three. three. three. three. mediocre four year media drug free media john darche john time. here in the russian capital this is here you have crack down in west purity forces attack anti-government demonstrations with. tear gas. in the country rages on while a group of doctors who treated protesters are now standing trial accused of inciting an attempt to overthrow the government. a gunman under siege in toulouse has been confirmed dead thirty hours after french police surrounded his house he's

believed to have killed seven people in a fortnight and claimed to have al qaeda links several officers were wounded in the south. china sea washington's latest sanctions against tehran aimed at other countries and the u.s. compiles a list of nations to be punished for continuing to import iranian oil beijing tops the list along with india and north korea which are being given six months. sharply that trade with the islamic state. those are the headlines or not so you know we put the president under the spotlight for an exclusive interview alexandra defends the execution of two men found guilty of the deadly metro bombings in minsk this despite international criticism please stay with us here.

a welcome to the on the. way guest is alexander lukashenko. the leaders of the eurasian economic community have gathered in moscow this week to discuss further integration on the post soviet space one of them was forced alexander the president of. one of the most famous but controversial leaders of the lot of the work today he's here on spotlight to discuss the latest news coming. and some other items please welcome president got. the latest news coming from the other rules caucuses on two major topics the first and most controversial is the recent days accusing of two metro bombers fifteen people were killed and over two hundred wounded in a terrorist attack on the russian capital subway last april two men who were

convicted and put to death but some human rights activists said the trial was unfair the second big topic is the eurasian economic community and some it has just finished in moscow russia plans further integration within the group but belarus is reportedly getting cold feet about the process. of the fishing co think you for joining us and welcome to spotlight hello mr lucas let me start with a personal question and this is not the first time i have. access fortunately even though yes fortunately you know what amazes me and this is not the first time i've seen it with me it is how nice and friendly everybody on your team is from top ranking officials to bodyguards which is this just a general rule you have established or something else. i mean we just had a discussion on the subject with some of the other guys here and now i want to ask

you the same question. it's a belorussian mindset combined with discipline and order. after all we are the worst a dealership in europe it's no laughing matter. but that it is a matter of discipline it's not because it was special relationship no xander really develop russian mindset we're always eager to help everybody we're always willing to be hospitable and helpful and to share whatever we have with others at least some of what we have this is something in our blood you mentioned dictatorship who come to that later right no could we start with ice hockey even though you're personally involved in this you're an avid hockey fan and you give a lot of your time to hockey and you had in him and minutes before minutes in the cage shell has been a very poor plus today on him in moscow i do see my support so i am happy but at the same time i feel sorry for your team why did that happen because what are your

prospects i really don't know why you mentioned me at the beginning because i don't play for it in the moments that i played for them they might one. day i'm joking with rivers. but the first object the list became this is only the third year our team has been playing at such a high level. and it is the second time we've made it into the playoffs. this is not that it's all. second of that if we expect it to go much further this year but i think the managers of our team made some mistakes when planning the season come on they reached peak form during the first half of the season were going to be defeated you know in the moscow twice and it won many other games and we're ranked first in our conference but then we lost the momentum in the playoffs because you can't possibly sustain your thought form throughout the season. what

about the world cup but the forget that this by doing it was loss bellerose is still in the elite a world hockey that you have any surprises in the works with the world cup oh yeah . well i don't think there should be any surprises there although surprises are inherent in sports we've taken happen any time ever we're not planning any surprises deliberately you there are we planning to leave the elite of world hockey . the two thousand and fourteen world cup will be hosted in the big where the numerous actually both implants and take the right to host the championship away from the other groups and give it to another country here with us what do you think of those rumors is there any substance behind them were they just gossip. i heard that song it's nothing more than talk this is a purely political pros that has nothing to do with sports sport but if it happens it will be a blow to their reputation of the hockey federation at least the world sports in

general post but still after all bill arrives has deserved and earned this world championships with the and we have done a great deal in preparations for the i'm sure that if this championships in minsk takes place all journalists will see that they saw nothing like that before that you said we have been very hospitable and friendly caring nice meeting the entire country's going to be just as hospitable and friendly when hostin in the hockey championships so there are some surprises in the pipeline if you. look well this is where god tells us to do our best work or unilever. well just like you probably. will not kristen's with the church as they say the short similar large increase and anyway clip of there is always something we believe in some people it is god however i think that people shouldn't be overly into monsters of about their daily fs i tend to think very badly of people who used to be atheists yesterday and

now they're holding candles in churches or standing on their knees praying in public because everyone has he's god if not in court and in mind you will agree with you to some extent at least on the one hand communication with god is something very personal on the other hand though identify anyone so with a certain confession is very important for a political figure well if i were to identify myself in some confession and of course i'm an orthodox christian. if we may get back to the matter of politics please recently two men were executed and. been deemed guilty of carrying out terrorist attacks as well as some other things even if a youth the european union had ask you to postpone the execution in exchange for an improved status of the diplomatic relations and get lots of other concessions. correction. over the european union never asked me to post on the execution of

those evil sic they have always demanded that we abolish capital punishment no i think that when this same these specifically called suspended punishment no they didn't. know nothing of the sort to go or what is a suspension the sentence was handed down last fall in september or november i can't recall the exact month several months have passed since it was absolutely legitimate it was a great question was not about the procedure but according to media reports from europe offered you a kind of a political deal you could you leave the execution and instead you get this big political can. sessions from the west it seemed there is a politician such as yourself would have taken the bait but you refused to accept the deal which is why that's first and foremost they never offered me something like that so they didn't. there was no talk of political concessions in exchange for a stay of execution but even if they did offer me that it would still be the way it

is now because politics and penalties are not linked to tall if the west makes some political concessions it means we should meet them halfway through the while here we are talking about a criminal case plain and simple the man committed an outrageous crime and there is no reason whatsoever to show clemency it would be the same in russia and in other countries so cold and crohn's are not compare and i would like to repeat it once again i did not get such an offer for you as one of the powerful politicians in you were this kind of political maneuvering that was in no interest. it was against your principles was it at the point that's not acceptable for me simply unacceptable. that fine i will then put the question differently being a christian what do you feel in your heart when you give the order to execute to convict. ago. this is you know it's not my job to give such an order of

certain for seizures set forth by the law i just didn't pardon these men after that it all went to the next stage but what were you feeling when you had their destiny in your hands we had the chance to pardon them alexander it wasn't the first time i had to do that within the seventeen or eighteen years of my presidency. that's a burden across the tree agree to bear when you become head of state. the often asked me what's the most difficult thing for you and i imagine it wants on record that it's always such a pain for me to sign a decree not to grant poured out of all those sentenced to the death penalty i only pardoned one person. as. i'm sure they're both in delusion russia i'll tell you what i actually felt for these were mixed feelings for me twas yet another tragedy in my life but above all i felt sympathy for the

parents of those people. could not help unfortunately. i think people in russia and i would go as far as to say that the majority of russians would support executing people convicted for such crimes i think you must realise that the death penalty denies the judge the right to err. i think you will agree that in a year in five or ten years evidence may surface. member when the mother of one of the boys said i will not be able to prove anything. that this could be the case with no history won't be able to put everything in its place there is only today tomorrow is that apart from capital punishment there's a list of penalties includes life imprisonment. yes so if the judicial branch as well as the executive branch to be honest york has a sheet of

a doubt about the evidence. or if the decision they were about to take. they can always pass a life sentence which could be even more terrible than death wish routing number by far more terrible. process also they pursued in so we're asked transparent as possible group the investigation was transparent team was headed by the former chief of the investigative committee and the prosecutor general's office just before the crime took place which means he had no connections there he didn't have to prove anything he's a man of integrity and decency a professional with huge experience all insisted that he take up the whole process and he came and had it that investigative team also got assistance from the russian f.s.b. security service and these really mossad. these release yes

these really security service and interpol they never said there was anything wrong they didn't have any suspicion i also ordered the investigative team to film and record all the questioning sessions and since the moment these men who were arrested much to their surprise they never denied their guilt i mean they give a full account of the crime and showed how they set it all off it was sufficient for material evidence to thought we conducted a public trial in the courtroom packed with four hundred people if you for example decided to come over and watch it or to do or ford about it you're mostly welcome anyone was welcome foreign diplomats the parents of the parents of the injured snows maimed in the terrorist attack it was an open trial anyone can stand up and state their position. if the mother had any suspicion or doubts she was welcome to speak about them i made it clear that every day every clue needs to be checked and

that's the way it was organized that's why it was absolutely transparent that again i dismissed any suggestion that the case was falsified or trumped up for why would i need that now tell me if you were the president of billers why would you need a fabricated case to be honest initially i was very skeptical that we would be able to find those responsible for the terror attack with such cases are usually extremely hard to solve. many people point that out seeing you tracked them down too quickly with god's help mr president you mentioned god once again i don't want to torment you too much but here's the final question on the issue well you can call it tormenting we have heard it is just that you've been very open and sincere in your replies so i would like to use the opportunity to ask you once you stand before god that we have any fear do you think you poor new for all those clemency pleas you've turned down you see alexander and president gets to face guy almost every day to use your metaphor. but it's

a lot of any president because you get to make crucial decisions with and therefore if you speak to god fairly often which inch us i can say this on the record right now well because i'm absolutely certain that the court verdict and sentence were correct unjustified we have no doubts about that whatsoever you could and when people tell me the convicts were young men i think back to my visit to death here in metro station some forty minutes after the blast i remember people holding me back because i was there with my son yes your son was there you know people said why did you bring the kid but i had no choice nobody asked me what if there's another explosion but i just didn't have the option of not going in the ability to see i've lived through it all the way ever that there was nothing personal about the trial my personal feelings are my experience that is so my cross to bear and bear it i will whether i consult god about it are not it is my personal business

just as it was my right as president to grant or deny pardon to the convict's let you still picture this scattered body parts in a twisted metro car so when i entered the station those images are forever with me says alexander lukashenko president a little public tel aviv's spotlight will be back shortly after the break so stay with us don't. well there's a. science technology innovation called the list of elements from around russia

we've got the future covered. welcome back to thoughtful eyes the end from the show on r.t. i'm just a reminder that my guests are the show today is look i shan't go president of the republic of belarus so. let's talk about moscow politics is your living moscow today we had the reasons your asian economic community some idiot away with as you were on your way here received a report saying the key outcome of this summit was the decision to build the transformation of this community as minsk but that would mean a yourself but it has certain disagreements with moscow. would you explain what it means that this is

a lie we have no disagreements with moscow or not the kind of disagreements we have are of the type that the other countries have let me tell you first how it was and then you'll draw your own conclusions about our disagreements with the previous year asian economic community summit when we stop the customs union and launched the common economic space which ran higher integration level as of generally does cheer question came up on the further reactions to regarding euro sept thirtieth of this bill as it seemed to have played its rule which was to establish the customs union when we didn't just establish the customs union we also created become an economic space that included three members which wanted to join it and were prepared to do so and had provided very quired legal framework for it but this wasn't an easy job to do as a client having to pass certain laws in their parliaments it took us quite a long time to match everything it took us years so worthless that there were three

states like that if you're sick as five states including could you stand and to teach you stand so the three countries overcame his barrier. kyrgyzstan cannot become a euro circle or a come an economic space member to be. it's a w t o member. but when i joined it doubly practically cancelled its import duties for commodities. and the customs union has a low protection level for manufacturers. national russia is also practically. already called on that was the first point and second even if russia does become a w a q a member russia hasn't cancelled its import duties the min enrichment for a transition period and they have protection mechanisms the protectionist turns. industries and some other industries where they don't have protection mechanisms

like a car manufacturing industry an aircraft manufacturing industry this is not important for us so it's no big deal but it wasn't a delay into twenty fifteen proposed by you i mean minsk what this. we stablish the customs union and launched the common economic space and there were three of us. seem to have reached its objective. so the question was what to do with your set then in january president i said above was the forest to see that we didn't need your a second he more i supported him brutal as president but it was against it if your sect had played its true but at the end it had to be reorganized as it was an international organization of international status so it couldn't just be terminated it have to be transformed into something new. that's when i said that we would finance

a euro six secretariat and structure for the first quarter but we wouldn't be able to carry on with it as of april it looked as we didn't have to funds in our budget and we decided to meet in march and make a decision on an establishing the customs union and the company economic space and what to do with you are sick and i said and so we had a meeting there inside assume the obligation of preparing a traffic solution for this issue russians did a really good job in preparing the greenman on transforming the eurasian economic community into your asian economic union. so we made this decision and we agreed that from twenty fifteen we will have this eurasian economic union at the russian side suggested speeding up the process and the belorussian side supported down during drawn attention to two provisions in its raft agreement proposed by them and said that the economic commission headed by mr. had the right to make agreements in

the international arena on behalf of water three countries and i literally said the following we are not against it if this becomes a stumbling block we will agree to it. but this isn't something we need now so far russia kazakstan and delirious our flight capable of making agreements come. on our own behalf but with the less the eurasian economic union is an economic organization whereas agreements are political military and so on and we agreed that if we decide that we need the eurasian economic union to negotiate on behalf of our three states we would grant you sit through a g. two and we have done so on two matters did it go therefore we spoke against this regulation. but really we didn't adopt this draft agreement we didn't sign it

why. because kazakhstan spoke strongly against the konami union but now it's up to you to resolve the guy who was for it and who was against things there was a certain logic in the fact that cuz it's done objected to a proposal made by russians and the russians we shared a common mind on signing the agreement. we said yes we should sign you green it on the union it's got to go they replied we shouldn't speed up the spruces you know. since we have already agreed to start the union in twenty fifteen let's stick to twenty fifteen isn't including lehmann you is the always do that if anything happens is look for right. it's a pity i can't prove it right now but if you want to do a report on it i can send you this part of the talks transcript later as a gesture of good will toward you i think you should mr president i want to ask you both in these pictures kitchen if this leader of independent village was not

allowed to cross the border to go to live any of the other day i think those who have interviewed him in the past and he always gave you harsh criticism you always seem to take it calmly what has changed. you know i have never attacked any politicians who were in power in belarus before me it's up to god to judge their service you can take a look at my legacy at the legacy oceans carry each just love kid which you and others. and make your own conclusions i have never brought up anything from the past it's just care which has been recently portrayed as a hero by all russian t.v. stations which is the way what you all seem to forget is that government wanted to fix all russians from belarus musician everyone counted the russians what russians unfolds well below full so for it were not for the evil lucas schenkel were russians would have been shown the door long the goal of proportion we should keep that in mind as a matter of fact talking off poetics i would only mention one thing while he any

iranian president crossed chilcote's in the persuaded maurice yeltsin to dissolve the soviet union such that they this is enough to show who he says it's a he but again it's not for me to judge him i know too much about your scale which any fine make at least a single fact public that would be enough for him to retire from politics for the rest of his life but i have never done it and will never do so see why you said it was not allowed to leave the country well the european union has come up with a list of people who are banned to travel to europe and your humble servant is among them there were other sanctions too but that this measure was introduced on the initiative or a fifth column and one of its active leaders in stanislaus just gave it to voters ill he responded with your own travel and then list well we have not introduced it formally no it isn't working yet is it should be what we'll do that it is this fifth column that tells the west which people are going to say chanson and

surprises should be on the down list they're calling for economic sanctions says alexander lukashenko and the rebel be waiting for news coming out that was the bill russian president if it's back if you would have your say on the show please drop it got like we'll be back with more critical comments on the what's going on in and outside brush until then stay on r.t. and take. a.

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