president medvedev spoke to our t.n.t. other broadcasters about why he took action and the legacy of that decision well here's what the russian leader had to say. mr president thank you very much for agreeing to answer our questions then let us go back to the events of two thousand and eight back then you met with the georgian president mikheil saakashvili your meeting took place in st petersburg and there was an impression at that point both in tbilisi and in moscow that we had arrived at some sort of an accord and the dispute would not be allowed to pile over into an armed conflict and i reiterate that this feeling was present both in moscow and in tbilisi could you tell us that he managed to agree on anything with the georgian president back then. that you know catherine i had the same impression at the time but i can still recall meeting president saakashvili for the first time it was in some petersburg we met in the constantine palace and mr secretary arrived i told

him literally you know there are many problems in the region at the moment georgia is an unrecognized state but i can assure you that as a newly elected president of russia i shall do everything in my capacity to help you find some compromise solution that would accommodate everyone and would eventually facilitate a reintegration of georgian territory if that's acceptable for all the parties in a cage a negotiation naturally this is what i told her word for word and his response was spot of course we are ready to cooperate and i also have this impression that we could at least try to find some creative solutions if not a new chapter in time but first of all there was an opportunity to meet on a regular basis which i can tell you earnestly i spent the next month checking regularly for any feedback from our georgian counterparts. at the same time georgia was getting more and more visits from envoys from across the ocean as they would be double. shifts the moment of truth for me as i realized later while analyzing those

events in hindsight over and over again came with a visit by u.s. secretary of state condi lisa rice following that visit my georgian colleague simply dropped. all communication with us he simply stopped talking to us he stopped writing letters and making phone calls it was apparent that he had some new plans now and those plans were implemented later. mr president am i correct to assume that the way you see the visit by the u.s. secretary of state was meant to urge president saakashvili. do you think the united states was deliberately encouraging georgia to pursue a conflict with almost no i don't think so the united states is a very large country headed by pragmatic people but in politics connotations a nuance is a very important as it is i don't believe the american said georgia's president to invade but i do believe that there were certain subtleties and certain hints made statements like it's time to restore constitutional order or it's time to be more

assertive which could effectively feed saakashvili apparent hopes that the americans would back him in any conflict that they would stand up for georgia and even go to war with the russians therefore i do see a relation between ms rice's visit to georgia and the events that followed just as i see a link in my further discussions with the u.s. president our phone conversation and then our meetings but. one more question in here are they still believe that initial response was legitimate self-defense the further actions of the russian troops were excessive why wasn't it an option to push the georgian forces out of the set and stop at that point to. of course. you know sophie people are free to make speculation like that and i have come across the many times to try putting yourself in the shoes of russia's commander in chief my shoes that is sure we could have merely forced them out and stopped there but what we're hearing from georgia we should fall back to our initial position and

our american friends and their allies will help us rearm get our new aircraft and whatnot and then we should resume the same offensive with any. well letting them do that would have been a crime against the memory of those who died protecting their land therefore our mission at the time was to destroy georgia's war machine so that it wouldn't be able to target civilians i settled. on the russian federation because as you know it's all mixed there. you were referring to the peace and foursomes operation and i keep thinking back to today libya and syria when do you consider it acceptable to step. down for deciding whether it's ok to launch a piece it wasn't me she got that here is russia billion to gadhafi in libya and here it is imposing sanctions against syria how do you accommodate your decisions on georgia of batman and russia's stance on today's prices. you see alexey it's

always case by case there are no identical countries and there are no identical solutions i guess it's clear to you what is going on in libya there's a man who has been running the country for forty years and at some point he decided to use force against his own people and this was condemned by the entire international community including russia which is we're not taking any part in the military campaign reza few nations are attempting to instill order in libya through military means we don't think it's the right thing to do but there is one nuance you should keep in mind georgia had been split into three parts by the time of the war which should have been about pulling the country back together for them rather than merely restoring constitutional order of libya is still in one piece such a risk does exist for libya but so far the parties in the conflict the so-called rebels in the program daffy forces have pledged to preserve their country's territorial integrity so the situations are quite different however i'm not saying

this to explain how we make decisions i'm merely trying to demonstrate that all of these situations and scenarios are totally diverse. this goes for other countries as well. what about syria and. syria is a more complex issue but sadly their situation has been unfolding in a very dramatic way so far. all of us practical politician should keep a close watch on the developments in that country what gadhafi for one had issued unequivocal orders to slaughter opposition activists by contrast syria's president never ordered anything like that unfortunately people are dying in syria in grave numbers and that arouses our deepest concern that therefore in my discussions with president assad during our personal conversation with and in our correspondence i've been advocating one principle idea that he should immediately launch reforms reconcile with the opposition restore civil accord and start developing

a modern state should he fail to do that he's in for a grim faced and we will eventually have to take some decisions on syria to actually we've been watching developments very attentively the situation is changing and so we're really actives. it answers the rest of the thoughts of this is a look at some of the numbers in the wake of the war in two thousand and eight russian envoys and the representatives of south a sect is a de facto government argued that the fighting in simi valley had claimed two thousand lives that was the number that was announced that later on russia's investigative committee estimate of the casualties at no more than one hundred fifty people meanwhile it was this election two thousand this would serve to some of the main reasons for launching this so-called peace important operation how do you account for this discrepancy now three years after the battle here. i have explained by rationale for taking it as

a decision on the numerous occasions you see i didn't go to any figures for the motivation this isn't exactly a case for mathematics let me remind you what was going on where on the night between. because the seventh and it all gets the eighth i received a phone call from the defense minister i was on the vacation at the time sailing down the volga river and the whole world was looking forward to the olympics that were about to take off in china the minister told me that georgia had launched a full scale combat operation to be honest my initial reaction was completely damaged i told the minister we should check this really completely out of his mind maybe it's just a provocative act and maybe he stress test set ians trying to send us some kind of message and i will later the minister reported to me this is no bluff they've done . it and they're using grad rocket launchers and whatnot i said all right i'll wait for another update. some more time to fast and the minister called again i have

something to tell you i believe they've just leveled a tent full of our peacekeepers killing every one of them what was i supposed to do i said return fire and shoot to kill no figures had been announced at that point. mr president you said you gave the order to return fire that are the operation continued after the heavy weapons rolled in and the conflict turns into an all out war could you tell us about how you made the decision to continue the operation and another question that all our colleagues would like answered who called whom first did you call prime minister first or did he call you how did you and the prime minister called you need to move. the first time i contacted him about a conflict was about twenty four hours after it had broken out that involved was already ablaze mr putin just made a statement condemning tbilisi's move that was the right thing to do of course we spoke twenty four hours after the attack over a secure line you understand it's not very appropriate to discuss matters like this by south areas it's also a lot of trouble to establish

a secure line with someone who's in a different country we taught and then we talked when he came back but even before his return i called to meet. of the security council i explained my position my decision to return fire and engage in conflict and security council members voiced their support for my decision sometime later we had the meeting in which mr putin attended. moving on the question of russia's accession to the world trade organization is very relevant these days russia into the w t o s w c o wants russian the problem as far as we understand is that georgia is blocking russia's accession it is the only country that's not seen favor of russia joining the w. there's been talk about georgia agreeing to agree to russia's succession if russia lifts its impact on the import of georgian goods will make some other concessions is russia willing to barter for it and what is your take on the prospect of russia joining the w t n. that was very well put the one point i don't want to do

is barter for it that would be immoral georgia has a position on russia's w o t o a session we respect that position as we respect the stance of any state as long as that position is in line with the goal set out in the charter trade trade preferences custom regimes we're ready to discuss it all the imports of wine and mineral water we will discuss anything but the problem is something else in essence our colleagues in georgia are trying to force a new edition of the political problem under the guise of w t o a session i'm referring to entry points control over the traffic of goods then they will want to get the e.u. involved our position on this is clear if you want information about the traffic of goods including transit through and south of setia we will provide it via a modern electronic database i've agreed to the suggestions made by the swiss

president regarding this and i recently discussed it with president obama we're ready to implement the model that switzerland has proposed to us however if they try to change current. the tickle reality serving as a prerequisite for russia. we won't fulfill that. is not too high a price to pay thank you very much mr president. moved. to.

india the buildings the grand central shirts and the. polish president was your favorite for schools beatriz old. taj mahal hotel. cement hotel. motel. the leave the. church and. babyhood clearing collection ramada plaza. made. the. medicine shift. that's. the sob stories from our team to triple a america's accounting anxiety it's quite

a crowd it's taken down. as investors shutter over how the debt ceiling was handled . well rounded off a rocky. global markets with wall street's worst move in over two years worsened by europe's debts and fears of a second a possible american recession. as egypt's former president goes on trial for mass killing and corruption a weary public see the replacement regime failing to meet the revolutions demands. but neighboring israel the reform rally swelled to what quarter of a million people in tel aviv and i agree that the government's not living costs get out of have. all sorts of snacks with andrew so i hear you have some good news for russia tenet. of an audio version can start winning at the moment and is on course for her third title of the year i've got one that plus the latest russian premier league just into my.

other thanks for joining me watching the sport here on r.t. and these are the headlines. league leaders to discard to newlyn the russian premier league to go within two points of top spot. on a roll world number three zero no v.o.b. gets a ninth win in a row to reach the final of the mercury insurance open. wild as well you know hard for tiger woods as adam scott takes the at right lead the world golf championship. but we will start with the russian premier league and. he has praised his team's counter-attacking style that saw them grab it to know when i was here in moscow the victory putting them within two points to be army men at the top of the table achieve goals within one second half minute doing the damage alexander could you call opening after fifty four minutes that pinpoint headed there before

a shockingly unmarked alexander a new call for swiftly made it so you will be thinking but you've got i can feel you have to name posed as any remain unbeaten them for the ninth straight gang and . today the second defeat of the season on the arm. maybe it's looking a little bit bigger than than they deserve but anyway they use their chances we didn't so it's obvious they when they go home with three points where we have to keep going to keep training so thats it. elsewhere angie unveiled russian midfielder unity here cover ahead of their home game against tell me they beat tell you no thanks to a first half goal from alexander protocol and a late strike from catch goodyear and you stay for to keep up the pressure on the league ladies with home lingering twelve's at the moment meanwhile twenty seven year old here called joins from chelsea on a four year deal and hopes to play in next week's game against moscow. elsewhere an impressive five game winning streak came to an abrupt end for third place the

normal style losing three one to get banned he went head to get them a dog that didn't put on year equalised with a cracking strike. but he said shortly after that it was another d.c. to give the band the name. until the end to keep mikael called. alpha back to back a month eighty second minute winner so ross the move out of the bottom two one male victory for them struggling volga despite having two men sent off in the last seven minutes. today rubin will look to hold their slide down the table they're currently fifth and trying to second bottom spot has now changed while terek spot at moscow and lost the most chiefs new manager to siddha to keep up his incredible start of the club going to his fourth win from full games against bottom side chris to get.

well look mighty have been one of the big spenders since the russian transfer window opened on august the first for new players have joined the side which is how do you see a revived the moscow club is on course to read through. the railway men have become the forty eight year old portuguese specialist club in his coaching career besides the club circuit josie cosier also managed the national to you live to eighty hour during the twenty. ten feet a world cup qualifiers where he defeated the likes of rimini austria and the faroe islands but these moments the team and the team a his more confidence. because when the game sat down challenge some teams in the beach of course yes the stars asia to. the far scene is ease of mind now this gets the acquisitions forward to lead it i said all the twenty two year old ecuadorean international joins look only see from live on say in this banished league he played thirty two matches for his country's national team and

scored five goals in the process over his relatively short professional career he's played for five teams including manchester city basel sporting lisbon and spain's molokai to live on to another new arrival is the nigerian international twenty four year old winger fixer of the not was also somewhat of a club hopper and injure milan player he spent the last two seasons on loan first for molokai in spain and the following year at west ham in the english premier league you can see a lot of players from eight year old are coming over to russia ninety two to participate so you are in different clubs here and also you know when a close plays and in europe on a globe stays in the champions league or in the europa league it motivates players a lot of the knesset west ham teammate manual that cost up also joined looking at sea during the summer transfer period the boards he's defenders trophies include the french cup in two thousand and six and the netherlands sides all in two

thousand and seven and that's a nice post because i know i know you. for just four years ago and. it was a test to think that to me in training is it you just say you want to play for board very beautiful but i think you also one or the game looking at these latest signing is spanish midfielder al there's a zapatero who joins the club from sporting lisbon it's twenty six year old started in the league it's bizarre. where he played for five years scoring five goals and winning the spanish super gop in the process in an interview with looking at seeds official website zapatero admitted that he had offers from four spanish clubs as well as if they spar mock england's castle and olympiakos from greece however much these offer outweighed the rest mainly because of the new head coaches josie coats a rose personal involvement. so look at the bar yet to lose a match or even concede a goal under josie cozier olds the management team is now ready to reach new

heights in the remainder of the season and should help the team achieve that goal remark cost regards the moscow. an england manchester united face managed to city in the charity shield at wembley later today this is the traditional curtain raiser to the new premier league season which kicks off in a week's time united held an open training session for fans at old trafford yesterday before heading down to london over fifteen thousand people turned up to get first glimpse of the new signings midfielder ashley young defender phil jones and keep it they would think. so too the familiar faces were montevideo to captain the side to the twenty for the title i'm wayne rooney seventeen goals last season midfielder down thirty by the way had a late fitness test ahead of today's meeting to show he missed most of the pre-season with a violence. elsewhere at barcelona finished off this season told america the team know when in mexico pub america had to be on no picking out that would be ahead for

the first midwife week. and then in the final minute of the game says it got the second from point blank right just sixty eight thousand fans at the cowboys stadium to watch this one boston i had to face you know when i can make a pass unless you cut. the possible play real madrid the following week in the super cup that rivals in good form to ending their tour of china with the six no pressure with local side. caca. i got the first from the sport the other is playing through the media and gonzales way christiane now that i got the pick up that goes with the selfless advantage i could invent in a school why. am i on other news russian videos of on is on course for her third title of the season the world number three coming from a set band to beat and a revenge of age to reach the final of the mercury insurance open in california she lost the first set but then came back the next to this is the ninth win in

a row for the twenty six year old who's hit real form during the hard court season civility overwater this could advance in the final and be effective age in three seconds but advance care found herself behind the german whose power saw her take a one set lead however capitulated in the second set largely because she was feeling a bit sick and had to run off to the bathroom to vomit apparently. well she did return for the deciding set. lesser advance guy who herself had a heavily strapped shoulder grounded out six four to ten. right. now in the men's game check but very little stepanek has made the final of the legg mason classic in washington d.c. beating new kid on the block american donald young comprehensively six three six three although this was his semifinal the way to beat all but he couldn't cope against stepanek and he'll face golmaal feat for the title the frenchman got past

another american dries enough to set up. an athletics olympic champion under a tsunami of could be going to next month's world championships in south korea after all the russian has so far failed to qualify for the tournament but has now won the last major event ahead of it the twenty six year old cleared two meters thirty six centimeters at his first attempt at the diamond league meeting in london while three years ago a similar jump was good enough to see him off to take gold at the beijing olympics elsewhere two americans triumph in the sprints with full record holder at the same bolt sitting this one eye wall to dix blew away the field in the men's two hundred meters while karma left a jet was paralysed in a women's hundred metres is she not stop a second straight victory in the diamond league. and tiger woods

a slip further down the leaderboard at the world golf championship in ohio the man to catch there is adam scott he's found a winning formula with tiger's form a caddy steve williams scott was in a four way tie for the lead at the start of the day but moved into the act right lead on the sixteenth with that pinpoint approach here he ended the day with a sixty six to put him on twelve under par overall with a round to play that is the shot i had a fellow was struggling jason day a nineteen year old japanese star and she cowered tiger woods meanwhile. at another disappointing rand he caught it a seventy two will start the final round on one over admitting afterwards he struggled on the greens where to be fair he had a bit of a stink. yesterday i didn't hit the ball well starting at all and i fixed it put together again and. really had a good coming home starting the ball on the right flight the right track ever two shot was flush everything was back to where it was to begin the week only difference is i didn't call again today and at two two horseshoes three put

eighteen and. made a make a bogey of this and was there on sixteen that's four shots right there and so that is this ball phenomena. will. you the latest in science technology from the ground for. the future covered.

for the. we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. please stop stories from r t the triple eight it's now america's accounting anxiety its credit crowd has taken dollar wrong to the ratings as investors shutter over

how the debt ceiling raised was handled. but it rattled off the rocky reek of global markets with wall street's worst performers it over two years worsened by europe's debts and fears of a second a possible american recession. as egypt's former president goes on trial for mass killing and corruption a republic sees the replacement regime failing to meet the revolutions demands. but in neighboring israel the reform rally swelled to a quarter of a million people in television angry that the government's living costs get out of hat. one pm here in the russian capital you're watching r t with a review of the week's top stories now first higher bar.