we showed our team the now we're not and today we're talking about of lattimer putin's view on democracy during the last twenty years russia has been going through a democratic transition success has been made by the way wasn't easy and there were ranters true as the presidential election gets closer many speculate on how this process will continue if either of the candidates is elected this week the favorite in the race prime minister putin expressed his opinion in an article seen as part of his electoral manifesto so is he planning to make russia more democratic and how discuss it with the head of the general political stance department at the high school of economics mr coffee and mr schuster simon schuster head of the time moscow bureau. over the last two months russia has seen the biggest really since the time of yeltsin an active electorate and they needed political debate is what makes the current presidential race different from the

creepiest to it all started with protests over the stay do my election results last december when the ruling united russia party won which triggered ballot rigging accusations of a since the opposition has regularly held its rallies and has become exceptionally active online demanding changes that would make the election process more transparent last weekend however the protesters had to face the fact the government supporters are also ready to defend their point of view on the streets according to the data issued by the police the pro-government rally even outnumbered the anti government one in there putin addressed both sides shortly after the meetings in the another of his pre-election articles the prime minister's manifesto published in russia school in their sunday league admits the quality of the state is a lagging behind civil society which has become more. active and responsible at the

same time putin sees the current political activity in the country as an achievement of his years in power a byproduct of the economic stability he brought about. learned simon welcome to the share thank you for being with us well first of all did this article give you an impression that putin really considers the civil awareness in russia his own achievement or it's more important for him to make others believe that one of his main goals is delicate as asian and russian. well of course he has to make democratization part of his pre-election strategy image because he realizes now after the protests that have been going on for two months little bit more that a huge portion of the population in the electorate demand that kind of democratization they had some hope of it being achieved under an invidious

presidency. his rhetoric if not in his actions gave some hope that democratization was on its way but after they made their switch and put in so he's coming back to the presidency there was no there was no certainty among among the liberal middle class segment of the electorate this was happening so yes britain has to offer this how genuine it is it's a big question you know you have to you have to wait for actions to back it up the debate is this is this working well it's not democracy it's i think maybe the most important of all yeah exactly yeah but i would remind you that democracy in russia it's a long term project it's not the immediate reaction to the protests we are facing in december. following months russia is very young by judging by historical standards it's just twenty years of practice all this very important you say so so you think that this is put its article what he writes isn't

that part of his dialogue with the protestors but rather his manifesto in part of this long process rather than the immediate reaction no that i don't know i would suggest it's more because of the it's kind of reply to the pressure from the radical opposition at the same time it's what is called to vision for future because whoever put in clearly understands that its immediate immediate experience experience must be some college and analyzed and thought for a week and. it's not my case that he started his article with some some thoughts. about ninety's and the beginning of the twenty first century and this experience is very gullible it was very tragic especially if we remember the ninety's in russia but nonetheless it's steps towards the more complete more full fledged democracy and democracy i would remind in every country of democracies is continuing process

we might need a vision from the outside of my next question putsch and says the society i quote it has grown smart he praises the middle class he says we created and i think we he means himself and president medvedev but he's running for presidency and not taking part in the debates well as usual i mean the he didn't take it it didn't but the taper in debates when he was running for the first two thousand of it it didn't take part in the debates with with other candidates so. looking from the outside do you see changes it put himself is a change i mean for from the answer and from the inside i think it looks ridiculous that he would he would propose democratization and not take part in presidential debates like candidate in this from the inside it looks ok i mean i mean i didn't if you if you look at the slogans of the people who were ad the rallies people who

commented on there are they they talk to many things they dislike about putin but everybody takes it for granted well he never does that's what i mean nobody said this is this was ridiculous it might never there's true i mean i suppose there's a part of the electorate that is used to standing sort of above the political fray and not taking part in it but i would take issue with one phrase he used to responding to the radical opposition is no longer responding to the radical opposition he's responding to a huge segment of the population who has been making its demands very clear in the streets and in other ways this is by the government's own estimates thirty percent of the population that makes up the urban middle life in the u.s. but in the front of what we've seen just radical opposition so its immediate response to all this pressure to watch lot of important things about the russian civil society. today the quality of governance in russia lang's

behind good riddance of civil society to participate in our civil society has become much more mature active and responsible we need to modernize the mechanisms democracy some of the corresponds. to take. in the very beginning of the article there's another quote says the society must be ready to use the democratic mechanisms and spend its time and effort to rule the state he's clearly appealing to those so-called. really you may call them the the radical who actually does it maybe maybe not there are some of them i'm not radicals all of them are pretty relaxed i mean but but. this article while the opposition whatever that was well let's take it as a response that's very important i mean this article that his suggestions what they

want or what you want to change may be in the point of taking its opposition is united but as we know the opposition is for augmented fracture and the only point of concern is about putting mass must resign this is the slogan of this opposition and there is partly also to the question of why he he is abstaining from immediate course on all participation in the debates and he is potentially head of state he is experience being of head of state of twice and his counterpart since just aspirants it's just hopeful president so that. any. practical knowledge of how to be as president so this is partly the how can i explain why putin is so reluctant to. mediately and personally but he trusted his

representatives for instance not only in that i. had a debate with but you know. it's goes well well let's hear another quote let's hear what a lot of reporting writes about out to make trials in russia more transparent. what must be given to the possible online broadcast or proceedings tom transfer. the will instantly shoot who's working what do we we should rulings been not to see more recent with this event with the judge's summing up is dictated by early on. just today on the launch of. the russian system is different from many others cameras television cameras are allowed in many quarters but russia and russia many course are they call them closed where there's no public no press and no cameras so do you think if this proposal goes i mean if we have wept cameras in

the courts this will provoke judges to to to make more in board trials closed if. it's possible i mean if. controversial decisions are made under a web camera that will immediately become the subject for debate online and as been clear for a few years in russia the blogosphere and the internet are more and more setting the agenda politically socially and in every respect so a judge would feel. some greater sense of responsibility or consequence by making decisions that are obviously corrupt political you in the united states absolutely prohibited to have been. any different any cameras in associated so therefore just. so i mean these these things are many as it was in a democratic. i think you know i would take issue with the very idea of placing web

cameras in polling stations or in courts what is a pretty cosmetic change i mean that may have problems in the courts and in the electoral system are systemic and they require you know top down reform but it turns out on the procedure that on the practice practices for instance let's imagine this is the. station of pools yes. we counting the waters of bulletins and what camera is fixing and you'll being for instance in new york you can subscribe for for this and just looking closely at what's going on theory and. just realize that you know nothing about those rules that we're talking to a political scientist here when you look up a story for interrupting journalist simon shuster spotlight will be back in a couple of minutes after a break so stay with the story. from

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welcome back to spotlight i'm al green alvin just a reminder that my guests in the studio today are journalist simon shuster and political scientist liane youth political doom and we've started talking about this this proposal in the latest putins are to know about placing web cameras in quartz before he before he proposed putting web cameras on polling station so you say this is cosmetic but but but well. some people consider this being a breakthrough i mean i mean i mean a live streaming from court from polling station this is this is that was unthinkable i mean even a couple of years ago you know i'm a member of presidential council on human rights and we like them so will this work

yes or no in the console and my friends call it members of this console we can see the it's a very democratic state really yeah you think this will work yes we agree on this point it's a very interesting suggestion and we will do everything that. that will be a real result that is you know its main point i would say or i would repeat my question to you as a member of this council if it's a closed trial if the court decides it's got to be a close trial will this well what camera be switched off or will they cut the live treme bill streaming but it will be recorded some sort of someone on here talking about polling stations but come on not in the court what are the courts no i don't know if we didn't discuss we didn't just go about there this bit of israel may i mean a concrete step to put in can take any day in the current system of sort of top down . rule is to resolve the same situation in the magnitsky case.

this is this is a clear breach of judicial practice i mean the international community is all up in arms about it. russian civil society and many of the people on the street raise this as a point that that could be a concrete gesture of change all we're seeing in the article so far is a lot of promises promises that have been made under the madrid of presidency and did not lead to any concrete reforms and again we're still waiting for him to do something. you know whether cameras and all the stuff are nice but again i think there cosmetic and there are easy concrete steps to put in can take to prove that he is serious about some kind of liberal program or putting two point zero in the question putin says in this article that political rivalry is what pushes the country forward a great phrase but does he really mean it does he consider the other former presidential candidates really rivals or rather i never to attribute of democracy

yes i agree but you know put in a bit we need need. equal contender you know big real rival. understand it would make him happier if somebody if you don't he's sick and tired of this figures who are trying for twenty years to do something in the political sphere and without any success you know it's like mind their shareholders in the corporation so he i think he's a fighter by and by the way you know he he knows how to fight and he's must overdo door so yeah well you got to tell you agree it is a fighter yes but. i'm not sure that the absence of real rock rival makes it makes him unhappy didn't they do believe so i don't think i think he's my comfortable the way it is he has never existed in a situation of political competition and still in this political election we're

seeing. that he refuses to compete even with the granted rather weak candidates that are available recall the end of the ninety's he's a session to power it was very very strong competition from let's say prima coffee and law school for a time so. that was there was mainly i mean i don't want to go back to ancient history but that was mainly decided. back stage of the kremlin and with a lot of influence from the old why don't you it was after the people you know it's for the people to decide in the election of two thousand well i can congratulate you i can congratulate you on his victory in two thousand yeah and his victory in two thousand was that all of the fair but the situation as he admits in this article has dramatically changed in society you know bands of society are for political competition by refusing to debate with his can the readers the reason is light and gauging and political competition and the reasons why we don't we don't have the real rivalry because we don't have real opposition leaders in the country

what i am saying this is this is interesting because putin takes credit in this article for the emergence of the middle class as such yeah it's true the middle class emerged under the economic policies of the put in regime thanks in part to the to the high oil price however he does not take credit for the political system that emerged in the past twelve years that did not allow for robust interesting political figures to emerge those who tried to participate in elections or register political parties were routinely denied however in this election as i think again a concession to the people in the streets we seem to feel broken. you know is he kremlin puppet candidate nobody knows he says not up his opponents say yes but he is. really charismatic he wouldn't agree to be out of this and also then the question is you know open. he is a charismatic new figure he speaks really well i mean he's been. practicing

politics i think it will be a fascinating debate learning very fast learning very fast so i think it would be most interesting to see the two of them debate i mean i agree that the other contenders are sort of old school politicians that so yeah well according to the article that we're discussing today put in once to make the russian parliament enter active let's hear what he writes about that. i propose introducing a rule for having a mandatory review in parliament of all public initiatives which collected at least one hundred thousand one suiters a similar practice exists in britain for example the anonymous internet can not serve this purpose of course although we know the cases it can help avoid the problem. well this is interesting we already started discussing whether we're going to put in is changing or not well i say yes because in two thousand and ten putin openly declared that i quote half of what's published

in the internet is for novelty that's his words but now today he addresses the internet he he changes the ad towards the web to was the internet community so is this a sign of change and you are sure you know literally because of technology lost the last couple years. definitely has become accustomed to the using of internet and he became not deeply involved as president in a good if who has his twitter and so on but nonetheless this subjection of. it so it says clearly that he see he sees the internet as a powerful resource for promoting democracy in the country. he's speaking about the effective darlow channels between the power elite and the society is internet from wouldn't point of view one of these these channels i'm not real in. the summer

fifteen years live call in show with the russian public five days after a massive protests in moscow he said i don't really use the internet very often and he was asked directly do in a country that has more internet users than any other country in europe. i think that's that's incredible it's true that now he's at least in his rhetoric saying oh wait the internet exists i should should respond to this somehow as a politician i'm not saying he's not a flexible. intelligent and capable politician he is and he's maneuvering every which way but is the quote that you just showed says and this was pointed out an article and kind of sent by a question he seems to be one step behind the duma whether he likes it or not is already becoming more open because in the last round of the elections in december. more than fifty percent of the popular vote went to the opposition the duma is opening up and now putting the saying oh the duma needs to open up well whether you like it or not it is so he's playing catch up in

a lot of ways and when putin writes in this article that the state is lagging behind the society he actually means in. some sense i don't know if it's a kind of self-criticism i would agree yeah well there's a lot of critics of criticism by the way in article after article the prime minister criticizing the existing situation russian economy social sphere so and so forth but he's been in power for twelve years but this is due to two two terms as president one is prime minister so it is self created you know in twelve years is enough to do a lot that's right. on the one side but at the same time he is trying to explain why measures taking which is being taken right now was impossible to implement. ten or. five years ago and there is clear to explain nationwide you need one question i have to listen putin says the new state must work out

a tool to catch up with the complicated social realities he needs a tool. he proposes the so-called so friggin lated society well i'm not sure i know what that means but what's wrong about the media as a tool about the unions as a tool why do we need to create something else well all these two children the media and the trade unions are they not effective in the modern society there are many tools how to promote democracy and to make political sphere more transparent but you know it's interesting question what the head of state is responsible for. in russia it's. general saying that the president is responsible for everything yes but at the same time first for your priority and most responsive sponsibility of the head of state i see that he's responsible for the shape of power for the

quality of power and this article precisely about this and there is a part of this article called building a competitive nation it's i would say it's not exact translations from russian because in russian version of this article it's called the building of competitive state but this is the difference of mythology western and russian you know but nonetheless seven points about how to i would say to reset the state how to remade it. to make it really more than just new to meet the challenges of which civil society in russia is sending you know analysts think you very much so and i hope it would continue but we're running out of time and just to remind them i'd. yes today would be our new political ad on the general political signs the part of an entire school of economics and there's some interest certainly the time magazine moscow based book and that's it for now from all of us here if

you're now you're so spotlight or have someone in mind you think i should intervene next time just drop me a line i'll bring up as politics are used and let's give the show interactive we'll be back with more first time comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take your. seat. on. meet. the man movie. just seems.

to me. to. come up to. me. in the motion soon which will brighten if you move about songs from phones to the crash in the summer. for instance on t.v. don't comb.

a split within the ranks of syria's opposition find since that does they claimed they were behind twin blasts in the country's second city of aleppo which killed at least two people but another spokesman denied responsibility just in the later. degree confident he now knows that proves a trial to fail us to oversee measures demanded by brussels despite ongoing violence as nice clashed with protesters here aside the impact of harsh consulate jobs and living standards. and observing police coach trying to russia's public figures come together to ensure a free presidential vote while striving not to take sides. as the headlines up next couple of current with the word and it stuck.

good afternoon and welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. and here are your headlines for friday february tenth greek negotiations do not look like business as usual anymore greek police unions have called for the arrest of i.m.f. and e.u. officials one of the greek coalition leaders said on television he was given an incomplete translation of the trade agreement to look over before signing away his country are we seeing in real time what happens under a modern financial occupation and what lessons should the u.s. and every other indebted nation be learning from this in the u.s. the house passes legislation to ban insider trading by congress it's called the stock act this just as the chairman of the house financial services committee who's worked on efforts to tighten these rules on capitol hill in the past is under investigation for what else insider trading talk about it and federal row.