if. britain. soon moved from funds to its. crude stone totty. the close up team has been through. where russia's first free elections were held up thousand years ago. and now party goes to the area that used to be a place of exile since the seventeenth century. where businesses take advantage of the wild growing products. where rich economic life gives birth to the fate of idea come to come screeching roger close up on our.

morning news today violence is once again flared up the face these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china operations are rooted a clue. and from our studios in the heart of moscow this is r.t. glad to have you with us let's get right to our headlines nato and to russia move

closer to a strategic partnership as the alliance is chief visits moscow russia says it is ready for cooperation but only on equal footing. president obama could be facing a tougher challenge pushing through his reforms including his a foreign policy agenda after the democrats lose their hold over congress in the midterm vote the future ratification of the strategic arms reduction treaty with russia could now be hanging in the balance. iraq mourn the victims of the deadliest wave of sectarian violence in months amid concerns and once a loyal sunni's are being drawn back to insurgency on tuesday at least ninety one people have been killed and over two hundred wounded in the bank that. coming up in just a bit our spotlight show gets russia's position on developing diplomatic issues speaks to me of the chairman of the federation council foreign affairs committee that's

coming up in about fifteen seconds. hello again for the welcome to spotlight the interview show on r t i now we're all friends today my guest is mark biello after president medvedev visited that put the russian territory claimed by japan tokyo recalled its ambassador from moscow russia calls this move emotional and hopes it won't hamper bilateral relations but now tokyo is going to exercise its best at the forthcoming apec summit in

yokohama how are the two countries going to get along well i asked the chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the federation council. japan's move to recall its ambassador in moscow has been criticised by the russian political elite but they don't believe it will seriously spoil relations between the two countries which have been through worse at least the russian foreign office says if one recall it's a messenger in tokyo another challenge to moscow's foreign policy these days is coming from the us the democrats who launched the reboot in relations with russia have lost majority control in congress after losing the lower house to the republicans but they still retain control over the senate which gives some hope the essential bilateral documents like the new start treaty still have a chance of being ready fight. thank you very much for being with us well first of all i'd like you to comment on this on this route where we're with you and the there was calling for consultations

is is sort of that. diplomatic move yes is a is is a diplomatic scandal well after. russia's ambassador to nato mr wasn't already is quoted as saying i quote it's a bizarre demarche which can't be adelitas in terms of international law and quite well do you agree with that and do you think that this is the highest point in our route with japan or it may be decelerating me well actually our present view if as you rightly is planning to go to your hama to attend the a pic meeting the meeting between president been a good if and the japanese prime minister is planned going to be fun well so we shall see how it goes on and i hope that all the misunderstanding will be cleared during that meeting touchwood. of the emotional stamp of the japanese

government to recall them back to the from moscow for consultations i think can be explained by the japanese government at the end of the day as consultations prior to the apec meeting if they want that but i think that it's quite obvious for all our partners abroad that it's absolutely impossible to dictate. their will to russia to be did dec tick talking to russia we never agree with never accept that one of the position on this dispute dispute over the peace accord with the islands this is a sovereign part of the russian territory i mean you know president can do whatever you want of the position is crystal clear we allow our president does the russian citizens who elect him to visit any part of our country and who were brought and even government out so why should i when neighbors be furious about that may remind you that after nine hundred forty united states of america never agreed with

the soviet union on estonia latvia and live. when you're on the occupation of history lothian with when you're by the saudi troops were by the soviet union and incorporation of these three baltic states and the soviet union but when the camera version of a comrade. was visiting tallinn riga of vilnius so the state department or the white house would recall they are they don't recall the ambassadors so the real let's take a look at the history of the russian japanese dispute over the coral islands and a report by spotlights even a genie that. the soviet union was encouraged by the allies in one thousand nine hundred forty five to take over the cool on lands which had done belonged to japan the u.s.s.r. was a truly poor missed the territories exchange for entering the war against japan after japan's capitulation in the second world war the fuku islands became part of the

u.s.s.r. which was recognized by the international community japan could never reconcile with the fact and the territories remain a bone of contention between the two countries russia keep sticking to the provisions of the one nine hundred fifty six agreement that included the possibility of land in two of the islands back to japan however japan is not ready to accept these terms claiming that all food on it should be returned because of these territories claims russian leaders in the past have been reluctant to visit the islands president medvedev has broken the unspoken two blue this week his visit to the gurus sparked an outcry in japan reacted by recalling its messenger to moscow. a lot of another i want you to comment on the russian foreign minister said that japan is over reacting to what

was your thought in this visit and that it was at that that it actually is japan's own domestic affair i mean the reason for which them bastards are called do you also see the reason the reason. for this route for japan's reaction in japan's domestic problem is that they have a pretty tough situation in government three days ago four years ago the japanese prime minister and the japanese foreign minister were given hard time in the japanese parliament the discussion was really tough and. the temperature of debate was really high and of course the government had to react so they reacted recalling the ambassador but i think that for any politician in any country it's so easy to attract attention to problems abroad to attract to attract attention to aggressive neighbors when there are real problems inside the country which you can hardly solve today or tomorrow and of course it's not difficult to unite the nation united we stand as we heard one day to unite the day of the nation against the enemy so

before that. scandalous disputes between moscow. yesterday and today's ago there was a tough dispute between tokyo and beijing. quite recently of the relations between japan and china deteriorated and it was a real crisis so it seems like japan has a lot of problems with the neighbors with korea with china with russia demanding the territories which the neighbors consider to be their territory as you mentioned you mentioned the forthcoming visit of medvedev to to yokohama next week is going to be a fourteen fifteen not a member has his planned meeting with the japanese prime minister you express. tell that they that they will sell the situation i hope so too i believe they will settle the situation but. does this mean does medvedev

a visit to to the korea livens mean that this is the end of negotiating the problem of the chordal islands there that we no longer are ready to to be remembered that there were proposals to give to and to leave to a. many many ways of so largely of starting with one thousand and fifty six starting with. rounds from secret secret talks between the soviets and the japanese in london was going to bite to you right away when the information leaked from these talks to tokyo and the opposition inspired the demonstrations and the scandal in talk here this issue has always been an issue of the japanese domestic politics we are not eager to stop any negotiations on the peace treaty on the borderline with japan well by the way we were negotiating i would borderline with china for three hundred years and finalists exceeded it was not an easy read if occasion in

the upper house of the russian parliament which i'm proud to represent here but it was a successful read if occasion so i think that we shall continue in if there is a good we'll express from both sides we will succeed ok the turtle a dispute japan has with russia over the southern can reals is not the only one this country has with its neighbors there are also territorial tensions with china and south korea here's a quote from a south korean newspaper. japan must take a look at it soon feaster disputes over the brilliance and couple islands in korea still don't find its indeed the consequences of its for you domination. insisting company one story could bring tears to what maureen did and to document the strictly rights of the other country to another territory this tension between

these two points did you see the dancing in japan meet to get itself in this music bothers. you country seems to support your claims is the united states i want to i want to quote that the u.s. state department spokesman philip crowley who said recently that washington does back japan regarding the northern territory's the koreans and quote so is japan really isolated it is washington the only supporter of that line again i would like to say that i would allegation in the apec summit which i'm a member of which will see how the meetings go on there about it's quite obvious that there is nothing new in the american position and the what was said by mr gridley is not any change of the american position we know that for quite a long time and i should say that we are also ready to continue no negotiations

with japan we want to have peace agreement with japan and we want to have peaceful and corporative neighborhood with japan no one can take so to speak geostrategic a razor and it raises from the map of the world either russia or japan we we will be neighbors like it or not what you call it razor president obama calls reset and as you said just a minute to go there doesn't seem to be not change the doesn't seem to be much reset i mean where you well i mean. in russian american relations lawrence come on come on. now about latrell relations to my mind there is a lot of reset spirit i just returned about a week ago from san francisco for a from the us russia business council annual meeting and i should say that the substance of discussions between representatives of the government of the business community and financial community was still to the different from what i've seen two or three years ago now we want to talk about positive agenda no bother to

relations it's not difficult to be together to stand together against common enemy like we do come doubting narcotics direct referee of trafficking in afghanistan for example or combating piracy of somalia shawl together or working together in sudan and other countries of africa but we have to have positive agenda otherwise we will be resetting i will bother to relations every for every eight years and i'm sick and tired of the levy says it needs high alert again the chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the russian federation council will continue until just think you'd be willing to talk about also about the influence of the recent elections and based on their. places it is.

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welcome back to spotlight and i'll bring up in just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is me how you'll meet a girl of chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the russian federation council which talks about the diplomatic row between russia and japan over of the president medvedev his visit to the who deal islands which japan claims as their northern territory we started talking about reset in russian american relations. it seems that the recent elections the mid-term elections in the united states one by the republicans who are now controlling the upper chamber of the low which of the below is fairly house to represent that. of the american parliament may may hamper their reset it may influence u.s. foreign policy especially towards russia do you think it will well i think that first of all we have to keep in mind that. in american foreign policy as

them. all the result was what we call the institutional memory institutional memory is preserved and may remind you of the russian the united states american standard their cooperation. in combating international terrorism right after nine eleven with the republican administration with republicans in the senate with the republicans dominating in the house of representatives where the republicans. element in the white house there is nothing wrong. with our relations with the republican party. and all the criticism of the republicans against star three agreement for example were once criticism not against russian position or russian views on of that star three agreement but against the position of democratic government during the negotiations and against against obama. primarily so i

think that the reset is not in danger we managed to create some substance for the reset. for example russia is selling its military helicopters to the united states of america to be used in afghanistan we are responding positively to what americans are asking for in africa we are redeploying our work helicopters from some regions of africa to in other regions of africa to to support the international peacekeeping operations we are working hard on the providing military transit and civilian transit to afghanistan through the russian territory we are fighting together against drug trafficking in of ghana still so we have doing a lot and i think it will help democrats and those responsible republicans who are still present in the senate and in the house of representatives to to to move forward in the reset but anyway some people are pretty pessimistic your opposite

number in the russians they do my contention because the chart it's pretty pretty pessimistic about the start treaty well actually the situation what you have this situation there's an active of the ratification while the situation in the duma is different from the situation in the federation council we in the upper house of the russian parliament do not have political factions we represent the regions. of the lower house the duma is of course much more politicized other. it's a tough political discussions between the united russia faction and the communist party faction for example on the start relieving wealth one star in the well yes and no because because. colleagues in the duma who represent the communist faction they've always been criticizing the russian government for debris and for betraying russian national interests signing star three agreement with with the democrats so i think that the discussion on start three agreement in the duma may take its

second round now after the elections in the united states of america but i hope it will not undermine the resignation process and it will not to be to that prospero you are optimistic times are hard i love you mr ratification of this we we are working hard we are in permanent contact with our colleagues on the capitol hill in the u.s. senate may remind you that it is done differently in both countries in the us is done only by the senate in russia is done both by a by by the law and the opportunity or so we are working hard to get russian president medvedev is going to attend the nato summit in lisbon later the later this month well meanwhile some russian politicians including stayed duma vice chairman have led to the zhirinovsky one of the most popular politicians country that raising the question of russia's joining nato well do you think do you think that russian foreign policy may be really. thinking of that as

a possibility or it's just pure populist well as a moscow state grad mystery i ask is an excellent historian and of course of course he recalls with a position of common stalin who was the first in the soviet union to express loudly of the idea of the soviet union joining nato so tracing the troops going along with the. historic proposal i think our colleagues in the duma. may start discussion on russian. exhaustion to to to to to need to i think that kind of discussion can be very helpful for the discussion on the european security and on russia's attitude towards its national security i do not think that it will be realistic in the short run but in the long run anything is possible rasmussen is in moscow the head of nato he is here for a couple of days and. this is why we are once again discussing nato the position

russian made to relations ukraine and nato is another serious question foreign minister grisham co ukrainian foreign minister says that ukraine is not going to join nato anytime soon so this is the changed position our view create under the new presidency soit away nato general secretary rasmussen insists that the major's doors are still open to ukraine so does nato still have means to attract well ukraine that in effect well you know nato status. allows needed to have an open door policy to all the european nations who apply. for native join for nato membership and to meet the criteria as of nato membership so theoretically speaking any country in europe including liechtenstein on dora may join nato i do not know about the hala see either logic and can do that or not

but what about keller well well you know i don't think so now well it depends on the grounds on the development of democratic processes in belarus i think it depends on nato as leaders opinion but that of the development of the democratic process. on our will be more attentive due to the opinion of the build russian people ok so so so so you think that though that this new. you ukraine's position is tough and they're going to hold on hold on to it until until the new president well i think that no one in brussels going to insist that kiev has to join nato it's a sovereign decision of the sovereign state and those that road your grade and there was a referendum so i think. there is no any threat from minister grecian go that he will be punished from brussels ok now and another question about nature rasmussen also while he is must have said that russia is that room welcome to intensify

cooperation with nato on the new anti-missile defenses in a joint and time missile defense system so what does russia got to offer it to to nato and what kind of system made do you have any least out of the well actually actually we'll what we have already offered a lot some years ago including our readers stations and gobblers or bridge on an arm of the russia we made our offer to the previous u.s. administration we also had some preliminary discussions with with nato and russia wants to have a system of the european security that was the reason actually one of the reasons behind the president in the i have proposed maybe it is proposals which he made in in summer two thousand and eight saying that it's time to talk about the new architecture of european settlers what rasmussen is talking about in moscow today

doesn't seem to be an answer to what made that have said two years ago it's something it's something we need at least this is my impression it's it's some kind of a new situation new development well you know well if if it is so if it is so and we will know the results of his meeting with president that he is pretty soon and well if it is so it should be. well it should be given. proper consideration it should be discussed in moscow and should be discussed. also in the russian parliament in defense of security committee and foreign affairs committee if there is a concrete serious proposal we have to consider well since we're doing pretty well on time now i want to ask you two four questions first of all a question about getting back to the united states about the elections do you have an impression that a bad day is becoming a lame duck not yet i don't think so you know i'd say well i don't think so because it's too early to say that. the main term elections showed that on the one hand

the democrats lost the majority in the house of representatives on the other hand the tea party movement. is it is successful but it is not possible to get out all hearts and all minds of all the american people and to get really young and aggressive while they are they are they are young aggressive they are pushing but they are not dominating even in the republican camp so i think president obama and the democrats will study of the results of the midterm elections and they will do their homework prior to two of the elections coming in the united states of america they are ready to fight that's what we see when we see the and two interviews on the t.v. and about mr still has his veto power because because because they didn't make it over sixty percent he does. keep in mind that the democrats managed to overthrow

terminator in california and he was saying pretty recently that i'll be back yes ok now and the last last very short question. once again back to the very beginning of our interview do you think that that the incident with japan over the korea lies and the dispute is not gonna tear rate it's not other relations they're not going to get any worse and they want it to get better well actually we were not aiming at humiliating would have been his neighbors we did not want to irritate the. what we just wanted to say with that trip of mr me to be a diff to the korean on the real islands is that the president of russia has a sovereign right to visit any part of the russian territory so the russian policy makers like yourself just added some spice to international relations and to the forthcoming meeting of the i think i guess about peel be

a very useful and very friendly thank you thank you very much and just a reminder that my guest in the studio today was knee high yield but gallup chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the russian federation council and that's it for now from all of us here and we'll be back with more common thought on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take him. for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get voice to face with the news makers.