this is actually coming to light for most a quick check on the headlines. miles islam has dominated protests against the military rulers in egypt and in deadly clashes darkly one dead and schools injured the country's saying it's such a violence less than three weeks before the last presidential election since the ousting of hosni mubarak and. campaigning as in france ahead of sunday's presidential runoff vote which many see as decisive for the troubled european union polls show the left wing francois long dead set to win over the current president despite an equal downside was a closing the gap on his rival. and russian republic of dagestan rules the victims of the terror attacks which killed thirteen people and injured dozens role that has

x. has pointed to the similarities in the toxics used in the north caucuses with international terrorist groups. as the headlines for you coming up when i'll see you know of talks through the also as of a book on putin asking them to share that insight into them on not just the politician. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm trying hard luck and was a big picture. to

. hello again or welcome to spotlight the interview shall partake i mildly love and today were a guest star chris hutchens and alex i'm going to cut out the cup since his appearance on the political leader twelve years ago led him or porter has always been in the spotlight as publicly to his played the ad lines and the front pages of numerous periodicals and dozens of books been written about people are mostly interested in his political career of course but what about his personality i read book about a lot of it put me as a person not a politician was published research authors the two people who claim they finally got an answer to the question of who is live who are my guests on the show today russian journalist and producer alex on the part of paul and his english colleague

chris hutchins who is joining us via satellite link problems with. vladimir putin was barely known when he entered russian national politics back in one thousand nine hundred nine he's climb up the political ladder was directed at the prime minister acting president president elect he made it in less than a year two consecutive presidential terms. so his popularity inside the country skyrocket and his name turned into a brand in the international arena russian scheme to associate putin with the return of political stability and economic progress he's straightforward talking no nonsense approach as well as he's tough stance on international issues have frequently irritated the west but have changed or only been approved often in russia during his four years as prime minister putin preserved his popularity with the public on with his tough guy image however the situation changed in the lead up

to this year's presidential election the country witnessed the biggest antigovernment rallies since the time of year and the political turbulence did not prevent looting from clinching his presidential term in one with real action articles putin this grant the awakening of the russian civil society as a ritual and. a byproduct of the economic stability he brought about. how gentlemen welcome to the show hello xander hello chris and i want you thank you both very much for being with us on the show first of all after after twelve years that porter has has been doing his best to keep his personality and enigma do you think do you think the question who is mr putin is this still is a still relevant after more than a decade of his dominance in russian politics christiane start with you. well it certainly is here in london and i hope it is round the rest of the world too

because you know i've spent six years working on this book and it took six years to fathom who mr putin is and exactly what he's like i think if i had been writing a book about tony blair or george bush it would have taken six months but mr putin is a very deep very interesting man i hope the others will forgive me for saying they're a little superficial. here is yes he deserves a book and it took a lot of digging a lot of persuading of a lot of be able to come forth with the arses of the questions that i had for him. mr clarke are you are a journalist or producer who is turning to returning publisher well you are the man who has the right book and you also a co-author will it be easy to sell put in to the public especially in britain especially after the anti western rhetoric that we're joining the election campaign recently i think there is a huge interest towards putin in in the yuki despite the rhetoric well our one may

refer to this as a referee or somebody else view it that we simply i think perceive it is the heart of the russian character i mean british people the british rusa file at least the nor the russians are emotional and the lot of us for that and i think being emotional and sometimes sort of being succumbed to rhetoric is is a part of the russian character i mean we have we gauge and referee eggs in our kitchens so i think that people in britain will see sort of beyond that and they certainly want to understand the man that britain will have to deal with. i know you haven't i haven't read this reasoned book but i did read your book about the beatles and you're really good in really understanding what the people are under their masks this is what i think you're the best to do that what can you tell us

about about food and the question i have been asking to many people during the last couple of months do you believe that he is genuinely suspicious that he's anti western or is it just isn't just a way to mobilize the russians. i don't think he's anti western i don't know he's anti anything really i just think he's interested as you quite rightly say it my interest is in finding out what makes people tick from the beatles to the man. who was the subject of my last book. i wanted to know what makes him laugh what makes him cry what his relationship is with his wife and his daughters. i was particularly fascinated by his upbringing you know it's staggering for people to learn that the man who now lives in palaces and travels the world and mixes with presidents and prime ministers was lived in a one room flat and didn't go to school until he was eight this gave him all kinds

of complexes and made him such an interesting man certainly the most interesting politician on the world stage today you you said an interesting thing he didn't go to school until who was eight in russia of that time nobody went to school until they were eight that was how the school system worked ok gentleman what what the russians are well into the english will and the english audience will certainly be interested to learn that while the russians will be well they will be reading your book that you're introducing in russia too they will be interested in understanding what kind of putin have we elektra it what kind of president will we be having for the for the upcoming six years would be a different putin or would be the same kind of food you're writing about i was under and the idea from you well i think that if we had an answer to that question i think we would be fortune tellers or your life will tell what will happen during the next few years but i think the writing is on the wall i think we

will definitely see a new mr putin i think he has quite a few aces up his sleeve yet and i think it's particularly interesting to see russia's new president through the english eyes. i think that this is quite a unique book because so far it's the first truly sort of russo british book crease the author being the englishman taking on the russian president i think is absolutely unprecedented let's make it clear clear to the to the views you refer to chris as the author you're the publisher but you're also a co-author so is so did you have to write it or or you edited it or were i mean well how did it work out obviously as it happens chris and i we've been friends for quite a few years and we've been working on other projects together and i was

a contributing journalist unusually and chris and i we went to west and see be reared we created on this board and and we grew to be a core authors and i just obviously don't want to rain on christmas parade but. that is clear in the subtitle of the border with alexander corrupt go but obviously i'm quite proud to have pride of place here on the cover of the book and yes i've contributed as a journalist and as an executive editor as well so then the my next question is to you or your you present your book with the words i quote the highly personal biography of russia's leader are what does it mean does it mean i will learn some new facts after reading your book well. i think mr or mrs putin will learn some new facts it is highly personal. thing is it really is yet. he didn't really.

and telly has until early read the manuscript some months ago but i only have other people's word for that but i guess it is highly it is highly personal and there are probably things in it which he won't approve of simply not because they are going to throw him in a bad light but because i think he's a very private man and i think he likes to be an enigma i do believe that that amir putin never wanted the cloak of secrecy to be taken away from him i do believe i do believe that. this book is an end to become a part of mr putin's apology. our apology for what it is that i think i think the english korean used to say or it is believed that she used to say that she never apologizes and i think if the queen doesn't i think why put insured. in this book you say putin is the most interesting man the most interesting politician

on the world stage today could yes if i want to what you want to sounds and what's so interesting for you a russian proud about about your president well first of all let me tell you about not long ago i was in the philippines i was on the island of mindanao which is obviously worlds away from russia and i was an information about putin's someone when you were out i was talking to. a man who named long time ago still in the late soviet union these he named hughes school football team sputnik after he did that to coca-cola truck arrived with a portable movie screen showing the horrors of the soviet life but that's another story so i asked him what russian words does he know obviously apart from sputnik and he said spy seba and the third one was put him i say know the word and the fourth word. chelsea. you know what they don't know she tells me in the

philippines and i think they let him know so i will. ask you to you ask me what is it even before me as a russian in the name fortune i would say if it is so compelling and interesting for a man in the philippines or brisk i must say about i'm interested too to put it mildly say alexander to cut a pole and chris hutchins authors i'll gladly put in his biography spotlight will be back to continue this interview in less than a minute stay with us then you know.

the people of the united states and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder is a regime as an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons and let there be no doubt about we know for a fact there are that there. this work is being carried out into the direction of dr david kay respected scientist and former u.n. inspector was leading the weapons search in iraq we are determined to take this apart you have a tremendous a group of dedicated american men and women involved in this with the best assets of the intelligence community and provide. david kay he is not going to be done with this for quite some time david kay. wants more time he says it could take

another six to nine months to make a definitive finding ministration is asking congress for hundreds of millions more six hundred million dollars to fund a continuing search have not yet found shiny pointy things that i would call a weapon before we can draw from conclusions we need to let the iraq survey group complete its work. we were all wrong probably in my judgment and that is most disturbing. sometimes the true patriots takes the unpopular course but helps their country over the stakes and even if they come this way at least for tonight patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels and i think these are scoundrels they have no argument now they have no defense for what they did the country is in a terrible international security situation that i think is perilous so they're attacking the patriotism of others.

welcome back to spotlight love and just a reminder that my guests on the show here today are alexander caught up cohen chris hutchins the authors of the adam and putin's biography gentleman i want to ask you the main question that i'm sure everybody wants to ask you these days what are your sources what were your sources of information about about vladimir putin well mr mr hutchens has admitted in one of his previous interviews that that the sources were so good that as early as in two thousand and five you chris knew that putin would step down as president in two thousand and eight and then would become prime minister and return to the kremlin in two thousand and twelve

now later mr hutchens also said that he had so much to tell which was not told before because people he interviewed were scared and so what information have you have you discovered what were the people that you interviewed can you tell us of the wherry lives. yes it was a very wide selection of people i learned that he was going to step down in two thousand and eight and become president again in two thousand and twelve in two thousand and six in a london square from a man who is very close to him and remains very close to him and called me a few minutes before this interview actually it was. well what i said but he has given me a lot of information which i believe came from mr putin himself but when you ask about the sources i went far and wide alexander's already told you about his trip to the philippines i went to los angeles to talk to jack nicholson about his party

going without him in general nicholson never gives a lot of years i have tried and through i even i even caught him backstage but maybe he doesn't give interviews how did you do that. next time you want to do it call me. paul mccartney for example i mean i didn't just want to talk to politicians are the didn't basically want to politicians at all or diplomats although one diplomat in england was very very interesting about tony blair's meeting with vladimir putin but paul mccartney had a most interesting meeting with him at the kremlin a meeting in which mr putin went to great lengths to to engineers who organize and during it mrs mccartney the then heather mills mccartney offended him and she found herself on the wrong end of mr mr putin's i won't say temper but he was obviously extremely irritated by it to the minute the kremlin grounds and left him there the story is told in greater detail in the book by the book gentlemen i understand that

you're advertising today you're selling the book but you claim that this book leaves no stone unturned i was and what about personal matters such things as putin's family was very sensitive about or were the size of putin's fortune these stones did you did they did you turn these stones in your book absolutely absolutely we did talking about the so-called fortune i think that anybody who would tell you that he or she knows the size of the putin's fortune obviously would be uninformed to put it mildly or obviously we left no stone unturned in uncovering all that but again i think that we can go into great detail here about all we can by the book and i would suggest the latter ok now now. talking about the friends i know i know chris that you probably will not give us the name of this

mysterious british friend of mr putin's but tell us tell us about mr putin's friends is it true that his and his closest friends are still these couple of guys from st petersburg and from the k.g.b. and these are the few people that he cause of france. no there there it's a much wider circle but it's a circle that he doesn't talk about there is for example the film director nikita mikhail cough who is very close with him goes to his house and he goes to party there which is where he met jack nicholson by the way and there is the influence of father to cone the priest at the st and skin monastery who he goes to in times of trouble an anxiety. we go into all those those names and more because it's important if we're going to tell the story about the man not just to go to politicians or diplomats or servants but the goal of the people who know him

who is whose company enjoys silvio berlusconi for example is an amazing influence on him. not political not politically just as well mainly bureau of what's happened to mr bell is going in but a lot of the things in his life putin learn from him how to even went to his tailor briscoe and he learned he learned he learned how to holiday with him. now that's interesting listen and but in this book did you did you try to dig into any interpersonal things are they like mr putin's family like why is this why costs for the last like like five years has been so trying to be be so away from from the media attention the drugs these kind of things or you were interested mainly in their own self well obviously the major focus was on the man himself but i think it's also important to point out that there are some sort of our false our

relations like obviously many many journalists many of tabloid writers make a lot out of the fact that putin is wife is not in the spotlight so to speak i think that you saw all this to us but. leaves nor mystery i think the mysteries are not where are the people i see them and i think this book is particularly interesting for the fact that of doesn't look where others are looking and i think i will probably sound like an advertising man in what i would say go buy the book and you will see it for yourself would you predict that after the day you know if you're a sure no mrs putin will be back to play through his lady again. i think absolutely yes why not. chris you said i guarantee you that you had a problem finding a publisher for this puton book and only mr carr cole helped you out why didn't the

u.k. publishers buy it well i mean i need because of the book or all you needed like the energy of mystical of course and these know how to help you writing it and then further selling it i mean how did that work with with all due respect to mr grant go it was about the book i mean there was a major british publisher that wanted the book but when they went to the chairman he said no if we write a book that offends putin we will not we will never sell another book not only in russia but in all the old soviet union satellite states. and they were afraid that it would ruin their business so all the british public is unless we produced an anodyne book the didn't reveal anything and they didn't attract putin's attention i believe this book certainly has then then they didn't want to know they were there were scared of it i was older is it coincidence that that this book is being presented. after the elections after putting returned to to.

becoming the new president elect of the russian federation. did you did you like wait until the right time has come to to market well it was actually printed before the elections took place and that obviously reflects our confidence that mr putin will be elected i think is called publish i obviously would be lying if i didn't admit that i think we wanted to take advantage of the election to promote the book i think it's no coincidence but it's just obviously a great occurrence that mr putin has been just elected. can you tell us when you were working on this book when when you coming to russia interviewing people needing people talking to people who were close to the russian president did

you have any sort of deal with putin with the crowd and through alexander or by yourself or did you were just just or just any other ordinary foreign journalist no i didn't want any influence from the kremlin i don't have in a sense of book if i had depended on dmitri pascoe of to to arrange things for me i did go and see him i did other one momentous day when i got caught in a red square parade or iesous one was late one night which is another story which is told in the book but no it was done entirely without any what would you call it official help. and another question to both of you all first of all there's that wonderful add to that i saw in the pictures are a double decker saying putin is coming well meaning the book is coming here but. it looks like like the russians are coming in minutes it's a great slogan but what kind of emotion. chris is it is that.

awakening in london today when they see putin's coming the red buses. and that was my wording but what kind of emotion i think everybody in england is everybody in britain and i hope everybody in the world is particularly interested in mr putin particularly because the events of the last few weeks you asked alexander if we would see a new mr putin a different mr putin when he returns to the presidency my feeling is that we will this is this is there is a year magine his life as president as being a year this is just the start of his summer he's more confident he knows what he can do john borghetti described him as the most dangerous man in the world he's not is the most powerful man because he would not need bullets or bombs to to take over the world if he were to cut off the gas and oil it would have a terrible effect so he knows that he's confident he doesn't have to fear the west

he has restored russia's pride and that is his big thing anyway pride i mean he is a proud man and i respect him for that i think it's a wonderful trait i was and you're so putin is coming is your word if it's not christian do you can't with it yes absolutely i believe now we have to change the other vehicles put in already medicare thank you very much thank you thank you alexandra thank you chris and good luck with your book introduced reminded that alexander koppel journalist producer through publisher and his rich colleague priest chris hutchins the author of lack of a good his biography work here in the studio that's it for now. from all of us here spotlights will be back with more first time comments all of what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and taken. aback.