one stream from mountain slopes to you is miss mirage. but this duty brings down the speed of more than two hundred kilometers from. the stand to be along on all. of. this three thirty pm here in moscow these are the headlines on r t three months since the deadly earthquake in japan and crippled the fukushima power plant there's still no end in sight of the country's regular crisis protesters in tokyo are holding a mass demonstrations against the country's years of nuclear energy. activists tried to draw media attention to a secretive meeting of some of the world's most influential figures they want to build a program to be opened up to public scrutiny and the agenda of this year's gathering

remains unknown but speculation mounts that the new international monetary fund had ways to save figure on the table. in the next winter olympic games host russian city of sochi is getting a major facelift to make sure its infrastructure and sports facilities are fit for paralympic athletes and spectators with just abilities. next in our spotlight program al gore nov speaks to bulgaria's foreign minister to find out why the country is considering hosting elements of nato's missile defense shield. hello again and welcome to spotlight the interview show on r.t. i maldonado and slay my guest is it will identify. the area as well as an important hub for russia's energy projects in the region and also an integral part

of an ambitious nato missile shield military project all this political gathering diplomacy in the center of intensive diplomatic negotiations to tell us about the results in moscow and also to explain vogue arius point of view on burning international issues our guest on the show is bogus foreign ministers of. russia and nato have failed to come to terms with the project the cell defense shield in europe confused about who the alliance believes is a potential enemy placing its warhead so close to russian borders bulgaria's other european countries people see on the data protection and supports the shield suffuse strongly believes the proliferation of ballistic technology makes such protection vitally necessary.

oh it was good of welcome to the show very good to be here thank you very much for being with us thank you it's a pleasure and an owner well first of all i wanted to ask you about your meeting move the recent meeting with mr lover of russian foreign minister where you said i quote it's of paramount importance that our. become part of the european security system well obviously you meant membership in nato. membership of european union ok right and are you sure that that nato is the main factor that will guarantee security in europe is that is that the belief i'm absolutely positive because if you look at it. things historically you will see the the last twenty years in the balkans we have seen so many worlds and so many divisions among ethnic groups under allegiance. that we have a historic opportunity actually more than that we have

a historic responsibility to make sure the war will be impossible in the balkans and the way you make war impossible in the mobile balkans is by bringing in the neighbors in the west welcomes into the european union and nato that achieves two things very important things first it provides for a common framework of laws and regulations to allow for the development of each society secondly it builds on the community of values that europe has in terms of security when your advice. together with everyone around you you don't fight you don't waste money and you don't waste resources. on. protecting each use you go so far against your neighbors you actually invest your money and your resources in tackling the contemporary challenges of security that we have and these challenges today are quite different from the way they looked in the nineteenth century or of the twentieth century edition foreign minister voiced more

than once the russian position russian proposal would add to creates a pride in european system of security not centered in need to work with so if you . have had that problem we look very carefully a proposal that came from russia for a new security architecture if i might go with that and i think the many issues assume need to be discussed within the framework of the always see we always see is a framework that gives. the entire brings everyone together in a forum to discuss the security challenges we face but our view is that the best way to guarantee security. for all of us within nato russia and each and every country is the being gauge on more practical and practical ways in involving us military establishments and blowing up political establishments in daily interaction to protect ourselves from the threats that emerge from outside of

europe with russia and america this is a very this is a very important approach to be much more practical in that sense but also to look at the existing structures that we have there is a very good framework within the nato russia council in which we meet. all of them and we discuss exactly everything issues we discuss the challenges of security we discuss how we are going to work together in afghanistan we face some major threats from. from the taliban and from and from international terrorism how we're going to tackle the problem of piracy and somalia all of these issues that we can deal with and i think this framework is a is a very substantial when we need to build on it we don't need to start from scratch we need to build on the rigs this thing institutions that we have most close seems to be very nervous about the u.s. plans rethinking missile shield and you gary decided to take part in this program

is this is the final or is the course of this if the course of this and it is a decision which is not just in the national interest but it's in the interest of the security of the bulgarian citizens as we go forward with the development of the nato ballistic missile defense system it is of paramount importance to us the entire territory of area because of a broken system so that our citizens can feel protected from the threats that they emerge when you contend these threats and these threats do not come from russia they come from a number of factors and they're common to both europe and russia. here's here's just a very quick list we have a an international nonproliferation regime which over the last ten years has faced very stiff opposition and them has in some parts been we come to this is a substantial international problem today ballistic missile technology is much more

accessible big ten ten twenty thirty years ago and you have a number of radical groups and ideologies that aim in acquiring such weapons and this is this is a combination of these three factors if you had a number of countries that acquire them stable as we speak as well this threat becomes very important so what is important for us within nato and russia is to find ways in which we can work together to join create together protect ourselves against such a threat and some of the proposals that have been made is to start again with a very practical approach on setting up a mechanism setting up a center that would exchange information that would builds trust between the military people political leaders so good when you have such a center which allows for the nato missile defense system and the russian missile

defense system to exchange information and to develop in coordination and you back that up with the political will which was very clear from the lisbon summit. to work together then slowly but surely will develop better cooperation in the trust that is vital so i don't think that anyone in russia should feel threatened by the system on the contrary and provides as a wonderful and very practical opportunity to jointly work together against a common threat and then. why why wasn't. rushing to and also the native countries act the russian proposal and part of that system you remember the russians proposed easing. the qabala station for tracking the missiles and what they say there is a very busy very very complicated discussions because they always end up in the technical debate that relates to military technology and all kinds of other quite specific issues i think what is important is that there is

a political will which was stated by nato and by president medvedev that we find the ways in which we can cooperate and we can quell the night and this and that and that we now move to the next level with the after the statement to find the modelling please through which we can begin exchanging information and building the trust in this i think this would be this is quite important it is a very innovative project if you think about it it's probably you know. five years ago or ten years ago if somebody had come to you and said nato and russia are thinking of how to work together to protect their territories against ballistic missiles coming from third countries you would have probably laughed yeah i thought that was crazy but but but today we i still consider it to be crazy when somebody tells me that russia may become part of something american military program such as the we still is there can program and you believe you really

believe that russia may become part of it what it actually well it's obvious. you say that what i say is that you know there are even narrower than we unities there are a number of opportunities for nato and for russia to work together in protecting nato and protecting russia. by using our own systems against such a threat. i don't see why people here are so skeptical of that i do wish that you know. people in russia would be a little bit more understanding of the fact that we are now promise that there is a partnership that is being signed. by nato and russia there is a strategic relationship between the european union and russia and that one doesn't need to be you know suspicious of everything when needs to be much more open minded and to find a way through which we work together in

a way that actually delivers to india in the interest of our citizens because the citizens of garia the citizens of russia or the citizens of any country. in europe or in north america basically the same people want to live in security they want to have their rights guaranteed and they want to have economic opportunity and when there are threats against. against these very basic human desires we must stand up and protect ourselves against them well a you you said that russia obviously is not the thoughts of threats and you also mention the terrorist groups that want to acquire weapons but there is groups not in the firing ballistic missiles it can be more specific and would you consider the threats coming from the do you know places where these missiles that would be shot over bulgaria and fired from i would be a little bit more careful if i were you with such an assessment because twenty

years ago. terrorists did not do many of the things which we now you know find should be common practice or in some groups improvised explosive devices very sophisticated improvised explosive devices complicated and well planned attacks on civilians aimed at disrupting civilian infrastructure and the recently we had terrorists walk into a naval facility and do quite a lot of damage that so the world is changing and we need to be prepared not just for the threats of yesterday but for the threats of two more and this is why. developing such a system in concert with other things that we're doing in concert with the dialogue that we have i'm identifying. the core. fundamental reasons why terrorist groups exist in the world in addressing very fundamental i

deal with ideological divisions that now try to explain the world is of collapsing and some form of clash of civilizations and the question of religions all of this is fundamentally. a problem an issue that we must solve and it doesn't matter whether that comes from russian whether it comes from from nature says. gary is foreign minister will be back shortly after we take the great settled as they will i think they will. it was created to serve public interests to inform and to entertain. these days there's nothing easier than opening a new media outlet but there is nothing then revoking its license in case of

corruption. control. you can involve in a community where you have one large corporation controlling the daily newspaper radio stations television stations a cable outlet you told me that that sounds like democracy public opinion versus f.c.c. broadcast blues marching. welcome

back to spotlight i'm old enough and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is new jennifer was the foreign minister of bulgaria. who hadn't garia was determined to contribute and so you know that in the break. program of nato which is the mission in libya russia's foreign minister lavrov was criticizing nato is operation in libya in its current form he said he said that it was not corresponding to the initial nato resolution well what does bulgaria think about your participation in the libya and delayed the operation and what's the final go you know what do you actually see the final go break. yes i do and i think first of all are pissed off by saying that. i think it's very unfortunate the way that colonel qadhafi responded to the legitimate concerns in

the region when demands that he was as people had for more democracy informal participation in government for more openness the right way to respond to such demands structure to address the real concerns that people have notes to take the tanks into the streets not to call your citizens rats and not to attack them and this is what happens particularly in big isaac and if it hadn't been for being very quick and very rapid reaction of some countries members of nato or the united nations the u.n. security council of residual ssion and so the nato operation we would have seen a massacre of one proportions extent so i think that the operation in libya is right it is legitimate because it's based on we. u.n. security council resolution and it is just because it protects the people from now

if you ask me about the final how do we get out of that question that question is very much a political question and i think the international community has laid very clearly what are the requirements what are the. stepping stones towards reaching such an agreement and bulgaria takes a very strong interest in libya because we have a strong relationship with good people of libya and we have many bulgur and nationals who are and if you would we are analysis shows very clearly the political resolution to the future of libya must be based on a strong and very clear roadmap which brings people together from both east and west of the country that unites the tribes of libya different families different factions and brings them together in a process which allows them to choose their. own transitional authority a transitional authority that. will design a new constitution will design

a process is leading up to it and to an election of course in this process there is really no place for colonel gadhafi and i hope that he will understand what soon unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a bit of until now that the further. you know the staying on continuing to stay in the position that he has well it's not just unattainable for him and the long run but it is beginning to damage very much the libyan people i hope that you know we will see also an increased international efforts address the humanitarian situation both on the side of the. in places like me sit up when it's very severe but also increasingly in tripoli as well we hear more and more reports from our people on the ground of the difficult conditions the people there face. as a naval asset the naval blockade. exists and banks become travelling to the

contact group meeting and i would be where we should be discussing further international efforts and i hope that discussion will focus also on how do we find a political solution to this crisis. is it the same i mean your opinion about libya would you talk about lead i mean about syria syria should the international community also exert pressure on bashar asad to to to did to stop violence against the don't people get demonstration would that solve the situation the same as you see it i guess that's a very complicated question because i generally don't think that we should look at the situation in the middle east and. without understanding the specifics of each country syria is a very different country from libya unfortunately president assad. has not been able to push forward the reforms that he promised. we have seen over the last few

months is an increase in violence in syria which is completely unacceptable and it is it is in the long run it damages very very seriously syria both syrian society and the ability of syria to come into a community of nations the very much welcome it if it if it meets all international standards and good practices on this i was in the past because a few weeks ago i met and met with president assad and we had a long discussion about the reforms that are needed and about the need to stop the violence unfortunately i think we violence has gone so far and so deep into syrian society that now we're really in the last minutes or less days of an opening for political reform understand that over the last few days some. initiatives have been taken to allow for an amnesty to have

a debate on the constitutional changes and also to open a dialogue with the with different opposition groups in syria however this is too little much much more needs to be done and it needs to be done very very quickly. one of the most. wooden questions in russian i will give it bilateral relations is cup ration a common kept ration and energy cooperation in two thousand and six had to countryside leaman to build the nuclear power plant in bell anything. like that well however construction has not started yet can you tell us the main reason the main obstacles why isn't the project starts cracking thank you for that question but let me start somewhere else because you said these issues are energy is one of the most important issues and our relationship and i agree with you but it's not

the only one we have a very good relationship with russia and my visit here was to try and focus more about discussions not just on energy and tourism but on a number of other areas where we can cooperate including culture. and education as far as berlin is concerned elin is a very big project and it's quite a complicated project the way that the bulgarian government approaches it is in a constructive manner to try and see to make sure that the project itself which was developed some time ago the cone as you said the contract was signed in two thousand and six but it's a little project that goes by some thirty years but everything in the project today needs the highest possible international standards and particularly european requirements on safety. you understand that after fukushima we are all very much more sensitive towards towards safety and i'm not saying that before for sure but

we were lax on it but the public itself is now very much more sensitive so what we're doing now is our experts are working with the russian experts to make sure that the project is. at the very very top of safety requirements and we don't have any differences. neither bulgaria nor russia nor any other country would be willing to jeopardize and safety and secondly we're working on creating the. economic and the financial package to make this project interesting to outside investors as well because it's a they said in the beginning this is a very substantial project obviously this takes time it doesn't happen quickly but i can assure you that it is in the interests of both of you and energy companies the russian energy company that is involved in it both governments and everyone else in europe. if we go ahead with this project we go ahead with it on the very

very firm basis that doesn't leave any questions to be asked just for safety and economic benefits of financial backing just people who take wiki leaks seriously they say that one of the reasons they have putting this project may be that the americans were. putting much pressure on bulgaria according to wiki leaks two to two that in favor of house instead of russ that i'm american investors instead of russian investors is that. i'm not one of those people who think we can look seriously so if you want to talk about that you better find somebody who takes a series of other sources of information says that despite as i said i think you know all of the skin spirity theories in these discussions that have been spurred by leaks are very interesting and fascinating but the reality is that we're talking about a nuclear power facility a nuclear power facility is

a highly complicated. facility that must at. you know at the very minimum meet the requirements in terms of safety good right now. and as i said after fukushima people have been very sensitive to that but you do want to let the kids know know we're not abandoning encouraged at this point definitely not. you know people are some stood off to fukushima but people in bulgaria also remember of mobile and they remember the effects about how much and these effects still linger on. in many bulgarian families there are stories about how the government then the communist government then did not inform people of the risks that they were facing going out into the streets because of the clouds and all of that. and indeed some people to

consume have to be a very serious crime so this is why. society is very sensitive to these issues so you know with all due respect to weekly exposure respect to different types of reactors and producers when you build something on your own territory you want to be top notch thank you thank you very much for being with us to remind you that my guest on the show today was the foreign minister of the area and that's it for now from all of us the spotlight will be back with more first and comments on what's going on in and outside russia and so then stay on r.t. and take it.

petey's. fifty two pieces.