spotlight the interview show on r.t. . today my guest in the studio is set a gate. two thousand and eleven started with a tremendous event in international politics the long awaited start treaty has been ratified by the russian state duma and was signed by president made very clear the treaty becomes effective after the two sides exchanged their ratification instruments which will happen in munich this weekend but does the world look any safer in the new year what other major events are expected on the international arena who are asking sort of the lover of the foreign minister of russia. the security conference in munich will see russia and the us exchange the starter typically papers signed by president putin that of an obama this document will provide stability and we can be confident that we want to see an arms race well at least not in the next ten years and while it's quiet in the west the arab east is

a serious concern for russian diplomacy the unrest which started in tunisia spread over the region like wildfire the greatest situation is in egypt where hundreds of thousands of people have been rallying to force the long serving president out of office. and welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us well first of all i want to say that i have a lot of questions to you and our viewers our listeners facebook and they also have a lot of questions which are more personal so what we start with politics of personal you choose politics ok. egypt israeli politicians claim that the overthrow of barack and egypt may lead to action is and that this may not be really a democratic process but the other way around and that it will threaten the peace process in the middle east you have some of the fears are not well first i believe we the russian. i've had enough revolutions in our history and i don't think.

vice two friends would be to have revolutions of their own it's always bloody it's always messy it was throws the country back in its development so speaking of fidget the chip design was thirty jack but we want egypt to be stable democratic prosperous and for this egypt needs peace and peace first of all inside its own country and we hope very much that the gyptian it's very wise people because they're a long very she story. would be able to sit down and to decide peacefully how to get out of this situation. i don't think any outsiders. should really be pushing gidget one way or another i don't think any suggestions

from outside going to be helpful and they're going to lead to a sustainable resolution of the situation i don't think that official deadlines that if al tomato are you know there and i strongly believe that the egyptian political forces political groups. themselves find their way out we will be watching the situation closely also because there are a lot of russian citizens tourists but also those who reside in the egypt dominant and we approached in our contacts with was egyptian leadership was egyptian authorities we approached them. strongly as emphasizing that we believe that all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of the russian people would be. taken and of course we hope that the tourists will. heed the

appeal not to go to egypt be starting to wait until the situation gets quiet we cannot proceed without citizens to travel but i will very strong recommendation. to do the deed later. let's say yes i did not mention the new bill the settlement aspect of your question you know . probably there is no direct link between the deadlock in the peace negotiations and what is going on in egypt but not only in egypt that even if it is an active member of the go see action process well it is a key regional power and is very instrumental for quite a number of negotiations including the negotiations between israelis and palestinians but also including. the negotiations between the factions in palestine

palestinian reconciliation is something egypt has been trying to promote and we hope very much that egypt would keep its key role in this process but what i want to emphasize over there is no direct link between what is going on beer and in tunis and so. on that on the one hand and the peace process but i am convinced that the stakes have never been higher than today including for israel and the sooner peace process resumes the sooner the settlement would be shaped less . unstable the region is going to be that's my conviction and i certainly believe that the meeting of the quarter the ministers of the quoted in munich this weekend with address this problem very seriously there is no time left to waste we must. do something to resume the peace talks so let's stay in the middle east since we

started talking that the middle east peace process in january president medvedev visited visited jordan and palestine and he said that thing that sounded since they should all because they're the world hasn't heard anything like that from the russian leader says go. sure i guess here's what he said russia supports an independent palestinian state well if only garcia actions efforts. fail there will russia's support for you when membership for the palestine without israel's consent well full un membership is a process to get be are immune you have to go through the security council and through the general assembly. and i don't believe it was a sensational statement by president medvedev because an independent palestinian state was a capital in these jerusalem. because something is something which the security

council of the united nations has and those three people in the resolution supported by all permanent members the problem is that this vision is not being stressed is not being implemented in practice and sometimes people shy away from reiterating it but we are convinced that unless we want to have a permanent and deepening conflict in the region this must be the solution and we call upon the israelis to recognize this and not to drag on. in the negotiations to sit down with the palestinians on the basis of the international legal framework indoors by the security council and this legal framework among other things demands that all unilateral actions which prejudge the final settlement must be stopped and this includes settlement activities by israel and that is the station i think thousand sensational from the russian

president was when the other day he he. or did the foreign ministry to take the human rights advocates opinion into account why dealing with look at shank over the belarus what does it mean can you comment and well this means that russia is a member of the international community. which includes the united nations organization security and cooperation in europe which includes the council of europe and there are certain standards indorsed by all of us there are a commitment to which we all subscribe and we want this commitments to be north and to be respected. you know what happened in belarus immediately after the elections there arrests of the candidates to the presidential position the rest of the human rights activists the rest of journalists russian citizens by the way the russian

citizens still remain in custody and this is an acceptable the accusations are not. looking very serious frankly speaking and we tried to get more clarity from our below russian colleagues the council of europe committee of ministers considered this issue a couple of weeks ago and there was the resolution unanimously adopted was the russian active support and participation demanding the deal the russian authorities to release the candidates the presidency of the human rights activists and journalists from prison and to respect european values and principles there is nothing there is nothing strange in this situation yes deliverances old brotherly country builder we says overthrow the egypt but in the context of the customs union common economic space collective security treaty organization but this does not mean that we should close our eyes on violations of the basic human

rights and freedoms. so. this is also will be the position which emphasizes that russia is not going to be guided by double standards and this also applies to human rights protection and respect inside the russian federation minister at a news conference in istanbul recently held jointly with the turkish foreign minister you characterize sanctions against iran as counterproductive and you expressed how that they would be lifted does it mean that russia alongside me with turkey and brazil may raise this issue at the u.n. security council well not exactly. we have said that sanctions normally do not work but sometimes they become inevitable and in the case of the last the resolution of the security council which was adopted last july this was

the case sanctions became inevitable because all approaches all calls upon the ron to resume negotiations three of the five plus one group. or not he did and iran continued to avoid responding to the international community requests requests which were. promoting closer cooperation between their own and i say in order to close the issues to reach remain on the table and reach important to clarify to make sure that the iranian nuclear program is entirely peaceful but that does not mean that being indoors that resolution now we can only look at further tightening the sanctions drip at this particular moment we believe that the sanctions to record has been basically exhausted more sanctions would mean that the international community wants to suffocate the iranian economy and create

a humanitarian crisis in iran we cannot subscribe to this says foreign minister said again a lot of the spotlight will be that short. right after the break so stay with us that will go. to sleep. hungry for the full story and we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. are and of nature and discover its beauty. leak. communicate with the wild and learn the. test yourself and become free i am see what nature can give you the.

welcome back to the spotlight on melbourne oven just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is foreign minister of russia said again a lot of. well we will get back to some foreign policy issues in a couple of minutes but first i have to to read some of the questions we got we got on facebook the question that our listeners and viewers were sending to you when they found out that you are going to be my guest on the show well question one you literally live on a plane and i know you did so you call it a life. well i call it a life they have no other choice. your family well they don't mind their minds so they somehow learn to cope with it you know i think so you have a reputation of being a very independent person who writes now is from single point does he does he still

believe in freedom and what's he doing about it and i do believe in freedom i don't know what the gentleman to the mind of and. that's supposed to be a very independent person being a minister you cannot really be independent you're a member of a government you implement a foreign policy which is determined by the president and if you don't do this you cannot be a minister. being independent in the sense of trying to have some time for myself yes and whenever i have a chance like to meet with my friends i like to play football i like to do downhill skiing and also to go white water rafting in siberia was my it was my company that's the legend you rafting is later this is a true you still don't have a phone on you when you rafferty you know. we used not to take

a satellite phone which sometimes by the way ok when when people say you have a reputation of being independent i think you earned this reputation when you were at. representing russia in the u.n. and here's another letter i remember lover i was rare with the un homme charles about not being allowed to smoke in the u. n. building and ask him if he ever tried to quit smoking. i smoke much less than i did before. and i think this is healthy as for the. question relates to. i wasn't actually revolting i was insisting that the decisions of the general assembly be respected because smoking areas in the un building has been subject to a decision by the general assembly and that's and that's as for as for. being

independent during my years in the united nations if what is meant is being independent from pressure from any other member of the security council then yes that was the case you call do we kill leaks funny fiction well did you really enjoy reading it and any other comments except funny. well i think funny funny fiction is the main characteristic of what they feel reading recollects i don't read much sometimes my assistants find an interesting piece in the wiki leaks which relates to the episodes dissipated for example or russian leaders participated and then i think they can just. see whether what was publicly said what was said to us by the partners whether this is

correspondingly reflected in their reports back home so you do find truth in we killie's i find some of it well i find sometimes deviation being what is reported that though. from what was said to us it helps in the diplomatic work well. ok now wiki leaks actually was lost a couple of years ago when your phone conversation with the your u.k. opposite number was made public by the british press this was extraordinary and this was very extravagant can you tell us what exactly did you say to david miller and what i said to david miliband was equitation from another foreign minister who visited me just after the war in the caucasus ended and who was coming from georgia and he shared with me his views of

presidency like a shrewd. and i just informed the minute what exactly was said about president saakashvili by my account but it was bad language it was a well the rest i wouldn't comment on. and out of question for facebook jury in the communist era have you and mr lavrov been a member in that communist party if yes what made you. change your political views yes i was a member of the communist party and i was a member of the party and. there was they of the party. and they still have a memory my party card. the. do use monthly until the last moment and when the party ceased to exist seems to be the member of the party. frankly speaking we all know that being a member of the common a sponsor involved some cynicism. and some pragmatism as well

was being a member of the communist party and before that of komsomol people couldn't three to count on the decent carry especially if the option was diplomacy so it went on most almost nature of the i never thought that there should be any other way and when i was in komsomol and then the party by the way being a member of the party i was the head of the cum similar going as ation of the soviet foreign ministry and the general of the young communist league said yes yes i'm just trying to you know as young communist leaders of the foreign ministry to have some fun if you wish we organize events being sports be just. on weekends.

some sketches were staged dances. and this this helped you know to bring people together and to make a life a bit be a bit more interesting he mentioned and then stand assess the staging as things as i know you play guitar i know you sing i know you love beatles but as a frenchman he is i'm a frenchman do you like french popular i love french popular news i could. my favorite. song many of those last question from facebook what's your favorite why. i thought i thought i asked when i read this question i put here scotch because i know you love scotch. also like wine. venture terry in russian i don't want. to be polite. and i think i'm in

a good. chili ga ga. if it is the real security but also of course california argentina south africa. they don't export much but but they have very good ok let's get back to we have so i have time for a couple of foreign affairs issues president medvedev recently said i quote nature is faced with a dilemma it either enters a joint missile defense system with russia or has to put up with new russian strategic deployments close to europe and quote would you agree that the creation of a joint russian nato defense network is the number one challenge for russian diplomacy as well i think it's a challenge to all of the countries in the your atlantic. it's a test if you wish. or common the bill it's the thought that it was the remnants of

the called war and to come from declarations of indivisibility of security to pretty secure the implementation of this of this slogan and missile defense is indeed of huge importance because if the managed to do it right you finish the. it genuinely joint project then i think we will come a long way towards achieving that goal which was set the date the russian lisbon summit namely to become threat they get by this basically we have two elements in our position first the system must be equal and. second this system must not create any risks for the strategic arsenals of the russian federation eve this. resolved positively

believe we will achieve. success but if you fail and if negotiations be to be in nato would only be used as a cover for nato american missile defense system which ignores the russian interests then of course. we would have no other choice but to take measures to protect those last question one of the main threats one of the main challenges for russia's security coming from from the south is the drug traffic from afghanistan we have been hearing from nato representatives that if we try to fight drug production of get us that this puts people out of work and they join the taliban so it is bad for for establishing establishing the peace process there how do you cope with that do you agree with such a position you know i don't believe that american colleagues become

a bit more aware of the need to. production throughout the chain you know starting from the poppy plantations and into the street dealers. for example in colombia the americans boots them for says on the already creating the cocoa plantations and they don't really raise the issue of colombian peasants getting out of work. ever sing this possible we cannot allow. the drugs from of gonna stand to ruin. population population of central asian countries population if you're a peon countries. and some of it of course gets to the united states itself. the presidents must receive compensation no doubt about it it's much more difficult than just to continue to grow. with. your leave but the

presence must receive assistance they must receive financial material assistance the must be no excuse you know not to block each element of the drug production thank you mr thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was. of the russian federation. and that's it for now from all of us if you want to have your say on spotlight you can always. be back with more on what's going on outside russia. and take a seat. european

security system with nato but it would have to retaliate if the shield violates its interests coming from foreign minister. global security conference in munich. opposition. to. egypt. as the british prime minister says multiculturalism has failed british. hundreds of. a very warm welcome to you live from moscow well and historic russia u.s.

nuclear disarmament deal is finally about to come into force at a high profile security conference ongoing in munich. treaty means moscow and washington will have to cut the number of nuclear warheads to around one and a half thousand each. going off now has more details for us he is in germany he's at the conference and will be having details from him in just a short while do stay with us here on now there are many issues that are being discussed at the annual security conference we are covering they will be covering the issue of the middle east and the ongoing chaos in egypt for the meantime so we'll turn to some comments from the russian foreign minister. really reviews up of the start treaty has been agreed on the understanding between russia and the us that unilateral views on global security lead nowhere it's clear the basis of strong russian u.s. relations in many areas must be equal participate.