back on track here's the director of the nato information office in moscow robert child. russian leaders joint antidrug operation in afghanistan last year was a milestone marking a new stage of relations and trust however the parties haven't yet found common ground concerning the anti missile shield in europe their mind sees it as two independent systems sharing intelligence moscow champions the idea of six areas in europe each of them responsible for threats coming from certain directions. oh mr self thank you very much for being with us on the show thank you for inviting me well first of all you repeated many times speech speaking with newsmen for one that russia and nato don't consider each other enemies these are your words that you there that you like to repeat however nato the global ambitions i mean i mean the expansions to these the anti-missile plans in europe officially are officially

cited in the russian military dot train as threats to our national security so russia does consider it a threat officially so is it part of your job to to see that those threats are removed from from russia's mentality and from russia's documents well first of all i repeat those words but they don't i don't claim copyright because there's a word used by the sacred general and frankly by all the leaders of the nato russian council lisbon and indeed that's that's written but it's also meant in a full sense not only we don't consider each other as enemies but a we striving towards strategic partnership and secondly with frankly don't really consider ourselves a problem because we do have joint problems which we need to tackle as far as the military doctrine that you mentioned well it was published it was agreed before the lisbon summit so we certainly hope that my. and none of the nato policies and

certainly not later such is considered a threat because because we're not we're not afraid to russia and we we sure that that is exactly as we should see each other ok in january russia's chief of general staff for the first time he took part in a joint session of the ratio russian a took council one of the any breakthrough decisions taken at that meeting while he was the first session this year but of course we had those meetings before and they are important because overall the military operation is very important. the decisions which were taken at that meeting are important essentially they are about a military operation work problem program for this year and the difference between for example this year's program and the one philosophy is that we have new areas and these are theater missile defense which is indeed what was agreed in lisbon that we would come back to the cooperation we had in that area and secondly there's

going to be an interesting corporation i think interesting everybody concerned involving military academies essentially you know opportunities for military experts to talk about doctrines to talk about long term issues how we essentially they see the world and how does it translate into the many to education so it was certainly a meaningful meeting of course it started on a solemn note because of course it happened the meeting took place just after the tragic attack and i'm on the eleven allies express full solidarity and of course condemn that terrorist act. well he of course remember that. president medvedev made made a speech in which he came up with the so-called sexual anti-missile defense proposal to practically reject it so is it. finished i mean what may there be further in the. ca should on this proposal or. the russian side

should come up with something something new well in lisbon apart from being historic reading from political body view as to a lot of decisions and perhaps some of the most important ones were precisely on the issue of the corporation missile defense of yet a missile defense cooperation but also we have agreed and we started implementing this that we would work hard together to discuss legacy eight should use to come up with the best ways of using the potential which exists in russia and in nato concerning missile defense protection and this is exactly what's happening so we're not in the business of rejecting and if we're not in the business of you know. being critical towards each other we are trying to work out the best ways we have presented our initial vision which is that of the two independent systems and there are some reasons why we are we think that is the best way forward at this stage but

working together and you know this is what our experts are working on this is what our political decision makers are. discussing and i think june was chosen are the time when an initial report will be papered i have a quote from russian president here gives it it's either we come to an agreement on certain terms and make a comparable system to solve the tasks of missile defense or we don't and in this case we will have to make a number of and pleasant decisions in the nearest future dealing with deployment of the strike nuclear missile group and quit what was nato is reaction because this sounds like a willingness. well my we were certainly not looking forward to any unpleasant decisions on the contrary we're looking forward to the solutions which would enable us to do something which has never been done before in the history of nato russia relations which is to create an arrangement which would serve for common

protection of our citizens and their release from the fret which certainly exists of ballistic missiles so we are at the beginning of this world so frankly speaking we are very much optimist when it comes to nato or later leadership allies secretarial that we will certainly find ways to work out such a arrangements that would enable us to pull together the resources the capabilities that we have or are in the business of developing which is the case for instance and later we are just starting to developing that nato missile defense system do nato countries consider ratifying the treaty and conventional armed forces in europe any time soon i mean because because this may be very useful in building up trust between the parties well. see if he is one of those issues that we think is of great importance of and being called

a cornerstone of european security detector and would certainly like the new modified treaty to be fully into force. and i think at the moment the situation is however that it's actually the russian federation that has suspended its implementation and there are various discussions taking place in vienna and also nato russia council is a is a place where this discussions can take place and we hope very much that we can work out together ok well let's get back to lisbon that this poor lisbon declaration confirms that nature's daus i quote remain wide open for all european democracies well i think this is. one of the the the. quotes from from nato papers that makes people in russia want to well start talking again about possible russia's membership in nato well this this for me

has always sounded strange when well maybe i'm a product of the cold war this well i remember this time so so so i don't think this may ever happen in our lifetime at least do you think this is something to think about at least for the for the future may this over happen what would you say the question of any potential interest in applying for membership of course has to be put to the country itself because you know we've never been we are not and we will not be in a business in the future as well of sort of look being a country this was significant decisions i mean the country feels that it's it's capable is interested and i said can share what is often called a key of nato then of cause you know such an issue but at the moment to our best knowledge there are no such. no such plan sort of speaking in russia and that's what we have also from the russian leadership so it's it's an open question but at this stage it's not an agenda because we are not

a word of any any serious plans on the part of russia to apply but i do think that the united states will ever allow russia to become part of the allies because i think if russia becomes part of the alliance well what's the point of having the alliance well it makes it really anti chinese what this is the only point of running it running your business or not our nation and we're not alone i mean we are anti terrorism reality you know different security challenge not anti any country but well that's perhaps a slightly here in my stance i remember one of the criticism mr rasmussen log roberson was once asked a question speculate precisely maybe a similar question maybe some other and he said if i knew what would be happening. and it's played five ten years i'll be playing in a stock exchange so of course but the truth i mean speaking really seriously is that you know it's a serious issue of any country's choice of the security orientation and therefore

so it would be an appropriate setting to speculate but the most important thing is we have the makings we have the structure which is a really a joint baby it's it's our it's a common creation that we put together with russia and let's make the best use of it it's has great potential in so many areas which are important for the security of our citizens you know in moscow in washington in warsaw in berlin out of places so that's that's really what we should and i think that's what we are concentrating on well they are completely rebuilt because i have also i have always thought that that mechanisms like the russian nato council like and the similar megane with other nato countries may be more useful even then then joining the the the body don't you think but partnership over all i mean and lisbon was very clear on this are if you like a growing business and a great business of interest and importance for nato we hardly do anything if you and my point on our own when we have gun is done where it's fighting and you know

cyber attacks pirates and so on we work with other bennies asians will work with other countries so that is really you know the name of the game and partnership including russia absolutely fundamental for that says robert tell director of the nato information office in moscow spotlight will be back shortly we'll continue this interview in less than a minute after we take a break so don't go there were you. here is that so much of an elite musician my mom. what is the rise of in the middle east with the spectacular changes occurring in egypt what will become of these really big gyptian peace treaty negotiations. this is not a theatrical set. this is

a real correctional facility. but is there any cultural life behind bars. could transform a criminal into a law abiding citizen. and can performance really revolutionized the penitentiary system. prison on a hearty. welcome back to spotlight on al green over in just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is robert shall director of the nato information office in moscow we're talking about nato russia confirmation. well one of the fields of corporations between between nato and russia between nato military and russian military is ghana stan this is this is

a big pain for russia and a big problem for nato to nato especially the americans have been accused of even promoting drug dealer ship in afghanistan and he of course saw that in russian papers well you said in one of your interviews i quote nature's role in afghanistan is to support the security of afghan institutions it's a very difficult task you say for example if we destroy poppy fields the ranks of taliban it will grow because the people will lose their earnings and quote you really said that well i said it of course in a convent if this can be the consequences of you know destroying the crops which are out there on elaborate we're trying to help them. intelligence we're providing security we train by the way we're training counter-narcotics experts from afghanistan and actually countries in the region to get a russia including demolition of a body but these are serious decisions and the best placed decisions of people to

make them are the afghan authorities themselves so even dating this is the right way to go with support but it's not really strictly speaking the job of nato go around relegating it's because yes it's complex and he has many consequences and we have to work together it's not a job just for nato but for our going station and certainly the afghans themselves and we need to help them this but. the thing i've always worried me is that do you peons realize that the drugs produced in afghanistan they appear on the streets on the streets of european cities practically like in a couple of days you're right i mean let's be honest it's a big business and it's an international business and this is terrible things they end up on the streets of moscow they end up on the streets of berlin of moderate and so on it's true and we are aware of this but you know again there is a link between security and development there is

a link between konami potential economic situation the real possibilities which exist for people and actually. our successes or the lack of them in fighting the terror is the taliban's who very often by the way cooperate with drugs or so it is a it's an it's a nexus so therefore the solution to this whole so has to be a multifaceted one and we are trying to play our part we understand the russian preoccupations that again i repeat that's what we call them or even i don't even think that it's a world guinness but i think it's true that the number of kids killed by drugs is much higher than the number of soldiers. killed by the taliban and the terrorists what's certain is that this is high and we have no i mean we have no illusions and it's a serious problem but again if we are successful and we have to be and the vatican

government is successful in at the same time that's the tricky part tackling the security problems when we became engaged afghanistan we we found the situation that the only people who stood between the traffic the traffic of my colleagues that's a lot of my fears were let's say two policeman with kalashnikov and not in a bad shape bicycle so you know afghans need to need to be held way to national community to be able to fight this problem but it's a complex one russia more than once declared that the that russia is ready to help the alliance in afghanistan coping the situation against that. i've heard that. brussels today is counting on russia to help them build the national afghan army as a pretext to leaving afghanistan is a true is nato is nato considering russia one of the means to to help build the international have been armed forces we are. sending training is very

important yes i mean training training i mean a show. i would love to use one of them is exactly neighboring house we say and they bring diagrams to deal with the security problems well the truth is that yes i mean good training well trained afghan security police forces are the ticket so to speak to altimetry us the international community because you know we don't know forty eight countries who are engaged in ice or being able to transit to to handover the responsibility for all it was that is happening and we have important decisions behind is a lisbon which means that the transition state should start even the spring. so russia can also play a role and we've been discussing various issues related to helicopters for example perhaps through training or and also provision of maintenance and so on a ship is already sending helicopters i think yes it russian helicopters are in use

in afghanistan and they each go here and they say russian helicopters are in use it means we directly send them or somebody or some of them let's say they're already there because i'm going to army had them there they are very useful and there is there is a trust fund that we want to establish. which would enable not just the use of these helicopters but maintenance there are some discussions going on right now about their financing which of course is an important issue but we do have high hopes because that would be a major contribution well you. did have already twice in the sense you mean the terrorist attack in the rush moscow's domodedovo airport and in a recent interview you said that meeting in brussels nato and russian military already discussed seriously thoroughly their corporations in order to prevent tragedies like the one we saw in denver did of an airport how exactly can the parties help each other. in fighting in preventing terrorists well we've had

cooperation on the fight against terrorists for many years and now many facets to it you know well actually trying to stabilize afghanistan is one obviously exchanging confidential intelligence information about terrorism that is happening but now also a very specific project something the one did i mention that you alluded to was the so-called standard standards which is actually for a number of years now been engaged in the search for the right technology to allow our security forces to have a potential to detect explosive devices from a distance that could save lives and this project is russia russian scientists are one of the key participants in the project we hoping that perhaps even some simulations some some test trials could take place maybe in a space of a year or two so yes there are some very concrete ways in which we work and can do more frankly to be about speaking of speaking of cooperation between nato and

russia or one of the common threats that we've both considered both moscow brussels and invasion later in the nato country is nuclear proliferation we say against nuclear proliferation well but as far as i understand there is a major major difference between the russian approach and the alliance approach towards iran's nuclear program can you tell me the main difference in these two approaches. well when we have a certain really don't discuss specific countries when it's certainly not in public when it comes to evaluation of any potential it what i can confirm is that we nato considers for instance when talking about the ballistic. mr adds that there's about thirty countries who either have that technology and that capacity or are very close to developing it having overall we have done a lot and i think we're going to do more joint analysis that's part of the work on

missile defense cooperation russia now we may differ on some issues some relations but i don't think we differ on the overall assessment that proliferation particularly of that of the ballistic missiles and of course what they can carry is a serious threat so we have to deal with that's the bottom line the rest of course is important there may be you know maybe there is need for discussion how best what are the optimal ways but i think on this issue we don't disagree but it's a specific countries we don't discuss in public ok then let's talk about in the field of possible complications cybercrime today the nato countries consider cyber crime one of the most important issues one of the dangerous issues to deal with is nato cooperating with russia i think not yet in fighting and one of the plans well we first we have to if you like establish

a more robust police are born because nato had been dealing with cyber defense issues for years but to be very honest they were concentrated mainly on the military communication and old systems and it's following big well known events such as an historian that we dallas decided that we need also to focus on the frets to the public to sort of if you like an open. door open cyber cyber space systems because if you have the situation which. the banks sadly are you know can't operate if the government business cannot be done properly because you know the whole system is down that is actually a threat to. curity so i think russia schurz our concern and you know we have been i say developing our policy and i think it's a matter of time and it is written if you like into the elements of the policy that we would would certainly work with the partners on tackling this international

problem because it is an international problem and another interesting issue is the exchange program for his students candidates of military academies there is such a program and i think that this may be like the best way to help future artists the young generation of officers not to look at each other with suspicious this is a special do you think do you think though that this may be one of the keys to building new relations between russia and the ones in the future by figure of spot on i mean having this is you know it's one of those issues that it's not even mathematics it's about chemistry. you know the more of our young military work together. we had had this cooperation before for instance in the balkans. ships work side and side to be of all races in you know of the shore about in fighting

piracy so we spoke about his earlier the new work plan military cooperation does include these changes and also there is a big scope for bilateral cooperation too and frankly speaking the more young calls the military you know go and see each other worked together you know the less there will be a chance that they will look each other god forbid some sort of opponent of or even enemy so i think that's that's certainly i hope very much it is an area which will have much more exchanges in the future thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest in the studio today was robert purcell director of the nato information office in moscow. and that's it for now from all of us here will be back with more first on comments on what's going on in or outside russia until then saying hard to take.

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the ruben's hotel. egyptian president hosni mubarak says he's fed up with the power. of state that many believe his country is already. on the streets. meanwhile in britain we take a look at. the opposition in egypt as protests in the. country's . president welcomes progress in the moscow airport attack investigation but slams officials. as the english language continues to. his guess whether it poses any kind of threat or challenge to other languages especially with the rise of the asian economies cross talk coming up next.

and you can. follow in welcome to crosstalk i'm peter lavelle the rise of a new middle east with the spectacular changes occurring in egypt what will become of the israeli egyptian peace treaty negotiated a camp david three decades ago can israel only negotiate with dictators and despots . and you can. discuss the future of israeli egyptian relations i'm joined by joel beynon in stanford he's a professor of middle east history at stanford university in washington we cross to use of moon air he is the executive director of the jerusalem fund for education and community development and another member of our.