the close up team has been choosing a new crew a creature where russia's first free elections were held a foundation years ago. party goes to the area they used to be a place of exile since the seventeenth century. where businesses take advantage of the wild growing product. more rich academic life gives birth to the fate of idea come to come screeching crusher close up on r g.

would be useless without this mineral. needed to make. but a piece of culture and is extracted to life. time for the headlines. chasing a sex predators on the net of german t.v.

show. child abuse journalists posing as mindless critics say the shows just don't move. the democratic party retains a majority in the senate us midterm elections the republicans take the house of representatives. the georgian government. dollars and. the locals say they're being pushed. next up the spotlight exposed position on some current international problems we're going to speak to me. chairman of the federation council foreign affairs committee . for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news maker. hello

again for the welcome to spotlight the interview show on r t i know we're not all that today my guest is mark. after president medvedev visited that the russian territory claimed by japan and 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 it was recalled its ambassador in tokyo another challenge to moscow's foreign policy these days is coming from the u.s. the democrats who launched the reboot relations with russia have lost majority control in congress have to 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. 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 japan the it was calling of an ambassador for

consultations is is sort of a diplomatic move yes it's a diplomatic scandal well. russia's ambassador to nato mr wasn't already is quoted as saying i quote it's a bizarre demarche which can be analyzed in terms of international law and quote well do you agree with that and do you think that this is the highest point in our . well actually. present the view as you rightly is planning to go to your hama to attend the apec meeting the meeting between president when you get. 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. 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 get whatever you want of the position is crystal clear we allow our president does the russian citizens who elect him to visit and any part of our country and they were brought and even covered up so why should our neighbors be be furious about that may they remind you that after one thousand nine hundred forty united states of america never agreed with the soviet union on estonia latvia and

lithuania on the occupation obvious to any lothian lithuania by the soviet troops were by the soviet union and incorporation of these three baltic states into the soviet union but when controversially for comrades gorney were visiting tallinn riga of vilnius so the state department or the white house did recall they they didn't recall the ambassadors so that's the real let's take a look at the history of the russian japanese dispute over the cruel islands then reported by spotlight feeling that the need of. the soviet union was encouraged by the allies in one thousand nine hundred forty five. to take over the cool on lands which is done belonged to japan the u.s.s.r. was a truly poor missed the territories exchange for and to do war against japan after japan's capitulation in the second world war the folk who islands became part of the u.s.s.r. which was recognized by the international community to bend could never reconcile

with the fact and the territories remain a bone of contention between the two countries russia keeps sticking to the provisions of the one thousand nine hundred fifty six agreement that included the possibility of hand in two of the islands back to japan however japan is not ready to accept these terms claiming that all flew on and should be returned because of these territories cohens russian leaders in the past have been reluctant to visit the islands president medvedev has broken the unspoken to buddhists whip his visit to the koreans sparked an outcry in japan reacted by recall in its message or 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 talk in 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 it's going to be all fourteen fifteen other 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 korean islands there that we no longer are ready to to remember that there were proposals to give to and to leave to a space many many ways of so largely starting with ninety three to six starting with. rants 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 you 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 about

it was a successful red if occasion so i think that we shall continue in if there is a good will expressed 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 history to dispute so with brilliance and couple islands in korea still don't mind it can be viewed as a consequence it's what it's for you diminish. insisting you come to me one story in a military took a while to enter the docking if it's strictly rights of the other country to another territory it's tension to be struggling to do this you can simply to get me

to get itself in this series with the others. the only 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 that back japan regarding the northern territory's the koreans and quote so is japan really isolated is washington the only supporter of that war 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 what was said by mr gridley is not and a 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 with japan we want to have peace agreement with japan and we want to have

a peaceful and corporative neighborhood with japan no one can take so to speak geostrategic a razor and to raise it 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 ago that doesn't seem to be not change that doesn't seem to be much reset i mean we well i mean. in russia america relational forums come on come on i mean in a now about literal 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 u.s. 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 a ballot relations it's not difficult to be together to stand together against

a common enemy like we do come betting narcotics drug drug for it 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 resenting i will bother to relations every for every eight years and i'm sick and tired of the leader says it needs a lot again the chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the russian federation council we'll continue continue this interview little talk about also about the influence of the recent elections anything that played on there that places in the .

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welcome back to spotlight i'm going up in just a reminder that my guest in the studio today's meet her you'll meet a veil of chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the russian federation council which talks about the diplomatic row between russia and japan over the president medvedev 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 won by the republicans who are now controlling the upper chamber of the low which of the fellow is harry hauser 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.

all the result was what we call the institutional memory institutional memory is preserved and may remind you of the russia and the united states american start with 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 and with a republican government in the white house there is nothing wrong. with our relations with the republican party. and all the criticism of the republicans against a star three agreement for example were was criticism not against russian position or russian views of that star three women 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 war 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 afghanistan 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 russian state duma convention because the charge it's pretty pretty pessimistic about the start treaty well actually the situation what you have this situation there's an active of the 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 there is a tough political discussions between the united russia faction and the communist party faction for example on the start rebuilding of one star and the well yes and no because because our. 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 process so you are optimistic times are hard i love you mr ratification of this we we are working hard we are in for and 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 later this month well meanwhile some russian politicians including stayed in the duma vice chairman have led to a sure enough scale one of the most popular politician in this country that raising the question of russia's joining nato well do you think or 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 mr during ask is an excellent historian and the force of course he recalls with a position of calm and stalin who was the first in the soviet union to express loudly the idea of the soviet union joining nato so tracing that routes going along with the. historic proposal i think our colleagues in the duma. may start discussion on russian. accession to two to two to nato i think that's 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 ahead of nato he is here for a couple of days and that. 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 of you create a new presidency straight 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 but in effect well you know nato status. allows needed to have an open door policy to all the european nations who apply. for nato join for nato membership and who meet the criteria of nato membership so theoretically speaking any country in europe including liechtenstein on dora may join nato i do not know about that hala see either the take on can do that or

not but what about canelo reuss well well you know i don't think so now well it depends on the downs on the development of democratic processes in belarus i think it depends on nato's leaders opinion about the development of the democratic process. on. i will be more attentive due to the opinion of the bill russian people ok so so so so you think that though that this new 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 ronald ukrainians there was a referendum so i think. there's 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 was 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 a deed 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. and ministration 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 end of proposed maybe it was proposals which he made in in summer two thousand and eight saying that it's time to talk about the new architecture of european style but what rasmussen is talking about in moscow today

doesn't seem to be an answer to what medvedev said two years ago it's something that something needs at least this is my impression it's it's some kind of a new situation new development well they're well on if if it is so if it is so and we will know the results of his meeting with president bush to give pretty soon and won't. 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 where 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 battle 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 all hearts and all minds of all the american people and to address a young 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'd have said. please keep in mind that the democrats managed

to overthrow terminator in california and he was saying pretty recently that i'll be back yeah 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 is not other relations they're not going to get any worse and then want it to get better well actually we were not aiming at humiliating japanese neighbors we did not want to irritate the. what we just wanted to say with that trip of mr me to be a gift to the korean on the real islands is that the president of russia has a sovereign right to visit and he part of the russian territory so the russian policy makers like yourself just added some spice to international relations and to the forthcoming meeting yes i got yes but i did not feel we are 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 a gallop chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the russian federation council and that's it for now from all of us here will be back with more common for what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take care.