cut off from the bread. next to the russian president shares his views on the events that shaped two thousand and ten from wildfires to wiki leaks dmitri medvedev looked at the highs and lows of the past year sitting down with the country's leading television channels here are some of the highlights right now. mr president but in question on the new start i think one phrase in our henry short story that goes and one other accidents of that year was a democratic president cops know being a democrat a bum is different he has done a good job he has pushed this important document the new start through the senate why did you have a conversation with him so late yesterday was he still great in their education and all of it if you cut. know he's away on holiday it was quite late when we talked after eleven pm our time like any other person he's entitled to rest he's on his

christmas holiday but i think he can rest with the realisation that his rest is well deserved he did a really good job i agree with you under rather difficult conditions he managed to get this important treaty approved in the senate. like i said our security for the next few years will be based on this treaty and in general i can say that it's easy for me to work with president obama because he can really listen to you and hear you he's not impeded by stereotypes and what's probably the most important thing for a politician he keeps his promises he's kept his promises as regards to the new start as regards the w t o and as regards the ratification of a very important treaty on nuclear cooperation and as regards various international issues so i hope he gets a good rest he did a good job and i told him so yesterday i said barack have some rationale you know with. people really remember what a past event looked smelled sounded like the year two thousand and ten so. one even

did i will remember i think it was even more vivid for year how did you find out about the crash of the polish air force one near smolensk and how did you react you'll see a border worth arguing for sure store with my. hand that the general in it was a difficult day i was in some petersburg at the time it was a saturday and i was planning to have a break then my aide told me about what happened when i was shot it always comes as a shock taking in news of this kind you feel shocked and sorry for the people who were killed and this time to add that it was the entire polish political elite if it happened at that spot to say it seemed mystical and hard to believe it turned out to be true nonetheless our relations with poland have gone a long way since then i mean when things were very complicated i think that our relationship is less complex now i paid an official visit to poland we talked with the investigation still has to be concluded of course it can't be politicized or serve as

a reason to stop blaming each other we have to listen to all parties involved and accept the conclusions made by international agencies then there is the internal investigation of course of them we can use the whole thing at a. how do you feel about polish prime minister donald tusk call in the interest aviation committee report an acceptable neighborhood. a luggage the i would rather think that his evaluation was emotional and the result of occurrences in poland's internal politics poland is shattered the communal mentality is shattered which is understandable because it was a real tragedy but it can't affect our relations and it can't lead to the results of the intergovernmental committee and the investigation into the incident being politicized. pretty useless. why did the government in spite of a tradition that has been going since soviet times admit that spies court were working for russia the incident made it clear to me that russia has no legal spy network are you.

anyone working for our special services is first and foremost a russian citizen they're not cannon fodder or heroes' that the state is willing to sacrifice if the soviet union or perhaps even russia has not talked about them before then it was a mistake on the government's policy our main goal in that situation was to get our people here out we did that because as i said they were russian citizens i recently met with intelligence officers and i told them that we will continue doing the same thing in the future if anyone from the intelligence service be at the legal service or not or in a difficult position if these people defend our interests as for the service it can be different legal or illegal if a country claims that it doesn't have an illegal intelligence service it's usually a lie either that or the country in question is very small and doesn't have any serious geopolitical interest or. spite of being a bit about what are called ski i see him as the portrait of during grief road

business community every businessmen does what he is accused of but how tough skin alone takes to blame he and his associates negative do you think our judicial system may have been too hard in these people would you think about that as a lawyer and as a person we included. them but here let me tell you what i think is the president no government official and this includes the president has the right to state their position on this or any other case until the verdict to be at an acquittal or a guilty verdict has been voiced this is perfectly obvious that we deal with some of the markets can push us around at the time of the most tragic events this year was the massacre of civilians in a village near the investigation into which highlighted the deep corruption between the police the authorities and criminals there were similar a curan says elsewhere how can this be tackled mr medvedev on there.

but it's an important subject and i'm glad you brought it up there is crime yes and there is. option but i believe we've cut off the people who were obviously criminals the situation is different at the level of regional and municipal authorities there are people who still live by their own code that's why we need purges not the same purges as those which took place in the one nine hundred thirty s. but we need to cut off those people from power some of them are members of the ruling party but that does not mean the ruling party or any other party should turn a blind eye to it on the contrary we need to bring them out into the light expel them from the party to strengthen the party of already just. well what he once mentioned it our political system is showing signs of stick nation how should we deal with this while eating. but it wasn't just with us parties must feel responsibility for the authorities they've received are major political party united russia should not just rain but also show intelligence tact and power it should appoint the right people pushing back the corrupt ones and those not willing

to work at all or punish them the other party should also participate in the discussion of all the issues the fact that they represent opposition does not mean that they're isolated from society's life they should be speaking openly about all the issues we have to identify what are the. reason here i see the meaning of we russia's political life is dominated by you and mr putin what do you think we have any other promise in politicians if yes then probably you would like to see one is your ally and maybe you see serious rival in somebody else who don't want to be your city or who. there are such politicians in our country you even know some of those names with a camel but mention such distinguished people as heads of the factions of our state duma and indeed they are well known politicians and there's no irony in my words these are people who have worked in russian politics for more than a decade they're also renowned politicians outside the state duma some may say

they're prominent and others may not well they are famous to such famous politicians as mystic as young of mr and so of mr lamont of mystic as part of their well known politicians usually people have different attitudes towards them they have so to say their own electorate but they're also public figures but the greatest resource is the resource we don't talk about but that these are talented people from our country that's where future presidents prime ministers and deputies are now our country has a lot of talent but he took you. by key you still say things in official political system is one thing but at the same time. street politics is being promoted having most disastrous consequences as we have recently seen you said that we must no allow such a mass happening on the streets and on the whole it worked could you tell me for police response is enough in a situation like this. after the cheerio. the answer is obvious of course not the police must work precisely quickly and

effectively in some cases acting harshly and according to the law i think that today our minutes here soon to be known as the police have demonstrated those qualities in a number of cases despite heavy criticism regarding the work of our interior ministry it's obvious that we cannot use only the police force we should come up with a comprehensive response politics should not move on to the streets without politics should have its own channels of expression and that may also be street politics only if it complies with the existing laws we have rallies demonstrations picketing for that but there should be certain permissions there is direct democracy which is normal that i said it many times that we're moving towards direct democracy and in some cases the procedures we've forgotten about that will be brought back into existence but this kind of politics should also be of a different character or else. i wanted to ask you how you felt about japan's reaction to your visit to the curial islands during. my letters well

what about me nothing has changed for me the japanese seem tense. a lot of take hold back the investor. is going. well i'm sincerely sorry that i was the reason for a break in his political career that was not what we aim for i'm not sure now what he will do but let me remind you that all of the south could allow them is a territory of the russian federation the president is allowed to visit them why has no president gone there before well it's a remote place that's true but it's our land nonetheless we have to develop the code to live there is to ensure that the people there live well i promise that to the locals i told them that and then sent deputy prime minister chevelle off to work there he's still working and we will send other officials to the curls but this doesn't mean we're not ready to cooperate with japan we'd welcome any initiatives on joint economic projects taking into account the historical events that took place there and we're ready to work. with them but this doesn't mean that

we will give up the could as our territories our partners have to understand that. our way to meet a new person. in the global media have made we kill leaks the main brand of the year there's no doubt about that how do you feel about it. but some of what's been revealed is interesting some things were quite surprising you know you're afraid of wiki leaks why would i be afraid of the department of state might be afraid not me they might try to but you know if i was scared of what people might write about me i would never go onto the internet or watch television the person who has this kind of responsibility has to understand that people don't praise the authorities too often and probably for a good reason for it is have to work efficiently you know i'm not afraid of what people might write about me as for the consequences of the publication might have an effect on other countries relations but not on our relations with the u.s. we don't understand the general attitude of the media and the public we get that information from television and newspapers you open sources so we saw nothing new

and this reminds me of the story that happened to a soviet diplomat he served as ambassador in a european country and had been granted an audience with the queen and after the audience he sent a cable back home saying the queen asked me about dissidents i had to bring it down a peg that's what happens with diplomats they show each other how tough they are putting labels on everybody every profession has its own rules our diplomats write to each other to everyone's entitle to their minute of thing including ambassadors and diplomats. were very involved. thank you for these in-depth conversation we shared a happy new year on behalf of our audience it would be naive to say we hope the next year will be better we just wish you a happy new year you think number of years roll. thank you very much i would like to say that i wish you happy new year to a promise that i will do it again. you know when that will happen short of.

the top stories from our geezer review of the week washington gives the new strategic arms limitation treaty the green light. turn signals. which could see nuclear arsenals slashed by a third it is the largest arms reduction control deal in decades and has been hailed as a major diplomatic victory by both russia and the u.s. . threats and accusations fly between north and south korea souls'

ongoing war games with close to the border provoked into threats of a nuclear war soldiers from the north said on t.v. the shelling of a south korean island last month was in response to ongoing provocations. and thorough aviation experts moscow's reporting to be able plane crash that killed with the polish president and ninety five others but poland refuses to accept the findings and has reportedly sent a confidential document to russia containing scores of recommendation. and happening right now the electricity is back on at moscow's airport but after major delays and cancellations it's far from over for thousands of passengers freezing rain downed electrical power lines across the region even more than four hundred thousand people cut off from the power grid. andrew is next with the latest from the world of sports.

hello there thanks for watching the sport and this is what is coming up. high flying monkey because their incredible december run going in the cage. was going to be called the national side has learned his lessons from a disappointing twenty ten. punched united people the top spot in england after victory over something the. start though with the continental hockey league were informed that they need to go when number six this month to make three to me because i lost money once in seven games in the whole of december. because nets beat a more or defending champions as a goal for to also sell about your life came back from behind and scored for an ounce of gold to be released by two into your skull got a second win in

a row with victory over. god got a good win on the road with the nominations what anomaly got the better of you in over time. to stay with the ice hockey because twenty time was a year to forget for russia's national hockey team there was the shock seven three defeat to canada at the olympics while a star studded lineup failed to bring home gold at the world championships poor feet caught up with the head coach for just because he says the next few years will be a rebuilding process for russian hockey. what's been a very difficult year for the russian national team the loss in the quarter finals a billion breaks to the canadians and the feats in the final of the world championships how difficult has it been for you personally is by doing the slow deliberate is difficult not to lose not just in sport but as a rule in life in general good of the most important thing is to make the right moves and to pick your head up and start moving forward again it's a necessary fact of life in order to improve one must also experience what it's

like to lose of course the defeat to canada in the olympics was difficult to swallow not just for us but also the team's fans and the country as a whole the world championships we tried to play more attacking hockey and finishing second isn't the worst result in the world and you always want to finish first but that isn't always possible as at the moment there are five or six teams who also want to win gold and count to serve as again sometimes it's important to lose in order to move forward barger pretend that you a little surprised that of course i was surprised that what happened i would never have expected us to lose seven three in a quarter final against canada when you're in a situation like this when you go behind quickly it's very important to make quick decisions to try and turn the game back in your favor when things are going against you one must never start to show their emotions it's imperative to stay calm to try and give yourself a chance but unfortunately this didn't happen and psychologically we weren't able

to compete with the canadians more and more russian veterans returning to play in a cage from the n.h.l. does this mean it's much harder for russian youngsters to break into the national team is one of them on the list of retrying to build a national team around the best russian players whether they're old or young or that there are two or three youngsters who involved at the moment at the world junior championships and buffalo are with you i will be interested in having a look at once they get back and call them out to the national school. on the other hand these veterans can give these russian youngsters a wealth of experience a great togetherness to play alongside experienced and talented players is an invaluable source of support as they're able to teach youngsters so much about the game both on and off the ice after returning to play in russia i think these veterans understand that it's part of their job to try and teach the new generation of just like how they were taught by more experienced players when they were

starting out their careers process has been a long time since russia's produced a player of the caliber of alexander ovechkin or and guinea mao can already have a players out there but moments who could perhaps become as good as one of these three players which i mentioned last year is. we do have some talented young players the most important thing is that they want to become stars and if they are prepared to put in the necessary work in order to achieve this they've got everything at their feet in order to reach the same sort of level of the three players you've mentioned everything is in their hands a star is only born when a player is ready to become a star and us and i gotta look at them ok shell is now in his first season is just the toughest year of competition in your opinion at the in tediousness it's a very interesting season as i'd say the gap between the clubs is closing i think this shows that the league is growing in stature and the teams in the cage are developing and it's getting tougher and tougher to win the going cup figure ever so much for your time. now let's turn to the football when manchin ited states top of

the english premier league after to know when i was sunderland berbatov scoring twice at old trafford to ensure they stay two points to a revival of manchester city. scored twice for them as they beat new castle three one changes part to spurs a fit after a two one win over villa despite having to face off in the first half with both goals for tottenham boss meanwhile the top of the table after they lost to wigan and west ham they've fallen away i still got it there when their burn involved and got the better of west brom a couple of games were suspended because of the weather evidence game against us called off as a black hole says liverpool now that win by united puts the pressure on arsenal to get a result against chelsea on monday at the emirates the gunners are five points off the top and have had poor results against their rivals recently but are itching to beat the blues to the first time since two thousand the night we have mixed feelings because we came out of both games against. united but it was

possible and. there was not the difference between the teams and so we have a good opportunity to show got in the coming months and to show as well i believe our room for improvement is bigger than any of the team because we are very young side and so it's a whole room we respond to what happened to us. that man united. chelsea meanwhile are trying to get back to winning ways they've drawn the last three games in a slip to fourth spot but i'm happy to have the chance to put things right it's important game on tuesday because. both team are involved in the fight for the title really one would think the team can remain this game will be excited game my things in this period. but i happy to

play this game because. we move on after the moment when we are able to come back to play a world full blown and to try to do or do things to him in russia welcome back to moscow have started their pre-season early this year with a new coach who are recursion ajahn saying reinforcements are needed for their next campaign he replaces you're the shim and he sank to the end of the season after guiding the railway men to fifth spot and the europa league place class and took spot it now takes the sixth place in the same season and has been casting is eye over his new squad most of the foreign stars including first choice striking to me was absent cousin john has made it clear he wants to bring in some new faces. when without question the team needs somewhere enforcements it can come from the outside as well as from the inside and the internal structure is the main thing we're focused on right now as well as getting players previously ready for the

training camp. now the news for my stars of synchronised swimming or putting on a christmas show in moscow the before means was produced by three time olympic champion maria castello over who now hopes it could reach a global audience let me speak about took his seat at the pool side. they will be a few seats mouse over the next two weeks and they're in piskies swimming pools with. the steam has created a unique show you. see in the swimmers but diverse and. he should know about his droid several occupations of particular time and six years ago but says she's no happy with this show but if the kids love down performance then we're happy if we manage to keep their attention throughout the show and they love this place delightful then we've achieved some success. the main star of the spectacle is another limp dick cheney israel and she plays the leader mir meet the fairy tale by

a famous writer and streets to understand who's really in the rest of the new former school this show will take off in the capital and plan to spread the show all over russia and then maybe around the world. like the mystery of our party. christmas stand under is a bit warmer than in moscow and there's been plenty of color that day with the sixty six sydney to hobart yacht race getting underway eighty seven yachts headed out to sydney harbor with the price favorite wild oats leading the fleet which makes its way along the new south wales coast low choppy seas are expected over the coming days in the bass strait as they try to complete the six hundred twenty eight north. the fastest yachts will finish in around two days' time the site could take up to a week and that is always support for the mine will have more feet like your fish.

fish . more news today is once again flared up. and these are the images cold world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing up for a shelter all day. p

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. and greetings from moscow where it is five o'clock on a monday morning this is r.t. i'm sean thomas and we're glad to have you with us on wednesday the u.s. senate finally approved a landmark strategic arms reduction treaty with moscow russia's lawmakers of followed.