yes indeed it seems so that russian devotees a very optimistic and also along with the all the americans they've been celebrating this tremendous victory the final really pick a sion of the new strategic arms reduction treaty on capitol hill we know there have been those long heated debates on pros and cons of this major nuclear cuts treaty while unlike in washington the russian parliament or both chambers of the russian parliament must say yes to these treaty and while the rest of the world is now guessing whether russia will say yes or no to these document russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov was more than optimistic on that. budget over the goal we hope the new treaty will have the support of the state duma we think all necessary prerequisites for that have been met implementing this treaty will contribute to the security of our country and international stability that will contribute to nuclear nonproliferation and help our relations with the united states and the rest of the world before. the russian parliament says it needs time to address the

wording of the u.s. ratification resolution why is that. well despite indeed despite both sides promised that rid of occasion in their countries would be a synchronous last minute the u.s. senate approved the education resolution a very controversial document in russia's view which they believe contradicts the preamble of the agreement because at the ass insult the treaty and the essence of the treaty is that there should be a balance between the fancy weapons and the defensive capabilities of the parties to the treaty and these resolutions says in particular that a new new treaty new start should not contain the u.s. anti missile programs development and of course russia will be studying the docket the document carefully with regard to the u.s. missile defense plans especially close to russia's borders at the moment the u.s. plans to deploy until he sells. systems in eastern europe have been the biggest

irritants in the relations between moscow and washington and this is why to me that long to hit the reset button and after the two presidents assigned the treaty in prague in april this year long lengthy process operative occasion followed on capitol hill we witnessed those political games between the two major parties they were publicans and the democrats democrats needed desperately needed both of the republicans and they definitely celebrated a victory when instead of seven votes needed they got some eleven from the republicans while the republicans main concerns regarding these treaty word that america's defensive capabilities could be affected and president obama did everything to ensure this will not be the case he committed to a twenty five billion dollar ten year plan to make sure that the remaining weapons work and the supporters played a key role that the document was finally ready for about the russian foreign

minister today said that as far as the resolution which the u.s. senate approved under pressure from the republicans there is a big question mark whether these documents is at all legal. residents are subject to final draft resolution adopted by the u.s. senate which states that a fully fledged global missile defense system is necessary in this regard i'd like to remind you that the treaty on ambiguously states there is a link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons the treaty also says that any party can pull out if an emergency situation occurs and russia definitely believes that the creation of a fully fledged global missile defense system of the u.s. would be such an emergency situation but. now we have the first results coming from the state duma the lower chambre of the lower house of the russian parliament which said yes to these treaty to the court document in its first. in the first place

today hundred and. three hundred people dead he said yes steve against aids the plan to be arsenal's up both the treaty itself well it seems like a good start when you start in russia and they'll be two more sessions at the state duma and also the ration council that we expect they will take place part two at the new year holiday that would be all right r.t. the catarina gaucho for reporting live outside the state duma good to have you with us for more analysis now i'm joined by victor meason a political analyst from the institute for strategic assessments here in moscow good to have you with me so that russian lawmakers are showing concern over some of the wording that they got from the document when it crossed the atlantic on this side how do you think this might influence the ratification process in moscow well i think it's open secret russian lawmakers if you give a date to so many reservations that. were added to the drag stuff the river lucian the last moment under the pressure of the republicans

and i mean the major reason for the. republicans would like to kill everything linked with obama image but also for. you know as opposed to what your correspondent the strategic defense is that it's kind of. holy you know and they've been so many efforts to introduce amendments which would make people police state the united states government would proceed with the deployment of these. global a.b.m. system and. made some concessions to the russian side there are some secret protocols where obama agreed not to deploy a b. and b. on limits right now this seems to be one of the sticking points still is this link between all. sensitive in defense of weapons do you think that there can be some

kind of compromise reached one think it could be a compromise but as you correctly said russian lawmakers russian duma they just want to receive brigade the american side introducing their role and i would just say into predation of the three d. as minister lavrov said what is. very important primordial or primordial important for us or even these brambilla. between strategic and defense are different because for russia nuclear arsenal is they are must come ball and must interment both preserving its security and it's very important that the foremost goal to preserve the it's going to get basic key in the new circumstances a bit russia things that should be i mean evident limits on the deployment of an eventual a.b.m. system of united states especially for the global one now if they're doing they

decide to put in its own nine by non-binding resolutions into the treaty what do you think they might be why i think they just. reiterate. gumble and. probably saying that any of the reductions i know the. position of the russian side on the possible with introducing more of the nuclear states into the bros and with breaking into account the general state of global strategic stability and so on and definitely russia is against discussing technical nuclear weapons which was mentioned in many amendments which were forward by the republican side because russian things. in order to negotiate start united states would first was it was a draw that dako new york's to its own national territory all right victor

reasoning from the institute of strategic assessments thanks for your assessment there my pleasure. president medvedev says barack obama deserves his christmas break after efforts in getting start treaty ratified by the u.s. senate. well done barack obama he managed to push the style deal through the senate and he did it in very difficult circumstances this treaty will become the coolest and of security in the world in the coming years it's easy to work with he keeps his promises he's done a great job and he's now on holiday so i wish him a happy christmas and a good rest. of his comments came during the president's annual meeting with the heads of russia's main t.v. channels summing up the results of your two thousand and ten for what else was discussed we turn to our correspondent who joins us live with more. hello or so take us through the main highlights. but not like you said this is something that

has become a sort of a tradition for the russian president this is the third time that me to admit it has conducted such an interview session with the representatives of russia's three main channels and if we could break it down into essentially two parts we could say that he touched upon the subject the subject matter is that concerning to foreign policy and he also focused of course largely on the internal policy but to start off with things that concern the foreign policy he basically talked about some of the main events of the year and one of those unfortunately was a quite sad event that of course was the tragic death of the polish president in the plane crash. now we have to remember that continued it was also a place where. thousands of polish nationals were killed by the soviet secret police in the one nine hundred forty s. so for for the polls as well as for russians there is a very tragic he has significance and to have i do have the plane of the polish

president to come down very location is something that is literally wrong make something that the russian president spoke about as well so much that when you wonder. who of course opinion every time we receive such unusual we're shocked by the tragedy. but this time it was not just people who darn well it was the polish political elite and in addition to top and think. there's something mystic about this place which it was impossible to believe we've had a difficult journey together with poland our relationship used to be very bad now i think it's become better and easier of course the investigation should be finalized without politicizing the approaches and we should listen to points of view. well of course other other foreign issues which have spoke about have dealt with japan for example he was asked a question whether or not he was worried about their relations or with the country following his visit to the coral islands which japan considers to be their

territory and the russian president said that he's not worried about that he's certainly relations with moscow in tokyo will remain to be top notch because japan and japanese culture exceedingly popular in russia now that of course is all about foreign policy we do we have to remember that majority of the questions are posed to the russian president during this interview session have dealt of course with the internal issues and one of those is the case of course in fact the verdicts in his case will be right in just a couple of days and of course this is a very pressing issue for the russians and of course for the president and he being a lawyer did speak about the case but from the point of view all the president and a lawyer as well. no government official and this includes the president has the right to state their position on this or any other case until the verdict in acquittal or a guilty verdict has been voiced this is perfectly obvious to my general position as a lawyer is that the legal practice works with what is possible. and of course it

is said. that the public or anybody else for that matter should not. go out he says that he if if there is any proof if there's any evidence that any. other russian businessmen of any caliber has committed a similar crime that the mr medvedev is ready to see the evidence on his table and to take according measures. and the ideas of freedoms came up a lot didn't they especially freedom of speech and democracy. but of course this subject matter of freedom and democracy was something that prevailed at the interview session today and that the russian president did speak about various political parties he did encourage the opposition leaders to be more active in their role. to play the role renowned

politicians outside the state duma some might call them outstanding some might not but they are well known public figures like mr thompson of mr because you know. they're all public figures people might like them or not but they have their own electorate my own part of public politics. and the way through that have also called on the ruling united russia party to be more active in its role saying that at the at the moment it looks like it has relaxed a bit and is sort of sitting on his throne and resting on the laurels and he did say that he wants to be to see the united russia party to be more active in participating in the events thirty can place in the country now when it comes to the freedom of speech of course it has changed the format a little bit until that point he was being asked questions about but then he suddenly he suddenly changed the direction and said that he wanted to ask the question to the heads of the russian i think the russian media as a matter of fact as representatives of the us media and he said that recently he

has seen that you went to his in his opinion that television has been sort of stagnating it has been breaking away from the rest of the media and not broadcasting everything that should be broadcast that the news wires are sort of dying down that the. i mean headlines are not what most people are interested in and he asked the heads of the television channels if they believed that freedom of speech existed in the country and they have said that freedom of course is something that is internal they do believe that freedom of speech exists in the country but they also have said that perhaps people should remember the fact that not everything that we talk about could be broadcast on television it is policies so no censorship is in the country but freedom of speech does exist but they did believe that some things just should not be shown on television but of course we do know the russian president also said that this is not his last appearance on

television in two thousand and ten he did promise to make another appearance sometime very soon. i also congratulate everybody on the new year and i promise i'll do it again you know when seven eighth's go. so this was a sort of a wrap up of two thousand and ten by the russian president going he's covered all issues starting from foreign policy down to domestic issues even spoke about his townley and about his son so it has been quite an interesting session which lasted for almost two hours all right our teams are in english go reporting live from near the kremlin thanks for that. remember we've got the full version of dmitri medvedev his meeting with russia's main t.v. bosses lined up for you one our web site why are there you can also check out what else is available at our team dot com. kings of the road and a drive for living the real life find out what else russian harley davidson bikers and cossacks discovered they have in common. and the silent struggle of russia's

deaf community speaks with our team in their own language to explain their difficulties in getting their voices heard. in the boom years the united states long championed the cause of capitalism but globalization and outsourcing means it's experiencing some of the downsides to what american town has an unlikely solution artie's priya sridhar reports from the town that's trying to make money by importing chinese students. millinocket mean once a booming mill town now almost a ghost town the paper mill once a symbol of pride and prosperity in the region now a reminder of a time that has come and gone and international trade is what basically took the

paper industry of the united states down it's not just here in the in the town of no one market it's worldwide the chinese there are more clever than we are. you know and we when we do a deal with them we usually we get the sour end of it. today millinocket is a small town of five thousand the closest smaller movie theater is an hour's drive away many of the once bustling businesses in town now stand empty and abandoned have been very depressing for a lot of people you know they've had their hopes up and hopes that they would something would come along that would change everything but it hasn't. dr cannot smith is the superintendent of millinocket public schools after watching his town fall apart around him he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. myths idea is to boost the school's population by charging chinese students twenty

seven thousand dollars to attend his high school for one year and they have some skills that we don't have that we'd love to instill in some of us to this desire to learn and. get a good education it's a bold idea in a town where most few china as the reason there mill went bankrupt but smith argues that the competition the might have hurt the town's past can also help to reshape its future but we can't possibly compete with the labor market and you know one point four billion people i think the competition is good for us and we have to learn the jobs with economy work right now there are two hundred students that attend this high school even though it was built for eight hundred sixty percent of the students here qualify for a state run free lunch because their parents' income is at the poverty level school administrators say that bringing in students from china will not only save the school it will save the town and bring it back to the days when the mill was

booming. but not everyone in this almost exclusively white town is excited about the idea that their school might eventually have just as many chinese kids. as kids from maine some people will have an issue with they're going to be like oh my gosh they're not from here make them go away most students in this high school have never traveled abroad what they know about china they say they've seen on t.v. i think the chinese are going to be total shock i think about high tech in a way more advanced than i think ten times more money in like in a better society and then you look at guys that were like poor and with nothing and those struggling to survive in town are angry that the country they believe took their jobs from them is now the one they're looking to for help preassure either party millinocket mean it's the season of goodwill but there is a chill in the air in the baltic states said it's all because of the origins of the christmas truce latvia probably book proclaims to be the first but its neighbors

say they're barking up the wrong tree or two socks on a boy called explains it's a white christmas in a stone and lot there with fluffy snow paralyzed and mulled wine all the ingredients of the proper christmas spirit but instead of gifts there is a polish historic arguments on the tree the two neighbors on admit it dispute over who was first to come up with the festive for which that's lined up the tree here in riga sasha helps her daughter to decorate her fourth christmas tree there in no doubt who spruce shines the brightest and for the longest time. of course is very pleasing to think that the first time a christmas tree appeared here in latvia and we have historic proof to back this claim everybody here knows that it was dressed with flowers and berries here in riga in fifteen ten. but head north and that theory has been cut down to

size before somebody can demonstrate me document that another was made before i can believe but now i say. the first christmas story about. the festive precut has reached such a pitch that even santa claus is weighing in if you could if you ask the fish people will tell you they were the ones to invent the christmas tree so with the norwegians in the germans i think what's important is not who decorated it first centuries ago but that we all do it nowadays seasonal spirit assigned this symbol of contention for the two feisty neighbors shows just how much they have in common christmas comes once a year but historians and loved ones have many ongoing saga they also disagree about who is really minimal beautiful whose beer tastes better how many bears this

nation is allowed to hand in nearby woods some of us say that without this illegal disagreements live would have been too boring so in a way this latest christmas tree controversy is just another way of making christmas a bit merrier somebody's got our t. . is tony tis the season stay with us here on our team is up next with all the business news after a short break. for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. hello

welcome to the business news i'm sure on the. today is one of the busiest shopping days of the year as people hot last minute holiday gifts for family and friends reports suggest sales are well up last year let's go live to our correspondent medina coach of our who is at the pesky one of the biggest malls in europe but dana tell us how are other shops packed and what are they buying. well it's not just snowy day we're having here now ready lance the holiday spirit. of the snow has to have it here in the center of moscow so is the amount of russian shopper is rushing into the stores to buy last minute presents for their family and friends for the country's biggest holiday now as i managed to speak to some of the sellers this day tons to be a bit a busiest shopping day of the whole year but this time the russians plan to

celebrate this of the upcoming holiday on the biggest scale as a forty four percent of the population already claimed that they will spend most money for the coming new year and christmas rather than the one we had before while we still smell the consequences of the global financial downturn now an average russian is a ready to give away around four hundred dollars on presents and up to one hundred fifty dollars on proper a shoes for the celebration table but still russia ranks eighteen in the list of countries where people are ready to spend money on this holiday for example in luxembourg this was loans which are the leaders in this rating people are ready to spend from eight hundred to one thousand two hundred dollars each but still in terms of the price of course it ranges from some time dollars to one thousand dollars and as to visit one of the. biggest shopping malls

in europe you can see a very nice a christmas tree over that as well and i was told that the business dollar for this season on alex when he got to it's like. well that sounds great hopefully have you gotten your shopping done our correspondent. thank you very much and get out of that snow. companies in russia face billions of dollars in size taxes after the government complained it lacks money to modernize the economy the finance ministry says it's lost a staggering three hundred twenty five billion dollars from various tax breaks and incentives since two thousand and five officials add they need more than twice that amount in the next ten years to create a world class high tech sector. and let's take a look at the markets europe is up on the day despite news that portugal's credit raese rating raising fears that the e.u. members will have to bail out the country and minor minor wrangled slumped more than five percent the company says turmoil in the ivory coast will hurt fourth

quarter production. and in russia the maya sex is down on the day but should still end with fourteen straight weeks of gains trading volumes are light as investors travel away for the holidays. gas problem has lost nearly three quarters of a percent after bella bruce said it expects to reduce the price it pays for russian gas and talks this afternoon spare bank preferred shares have also tumbled as investors gain investors cash strong gains from the past few days and no one else nickel is also down after tycoon all of their possible called an extraordinary general meeting to resolve the minor shareholder war. and that's all the business for now but you can join us for more in about fifteen minutes time or you can log on to our website at. www dot com slash business.

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