a leading human rights activist one of the chief figures in the country's uprising it happened just days before his interview with julian assange airs on our t.v. you can watch the controversial show here on tuesday. well now that we're back in russia's top job puts two authors who written all his years in power so far under the spotlight. hello again or welcome to spotlight the interview shall partake i mildly love and today my guests are chris hutchens and alex i'm going to cut out the cup since his

appearance on the political arena twelve years ago led him or porter has always been in the spotlight of public attached to his play the ad lines and the front pages of numerous periodicals and dozens of books have been written about people are mostly interested in his political career course but what about his personality to read book about a lot of it put me as a person not a politician was published research the authors of the two people who claim they finally got an answer to the question of who is live who are my guests on the show russian journalist and producer alex alex caught up and his english colleague chris hutchins who is joining us via satellite link provided. 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 rep ed the prime minister acting president president elect he made it in less than

a year putin's 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 cheney really been approved often in russia during his four years as prime minister who didn't preserve his popularity with the public on with his tough guy image however my situation changed in the lead up to this year's presidential election the country witnessed the biggest antigovernment rallies since the time of yeltsin the political turbulence did not prevent looting from clinching his presidential term in one with real action articles putin this grant the awakening to russian civil society as

a rich event of easy. a by product of the economic stability he brought about. how gentlemen welcome to the show how xander hello crescent about you thank you both very much for being with us on the show first of all after after twelve years that putin has has been doing his best to keep his personality an 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 rounder 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 turley 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. he is yes he deserves a book and it took a lot of digging and 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 corrupt are you are a journalist or producer who's 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 pressure 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 the yuki despite the rhetoric well our one may refer to this as a referee or somebody else couldn't view it that we simply i think perceive it is part of the russian character i mean british people or

british rusa file at least the nor the russians i'm motional and the love 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 rhetorics in our kitchens so i think that people in britain will see sort of beyond that and these certainly wants 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 that masks this this is what i think you're the best to do that what can you tell us about about food and this 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 is it just a way to mobilize the russians. i don't think is anti western i don't he's anti

anything really i just think he's interested as you quite rightly say and 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 that 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 there were eight that there was how the school system worked ok gentleman what what

the russians are all in the english well there at 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 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 you are 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. or through 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 or three you're the publisher but you're also the 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 my 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 western see be reared we cooperated in this book and and we grew to be co-authors and i just obviously don't want to rain on christmas parade but. that is clear in the

subtitle of the board with alexander corrupt go but obviously i'm quite proud to have we 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 you 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 i mean the other thing is religion yet. he didn't really. have only 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 which he won't approve of simply not because

they're 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 amir putin never wanted the cloak of secrecy to be taken away from him i do believe i do believe that mr carmichael of this book is it going to become a part of mr putin's apology. our apology for what it is that i think i think the english queen used to say or it is believed that she used to say that she never apologizes and i think perhaps if the queen doesn't i think we've put in should ok in this book you say putin is the most interesting man the most interesting politician on the world stage today could you specify what what you want it sounds and what's so interesting for you a russian out about your because the 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 so i when you were out i was talking to a filipino man who named long time ago still in the late soviet union these he named his school football team sport nick after he did that to coca-cola truck arrived with a portable movie screen showing the horrors of the sort of your life but it's another story so i asked him what russian the words does he know obviously apart from sputnik and he said spy sieber and the third one was put him i say know the word and the fourth word is chelsea. you know what they don't know he also in the philippines about you know so i've i will sort of ask you after you ask me what is it in for me as a russian in the name porter and i would say if it is so compelling and interesting

for a man in the philippines or brisket i must say that i am interested too to put it mildly say alexander caught up hell and chris hutchins authors of collaborate with biography spotlight will be back to continue this interview in less than a minute stay with them though.

download the official ante up location. i pod touch from the i.q. jumps to. life on the good. video on demand tease my old car. and our essence feeds now in the palm of your. machine on the dot com thing.

welcome back to spotlight i'm old enough and just a reminder that my guests on the show here today are alexander to come up oh and chris hutchins the authors are adamant wooden's biography jim and i want to ask you well the main question that i'm sure everybody wants to ask you these days what are your sources what were your sources oh and. from ation about about vladimir putin well mr mr hutchinson 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 hutchings also said that he had so much to tell which was not told

before because people he interviewed worse care 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 which you toward me. 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 imposing general nicholson never gives a lot of years i have tried and through i even i even caught him backstage in

wimbledon but 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 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 macartney 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 middle of the kremlin grounds and left him there the story is told in greater detail in the book by the book gentleman 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 hugo shin 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 that or we can buy the book and i would suggest the letter ok now and 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 street and skin monastery who 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 to but a lot of the things in his life putin learn from him how to even went to his tailor for his clothes 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 look like mr putin's family like why this is 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 or 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 faults are relations like obviously a mania 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 the answer is so obvious to us that. it leaves no mystery i think the mysteries are not where other people i see them and i think this book is particularly interesting for the fact of 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 of your ration and mrs putin will be back to play first lady again i think absolutely yes why not. chris you said i guarantee you that you had a problem finding a publisher for this putin book and only mr karp call helped you out why didn't the u.k. publishers buy it what i mean anything because of the book or all you needed like

the energy of mystical of coal and these know how to help you're writing it and then further selling it i mean how did that work with with all due respect to mr crocker 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 put that which is unless we produce 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 alexander is it mere coincidence that that this book is being presented. after the elections after putin returned it 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 for. place that obviously reflects our confidence that mr putin will be elected i think is a call publisher 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 it great occurrence that mr putin has been just elected was heard and. then you tell us when you were working on this book when will you come into russia interviewing people needing people talking to people who are close to the russian president that you have any sort of deal with putin with the crowd in 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 believe in a sense of book if i had depended on dimitri peskov 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 oreo's of whom were 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 two to both of you all first of all there's that wonderful ad that i saw in the pictures around 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 it. awakening in london today when they see putin's coming under red buses. and that

was my wording but what kind of emotion i think everybody in england is pretty 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 would have cut off the gas and the 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 out there so putin is coming is your word if it's not chris's do you come up with a yes absolutely we have to change the. thank you very much thank you thank you alexander thank you chris and good luck with your book thanks for that alexander the journalist producer third publisher and his colleague chris christie. the author of his biography work here in the studio that's it for now from all of us here spotlights we'll be back with more first time comments on what's going on outside until then r.t. and take a. good

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back to the kremlin bloody middleton becomes the first russian president to step in for a third term as he's inaugurated during a lavish ceremony. at the celebrations in our shoes in new measures to make the government more transparent and interactive. francoise learn who wins the french presidency as he promises growth instead of austerity while nicolas sarkozy falls under the weight of france's mounting debt. foreign arrests a leading human rights activist just days before his interview with julian assange airs on our t.v. you can watch the controversial show here on tuesday.