them well syria is a gateway to the middle east ceded location is. this is why it russia has kept for a month on a nominal presence in part of juice naval base although it was basically across the base but now would be russian expansion and the russian projection of followed adopt coming election. to sort of become seeders become a spearhead for any potential russian increased influence of the middle east with the. it's a partial order very limited that it needs of the united states right well let's talk a little bit about that as well

a bit further because with this reinvigorated russian presence in the media east the u.s. retreating a little bit from the area as well the saudi iran rival e rivalry heating up is moscow jumping in the vacuum by committing to these this build up we'll know in theater there was no vacuum because mosco has been calling the shots from day one this goes back to the obama administration and its failure to honor its commitment to comfort a search for the suspected use of chemical weapons against his own for the infamous red line two thousand and fourteen was the day when basically obama handed syria to russia and so there was no vacuum in that sense. the first clear their own state said look if you want to make it on that afghanistan it's you is it doesn't become yet on the hunts down for russia but what does this mean let's take a wider view what does it mean for. the region having that kind of permanent

footprint now there what do the other leaders make of this development well it's a boost for the thirty thirty and an autocratic leader that is in the middle east that's what the russia's president's commitment to for continued president is the president mean we have seen with the russian intervention military interventions even two thousand and fifteen these are daily in regime for example a very. the jordanian king. let's say put the reforms in jordan on the slow on the slow fire to sort of repeat it through a bit of force because you have seen russia next door in syria as a boost for the more hardline systems that engine so there is no need them to form basically with russia calling the shots now in the east and the levant in a way with it on of course right well let's talk about that because of this whole rivalry that we're seeing playing out in the region between saudi and iran how do you see russia up playing a role in that if at all. well it's a complicated issue for a photo russia because on the ground in syria the the the forces the shia militia

doing the dirty for work for us on the ground has been the iran iranians but there is also in that is not it's not it's not the love relationship between the iran and russia that has been historic and then also the between persia and russia so one way. once iran in syria in a limited role and the same time it seeks also an understanding with so that he be on all issues on getting the succession for prince so look for the king solomon for example and so it's a mixed bag for the show between iran and saudi arabia what does this mean for the embattled syrian president president assad what does this mean now russia is there to boost him permanently. as a stooge. i mean that's why he tries to play on the tension between iran and russia both you're on the bus about that but as we've seen from the putin triumphant tool

of syria and egypt few weeks ago when he went to the main base he treated the assad as a sort of get even that was a russian officer russia wanted to advance to stand next to put the in and the and the russian officer like this through the seat of president he treated him as a sort of good so yes i said might stay for a while but he would not be seen in russia as an independent leader of syria side of the akubra race former senior correspondent in syria for reuters thank you so very much. the west african nation of liberia is selecting its new president and which could be the first democratic transfer of power in over seven decades voters are choosing between senator george weah a former world footballer of the year an incumbent vice president joseph bouquet the winner will succeed president ellen johnson sirleaf who won the nobel peace

prizes africa's first elected female leader for helping secure peace after a little liberia's back to back civil wars. all right well earlier i had i had the opportunity to speak to evelyn today segway in the library in capital monrovia and i asked her what's at stake and we apologize in advance for the picture quality. well. this election is a very critical election liberia we know it is one of the poorest countries you know we're a country has suffered from it and pull the epidemic it is the youngest one of the youngest democracy and for the first time power will be transferred to elect a leader democratically elected in more than seventy years give us the four star mean many years liberia is going to see such

a transition. after the president so you can ministration. evelyn who are the two. evelyn who are the two main candidates and what do they represent. well the candidates are. going to react. and to come into vice president why current who has served presidents i mean you stray from the uniter what twelve years those are the two people in the lead but to each choose emerging from these elections since the start of campaign i know most people calling for change that they cannot give another twelve year to the unity party where all the people on the other side will believe that it's a time for a younger generation but the argument that the younger generation was represented by. john that he does not have the kind of experience. they

were after twelve years of progress by president does not smoke coming up but this cycle of on of election it seems very critical don't we have a very low turnout for to us funded morning up to now. reporting from monrovia thank you and with that we've come to the end of this edition of news only a lark and brylin see you again tomorrow same time same place i have and we'll be back at the top of the hour. were i come from a very rich history. poor and.