has 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 the public scrutiny and the agenda of this year's gathering remains unknown but speculation mounts that the new international monetary fund head and ways to save the euro are on the table. and the next winter olympic games host russia the city of sochi is getting a major of facebook 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 know of speaks to bulgaria as foreign minister to find out why the country is considering hosting elements of nato missile defense shield. hello again and welcome to spotlight the interview show on r.t.

i maldonado and today my guest. will identify. the area as both an important hub for russia's energy projects in the region and also and then part and then vicious nature missile shield military project all this political gathering diplomacy and the center of intensive diplomatic negotiations to tell us about the results of negotiations in moscow and also to explain vogue arius point of view on burning international issues on the show is about the areas foreign minister. russia and nato have failed to come to terms of the project missile defense shield in europe moscow's confused about who the alliance believes is a potential enemy placing its warhead so close to russian borders bill garrett has all the european countries feel safe on the needed protection and supports the shield if you strongly believes the proliferation of ballistic technology makes

such protection vitally necessary. it was the den of welcome to the show very good to be here thank you very much for being with us thanks it's a pleasure and an owner well first of all i wanted to ask you about a your meeting of the recent meeting with mr lavrov the russian foreign minister where you said i quote it's of paramount importance that our balcony become part of the european security system well obviously you meant membership in nato. so i also meant membership in the european union ok right and you sure that that that that nato is the main factor that will guarantee security in europe is that is that the belief. that because if you look at. things historically you will see that the last twenty years in the balkans we have seen so many walls and

so many divisions among ethnic groups and religion's that we have a historic opportunity actually more than that we have a historic responsibility to make sure that war will be impossible in the balkans and the way you make war impossible in the mobile balkans is by bringing in neighbors in the west of all comes into the european union and nato that achieves two things two very important things first it provides for a common framework of laws and regulations to allow for the development of 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. protecting each use you so for going to 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 of the twentieth century. the foreign minister voiced more than once the russian position russian proposal to create a pen european system of security not centered in the ted what's what's the. opinion about the proposal we've looked 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 the always see is the framework that gives. the entire brings everyone together in a forum to discuss the security challenges that we face but our view is that the best way to guarantee security for all of us within nato russia each and every country is the being gauge on more practical and practical ways in involving us

military establishments and involving a political establishment in daily interaction to protect ourselves from threats that emerge from outside of europe and 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's a very good framework within the need to russia council in which we meet. and we discuss exactly vs the issues we discuss the challenges to our security would discuss how we're going to work together in afghanistan we face a major threat 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 one we need to build on it we don't need to start from scratch

we need to build on the existing institutions that we have moscow seems to be very nervous about the u.s. initiated plans created missile shield in europe. but gary decided to take part in this program is this isn't final where is the course if of course 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 border and citizens as we go forward with the development of a nato ballistic missile defense system it is of paramount importance to us that the entire territory of bulgaria be covered by the system so that our citizens can feel protected from the threats that they emerge do you contend these threats and these threats do not come from russia they come from a number of factors and they are 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 has in some parts been weak and this is a substantial international problem today ballistic missile technology is much more accessible. than ten twenty thirty years ago and you have a number of radical groups and ideologies that aim at acquiring such weapons and this is this is the combination of these three factors if you had a number of countries that are quite unstable 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 jointly 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 that 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 that cooperation in that trust that is vital so i don't think that anyone in russia should feel threatened by the system on the contrary it provides as a wonderful and very practical opportunity to jointly work together against a common threat and then could you explain why why wasn't washington and also the nato countries happy about the russian proposal to the can part of that system you remember the russians proposed using the kabala station for tracking the missiles and what they're using very late is a very very complicated discussions because they always end up in

a technical debate that relates to military technology and all kinds of other quite specific issues i think what is important is that there is the political will which was stated both by nato and by president medvedev that we find the ways in which we can cooperate and we can call tonight and this and that and that we now move to the next level of the after the statement to find the modeller tease 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 how to work together again to protect the territories against ballistic missiles coming from third countries you would have probably laughed yeah i thought though this crazy today we i still consider it to be crazy when somebody

tells me that russia may become part of some american military program such as the missile. which still is an american program do you believe you really believe that russia may become part of it they don't want it actually well it's obvious. you say that what i say is that you know there are in there only unity is 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 partner us that there is a partnership that has been signed by nato and russia that is a strategic relationship between the european union and russia and that one doesn't

need to be suspicious of everything one needs to be much more open minded and to find a way through which we work together in a way that actually delivers to the in the interest of our citizens because the citizens of bulgaria the citizens of russia 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 you said that russia basically is not the source of threat and you also mention the terrorist groups that want to acquire weapons but terrorist groups and not firing ballistic missiles can be more specific and would you consider the threats coming from do you know

places where these missiles that would be shot over bulgaria be 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 we now find to be common practice in some groups improvised explosive devices very sophisticated improvised explosive devices complicated and well planned attacks on civilians aimed at disrupting civilian infrastructure indeed in recently we had terrorists walk into a naval facility and do quite a lot of damage there so the world is changing and we need to be prepared not just for the threats of yesterday but for the threats of tomorrow and this is why developing such a system. with other things that we're doing in the dialogue that we have and identifying. the core. fundamental reasons why

terrorist groups exist in the world in addressing very fundamental. ideological divisions that now try to explain the world is of collapsing and some form of clash of civilizations of 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 russia with it comes from. says.

then revoking its license in case of corruption. involved in a community where you have one large corporation controlling the building newspaper radio stations television stations the cable outlet you told me that that sounds like democracy public opinion versus f.c.c. broadcast.

welcome back to spotlight i'm all going off and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is nick jennifer who's the foreign minister of bulgaria mr what an area was determined to contribute into another. break. program of nato which is the mission in libya russia's foreign minister lavrov was criticizing nato separation 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 the libya operation and what's the final go think of that if you want to could could do you actually see the fine go approach yes i do and i think first of all let me start by saying

that. i think it's very unfortunate the way that colonel qadhafi responded to the legitimate concerns of the legitimate demands that his his people that for more democracy informal but to space and government for more openness the right way to respond to such demands is to actually address the real concerns that people have not to take the tanks into the streets not to call your citizens rats and not to attack them and this is what happened particularly in benghazi and if it hadn't been for the very quick and very rapid reaction of some countries members of nato or the united nations with the u.n. security council resolution and with a 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 the. u.n. security council resolution and it is just because it protects the people from the now you asked me about the final how do we get out of the 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 the people of libya and we have many bulgur and national school in the world we are analysis shows very clearly that 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 the different factions 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 leading up to it to an election of course in this process there is really no place for colonel qaddafi and i hope that he will understand quite soon unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a boost of until now that the. the staying on continuing to stay in the position that he has now is not just unattainable for him in 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 effort to address the humanitarian situation both on the side of the. in places like misrata up to what 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 that people there face. as a naval asset and naval blockade that exists and next week i'm traveling to the contact group meeting in abu dhabi where we should be discussing further international effort and i hope that discussion will focus also on how do we find a political solution to this crisis. this is the same i mean your opinion about libya. we do talk about lee i mean about syria and syria should the international community also exert pressure on bash at oncet to to to do to stop violence against his own people get a demonstration would that solve the situation the same as you see it i 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 and what 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 damascus a few weeks ago 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. different opposition groups within 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. important questions in russian abu gharib bilateral relations is cup ration comic apparation and energy cooperation in two thousand and six added to countryside negri meant to build the nuclear power plant in bell and if it were not it right well however construction has not started yet can you tell us the main reason the main obstacles why isn't the project starts cracking well thank you for that question but let me stop somewhere else because you said these issues are

energy is one of the most important issues in 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 of our 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 bellamy is concerned beilin 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 as you said the contract was signed in two thousand and six but it's an old project that goes back some thirty in that everything in the project today meets 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 fukushima we were lax on it but the public itself is now very much more sense 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 in that because. neither bulgaria nor russia nor any other country would be willing to jeopardize the 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 i 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 the bulgaria and energy companies the russian energy company that is involved in it both governments and

everyone else in europe that we if we go ahead with this project if we go ahead with it on the very very firm basis that doesn't leave any questions to be asked as far as safety economic benefit or financial backing just people who take wiki leaks seriously they say that one of the reasons they're hampering this project may be that and the americans would. pretty much pressure on bulgaria according to wiki leaks to to to act in favor of westinghouse instead of russ that i'm american investors instead of russian investors is that true. i'm not one of those people who take weekly league seriously so if you want to talk about that you but find somebody who takes it seriously all the sources of information says. as i said i think you know all of these conspiracy theories and these discussions that have been spurred by leaks 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 that we now have. and as i said after fukushima people have been very sensitive to that but you. know we're not abandoning nuclear energy at this point definitely not. you know people are sensitive off to fukushima but people in bulgaria also remember. and they remember the effects of that hat and these effects still linger on. in many bulgarian families. 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 and all of that and indeed some people to consider that 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 wiki leaks with all due respect to different types of reactors and producers when you build something on your own territory you wanted 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. gary and that's it for now for all of us the spotlight will be back with more first on comments on what's going on in and outside russia and so then stay. and take care.

it is easy to. do. you believe. in tokyo thousands demonstrate for clean energy three months after an earthquake triggered the focus on nuclear crisis which there still no end in sight. and activists in switzerland tried to breach a wall of silence surrounding one of the world's most secretive and influential gatherings demanding the builder birchgrove comes clean on what they're up to. and along with the twenty four.