on the edges hoffman is ahead. wealthy british style is not something that's not on the times when. the british. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy because the reports on. hello again are welcome to spotlight the interview show on our t.v. i'll do another in today we're talking about the presidential race the decades biggest political mystery has been fined so gladly put in his presidential bid

being nominated by the ruling united russia country too many houses believe that the conflict inside the time stamp as the nomination is backed by the current president dmitry medvedev last year agreed to become the new prime minister and that would crush a party. that means russia's top political elite is unlikely to change during the next six or even twelve years. to russia what do we have to expect from the shop full time then off to december and all to march two thousand and twelve when the presidential election will take place we'll be discussing this with political analyst and research fellow at the institute of world economy and national glaciers. and a political columnist so let's start with what we trade medvedev had to say. i believe it would be right for the convention to support the candidacy of look

similar putin in the presidential election. ah there are . no other just me on this applause means i don't have to explain what kind of experience in authority led him into it in the house. issuing a scofflaw and i'd like to see something else despite rumors that there's been a split within you it turns him i can see that this was a well thought through decision. mr babich mr howarth thank you very much for joining us on the share welcome to spotland well is this it so do we know the name of the next russian president to go with actually i think we're already know the name of the next trashing president and their next trash prime minister but you know i think it's not due to the

reasons and some experts say i think that. has been over twelve years in public politics has proven to be a real leader of a new russia or russian g.d.p. has almost doubled in the last twelve years while social stability and steady development have been achieved so there are good grounds for continuing these. way of conducting borth foreign and domestic policy and most russians do really support the standard to do dude mutually agree that this is it. the intrigue intrigue is no no longer there i would see never say you're sure especially in russia because the country. we have seen a lot of times during the last twenty years or maybe even i would say twenty five years that it's very difficult to predict something in russia for sure the

situation may develop in the waterways but. fortunately or unfortunately now it's more or less clear that in march the president will be voting report. according to true to a change in the constitution the russian president will be elected for six years he can be there for two terms so do you think that let me put it will be there for the next twelve years or. we cannot be so sure now we're now we're talking about about six your opinion well i think the russian elite since one thousand nine hundred one has been pursuing apes first team is political stability to keep power of money the second is to integrate this new elite into the western political you put in is responsible for the first priority so he will be number one and he was number one during most of those years and midriff is responsible for the second priority so he will always be number two in so they stand up. in general we'll see how the

situation develops i think the choice of you know the time called keep running with medicaid affairs you know improve yet another term i think the choice sure that there are some hard times ahead so the time to share in internal politics for him sound for russia and for the war you know the euro grumbling a lot of other things. who are of russia's largest economic partner so when europe gets gets a called russia will be also sneezing so all visually they opted for a safer bet not during the best of times. even in the third states we're there the day they called they would call medvedev lame duck right now do you think in russia he will be a lame duck now they will i mean by by american standards are not or is that what it's different in russian politics i think in russia it's really different and first of all the basic reason is that you know not only in russia bought in other. countries of the most high valued commodity is stability and economic development

and i think that one of the major achievements of pollution has been the creation of the system where it doesn't really matter who is the president and who is the prime minister because of the general course of the concho goes on its way and in this case i think it. does it matter whether it will hold his pose as a president for two consecutive terms or whether they will change with very for any other. and the other person who maybe we don't know but the basic idea is that both russian and it as my colleague has said and russian general public are interested in stability and their development so they're able to get used to these people who are experts are predicting hard times for for a world economy for russian economy in the coming years so first of all i like i like to know your reaction how may the the the markets react to this news that that

we're hearing today and is putin's first released first will is it going to be hard i mean. economically. well i think the markets will react positively because there is putin steam everywhere in russia so the fact that the padrón is back and all one hundred percent he's now been away one hundred percent you know that one hundred percent number now he's back one hundred percent so that's good news for markets but he's facing hard times about i will say this about all the western politicians western politicians including vice president u.s. vice president joe biden who came here made it very clear that they would prefer to deal with medvedev a victory on the court which who is going to meet our president today and i also will be a little disappointed because he also bet on medvedev and now he's talking to a well known long moment it was all very severe there is

a certain there are certain disparity dichotomy between the markets and western politicians and i think that shows you how i would see you really stick is western policy towards russia sometimes the markets say one thing and the militias say it's quite a bit why i was asking about the hard times because because putin did promise i have this quote now to to resolve issues g.d.p. to a level of seven percent but on the same on this same day finance minister in putin's government mr goulden said that the next decade is going to be lost because of slow world g.d.p. growth people some are even expecting a crisis coming how are these two promises compatible with your own ideas this is a misquotation really i mean it would do so couldn't i mean cauldrons i mean it's it's misquotation because quillan said absolutely the opposite thing he said it's going to be laws decayed for the world economy that is slumping into recession

while he said nothing about russia so he said it would not be easy for russian economy before us again so the context is that russia is an exporting economy and our exports are much higher than our important so there's a core that's the contre that adds to the global g.d.p. . we know the country of it has a positive. export import balance in this case russia is the country that actually adds up to the global g.d.p. and it will not is not going to face any major crisis of course there is a global economy and we know there are crisis in the euro zone which could easily cause the collapse of the whole euro zone if greece is followed by spain italy and other large conscious you know european union is our major. partner also. the science of second wave of recession in the united states so it's not going be easy in russia but you know the first wave of crisis back three years ago was passed by russia relatively easily not only in economic terms but its social

demographic and political terms so russian are the pillars of russian political system. well i guess in these context you see. the global economy is going to have a lost decade but russian economy is going to develop when you're younger said the reason i'm asking is that putin's popularity let's face it i mean we're within his first term in office was very highly based on the high oil prices he gave a lot to to country economically so will he be able to give as much in his next two . i would say agree with. will see canonic policy all because they had legs because the country didn't collapse during the financial crisis and indeed the standard of living improved. you know the problem is in modern economy you can never be sure that next year you won't have

a major problem we have seen it many times in europe and in other places and certainly i think that the time then was bracing up for hard times not for the best of times both of you today in the studio. you are expressing the opinion that that there were there will be no will we will not be facing any surprises either on the elections to the parliamentary election they can stay doman december nor the presidential election so what about the turnout are people going to to use their legs to walk to the two to two police stations to vote do you expect a high turnout when medvedev is leading the ruling party into elections and later putin is running for president where people say well what difference. well i think . it will depend on the propaganda strategy of the board the state and the opposition will use that position and during the last few months i've heard their

position basically saying that we should not discourage people to vote because if you don't hold your bullets and can be used by you know of by the state the way it was so basically. i i i will not be surprised if the turnout is not so bad. political or come to grier. depends on propaganda much because the russian electorate is russian people are much more experienced and they're not naive a tall and they're not good subject to propaganda they have seen so much in their last few decades so they know quite well who to elect say political analyst you're going to laugh and be pleased by be spotlighted will be back shortly after we take a break so stay with us don't go.

twenty years ago the largest country. disintegration of. what had been. to the beach began

a journey. where did it take to. the ocean would be so rich brightening if you mean the moon about the sun from funds to pressurize. please stop top team dot com. welcome back to spotlight i'm al gore novel and just a reminder that my guests today are political analysts eager to haul off and meet the babiche and we are discussing the latest news the russian politics. prime minister putin has. agreed to become the next president of russia due to run

rather for the next president russia after the current president dmitry medvedev. proposed him at the. congress on the united. russia ruling party so. today we we see we're facing an upcoming reshuffle in the town dams and so the prime minister is going to become the president during to become the prime minister and this well looks as if it's decided on really at least among the russian political elite so gentleman do you think that this decision that and that was announced today actually was to weaken long you know maybe maybe even back in two thousand and seven what would you say what was it initial plan to go in this way to get i don't think there's initial plan because russian politics doesn't include very sophisticated skim so you see it goes as a girl was put in has proven to be

a really good president because if you have been living in russia all this period and i can compare the situation back in one thousand nine hundred nine and twenty zero eight and what is happening right now so he has really proven to be the leader of all the russians are because i can see talking every day to people in russia that he's popular both with small business raj business ordinary people or travel extensively or russian could in poor regions of the north caucasus really support them people in the not courses caucuses are really grateful that he a person fired this region and contributed a lot to their quality of living there and also putin is very popular among very young people people maybe who were children when he got into power who went to kindergarten he's popular among them and there's a future after it in this context i think are there's no mastermind plan planetfall it goes as a girls putin has really proven to be a national leader and

a bit of has already also contributed a lot so now we are going to see another six or maybe two consecutive presidential terms that's twelve years. and i think this situation is going to develop or the way it is it did before dimitri had to do you know police are going to not quite plain such a rosy picture because despite all the humans well let me give you an example with the north caucasus indeed kitchen i will specify that there is no war on that's a huge achievement by terrorist activity in neighboring dagestan huge it's much worse than in the ninety's the same thing in the year so basically the problems never disappear they used to be spills over to other places and that's why i don't think the decision was taken taken along a goal because i think the turndown had to react to new challenges every day eight

well i think one of the reasons why i would say the more conservative variant was chosen. to a large extent it was the west policy of the west in the lead never quite accepted the russian elite as its part basically it was hostile we've seen all of this i would turn it if do ruled so eternity of steel gas pipelines all these things joe biden saying that he would not behave peter see what him and put him back and graham and so in this situation the first who would who jubei what makes you happy i do think elections in other countries bush in russia it was all agreed it was making me combine happy with what it was old region or where it was old religious and they had exactly the opposite effect two of them on the violin might want to have it i think it contributed. it contributed to the decision that was taken to date. i'm not quite sure that by the nist as smart as to wish to

become the new president and to do it this way you know provoke a russian elite into a sort of you know defensive stand but i think the general result was that the west has been hostile there is no timetable. for russia's integration into the european union into european structures in general so that's why i think the more conservative variant was chosen and you know that being popular with the rest of the lord is always a bird although for russian leader as most all russian public is pretty conservative not hostile but conservative towards the true intentions of washington and brussels and many russians to spare the basic idea of the worst is to turn russia into the colony or ex importing from russia natural resources and exporting their dollars and euro's so in this case being popular with western the lead is a nominal sign for any russian leader i don't know what the politician parker with the words to lead right now he's getting ready to to to to go into

a real political he put it and go on with the modernization of the country prime minister putin today made in other very important nouns mint and let's hear a quote right now. i'd like to express my gratitude to you for supporting my candidacy to run for president it's a great honor to meet you. but you're going to look at the numbers and with the parliamentary elections coming in december i'd like to ask all russian citizens to support the united russia party with dmitri. i'm not really sure we do you. know that but i would just i'm convinced to become prime minister and we continue to thoroughly modernize our society. both putin and medvedev and later medvedev press secretary mr peskov

after the congress was. closed for today said that there will be a reshuffle of the government the government we need a major reshuffle said so do you think that this is the next into. we will be following in russia what's going to happen to the government two of the ministers who will keep their seats well i would say that mean dataquest shown yourself to be less conservative in terms of person now than the volume of putin. has basically stayed with the same ministers during all he is to new as the prime minister and you know most of his term he also had to to he changed to the prime minister several times but he didn't change the meanest this is a surprise that stayed the same they're all just met so some small changes so in general . midriff is seen as a sort of

a personnel reform and. it's just sometimes easier for him to fight people than for mr putin but i would also like to see you know there is a very contradictory. objectives that they're the tandem faces because i agree with igor on the one hand russian public is very suspicious of the western intentions towards russia and rightly so on the other hand the aim is to integrate russia into the world economy so every russian leader faces these daily not to be too popular with the west that will make him a little bit will be very suspicious to his own audience and not to alienate the west because there may in danger russia's you know integration to what putin is coming back he's likely to come back in less than a year's time would be a new putin who should we expect something new from the new prince you've had putin in terms of internal politics in terms of economic policy in terms of the

general mood in the country. most of all you know any politician is that any actor has to reinvent himself to staple people over the public as decayed spars back in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine when putin. came into power first as prime minister and then president that actually was. a deal of securing what was left of the soviet union stabilizing the concha and adding more security to their to people and generally this task has been solved russian g.d.p. has been steadily growing since generally the quality of living in russia has been improving but now their own huge challenges putin has grown in you. loss in russia and that's already a fact these people demand are more freedom they demand more political freedom they

want to take a more active part in the social political life and in this case i think. putin has also or proven him to be a person who is ready to change with the contrasts of the country changes he also changes we have seen primaries in the united russia russia party here are primaries which are a bit different from what is usually understood under this world of the american experience because you know half of the. so-called poor people from that gets into duma they're not members of united russia those are people who don't belong to any party they're just poor people in their village in their district but people know all of them respect them and they want to see them in state duma that is the lower chamber of russian parliament you know this is a very important sign that putin is reinventing itself as a political leader and he feels the trends in russian society are very well. it is

a very good remark and i also notice that today that would seem to be very proud when he spoke in that congress and when he was saying that that we do have a civil society russia and that this. all he said is a demonstration the civil society when he said half of the list of the ruling party is going to run for parliament on one party members and some so what do you believe that to be true do you think do you think this is just of that propaganda that you mentioned or what putin is really trying to to become and you could well yes and no because on the one hand i agree that a lot of them are putin is a very capable politician and he's very capable to change his own ideas with time i think the west has made a major mistake when they saw him just as a former k.g.b. officer and didn't see for example his into print no real experience so they underestimated him but part of his team which didn't change for many years is

a bit so i would say is not as dynamic as we would like it to be thank you thank you very much to me too in just a reminder that dmitri babich are needed across long political analyst and columnist who are my guests on the show today we discuss the latest political news from russia and that's it for now from all of us here spotlighted we'll be back with more first and comment on what's going on in and outside russia in a fourth who will follow the election campaign in this country so stay tuned to russia to get rich and change.

it's not so naughty top job intrigue the president and prime minister putin could swap jobs after the twenty twelve presidential election that will continue to work for russia. emotions running high as palestinians bid for statehood at the u.n. we're standing ovations in new york but clashes at the border in the west bank. a finnish priest speaking out against a chechen terrorist web site finds himself defrocked in disgrace with his plight ignored by mainstream media. and greek default is inevitable and even top officials know it leaks reports reveal the recession could go even deeper than first. meets midnight here in moscow i'm kevin zero in and this is our review of the new stories.