powell again to walk into spotlight the interview show on r t 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 science department at the high school of economics mr flynn you pull it off and mr schuster simon schuster head of the times moscow bureau. over the last two months russia has

seen the biggest relish since the time of yeltsin an active electorate and they did political debate is what makes the current presidential race different from the previous two it all started with protests over the stay do my election results last december when the ruling united russia party won which triggered ballot riggin 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 have to face the fact the government supporters are also ready to defend their point of view on the streets according to the data he should by the police the pro-government rally even outnumbered the anti government one flies in there putin addressed both sides shortly after the meetings in the another of his pre-election are. nichols the

prime minister's manifesto published in russia's corner sun daily admits the quality of the state is lagging behind civil society which has become more mature active and responsible at the same time putin sees the current political activity in the country as in the chief mentor he is 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 democratic is ation in russia. well of course yes to make democratization part of his pre-election strategy and 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 british presidency. in 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 a 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 the december. following months russia is. very young by

judging by historical standards it's just twenty years of practice all this very important you saying so so you think that this is. his article what he writes isn't part of his dialogue with the protestors but rather his manifesto and part of this long process rather than the immediate reaction no no no no 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 vision for the future because putin clearly understands that it's 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 valuable 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 every country of democracies is continuing process we might need a vision from the outside of my next question put in 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 didn't take part in the debates when he was ready for the first or does medvedev didn't take part in the debates with with other candidates so. looking from the outside do you see changes put himself is a change i mean for from the onset 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 the senate from the inside it looks ok i mean i mean i didn't if you if you looked at the slogans of the people who were ad the rallies people who commented on their i think they talked to many things they dislike about putin but everybody takes it for granted well you 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 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 already call

a position so it's immediate response all this pressure to watch lot of important things about the russian civil society. today the quality of governance in russia lags 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 correspondence and just to take. in the very beginning of the article there is 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. angry so we may call them and the the radical who actually does it maybe maybe not there's 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 he is potentially head of state he is experience of 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 whole can explain why putin is so reluctant to do mediately and personally but he trusted his representatives for for instance not early on that i. had a debate with. its 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 transcript. they will instantly shoot who's working. we should rulings we need not to release it with this event with the judge's summing up is dictated by. understood on 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 and 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 politically who is so huge in the united states absolutely prohibited to have been called in any year for any cameras

and it's mostly surveillance for just. as i mean these these things are because many is it more than 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 some have problems in the courts and in the electoral system are systemic and they require you know top down reform but it depends upon the procedure that on the practice practices for instance let's imagine this is the. station of pools yes. we're counting the. 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 remind that in that are being a bit as real as that which argued so political scientists call the sorry for

interrupting journalists i'm not sure if the spotlight will be back in a couple of minutes after a break so stay with us to. use . the get. the good.

news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images cold world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations are on the day. 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 no doubt placing web cameras in quartz

before he before he proposed putting web cameras i'll probably 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 quartz from polling station this is this is that was unthinkable i mean even a couple of years ago you know i member of presidential council on human rights and we like them so will this work yes or no in the console and my friends colleagues 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 as well as 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 going to be a close trial will this well web camera be swayed staff 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 not in the court what are the courts no i don't know what the we didn't discuss we didn't just go about there this bit of if i 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 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 that we can 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 the great phrase but does he really mean it does he consider the other former presidential candidates really rivals or rather never to attribute of democracy yes i agree but you know put in. bitterly need needs. equal contender you know a 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 the way you know he he knows how to fight and he's must overdo door so yeah well you know i gotta tell you agree it is a fighter. but. i'm not sure that the absence of a real rival rival makes him and makes him unhappy didn't they do believe so i don't think i think he's been 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 see my cough and low score for the time so all. 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 guard my own choice was after the people you know it's for the people to decide in the direction of two thousand well i can congratulate you i can congratulate you on his victory in two thousand yeah and his victory into that was that all of the fear 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 reality is the reason is life engaging in political competition and the reason 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 see me. you know is he a 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 one and the question is you know open but he is a charismatic new figure he speaks really well i mean been he's. practicing politics i think it will be a fascinating debate learning very fast learning very fast so i think 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 data one hundred thousand one wanting to charge a similar practice exists in britain for example the anonymous internet cannot serve this purpose of course although we know the cases it can help avoid the public. well this is interesting we're 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 pornography that's his words but now today he addresses the internet he he changes the attitude 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 of the last couple years. definitely has become accustomed to the using of internet

and he became not deeply involved as president can get if who has his twitter and so on but nonetheless this suggestion 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 the the effective dialogue channels between the power elite and the society is internet from one of you one of these these channels i'm not real i'm not there's no december fifteenth during his 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 you 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 is at least in his rhetoric saying oh wait the internet exists i 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 what is the quote that you just showed says and this was pointed out an article and kind of caution 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 you know well there's a lot of critics of criticism by the way in our chicle off to 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 so you know in twelve years is enough to do a lot that's right. on the other 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 nation why 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 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 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 this state how

to remade it. to make it really more than just new to meet the challenges of which civil society in russia is standing you know in the state think you very much so and i hope we could continue but we're running out of time and just to remind them i'd. yes today would be our new police call the general political stance the part of and the high school of economics and simon shuster and the time magazine moscow based reporter and that's it for now from all of us here if you are now you are so spotlight we have someone in mind you think i fit in to the next i'm just joking a line al going up ads. are used and let's keep the show interactive we'll be back with more first and comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take your. t.v.

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egypt's streets and squares were alive with running crowds once again a year after president mubarak was forced from power. people here are calling the military council to step down immediately saying they're blocking reforms in the country more from tahrir square just ahead. more pressure is called on the syrian regime has fallen and says can i it's a new resolution blaming it lands at the u.n. general assembly we'll have live on syria shortly here on r.t. . and greek lawmakers further to brussels with more cuts in exchange for pain of cash while people vent their frustration on the streets of athens our top stories this hour.

international news and comment live from moscow this is twenty four hours a day egyptians are staging a general strike in a day of civil disobedience to mark the first anniversary of the toppling of former leader hosni mubarak they're calling for the military rulers to step down immediately accusing them of hindering reform well he's only going to reports from the iconic on his square. if you ask those people they will tell you that really nothing has really sneezed in the years since the barak has been ousted as a matter of fact there is saying that things have gotten worse because now they have to do with the military council the scouts and head of the country's government right now with forces him to step down for saying that they're going forth with democratic reforms but most people here believe that is not the case and that is why they're calling for this massive act of civil disobedience.