led a very potent election manifesto to the current prime minister who runs for president in march has published a new article seen as part of this electro program this time he focuses mostly on ethnic diversity immigration and national these are indeed very important issues in modern russia and they are among put biggest concerns now how can these problems be tackled if put is elected and should we then expect toughening of the immigration laws all more emphasis will be placed in a multicultural education we're asking political analyst bill carcache and the wall editor in chief of the was going. to do favorite in the russia's presidential election race prime minister vladimir putin will not be participating in public debates with the other contenders for the office instead he's putting forward his vision of how the country should develop in newspaper articles which as soon as he's election manifestos the first one called russia concentrate challenges we must

address was published a week ago and provided a broad outline of putin's election they janda in particular it was aimed at the country's middle class and was viewed as a response to those who took to the streets in this somber protest in the do men action results this week's article touches upon the issues of migration and xenophobia putin opposes the policy of multiculturalism and speaks in favor of uniting russia's multi ethnic society under the banner of russian culture and values. how a german walked into the show thank you very much for being with us well we just we just saw. this video about about the new and the other part of putin's. election strategy is well first of all do you agree that this is really his.

manifesto published chapter by chapter in the press well i would believe this see a lecture campaign and this as a short resource or because obviously put in tried to pleasurable sites here for it to send a message to convey a message to me or else should be fred at the same time he send the message to the russian ethnic majority they shouldn't be afraid it's their arise who are protected against rights of migrants and so we'll just retore but no matter what is how to prevent this would you would you agree that this issue the this city issue may become the major issue of this year's election campaign i think it could be perfect later this year we'll probably see a shift towards economic issues because as we know there's this developing world crisis of decline from europe in the united states so it may be that now nationalism is high on the agenda but later in the year we might see. economic

issues tying together with a national issue. and if if there are job losses then of course people will be concerned about. you know who is taking the brunt of this economic crisis whether it is ethnic russians or or other people will let's go back to two two putin steps the text here's how the prime minister sees russia's historic model of interethnic relations. historically russia has been neither a monolith you steve moore a us style melting point where people are easily migrants brushwood to move through the centuries is a multinational street you print you. need to look into right and connect with each other mastic in professional vitamins and in from society as friends. well this point his own was put in is consistently referring to russians not as

all citizens of russia but to russians as an ethnic group other than that are those in the world a yeah i do know that jews and others well what would it be better to call russians all the i mean this it is i mean there is such a problem in britain there are british people and english people so it's so so. are we creating the same problem in russia or where there's no problem with wise i mean it's a good example to compare with britain because britain is somewhere that really has embraced this multi cultural as over the years maybe the current government wants to step back from that and i think that putin in his article said that some leading politicians in europe are stepping back from this multiculturalism now but i think there's a danger in that because even though put in says he wants to avoid division that if you make one ethnic group the dominant group and that is what you see running

through his article again and again that russians are the dominant group then you will tend to marginalize the other groups this is different from the soviet times when everybody was on a more equal basis well you see is this a mental rees that he's missing while he point actually for russian identity as a q was miles of monza right of blood on the right all for land because russia was . so-called really choice. in the russian empire. you had the right to be called a total screech up saul's bell famous hero beggar and hero of the war for eight hundred twelve he was for a man in horror for georgia but he was a russian because he was a christian who didn't have this problem in the soviet union because all the people well so it took over thirty people and there were russians those barracks you could you know i mean in europe they still call all of us russians including the ukrainians the jor-ai right as asshole i mean i think these russians from moscow are different from russians franky of the same of course but the matter is they do

have the russian ybarra they are russians for a united by itself little scoresheet away and it really goes to the us so we kenyans they were united by so it was what what wages we say should be united not well let's hear how putting formulates his nation building strategy. we need a national policy strategy be used on syria casualties breeze no need for anyone living russia to get their religion or ethnicity with their issues i wouldn't be pointed to cells primarily as citizens of russia and take pride in that no one has the right to be religious interest began as a glance at the same time nationals must take into account the specific characteristics you can have any religious group. as similarly said in one of the passages put in calls ethnic russians the state constituent people. that are there isn't it contradicts the constitution of the

russian federation which says that that russia is constituted by its multi ethnic people well as always if not for the fun of us this is a matter of interpretation how we should enter because it could make a claim to z. as if you should care and yet you can get it's all interpretation which would be correct as wouldn't was but my tories there is no engine provided for z's russian nation to be combined because its new city is a key to bloodshed after this have several centuries when russians where call ourselves christians and so people so that means it is a risk terrible ethnic mix call to all the best techniques to be just called russians and now he will try to find ethnic groups or we will get the conflict very soon as gorbachev deed you once the time of the soviet union collapse to you you mention multiculturalism in europe well putin is stating as

a known fact i quote the failure of the multicultural prior project and even a crisis of a nation state well i personally agreed to this opinion which is expressed by many of my colleagues in the west but do you think it makes sense for a for a calendar that. through the presidency two to two to choose this categorical option well i think it's very interesting that he seems to be playing a soft nationalism hard if you like not a hard nationalism card but i think that if you look down the road into russia's future demographics shows us that the people who are not the ethnic russians are going to become a larger and larger. percentage of the population you know that the migration routes are yes because people you know in every country of the world migrants eventually become citizens and feel a loyalty to that country but they don't necessarily buy into the ethnic

composition they want to retain their ethnic composition i think that putin is trying to respect everyone's an ethnic traditions and religion but he's he's facing a very difficult. situation because on the one hand he has the liberals who are criticizing him for being too author terry and on the other hand he has the nationalists who are looking to scapegoat certain groups from caucasus and central asia he's stuck in the middle really it's quite a difficult situation and it's even more difficult when he has to to to take a decision during the election campaign well according to putin i quote if our multi ethnic society is infected with the virus of nationalism it loses the strength and stability we writes putin must understand the far reaching consequences of indulging those who are trying to incite ethnic strife and hatred

towards people of other cultures and states and quote but this this morning made by the prime minister in his article had out with with the nomination of their point of the meeting of our boys in a no nationalist way we're where we are who expressed his nationalistic views as a vice premier and one of the closest allies in the putin elections that well you see if there was an appointment is a clear message to the east but there's a part of society we just. by would like to support them already call russian nationalism visible right but have russian nationalists agenda another side of the problems that if you'll take a european history no one country. was able to balance for a long time on this age between the construct of nationalism with the one who can because constructive constructive positive things and the age after all at the heart rate and the. other nations are started so you got

a little bit of this sort of a balance maybe dangerous this sort of balance nobody will succeed to keep his balance i'm a long time well we'll talk about it in just a minute i just want to remind our viewers that our guests today are a key. political analyst and moscow news editor in chief tim wall spotlight will be back short shortly after a break so stay with us down. we have seen the damage it has done to our environment mark chemicals what the poor props we do not want anymore new dmoz.

our core system is just there was a does more experience and i'm just i'm just appalled but that's allowed to go on in america. eating this unfortunately because we don't know what's in it there's no labeling there for it being used like the board to experiment to be used as guinea pigs. well now we have more questions than we have access to guards. like. the observed nature and discover its beauty. communicate with the wild and learn. test yourself and become free.

to. see what nature can give you on on t.v. . welcome back to spotlight i'm al green of and just a reminder that my guests on the show today are a key deal cocteau's political analyst and the editor in chief of the moscow news tim wall were discussing let me put in a recent article which is considered to be. published part of his election program. platform or whatever well one of the issue is that president touches in this in this article dedicated to the nationalities ethnic problem is he proposes a creation of a new nationality is a ministry well then there's a question why did putin close down

a special national as ministry back in two thousand and one if it's a good solution to the ethnic problems well let's let's hear what putin writes about it. i believe that the federal government should set up a special emergency responsible for it to be development interethnic to do or an interaction these problems are currently the responsibility of the ministry of regional development unfortunately with the overwhelming volume of current issues that to deal with these matters roof and pushed to the back burner this needs to change. well and i don't know about you colleagues but i see a contradiction putin himself closed this ministry. but about ten years ago when he was president now he proposes to open it again so but you know the bit that was a mistake so was go on how can you answer this question. well i think that we always have a different situation now from ten years ago and the big difference is that at the

time that of course was the the war going on in chechnya and we've moved on from that time. some of the problems of the caucasus and have been solved in our time and some of them haven't and other ones have arisen and there is still i would argue this seventy official fostered you know atmosphere where people from the former soviet republics living in russia. and from different nationalities are attacked on a regular basis and very little is done to catch the killers or to really combat this if this ministry could do something about that could really foster friendship perhaps a little bit more in the soviet model between peoples then it could be a positive thing but we have to see in the construction that i see in this proposal putin curial is that well by proposing to create

a body create a ministry put in x. not like a politician not like a political but like a bureaucrat because the answer of a bureaucrat to any question is we will create a commission a ministry i want to yes yes and the other side is for ration of commission would provoke bureaucrats to exploit the national of the themes so expect a national or able regions shoes sooner than anything else from the restoration of this ministry because when you appointed bureaucrats to settle any problem that means that you will you will have the process of maximization of this problem because bureaucrats would have something to do so so so according to to your mood at least i don't think you believe that this this body whatever is going to be may solve the problem of migration of migrants a very i am afraid said these particular sure. sharpens its program and can make or reasons could convey this problem into a real problem to the holy spirit if multiculturalism may not work this is doomed

to well yes isn't it the better reason you can. take all cultures in as a policy can a book also but you shoot the goal and the target and the conditions hols these identities that mismatch multicultural a need to be can work because when you propose to see us it isn't any identity for example russian ideating citizen aidid that means if you propose contract that you . you full the rules in you will get z.z.z. senseis still no corporate conduct proposed here so as there is no reason why it should be called myself russian and why i should call myself any other nations because no local would seem to from the end it yeah well i think that the fundamental problem that russia faces in its development with regard to the regions of the country is of course connected to russia strength its huge territory. you see the periphery of russia the far north the far east the far west kaliningrad in

the the south these areas are marginalized and there is this real over concentration of power in the center in moscow and this process was accelerated perhaps during putin's tenure thirst ten year tenure because he wanted to keep the country together but now i think there's a growing realisation that this process has gone too far and we need to have more more decentralization how that works is very difficult in the rule i didn't put in his article did this ring a bell for my generation of people who remember the soviet times especially my parents who remember the old of the old communist the real communist and the stalin times is and i quote domestic migration has been growing in this country people travel to other constituent turned trees are the federation. or to big cities to study to live and to work and that lesson they are fu citizens of russian

federation but we have to toughen registration rules and the penalties for breaching these rules and quote well that surely does ring a bell first we put in is preparing a toughening of the so-called preppies car the the binding people to the place of residence while this didn't work this was practically abolished twenty years ago now are we getting back were do i misunderstand something so his policy of protections the ethnic russians so all of these. things is a matter to do something viz a mess for yourselves i mean mike ross especially of the migrants of. groups like muslim groups like asia groups like chinese that are coming into russian territory well i will we never think russian big but this perhaps cat but the ethnic russians were never happy with poppy's got it even if it were when it was very young because it it discriminates against muscovites and you know everybody else if you're not on

if you're a non muscovite and of course as we all know it's easy to buy your property square you know it's not something that actually works properly it's it only works through a system of bribery so we'll use a piece in english so per piece is like vodka and my trash that is one of the worries understood worldwide is a true maybe you know i think i think maybe for maybe maybe for foreigners who live in russia this is one of the key words that we come to understand as part of the system but i just i just think it's an outdated system here we are twenty first century russia in my view has to meet the challenge from the east this is the big challenge russia has to develop the far east of its territory economically because if russia does not then the chinese will come over and do it for them as a foreigner living in russia what do you expect from the propose. a new set of rules and changes proposed by. a lot of reputed because these registration rules

they're always annoying they were annoying for me when i when i went there was a going to leave so what do you expect after you read this article i do think there's going to be changes for you foreigners for the west for the worse off for the better right i said i said i think that in general the russian government tries not to do too much to antagonize let's let's call them the western specialists who come here they try to make life reasonably comfortable they want more investment yes they want to attract people to it it's never it's never that comfortable but i think that the small inconvenience that that westerners face is nothing compared to the inconvenience that the russians and. russian citizens and citizens from the former cia us face another very interesting thing in a very popular thing is that put it wants to impose a set of exams for foreigners residing in russia let's hear it. from

next year migrants must be required to pass a russian language caste russian history and literature to under tasks in the russian system st and russian law and order to give permission to reside like other developed countries russia is able to provide migrants with the relevant classes to all three professional training be required in a number of cases and the words expands. will give you we both tried to talk to tim in russian and we both hope he spoke better russian than he does of course but what do you think does for example at tragic who sweeping the street have to have to know i have to pass an exam in russian and russian history russian constitution which is a pretty brutal thing for russian for some russians to be good by the impression is that they will be as exist as you will have to be. as quiet easier than all the maximize and bribes capacity of system so you're going to see the corruption yet in the lower levels of your break this is will be just

a boost of corruption at nothing else surely as usually happens because no mechanism provided or from what ford does it that she should dump russian culture russian constitution well to sweep streets miles there is absolute knowledge and also this may be an additional burden for companies that are employing. foreigners yes i think so. i mean i think it's something that should be encouraged and i would say the same about you know my country united kingdom that these so-called nationality tests. are becoming tougher and tougher and i think it's around the world now you know we're entering into an era of protectionism where jobs are scarce where people don't want foreigners coming in and so this is a way to. to kind of stem the flow do you think the brits may have the recipe may have a good advise how to tackle the problem because i am not sure that that you have sold yourself in britain but the but it's not it's not as burning as in some other

countries like sometimes it is burning in russia so did is their advice sure but i mean i'd i would say that no country has actually solve this problem all together but i i would look more i think these days the united states i know that. but i'm a prison house sort of three genuine it's a different story america but at the same time it's a nice philosophy and ited states that as soon as you come across and you get your union and you and you get your citizenship your god does not merican and when one generation you can go to the white house really out of town to a couple ways from you well actually just replied to that remark well actually the most believe the american people will support as well as well well actually at the pace it's on félicie and different different policy different fellas diction in nor was it is the problem a challenge for the whole country was your pm car free for their soul cold metal

dinner in a cottage to which we all belong how to deal bees a current challenge and no one reset because first time in say history you ripple loose its power to integrate mike ross and two comrades and get the part of your thank you thank you thank you gentlemen just a mind of the political analyst. and the moscow news editor in chief tim wall or my guest on the show spotlight will be back with more free time to comment on the one . in and outside russia and then stay on r.t. and take care. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you

knew. i'm sorry is a big issue. one

year down the line egypt is sobering the beginning of the revolution that ousted president mubarak tens of thousands of people are now on top of their square but perspiration over this whole pace of change has cast a cloud over the party atmosphere meanwhile the army house partially lifted the mystery of emergency long been in place since one thousand maybe more. in a state of the union address president obama pledges to fix the economy and create millions of new jobs in a speech widely seen as the start of his reelection campaign critics of his address will say his agenda leaves the white house open to accusations of double standards

and has upbeat tone doesn't reflect reality. and doing the songs to expose some of the world's darkest secrets and now he's going to get others to spill the beans this time on the air the wiki leaks founder prepares to launch his own interview show and it's coming to you right here on earth. coming up we had to washington where obama's state of the union address is the center of attention the big picture with tom hartman is up next.