on r.t. to write the russian prime minister is grilled by the people in his annual public q. and a as he defends the right to protest legally and values to work closely with the opposition in the future. prime minister putin says that he wants to see cameras installed in polling stations in an effort to stamp out electoral fraud join me in a few moments more on this the key points from vladimir putin's forward a half hour question and answer session. also locked up without charge all court hearing human rights groups sound the alarm as the u.s. is close to water rising indefinite detention for terror suspects.

moscow offers to help the eurozone out of its debt crisis but says only the e.u. can solve its problems as president with technocrats in brussels. stronger ties and ironing out differences when it comes to the energy sector between russia and the e.u. all join me for more details on that very short. hello eight pm thursday night here in moscow you're watching with me kevin when you most welcome the top story from the recent parliamentary election to russia's foreign policy vladimir putin's tackled a whole range of questions from the public today including a number of tough topics the prime minister's annual televised q. and a with the nation lost to the record for the half hours peter all of a listen. prime minister vladimir putin addressed the protesters who were unhappy

with what they claim was electoral fraud taking place during the parliamentary elections earlier this month now he said that they had the rights the constitutional right to protest that they must remain within the law now following those elections we saw videos posted online allegedly showing electoral fraud taking place now those videos went viral online were all over the internet speaking about the web as a medium he let any of you said that the internet due to its nature could not be limited and said that even if it could be it wasn't the role of government to do so but he did say that technology should become a biggest part of the electoral process saying that web cams should be placed in polling booths to make sure that everybody can see exactly what happens there but it. is but i think i'm now asking the election commission to install web cameras at every polling station in the country and there are over ninety finals and of them

these cameras should be on around the clock so that everyone can see what's happening at every station to rule out any allegations of fraud. well looking ahead to the presidential elections which mr putin will stand in next year he laid out his manifesto saying that he wanted to to modernize russia's economy and to grow and develop democracy in the country and he also had some words for one of his contenders in not in the presidential race mikhail prokhorov saying that he was a worthy and a strong contender but stopping short of saying that he would give us the profit of his support of course not a mere putin will be running against him going for that president george the job of president in march of next year you know one final point on the elections he did say that if the love got to be a putin saw that the people were not on side with him in the next election that he would remove himself from office that he would

step down voluntarily if it looked like the people weren't on the side of the well in forward a half hours when you're asking all the people in russia to put their questions to one of the men at the top as well you're going to get some great questions usually on earth some gems and say hold off hours this time the longest that the prime minister has spoken for and address these questions this time out was no different what we what we heard was mr putin feeling a question about a ballot that had been spoiled during the parliamentary elections earlier this month all about it came from london and the whoever heard filled out ballots in or miss filled it in as it were had left a rather choice message for the pm on their ballot paper using some colorful language let's hear what he said. if you didn't run in the parliamentary election her name wasn't on the party list and yet everyone seems to hold you responsible for the results of might well that's normal news that would last a magazine published a photo of a ballot had an obscene message addressed to you want it i would not want to voice

it right now but he still why not go ahead. but hooten why don't you the rest is on broadcast amuck. would you think of decided to have sex. yes i've seen a message i found it very amusing and i was even pleased because there's nothing new in a certain shoot i saw plenty of dirt thrown my way when i was president but i did not doubt myself then nor do i doubt my actions as far as i know the message or not when it was written in london and we knew very well why some russians live there and why they don't want to come back up with their obscene message to me simply tells me how much they want to talk about fashion but they can't while i'm in front of you i'm not mad at them i'm actually grateful to became voters just like i asked them to the prime minister was taking questions on foreign policy regarding the united states. and said that russia wanted to improve their relationship with america and work together with the u.s.

however it was the united states which really didn't want to take their relationship any further that they don't want didn't want to deal with sovereign nations like russia that they had their own type of partner they wanted to work with were going to. you know they made up their mind on afghanistan but did they discuss the mission with their allies in advance they carried out their strike and then started pulling in other forces saying whoever is not with us is against us we'd like to be allies with the united states but what i see now is not a partnership sometimes i think america doesn't need allies it needs service in the west well staying stateside prime minister putin also heard some comments before us senator john mccain john mccain had said this would go the same way as colonel gadhafi you know this prompted a response from the prime minister saying that well perhaps john mccain it should spend too much time in the prisoner of war camp during the vietnam war and this had affected his mind elsewhere but

a mere putin also spoke about. the jailed billionaire he's saying he would consider a pardon for. to. me it was his guilt and it was a cause to me a putin became president in that election in march all of this coming in well a momma's session from the prime minister four and a half hours how long he spoke for his previous record by around five minutes. terror suspects in america could be held in prison indefinitely without charge or trial that's if the senate passes a controversial bill which has already been signed off by the white house and the house of representatives it could mean the military being able to take a ledge terrorists into custody virtually without question critics say would be a stark violation of human rights the white house initially objected to the bill but later changed its mind glaze of monday war dot com ministration is indulging in

smoke and mirrors. these provisions mandating military custody amounted to a restriction of the president's authority but in truth it's reasonable to assume that a veto threat was mere political theater because senator carl levin one of the provisions primary authors revealed during senate debate that it was the obama administration itself who requested the inclusion of language mandating military detentions including u.s. citizens in that language so you could say that you ministration never really changed minds it was just sort of doing it for public consumption the bill merely codified into law this status quo i mean that is to say the government has already assumed that they have the power to detain u.s. citizens indefinitely without trial and that's what guantanamo bay is essentially the targeted assassination of. u.s. citizen and war all lochley proves again that the government has already in every

practical sense dismissed due process rights for americans the senate already passed a version of this bill and the vote was ninety three to see. seven so only seven senators jacked to the literal if this aeration of the fifth amendment it's expected to pass the senate it's already passed the house and obama is expected to sign it before the end of the week ahead in the program in just a few minutes time in fact a journey in time nestling between just mountains and serene sea we take you to a fifteen hundred year old fortress as in russia's most ancient of cities great pictures from a pretty story to. next love the eurozone still faces a bleak outlook with the prospects of a winter recession in spite of the efforts of politicians to try to come up with solutions at a summit in brussels president vet of offered russia's help along with closer ties

saying that moscow is hopeful of seeing the e.u. overcoming his troubles at his test recently has got the latest. problem has been on the top the agenda and russia russia's role possibly in trying to help the eurozone nations that one of the ideas put forth is russia contributing a certain amount to the international monetary fund now the amount has not been specified by a president medvedev although there have been talk that it's in the vicinity of around ten billion dollars and you know there is the option also the contributing to the f.s.f. or even russia would prefer to contribute to the international monetary fund and again both sides reiterate the importance of this partnership russia in particular because the e.u. comprises about more than half of the foreign trade between the two countries and its foreign reserves are also a euro so it does see its interest in trying to support the country in the countries in overcoming the crisis that are in right now both sides did admit to and reiterate the ties between the two countries saying praising the success

particularly of the nordstrom project and they say baby could be will expect continued continuous exchanges especially in the energy sector although they did mention that there are difficulties as well particularly in relation to the third energy package which is the legislation of the e.u. that requires the separation of the transportation delivery and sale of gas which does become a point of contention because one of russia's russia's biggest company gazprom is in charge of all those all those processes and it would it would definitely impact the way they operate in terms of gas a live reason the e.u. although the e.u. said well they're willing to talk about and continue negotiations on how to add more flexibility so that they would take into consideration of russia's interests now another thing relation to creative business is of course the accession of russia to the w t o n o this will provide more liberalization definitely lower import tariffs for russia certainly the e.u. will play a very big role considering that seventy point five percent of investment in russia

is coming from the e.u. so to morrow the they will rubberstamp be w t o accession and that russia has to ratify that agreement so a lot of business and trade talks happening here in brussels between the two sides . correspondent reporting there syrian activists say twenty seven state security officers have been killed by army defectors in the southern province of there are meantime human rights watch is to release a report naming dozens of syrian officials it claims are responsible for the violent crackdown on protesters let's talk more about this now with police is chris banks on the line from london chris good evening thanks for being on r.t. this human rights watch i was talking about the report on the government's brutal actions against protesters is based on the testimony of just over sixty people have defected from the regime and given that fact held ject of is it likely to be. well i think we should see what the report says but there are obviously monitors on the groaned the regime is that said it will loan monitors in as part of part of this we know that it's been suspended from membership of the arab league that's exactly

what happened with libya prior to the intervention and i think there must be worries there are increasing call for foreign intervention in syria not always from the syrian national council or body which is based in the country and outside the country i have to say that many of those forces demonstrating in the saudi regime did not share our demands for foreign intervention or indeed for nor strikes on the local. coordinating committee which called the straight last week for instance pointed out the fate of the palestinians when they saw themselves to in my opinion to western imperialism or certainly fact the fattah faction did and warned that the syrian people could end up in that people also pointed to the western intervention is meant in iraq and afghanistan afghanistan and i think we have to say that really what is happening in syria now is that what is a popular revolution other forces are moving in to try and take that all for and use it for its own ends in the syrian national council this body of the sea which

is both in the country and save the country is no seeing an interview with the wall street journal if it would sever ties with iraq it was severed ties to hamas and hezbollah or it would treat russia as a special relationship i don't think that sounds very very good by the way and it would strengthen ties with qatar saudi arabia the other gulf states and with america and france now it would seem to me an agenda to be joyous the years of people in paris. in washington and in soda and saudi arabia and i think there is a developing difference here between for the people who have been organizing the peaceful demonstrations the uprising if you like inside syria on the grown to many forces there the people in the grown by and watch are opposing as i understand it foreign intervention the people who are no increasingly. retired to turkey as well which i should mention the qatar and the west are arguing and arguing in favor and indeed calling for it nor and also i think what happened in libya and i think

therefore we're seeing a very dangerous situation in washington i think there are worries to. the developing civil war in the situation room the americans have not their complete handle on this civil war in syria at a time when america has just withdrawn from iraq were the shia government is in power they are american influence is when. still intact would still be a very very difficult difficult thing for the west and they're obviously worried about around as well the other question is sort of just i just want to cover a few more angles to this i want to try and get in i mean the u.n. secretary general saying on wednesday that the international community must take action against the syrian government quote in the name of humanity with that in mind what further steps do you think we could see there from the u.n. well we've seen sanctions which of course we've seen before is the softening up for attacks in iraq and elsewhere we've seen as i said iraq syria suspended from the

arab league which is exactly what happened with then the intervention came in i have to say however that i think the western forces are weary about intervening in syria and so far it's largely i'm sure they are. secret services aren't involved in it deeply but i think they're weary about it is a much more difficult operation for them than it was in libya which has caused the nato bases in italy and elsewhere what you are seeing is crewing these military units are getting weapons from somewhere and the saudis are intervening into talk you're intervening into it if you like they're acting as proxies for britain america and france in say this situation and i think we have to reiterate as i say the forces on the grown people in organizing the demonstrations have not come up with a demand for western intervention. this is coming i things are strenuous to the movement and i think it's something we should give pause and if those policies are of course you and indeed they have said they are against the violent overthrow of the regime

they want to see it toppled by peaceful means and i think that we applauded in that situation you don't want syria to go down the road of syria's civil war russia still one of the main voices calling for dialogue still no dialogue happening though why is that well i think there's a western agenda here as we saw in libya and i think west is once again showing advice of russia showing the advice of china because they are seen as being part of the wrong camp they're seen as we now live with iran and other forces and i think iran cast a very long shadow here you can't separate the west actually towards syria understanding the syrian and iranian alliance is very very important to both the both countries and western states are very much on a ryan if you're way over the shoulder of syria they're looking down the road for intervention against against the round and therefore they're not going to heed any advice they get from moscow or indeed beijing didn't heed advice from moscow over libya or indeed as far back as afghanistan and i think it's

a good point me to do that and the russians russians have good advice to americans over again and stand that was never he did the americans in every way asked for that advice. before you go into the cold by events up in afghanistan to do political analyst chris bambery thanks being on the line from london tonight much appreciated. what is an analysis on a website r.t. dot com let's take a look at a few stories online right now if you become the target of a series of bombings and assassinations leave the views of one expert who believes the so-called rogue state just could be the latest victim of the world's real axis of evil in sting story the sting thoughts for you if you're going to take plus the latest addition to china's military might as its latest aircraft carrier which beijing says will be used for training research and to go see the trials. complete change attack now to take a trip back thousands of years in time as we visit russia's oldest city.

so we go to the map and let's see where we're headed there it goes spinning around and we're going to talk to the people in beds that have been there all five thousand years of their ancestors it's a fortress with a tempestuous history many battles have been won and lost for control of this prize because of its strategic position on an ancient trade route today though the only armies advancing on the imposing edifice of russia's southernmost city of friendly tourists rather than hostile invaders to many centuries the city developed between two natural walls and the mountains and the sea on a strip of land just three kilometers long over the years different nations gave the city different names but all were connected to the word the reason perhaps is that deadpan stood on the silk road enclosed by strong walls reaching to the sea

and the watch towers. in years gone by it was never this easy to get to the net in call a fortress then armies would do battle storming the walls to get inside it has become a second home. he's the key keeper of one of the most beautiful columns castles in the region going through with well almost forty years of my life i spent here all members of my family works here and this is a tradition for us everything here is special for me i want to save every piece of it for the future of. and the younger generation of dagestani man is following in his footsteps average day a local historian meets dozens of tourists and tells this story of not in color some of the. what you see from here is the old part of data bint we call it this is the oldest city in russia in the past caravans used to come to the gates of this fortress they paid

a toll and only after that could they continue their journey to the north. this place guarded one of the strategic passes on the silk route and was used well into the nineteenth century however a large portion of the fortress was destroyed in nine hundred twenty s. during the russian civil war this is what's left of what was once one of the most violent punishments in the caucasus the criminals were thrown into this post and the ground and left to die there from hunger new criminals were thrown their own a regular basis but none of the bodies were after remove not even cost downs on the whole i speak in the city and overlooks the caspian sea too long walls and enclosed all part of their bend only to the sea the locals are not only trying to preserve buildings but also their traditions for centuries dagestani man were known for their horsemanship they raised horses and sold them to the caravans coming to the city but now that age old tradition is being challenged by a woman. pointed to me

a little was at the beginning no one understood me well my brothers were who was mine but i was a bit into following them because i'm a woman it took me years to become what i am now after just a few hours indeed and you can feel the history coursing through the veins of the narrow streets and if you concentrate hard enough you can almost hear the clatter of horses answering the old gates of the city but the republic is also famed for its athletic and linguistic diversity being home from wasn't thirty eight languages and to discuss this more i'm now joined by the snow referred dave payton thank you very much for joining me today pleasure a so i've heard that you come a long way from the states to this region of pakistan so what prachi over here a dream really. you know as as you mentioned august on is the most ethnically one of the the most ethnically complicated regions in the entire world and it's

actually for a long time been my passion my dream to come here to study. and really a goal of mine is to introduce a dog just on to the pakistanis so considered to be one of the most dangerous places in russia maybe and what do you think about it. do you think it's safe enough to stay here. yeah i do think it's safe enough to be or fact i'm here with my wife and my three little children my my oldest daughter and my and my oldest son they they both go to a local school. yes it is dangerous at times in fact right here but we're standing right right here that was a special operation a couple years ago were when i was sitting inside this cafe so i understand the dangers i mean i know when you're in your living dogs on long enough will you know see things here about things but you know you have to take up look at it from a comprehensive perspective. you know there's dangerous places all over the world

and really when you when you look closer. at the situation here the dynamics you find that things like petty thievery things like violent crimes and armed robbery and rape these things are very rare very rare you know versus a place like moscow and you know the chance to raise my kids with such probably strong family values is i get to do your dog a stunt but to me that's worth it there are some dangers but it's a good place the people are incredible where you are thank you very much now was dave hate me and the snow here in this region of dagestan and meanwhile our team continues to bring you the latest picture of flight down here in russia's north caucasus and the republic of dagestan today we do know sports come up with twenty minutes tonight where the russian side grouping because of their own destiny in their own hands as they look to qualify for the last thirty two of the europa league has got more of that shortly the round of the day's business with kareena.

thank you kevin hello and welcome to our business up at this hour good to have you with me capital is still flying out of russia flow rates ten billion dollars in the van forcing the central bank to once again raise the forecast for the whole year to an estimated eighty five billion dollars that's more than double last year's total i say my safe at the capitol says cash light is down to a lack of structural improvements. the fundamental reason for a sustained difficult for free is that roughly equal to the russians are going to be killed by just all is much when you're the victim and you never seem so fixed exchange rate with a flexible chain freed from the capital flight is has become important for later or hold all for going to going to the development and the bisbee or recluse bubble from developing blood on the other hand the also means that there are options to invest also the pressure i'm sure better than openness to listen to fashion with.

them because bubble so no longer a very good option right sort of this means the structure of the russian economy because of labor market to theirs because it wasn't going to play with asians or anything and he's not able to you'll be able to do to go just look at the well he's continued to generate all this capital through a saving of expense well. let's have a look at the markets the high after the last fixing not the recent trend as we've been reporting his lights we're just going to try to get over ninety five dollars per barrel of bread is that one hundred and five dollars a barrel. and u.s. stocks started higher on thursday but of trading a mixed they rebounded from the prize session decline stocks are helped by better u.s. jobs data and some improvement european bond markets the dow jones is gaining nearly half a percent the nasdaq is down just a notch. the european stocks are trading higher after rebounding from a two week slow that's after a couple of purchasing managers surveys were viewed positively the footsie is now.

the dax is gaining point eight percent the stock karen russian markets closed in the black on the back of those gains in europe after the day's trading both e.l.t.'s and was extended over one and a half percent in the black let's have a look at some index movers on the my six energy majors a list of the indices on high oil prices has reversed from earlier losses and ended almost one percent in the black gas giant gazprom finished over three and a half percent higher banking stocks were also on the right. would spare a bank. closing almost two percent up. now cash strapped belarus is getting a one billion dollar loan from russia and its c.i.s. partners the money will go to fertilise and make a bellicose carli a key business for the country government in minsk has put up fifty percent of the nafta oil refinery as collateral for the deal. that's all for this hour but join me and less than one hour from now for more here on business after.

the close of team has been on the black sea coast for future developments depends on the good way. r.j.

goes area first place to many find champions the most ambitious. has ruined the lives of many innocent families across the region. where the oldest city in russia is from clocking in more than five thousand years. to dagestan russia close up on r g. she is beautiful to. be. elite.