there aren't live via broadband from berlin for us director of the russian your razor program at the german council on foreign relations thanks for your analysis so late oh it's still sunday in berlin early monday morning here in moscow so if you watch the live coverage of russia's presidential election for the heart of moscow we will continue to bring you updates our correspondents. if another notice is comes from our interview show spotlight in just a few moments. oh .

hello again and welcome to spotlight the into the shadow on part i'm al green albums today we're talking about the presidential election in the show so this is it the voting is over and just moments ago we've heard the latest on the flimsily results this election was a very special it's the first time off to a constitutional reform that russians elected a president for six years instead of school tomorrow where is being the most expensive but the most transparent voting as anyone can watch it online so well that very special election because while stella and russian political listening will discuss it now live with editor in chief of the moscow news to war at the head of the general political science department at the harvard school of economics needs public office. the. russians have cost the next president

and the election communities across the country in the broad unknown busy counting the ballots and processing the data from russia's six presidential election is also the first in which a president is elected from six years instead of four to find candidates with prime minister dr you deal in anything for her and also this really does of the media coupon is. until the do my community unite isn't gonna be little too liberal democratic party of like the northeast and soon give me rule of russia party election was preceded by beats and complaining and the biggest problem an anti government rallies the country has seen since the time of young what provoked a heated political debate with the results of december's parliamentary vote which handed a majority of seats to the ruling united russia party leading to fraud accusations

and mass protests in response to government promised the most transparent presidential election in russia's history nearly two hundred thousand where cameras were installed polling stations across the country the online monitoring system which cost over three hundred million dollars allowed anyone anywhere in the world to log on to our website show one ally broadcast of russians cast in their ballots . hello gentlemen two million you thank you very much for joining us on the show well first of all gentlemen the the the font upshift in there many of the the public opinion poll company had published cruel luminary results just the world couple of days before the for the actual election and it predicted that putin will win in the first round well this is pretty much the same that we are having today at this minute when we are hearing the first results from the from the

central election committee well here here's the poll here's how here is how the the public opinion polls over there has been predicted that the voting will be well how accurate is that how how good a word were they have a stairwell will you. trust this year oh yeah i saw because this approach to software. curing the polls or exit polls it's. not the first time. sold our pollsters are very very well equipped. to learn them not much more from from western experience although personally i trust it's that this figures well there was information published during the last couple of weeks that putin's popularity was rising over the over the last month and it's specially over the last like like one or two weeks before the election that he really he really made sort of a breakthrough in the polls in the popularity so good but he didn't seem for me didn't

seem to do anything special so so do you believe this is so it and why is that happened. well i think it's probably true that the the protest movement straightly van out of steam. in that they didn't quite know how to take things forward. a big problem of the opposition is that they don't really have. think a lot of people would regard as being a strong candidate if someone like alexina volley would have stood who is more common compromising towards the authorities than anyone who's standing in the election then i think that we could have actually seen a much more sort of close run thing. but i think that you also have to say you know look at some of the methods that have been used by the pope putin can i mean it's clear that everybody who was pushed into luzhniki and i went around the stadium that day and saw the hundreds and hundreds of buses which were there from the city

government there were even says moscow city government school buses and lots of accounts of people who had been told look you have to go you can have two days off or coming along one day or something like that here all of those people were told come along from us that it's or something like this and the the think the problem for putin is this might fly in russia but to the rest of the world it doesn't look quite right it doesn't look quite like a free and fair election here you should have an impression that putin wasn't actually afraid of confrontation that the only thing that he was afraid the media still is afraid about it is that is that maybe not everybody will trust these elections to be legit and he was doing his best to make his indigenous i agree. the main intrigue of this election is not about who will win it was clear if you are

prisoners yes putting on the second round would have been fair. because i think i think we had even had somebody who may really oppose putin but nobody's going nobody really did oppose you know i think to be honest i think that the real probable level of support for putin is somewhere around forty five to fifty percent . but you know he didn't have a rival. challenge him seriously. and now the good we see the second place or for the same leader of companies you know he's a gun of twenty years or so and so people didn't buy therefore again the result was predictable but you are right the main issue of this. election is the legitimacy and how to legitimize this is the big concern because you know this is open war and the global war within russia we have some opposition groups

who would definitely. say it wasn't free and clear and the international community here since hero quiet attentively of his people therefore it's a big concern now the the the only fresh face that we saw during this russia where we're. profit off the lead the billionaire. but he said i'm not in a position to put in i'm like an alternative i mean we have the same platform we we we we want the same thing we're buddies but but i'm just for those who are tired of putin then they can vote for me but isn't this a pretty strange it's true there's a platform for a presidential campaign i think i just think it's a little bit too much control yeah i mean you know we have someone in big government scheme who's been a fixture on the russian political scene for you know twenty years like the rest of them got into years ago and he's not really

a serious candidate for president but there are a lot of people who like the kind of liberal slash social democratic politics that he stands for he's not really a threat to anyone and i couldn't really see the point of why he was excluded from the ballot you know you could have your ridiculous presenting the copies of the least of the signatures of four of his supporters and he violated the war well you see i don't know why. they give me a good example i mean you can ignore the same kind of mistake when you when you when you think you directly through these and you don't get of these another reason just you made a slight mistake to me that these are the wrong picture i mean you ye you put together and that is stuff. they have no greater very nice lawyer. and now i wonder why this mystique so it's so it's very strange you know or you know i think you asked about the crocker of as a real rival of putin but your ideological borth

a center right candidate saw there for a proper office or this is this is maybe why you said i'm not i know turning to have would not opposition but this is yes well let's see the latest results we have heard them from from the central central election committee will i ten ten minutes ago in the news but here they are wildly out of this minute is that we having sixty two percent for putin seventeen for you to go out of and seven point five four of which is a pretty good result isn't it isn't it because because he he's easy and you cover he only just learning so i think that the something that probably our viewers have to maybe bear in mind here which is i think that a lot of the people who voted for any of the candidate putin's. really we even went into the into the polling stations not even quite knowing who they were going to vote for who just knew they were going to vote for someone else a lot if they found any of the candidates ideal you know like we said i think the

person who probably gamed the most out of this election campaign wasn't even standing it was alexei navalny and of course it's very controversial but we'll see what he comes up with tomorrow when he launches his protest and we'll see where that might just stay within the law it was my job to stay peaceful but i think that he's gained an awful lot of support and i think he has his eye possibly on the next election campaign but you think so well i mean the position well i actually i prefer to hear your opinion do you want i am less clearly do you believe that an internet creation like alex a never ending is who's against he's the person he is against he's always he doesn't trust these against then well go isn't like one hundred percent hundred percent computer computer virtual like this and it's most online he is popular or like do you think that he may make

a candidate for the next political political action like for years in various time five six years time you think he has a good chances to become a politician the real politician and declaring not just he is against his positive program and he has a million million. to participate in municipal elections in residence maybe our viewers know that it's going to be a free elections. of the governor is so it's a good opportunity for him to test himself as a politician very quick questions a question do you think the results will be changing as as we'll hear as we hear the first count from from east to west of the country. for crocker of. because of the third the third year but i think that the interesting thing is will the will of results challenge them absolutely will there be any kind of independent inquiry they are already seeing starting to be challenged we'll talk about it after the

break just a reminder that we're talking to journalists a wall and political analyst clearly need spotlight will be back shortly after we take a break so don't go away stay where you are. resistance is not politics but a culture. is could. all its own. cultures of resistance on our team.

as russia votes for president r.t. looks at the five running for the kremlin saw job picture in today's. bloody mirror to see if the two time presidents actually prime minister and face of united russia party. the record putin points to stability he secured up to the chaotic yell seniors praised for overseeing a booming economy the free style machine russia's presence on the world stage plan for the presidency modernization fighting corruption maximizing russia's impacts in international affairs controversy criticized for centralizing power in russia and

staying at the helm too long. old. for personifying the problems positions and aspirations of modern russia. presidential elections two thousand and twelve on r t. more news today boylan says once again the flood of. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to look for a shelter on the day. to a substantial degree and one time or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow is encroaching.

to. leave early twenty first century military bases a network of military bases all around the forms believe empire that the united states is trying to build it's astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s. troops stationed on these bases all around. we don't have power bases american we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in cross bases of five or the noise is wrong or doesn't bother us at all because they're all bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for the speed. since the in the world war two the spaces i've been. working here to provide

a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions they are pickles you get everything you need to. work about the spotlight time algorithm often just to remind you that my guest today here in studio is tim wall in chief of the moscow news and then you'd probably call it had general political science department in the high school of economics and we know for have a special guest here are russia today reporter in the central election committee you can see the direction of a kind of good evening and do you have any new thing. and you knew the results of the vote as it's being counted we definitely do now that eighteen percent of the ballots across the country have been counted the outspoken favorite prime minister

vladimir putin is leading with sixty two point three percent of the vote coming second as communist candidate good night visit gone up with seventeen point six percent of the vote but you measure it in the risky candidate from the liberal democratic already seven point eight percent and independent candidate billionaire mikhail prokhorov is now getting seven point five percent of revote it's definitely a tree for a newcomer to the politics he only announced that he would be running for presidency several months ago now the last one on the list as candidate i just russia party said give me your all in the second election which is trying to get the country stop drop and he's getting only three point seven percent of the post now that somebody observers participating in this year's election we understand it will take longer for those observers to put signatures on final protocols to see all official results and pre-selection definitely it sets

a record in terms of being the most expensive and the most closely monitored if you want the most transparent in the country's history and overall of over three hundred million dollars have been spent on installing web cameras very expensive city we work across the country also there were transparent ballot boxes installed at all polling stations and a record number of service as well almost a million watchdogs have been closely monitoring these presidential vote in russia with seven hundred of them from abroad now russia's most recent gratian wide ballot the december of four parliamentary elections were married with accusations that the vote had been raked and those accusations were behind the gun. decision to allow more observers in to stall web cameras hundreds of websites on the internet have been showing. video materials from polling stations in all nine time zones of the

country where all in all almost five days of video was recorded on these one day only and of course the main intrigue in the around these surrounding this election is whether there'll be a second round now eve the be the one which now talks the least let him report and current prime minister in the end when all ballots are counted doesn't get that much needed magic figure of fifty percent of the bows but they'll be a second round and question very much alive who would be running against him in that second round if if again this is the case but time will tell we still have almost a day to go we remember from the previous nationwide ballot which was in december of the state duma elections as there are so many times owns and almost ninety eight thousand polling stations across the country they will definitely take time to analyze and to count all the balls to pursue.

a live coverage continues here on the french be with us breaking into the spotlight show they actually got a very important person to speak to but he will pretend while of course a victory the presidential election he's taken more than sixty percent of the vote as we speak tonight it's not one fifty one. let's cross live to putin said please talk to us but first to retrieve her school response go for it delighted to have you on the program notes but a very busy night for you as well first off what are these results for blood to prove to tell us. i beg your pardon i don't think i understood your question. what are your thoughts about tonight's vote for fatima puts it on our screens at the moment we showing that he's polled sixty four point six percent of the vote.

how do you and your colleagues around you feel about that well actually it's a very high result definitely we're thinking about it but positive result we were hoping for a definite victory in the first round but would never painted by such a high result so it's even higher than there would predicted for ourselves and it shows once again actually it proves that putin is a clue coaching are number one in this country and he's potential is yet to is yet to be all told her that he will be able to deal with through his. presidency. what can his success tonight be put down to say your very happy indeed a little surprised maybe that their results are so high why has the public voted for him such a vast number well he served two terms

in iraq as a president of this country and then he served four years and four very dramatic years in the world history as a prime minister of this country is ahead of his government and you know all the cases he proved to be extremely effective in crisis management in gradual development of the country in implying the reforms and thus he. well he he's the man. with homes people are tend to bone their hopes for the future. what i intend to meet is there gates is the nice thing here with kevin just want to throw in a question to you what is your. move as president going to be in terms of all of the protests we're seeing the opposition that's clearly growing in moscow and st petersburg at least. our public society is growing very fast and even

sometimes its growth grows faster than political system and so. public society demands more proactive involvement in political life and sometimes the. sheer points of view that do not coincide with let's say governmental fortunes position so. they tend to speak against him and it's take a big part of democracy and take the book part of your tuileries. so it's quite normal we see protests in all the countries of the world and. we hope we hold that certainly with the time being this people will witness and they will see changes. in political system that will enable them. in able them to have

a broader involvement in political life does pursuing their own goals and then solving their own problems. mr president it's careful to get some believe putin only enjoys such immense support because of the lack of strong rivals right now do you think people vote for him because they like you see all because they've got no pretty long term it seems they feel. well. people always have alternatives especially in political life. but. put in sport hilarity is really overwhelming. so and i think you would agree with me here these this campaign was really extremely competitive and despite its well. extreme popularity of. of mr putin he was full of intrigue some people were trying to argue whether he was going to to win in the first from

or in the second round. so you was a real competition but yes really he's he's popular man number one so here right now he's beyond competition well there have been some complaints that the faces around putin haven't changed much over the years is he going to invite new people into his ranks do you think maybe younger ones maybe from the opposition well. we know his words i remember his words saying the next government will be changed dramatically not in terms of the structure but also in terms of personalities and so we'll be waiting together for this change and we'll see we all hope that we'll see fresh new faces in the government including those not necessarily from the ruling party. even now even now he's got some people from opposition parties working in the government don't forget about that. but i do third gauge is the need

to again now protest and a lot of criticism i guess the prime minister tended to speed up when he announced oh are they with president medvedev announce this switch or so-called switched in hindsight do you think that was right. i mean declaring this well yes that. was a matter of fact as a matter of fact he's the guy who's going to be chosen who was chosen as a president who was elected as a president. and if he's granted if he's granted. just watch the whole report which means bryant has trust from the people of this country and that means that he's got a right to know me a person that he would like to serve as a prime minister and from the very beginning he was not hiding his intentions to know me and mr mitt better as

a future prime minister so he was not deceiving anyone and he was letting people know about his plans in advance long in advance and then voting for people that actually it was a voting for his plan. and now putting said he thought the symbol of the protest movement the white ribbon of course it's their color lots of protesters wearing them actually looks like condoms that come as part outweigh it's a long way off musician do you think that's so putin's disregard for the protests or we are not really getting the full his full opinion of this movement and of the growth in civil society to get involved well he was speaking actually he was speaking and he's person no person no. well personally actually he treated he treated that science and he said that it looks

like he said that it looks like he would never he would never want to insult this people. definitely he would disagree with him adroitly oh damn of those protesters and different today he would do. well. different and there he wouldn't respect some of them he wouldn't respect some of them those who are doing it for the sake of protest not for the sake of a movement things in this country. expressed hope this election comes at a time when relations with the west are rather strange some are concerned putin's often strong statements just complicate relations with international partners even further what's your response to that what can we expect well. relate a relations between russia and the west are not so bad so there indefinitely we cannot go beyond.