the other part of it and realized everything is that you don't i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. this is our teams presidential election coverage live from moscow with you shan't honest prime minister vladimir putin looks set to take russia's top job for a third time preliminary results give him a commanding lead with eighty percent of the ballots counted that in europe with him is in the lead with almost sixty five percent of the vote put in and outgoing leader dmitri medvedev addressed tens of thousands of supporters were gathered in central moscow pushing it was visibly emotional but later said the tears that appeared on his cheeks were caused by the cold when he said that the country will

continue to modernize under his strong new mandate rescue we have won in an open and fair battle but this wasn't just an election of the president it was a test of political maturity and independence and we have shown and nobody can impose anything on us we have shown our people who are able to tell the desire for renewal from political provocations aimed at ruining the russian state and usurping power we have won with the support of the absolute majority of voters it's a clean victory we will work honestly and hard we will be successful and we call on everyone's united to the interests of our people and our country yes i did promise you we would win. i. and we have one thank you for the latest on what's happening we can cross live to our tease he's

going off you go thank you for being with us now as we saw there mr putin has already claimed victory what is the situation at the moment. well the prime minister has already claimed victory but we do have to understand that we are still receiving figures as the bows are still being counted russia structures through nine time zones so it is going to take some time to process all of that the moment over eighty six percent of them have been counted and prime minister vladimir putin is currently enjoying a very comfortable lead with over sixty percent of votes cast in support of his candidacy just earlier as you've just shown videos of this meeting the prime minister came to my square in the very center of moscow is actually right behind me and just a few hours ago tens of thousands of his supporters gathered on the square. which in was accompanied by

a president. was saying some strong and emotional words as well in fact at some point that was an interesting moment when many thought back to thirty years war coming down the prime minister's face but it was explained that this was just caused by the windy weather and after that also visited his campaign headquarters in moscow where he also met and spoke with his supporters both inside the headquarters and in some of the regions in the conversation. with. me and look you know there was some insolent people but you put them back in their place these people who think did work is the working class do what you did together with your colleagues people who actually work of factories plants and the physical labor you intellectual level turned out to be much much higher than of these people who considered themselves to be intellectuals. some very confident words there

from the prime minister and we also heard from his press secretary you could be. here's what he had to say. spirits are very high results definitely rouer thinking about positive results we were hoping for. victory in a first round but we would never think of such a higher so it's even harder than there were predicted for so. many shows once again actually proves that we can as a political figure number one in this country and there his potential is here is yet to be open closer and he will be able to prove it through his. presidency. and of course what he may put in isn't the only candidate even though there's been a lot of attention placed on him what can you tell us about the other candidates in the race. before other candidates are taking part in this presidential race was.

who is the head of the communist party at this moment he's managed to get just over seventeen percent of votes and got of has already come out saying that well he doesn't believe in this election saying that it was neither fair or transparent but this is really not the first time that this politician has been running is running for president in fact he's been trying to become russia's leader since the ninety's never actually achieved in winning the election always came second. the other. politician running in the selection and that is. steve who is a very controversial figure a very eccentric politician often known for is even grass of behavior kind of he's the leader of the liberal democrats he's managed to get just over six percent. like uganda. has actually already can

graduate at the prime minister with these successful results and also the role of who is the head of the fair russia party and the former speaker of the upper house of parliament he's so far managed to get around three point seven percent of the vote. but of course the campaign of a billionaire or of was much of the spotlight with many analysts saying he is a new force in russian politics where does he stand. stands alan. is quite different from the other candidates taking part in this election that's why i didn't really want to put him on the same list as i was speaking about the previous four first of all billion year a young successful businessman one of the most one of the richest people. in the world really and this is really his first time in big politics is the first time that he's taking he's running for president. he just used to be taking care of his

business it's not really long that he's put himself kind of in the public spotlight he's aiming for the middle class electorate we've seen him take him poured in. opposition rallies although he himself presents and himself not as in opposition to avoid them personally but to some of his policies he calls himself a successful manager and that is how his entire campaign is pretty much presented as so at this moment has managed to get over seven percent which is also quite significant since this is really his first time running for president and he's already managed to get more votes and then see. again all of who have been on the political stage for quite some time. now lots of international

attention has been focused on the selection all of the world it has been described as one of the most interesting elections russia has ever had what has been so different with this one compared to elections in the past. this election has been called a very interesting one and in fact it's happening at a very interesting time my spike in social and political activity among the public which started basically after the problem and feel action in december scores of people tens of thousands have been taking to the streets after accusations of ballot fraud we've seen massive rallies also in support and against the candidates also the so-called non systematic opposition the non-official opposition which is really always been kind of out of the political spotlight it's now being quite active as well taking part in all these rallies and basically a massive social campaign for a transparent presidential poll he's under way and

a lot of effort has been made in order to make this old as transparent as possible sort of as. a reply to all these processes currently going on in society and i'm talking about the over ninety thousand polling stations which have been equipped with web cameras they've been feeding the life of videos from the polling stations of the vote how it was conducted right onto the web portals for internet users to be able to watch online and see through ballot boxes have been introduced as well and significant unprecedented amounts of observers this year monitoring the election hundreds of thousands of them including representatives of that systematic opposition there has been have been accusations of violations hopefully these were cameras that will help determine how correctly was this cold conducted at this or that polling station we are also expecting more

rallies on monday both in support and against the candidates of course we will be covering that extensively as well. jeez you got a piece going off for putting for us there of course we'll be coming to you through the night as more information becomes available thanks for being with us. now artie's it to me dream of began co has been following the election from of putin's campaign headquarters where dr nicholai slogan from the world of security institute talked about how support for putin has dropped since the last time he was president . he may have secured victory in the first round i will talk more about this i'm now joined by nikolai's logan political analyst here at the video produced campaign headquarters guy thank you so much for being with us so what do you make of this was all the around sixty three percent as it seemed to be lower than it was eight years ago but in the piece it was running well it was because more than just the be to solve them for but i think it's quite fair for this that the situation is more

difficult because which it has lists before which work i'm pretty sure in this campaign so i would say it is a big victory but it wasn't the solvent for he when the got quite full is in the trial so i think it's a big victory for him turned simmering. economic political situation because there are sure hold things are going to sufficient i think it's it's a very good result for any politician now in the election where everywhere so i think you should be very proud that you really think of that right now he had strong competitors that people were voting actually for him and not for the i mean i have some self doubt sinuses well i think. people try the fortune of course obviously some people disappoint some people looking for some new faces and that's for a sofa no no for mikhail prokhorov is a result of that i think. it's the best book you could do in the current situation

i think what he did he worked very hard i would say first time with his political life campaign so far he put together very first style of campaign perfectly last few months and i think partly his victory is there is a lot of is very strong something do you think that this protest movement some precedents that movement against funding of groups and basically is going to gain more momentum so as we see people come out in the street. first of all i think it's going to kill fifty. people expressing their opinion and i think it's very healthy for putin who sees it that everybody agreed to see what some people go into and seem to be. really there for i think it's healthy i think it's good if he'll be able to be a unifier you know for people i think the president still goes out if he will be

devised there if he will start to do right. political hospital he will be present to the south and i think we'll share with you that we're over with. and our correspondents our first was at what can be called the most opulent election headquarters in the presidential race we heil prokhorov is the only candidate with no previous experience of running for president but some have seen are have been touting him as the next puton. they haven't had the official reaction from the press. program because he's running as an independent candidate anyone in this presidential election say he doesn't have the party behind him here at the hague cool it is to give us their response this has been a surprise amongst many better than expected result of his he actually had what we do have is a journalist and confidant of macao proper of. sun to develop thank you very much for telling us a lot of people say that the reason that the opposition haven't succeeded safer is

because of the divisions among the two things make up for the feature could be demands that the opposition be the police they. think he's looking for a purpose and you see. the country is tired of course and certainly there's going to be more and more people who will be. voting for you but for my dear might be their candidate for next to march these guys can actually. has the. experience that's important for all of the. parties washington correspondent dan mitchell karen has been monitoring how the media of broad has been treating the elections she says much of the coverage has suggested this is the beginning of the end of political career despite his strong showing. before the elections even started the underlying message in the media here was that

those were going to be unfair elections most of the coverage is focused on the discontent with the litter shape among many washes and here is a very telling headline the beginning of the end of putin inside the weekly you read about the surge of the middle class under food who having first become consumers have now become citizens points out the officer there's a great deal of critique here but then you come across a table which would make for a pretty good resume for eighty presidential candidate g.d.p. per person in russia more than doubled in the last twelve years private housing holds the gold number of course tripled stories travel abroad more than double the number of internet users increased almost five hundred times but again that's despite the part of our russia's achievements under his rule journalists will focus on this content in the society citing pollsters which they around forty percent of russians don't trust prime minister putin then he makes you think wouldn't it be strange if everyone were happy for the government it's interesting in the latest

polls i've seen forty one percent of americans strongly disapprove of president obama and the word was exactly exactly strongly so yes discontent among the rushes let me put new losing losing popularity those are the things that the media here are focusing on maybe vision vast protests again before the elections even started the underlying message here was that those were going to be on fair elections it was also interesting about the coverage everybody knows that putin is the most popular politician in russia but at the same time there seems to be some like a respect for the choice that russians have made but also one thing all media agree on when covering the opposition movements and all that is that russians begin to pay attention and told that they care there's another issue the media are looking at of course and that is the u.s. russia relations with the new old. president putin they mention this chemistry that existed between presidents obama and medvedev and prime minister future president

putin as kind of a hawk whose response to certain u.s. policies is been blunt sharp and at times unpleasant for washington and they raise questions about the reset where it's going foreign journalist actually asked prime minister putin about the future and the results of the reset and what he said was basically that reset doesn't mean russia has to give up its national interests or not be able to express its views on some crucial international each issues but despite the differences as the prime minister said the reset has worked and it's to dramatically advance economic ties between the countries in the first place and he's determined to continue that policy he's going to chicken reporting for us there now one of the architects of russia's foreign policy is constant you know cause which will he says putin's international agenda will be to promote and to defend russia's national interests. syrian border understands full mr putin he's

down for what to expect knowledge of the smaller support of the mystical more important and i do not expect any changes. in the leave that some of the most changes will take place in domestic politics while the forum for this will continue to work to keep miscounted unity for the simple reason that foreign policy over us is very much the same on russia mentions a little interest in these national interests that are different if she wants to be part of the global one could be a piece of the process of speaking taking place in the global war on cancer you want to be treated fairly and to. only call grounds and of these will not change and definite near russia will continue to promote. took a moment to keep human rights to promote democracy to want to promote the same

values be char shared by most gunderson the world and now for a view on the russian election from abroad we have steve levine a schwartz fellow at the new america foundation and public policy institute and think tank mr levine thank you for being with us. now if looking at the results so far do you think the russian opposition lost because they don't really have one clear leader and you think it might be better to have a two party system like in the u.s. . the your. premise is correct i think that the opposition needed to coalesce around one person it was handicapped for some time and the ways that the way the laws are are handled in russia work against the rise of a candidate who might. more seriously challenge.

and. i do think that that. if one wanted a more robust system then we would then then one would allow the rise of a stronger and more independent opposition. well it can be said that putin has conducted a western style campaign clearly outlining his agenda in fact some people have said that he's campaigned harder than he ever has before do you think he will follow through with his promises. she did at the end just to be clear i think at the end of the last couple of months he did. even maybe the last two or three weeks let's say come out into the streets and show that you really care whether he won or not these very very robust speeches and the articles that he wrote in

the newspapers outlining what he intended to do this was something he didn't do in the past i think that we've seen the way that i have perceived his campaign it's more of demonstrating of trying to show his people the russian people and the world how he intends to run the country after reelection because it was never. any doubt that he was going to to win and his promises i do think he said he was going to there was going to be political reform there was going to be economically reform he wasn't very specific about it but i think that's right he's going to do that he demonized the opposition he said the opposition is only about destroying russia and usurping power that suggests that. what we've seen so far he does not intend to allow there to grow

and to take root a real opposition in in the country even a loyal opposition and i also think that his portrayal of what his suggestion of what outside forces are about want suggesting that outside forces . had ill in mind for russia. and raising the specter in one of his later speeches of napoleon and his invasion of eight hundred twelve. suggests also. its foreign policy that he's going to maintain the image of an outsider. attempting to have bad wishes for russia. while continuing with that theme of outside forces and his of foreign policy it's a common opinion in the western media that medvedev would have been

a more convenient leader for russia's western partners what should put him first steps to be on an international level to show that he's the legitimate ruler of russia. well it's just that there are two threads there one is that the whole time it was president no one on the outside really had any doubt that it was really hooten it was prudence russia he was the strongest political figure in the entire time that it was president but then it serve a purpose he served a very constructive and productive purpose for putin meaning that he was able to say and do things that putin for credibility reasons and just because it didn't suit his personality. that he would have been unable to see for example could you have a pageant hooten form in the silicon valley and sitting down there and having tea with a bunch of technologists going on to washington and sitting down for

a cheeseburger you know in a greasy spoon but washington. i think you know i think that. if if putin and what i see what i actually see is behind closed doors clinton will retain reasonable relations with the united states with nato and with the rest of the world with that in public he's going to he's going to be he's going to maintain this friction. he's going to be a troublesome character. lashing out at the west in public for example he says he will continue to do this even as regards to the arab spring all right thank you very much very interesting to hear your thoughts steve levine from the new america foundation thanks for having me. regulation has been held

against a background of massive street rallies in russia's largest cities but as a member of the protest movement for a fair election he. told r.t. the opposition demonstrators are in the minority the result didn't come as a surprise and obviously most of the people share the same scene of the great russian but no revolution is worth of a child of charles steger and i hope it will not be blood on the streets but obviously we don't agree with this result and unfortunately we are in many a minority that you but you have to consider every minority and this is the only way to democratic country three last months sure deadspin is civilized society with the law it's all we can go somewhere and it can grow the only thing that last that this it was it was the one solid lead and a little earlier we heard from international election observer john berryman who

praised the use of web cameras to monitor the vote and says everything appears to have gone out without a hitch. a group of with a group of fifty observers. sr are a good group from the many different countries italy austria and finland m.e.p.a. and members of parliament and we've visited in the morning to polling stations and in the afternoon to polling stations overall i think our observations were. unanimous there was no evidence of any. problems with the conduct of the elections i think that in a very responsible and. present fashion so far it seems the new technology has worked very well and i commend the government for bringing this in because it may lay to rest a particular focus on the process of presidential election rather than the policies and your free. us based anti-war activist don de bar says it's the current

leadership's foreign policy that has swayed voters. people have the perspective that nephew is potent and so the way russia handled the syrian crisis thus far as opposed to the more active role that it played in the libyan crisis i think was reflected in the vote both with putin scoring about five percent more than even the official polls thought he would have but looking particularly as you're in no skis numbers i think that the decline in his numbers didn't only go to what but i think went to united russia because of the stand that's been taken in international affairs generally sending the fleet to tartus in syria the vetoes at the security council all the declaration that if the united states the poise a missile quote unquote defense system that it will be met aggressively these things i think you know

a strong independent foreign policy at least the trappings of that have drawn support from the people of russia and i think to be expensive for example national was like sure no escape well that brings you up to date for now we'll be continuing with our special coverage of russia's presidential election right here on r.t. i'll be back right after this short break.

thanks. glenn.