to the courts and in their families destroyed. and north korea is preparing to bury its former leader kim jong il but the secrecy surrounding his youngest son and successor is fueling worldwide feelings of uncertainty on the country's future. but it's been a year when entire populations became restless and economies took a dive next we ask russia's deputy foreign minister how he evaluates the year's most turbulent moments. hello again and welcome to spotlight the unfinished on r.t.e. . today my guest is sitting if. they hear two thousand and eleven has been to say the least pretty event they kicked off the social unrest in the middle east which later spread to developed countries i mean

various projects like the ws in their economic issues make europe pending even the u.s. operate more and search for a us how did russia behave in this stressful situation and how's it going to meet the challenges of two thousand and twelve we're asking russia's deputy foreign minister said to get up. early this year moscow and washington into the new start treaty specified how the two would reduce and control arms and eliminate the risk of when you want to trace moscow improve its image avoid when the north stream gas pipeline train europe's a pendency transit countries russia also showed its willingness to strengthen ties with former soviet countries moscow proposed the idea of a new eurasia union seen as a powerful political and economic confederation of former soviet republics.

eat meat. hello mr of course the welcome to the show thank you thank you very much for being with us your excellency well first of all this year there were several cases when russian diplomacy had to interfere directly to to help russian citizens facing judicial problems abroad the case of victor boot the case of mr young shankly in the us the russian pilots detained interjected stand well how would you evaluate the work of russian diplomats in these and other cases was it was it efficient. we have not achieved all the results we have not fulfilled all promises but we have progressed one thing is important here one should not underestimate the difficulty is related to this particular cases which you refer to is specially with persons arrested and

convicted in the united states we have a number of troubling spots in this area with the us where working on this both politically in legal area and i hope next year will bring some fruits and results as was the case with the russian pilots arrest that interjected the q so mr booth is pretty funny i have heard the other day that one of the one of the jury admitted that she she said guilty because she watched the movie the merchant the impression they were actually the same the same way with bush bush initiated the good case because you watch the movie so is it fair convicting a person because there was this marvelous movie shot. mr boot. was arrested because he was under suspicion of committing some crimes of

intention he spoke you know contemplated something that. would be regarded as crime against american citizens let me give you another example a couple of kramer couple week which are guilty for what i believe is a murder of a boy which was adopted in russia and. was released these are double standards of the us judicial system one person. very possibly will get if not a life sentence so that many years of imprisonment. the us citizens guilty of the murder of a russian boy being released where is the fair judicial process and as a matter of fact this russian boy was already an american citizen yeah i mean you're not you know like rush rush is on our it is very true ok of the number one

challenge for the russian diplomacy in two thousand and eleven was the us and time miss and plan of course. how we are the collision course with nato today because of because of this missile system we have just heard what president medvedev said in his address to the federal assembly to our parliament he said we are still very ready and prepared to agree on this issue but what is needed here that our partners not on the listen but hear our points this is the main problem as for now our concerns being disregarded i don't believe we are on a collision course but the threat of the possibility that you will collide is definitely there and do you think that the russian eight meeting that is scheduled for four for spring of two thousand and twelve made be canceled or postponed may russia downgraded situations with nato in general and their possibility i'm not

aware of any meetings. planned between nato and russia at the top level there will be further meetings at different levels lower levels but nothing is firm nothing is decided in terms of the next nato russia summit we need to see what's the substance for this summit first and then decide i don't think it's something that will be looked at in an immediate future. can this can this european ballistic missile defense can be a threat to the start treaty which was which was the main achievement of the reset . it's not a threat to a new start it would be mostly unfortunate if at some point in the future when the u.s. completes what is now being described as a phased adaptive approach to european missile defense that we would not be able to

agree on something reasonable and this program continues with quite. substantial consumer consequences for russia's strategic deterrence at that point we would definitely consider a possible withdrawal from the new start and it was said along these lines by a president himself so so we are not talking about a possibility of moscow withdrawing from the start treaty you know why this is exactly the opposite we are talking of a possibility nothing is decided and we would definitely favor something very different we would not go for the new arms race we are not for they destroy all of the new star but if situation develops in a negative way then we will have no other choice well a new arms race well we both understand as the people are the generation that

remembers the previous arms race this is a vicious circle you know we're talking about a russian response to the anti ballistic missile defense we must i was talking about the new radar in cali and grad recently moscow has tested a new secret missile that's part of the future is there new are they new tests and responses to come in in the new year are we at the at the beginning may we be at the beginning of in your arms race is there a possibility now definitely not we are not definitely not we are working on what is absolutely needed for our defense and for our security nothing here is being developed or to ensure any predominance of russia it's a very different time it's a different poke we are not back into a cold war we have a firm solid partnership with nato and the us we are not adverse there is but we

should care about our own security and how we do so. we must be very efficient we must be cost efficient this is how the president instructs all the ministries all the national security team of russian federation and this is how we will proceed so when you start it's a separate issue it's a new and different treaty compared to what was the keys under soviet time and this treaty presumes that part is able to develop their strategic deterrent forces in the most efficient way to assure their survivability to ensure that there are more than but also compact and cost effective you're referring to you models of something this is not a breach of anything in this treaty exactly the opposite that we are developing our system. in full confidence that nothing in the new treaty precludes us from it

we're doing it. in complete commitment to a every every obligation in this treaty mr cough recently put in the russia's prime minister the presidential candidate was holding a q. and a session with the nation and one of the questions asked to mr putin from one of the foreign journalists present at the meeting was where are the russian lines we talk about america and its allies britain and south where are the russian allies it was mentioned to a statement actually there that there is even such a notion russia and its allies no longer exists well do you agree do you do you think that the queer that the question can be put in such in such a manner that there were or not because i really didn't didn't hear an adequate auser from mr putin but. people say that that the question was inadequate what

would you say. that two parts in my answer to you. number one formally speaking we have a number of allies united with russia under the umbrella of collective security treaty organization these are our allies the former soviet republics the former soviet republics who are moving into deeper and deeper integration in the area of security and the most recent meeting of c.s.t. all is just yet another example of this is the real progress there and second part of my answer would be we are at the face of the international development to where something like networking diplomacy is more in rather than old fashion alliances which i believe if are not out so will be that in the not so

distant future. i think that we have allies among brics members we have changing geometry with many more countries around on depending on issues which we look at russia has many allies finally this is just an addition to my two part sansar we will remember russian emperor saying the best allies of russia is its army and fleet and they stick with it as well. mr. russian deputy foreign minister talking to us from spotlight we'll be back in less than a minute after a break so stay with us don't. at least explain koreans. feel touched by my.

surrounded by steve. case paintings on display for thousands of years. he's done something beyond the time get you on a. mission to free could you take three months for free range month free. free. free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects free media don carty dot com.

welcome back to spotlight time melbourne avent just a reminder that my guest on the show today is sort of good of course russian deputy foreign minister your excellency you just mentioned the former soviet republics. and to great in today as being our allies the allies of modern russia but the last war russia conducted the the conflict with georgia not a single country of which you mention as the russian allies has been an ally in this conflict why even virtually i wouldn't describe it the way you did because number one there was a georgian at tack on south of city and russian peacekeepers russian never asked for any military assistance because we. believed time was sharp and we need to react immediately subsequently we worked in order to ensure that

there is a plan in place that you know creates a better situation for this territory for the new independent state of south and for there we do think time will come when everyone around including our immediate neighbors recognize the new reality but we are not begging for it with think it's self-explanatory what happened there i think it's fine how worked with our allies on this issue as well ok another neighbor north korea has never really been in their life at least of independent russian but russia always speaks of its unique position at least in the relations of the rest of the world with the region specifically with north korea the country is in political transition now a new leader is coming do you expect any unpredictable behavior from north korea or do you expect any real change in north korea and i guess that that the

opinion of the russian foreign ministry is very interesting for people all around the world today i think what is more important here is not what may or may not happen in north korean in the immediate future but on how this country will work on issues that we the international community this members of the six party talks how with them and it relates mostly to its nuclear program i think we should ensure that the transition period in which north korea is. working into well these phases of very complicated issues that this transition period moves forward smoothly seamlessly we are encouraging others around to ensure that nothing happens that may. be regarded by north korean friends as provocative with think that. in some time we will be better aware of what is

actually happening and pyongyang and what are the can sequences for the international standing of this country and what are they can sequences for the whole issue of their nuclear program. this year russia supported lucian concerning libya in the un and actually this resolution paved the way for nato military intervention looking back and given the criticism that later came from moscow concerning this military operation can we say that moscow does regret this decision two to two to support the resolution if we do not regret anything withing . what we have done with the resolutions nine hundred seventy and nineteen seventy three was exactly right where we waited for the former and abstain voting on the latter we believe what happened and what really gives all reasons to

be concerned was a very grave grave. and always stretched misinterpretation by the nato allies and by the like minded nations of one thousand seven hundred three nine hundred seventy three contained as one of the major operative paragraphs in the idea over the last month of a no fly zone. it ended with a neck chill participation of this coalition. in a civil war fighting against the government in tripoli is it about a no fly zone i think it's a very very deep and very wrong action with no no real connection to resolution one thousand seven hundred three ok syria if we open any newspaper any western newspaper today and maybe most of the russian newspapers do what we read is russia is supporting assad's regime in syria is it

true is russia really supporting the assad regime we are supporting further reforms and we are supporting further dialogue between the government and opposition in syria we are working very intensively with the government in damascus we are. soliciting further contacts with the opposition forces who sent a number of variations to moscow we encourage both of them not to stay apart but in gauge and continue dialogue to avoid further bloodshed in the country and this is one of the ideas why behind the newly introduced draft resolution at the u.n. security council which russia co-sponsored. but the regime in damascus today is very unpopular not only in syria itself but also in the arab world in the arab street and you know with the arab street and it's

a very powerful opinion. making process so isn't muscular great of losing his prestige in the arab streets we are not afraid of anything let the syrians decide for themselves this is the core element of our position why all this meddling why all this interference from abroad i don't know what might be the can sequence is which the so-called arab street draw. from this our idea here is we need to ensure that any internal crisis would be first and foremost addressed by the people by the locals by the government and the opposition let them continue their dialogue. surprise western diplomats by submitting the draft on syria which can then both sides without mentioning sanctions is it fear to blame the syrian opposition which is mostly a no army civil protest equally with a repressive regime massacring its own people several issues.

we have here to discuss i'll just mention two of them first i can't agree that the syrian opposition or at least elements of this of positions are unarmed and completely peaceful i know for sure that something most and. i know for sure that something very different is true. there are infiltration from abroad there is support from abroad it's not something that we can accept we think that if it would be a peaceful opposition there would be no reason for. of course to that extent that this is the case on the part of the syrian government i'm not trying to take any sides here i'll just explaining why we believe we should focus on encouraging both parties quote unquote towards further discussion on reform and

to encourage their dialogue second element of mansour i don't think we have already passed any point of no return here we should not miss any chance to let. the intermedia or all of the arab league continue the syrian government has just signed a very important protocol opening up for introduction of arab league observers within those very encouraging signs we should. move forward along those lines of you know dialogue and reconciliation and thus i think there is no need for any sanctioning right now ok you know the subject earlier this month after the parliamentary election in russia the the european union called russia to hold new elections because because they they they criticized the the alleged fraud that took place during the parliamentary vote does this political move sharply criticized by

official moscow does it actually derail the russian relations it's hard for me to tell something on the russia you i will tell what i know for sure which is russia us with your permission to use under secretary clinton. was very sharp in her remarks criticizing the elections we. telling the our u.s. colleagues two things number one. no one from abroad should give characters we have a post-election period we have a campaign period for presidential elections we do not need any meddling is specially any meddling in terms of financial support of russian n.g.o.s from abroad and then i'm very sure that this message this signal has been heard by. u.s. partners the different thing is whether or not they will listen to you. in

two thousand and twelve russia will have a new president do you think that the change of guard in the kremlin will somehow influence russian foreign foreign policy no no no i think there will be full continued i think we have a national consensus i would dare to tell it this way national consensus about all major building blocks of our foreign policy be it relationship with the c.i.s. countries and collective security treaty organization members be relationship with asia or europe and definitely with the us withing. the main goal of the foreign policy will remain the same which is to create the best possible environment for further mother zation of the country and last questions very sure but many people

are interested we have intensified our talks about of these that freed regime with europe do you think these are free travel in europe for russians will happen in our lifetime oh absolutely oh absolutely this is very different from what we all heard when president obama of the united states while. frog said that the nuclear weapon free world is something that may probably not happen during our lifetimes but this is a very different proposition i think it's both achievable in our relationship with european union and with the us with which we have just concluded an important visa facilitation agreement thank you thank you very much your excellent c.n.n. just to remind you that my guest on the show today was still getting russian deputy foreign minister and that's it for now for all of us here if you want to have your say on this cross line or have someone in mind say you think i should be in syria next time to drop me a line that algren's out at. our you know let's keep spotlight interactive movie

back with more friends than a comment on what's going on in the down time russia until then stay on our team and take care.

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arab league observers are right in the syrian flashpoint town of. the independent. nation. seeking justice for those killed in the gulf so it's three years since the israeli offensive back in this market over. the last their families going to court. and coming to run for the presidency to. that spot protests please visit the relevant politics series on.