news from russia and around the world this is r.t. with me thanks for joining us russia has a new prime minister dmitri medvedev who are now former cabinet before getting down to business and newly inaugurated president putin is already dishing out directions regarding changes to the country's policies all of what breaks down premie admitted that his acceptance speech. changes to the upper echelons hold russian political system also to continue with what he sees as his efforts to mull to the right political system in russia i like to meet call me a major point that he wants to to push saying that he wants to increase investment into russia's economy and increase investment from a brule as well also you saying its full membership of the w t o is

a must and something that he will push for as hard as he can doing his time in the role of prime minister and in terms of the military he wants to see a industrial military complex see making sure that russia's armed forces can remain amongst the best in the world for more reaction to the fight to meet you may get it is now the prime minister of russia i'm joined by michael the editor in chief of gigi russia thanks very much for talking to you so what is your reaction to the election of a teacher made good of his prime minister well i think has just about any observer of russian politics for the last few years i guess the proper reaction would be a complete and utter lack of surprise i think. that's been something that could have been easily predicted and especially you know yesterday's pageantry. indicated that the tandem as we know it is still very much alive or at least by the fear and says to me she may have said that one of his proudest achievements presidents was

that he believed he would like the political discourse in russia as prime minister of course he's going to be have a lot more input his input is going to be with domestic politics do you think we could see it increase and widening of the discourse in terms of local politics in russia with good of his prime minister i think so i'm not sure exactly how much credit for this i would describe to the bit of but it's undeniable that the discourse has widened. you know things have gotten much more interesting and much more volatile in a few places and. i think that focusing on municipal and local politics is the smart thing for everyone right now because a lot can be a lot of them to accomplish absolutely like a lot of thank you very much the editor in chief of g.q. russia well let me a putin is the president and he's been delivering some strategic hold is highlighting what he wants to achieve while he's in power he amongst those who have

been foreign policy decisions revolving around the proposed u.s. on time missile defense shield in eastern europe now the president has ordered the the foreign ministry in russia to address the united states it seemed demands from washington clio written commitment that they will not target russia with any of those missile sites placed in eastern europe a clue closer to home he's also said that he wants to cripple corruption in russia by forcing old bureaucrats to declare their incomes and to work to more transparency in russian politics using technology using the internet to do that of course that was something that dmitri medvedev had put in place had started to do during his time as president now as prime minister he's going to have to work very very closely with blood in me a putin if they're to be able to live up to some of the promises of what some people think hooten two point zero is the loss of key economic decisions to be made

and both prime minister dmitri medvedev and president vladimir putin going to have to work very closely to and those promises. and an example of the head of demas foreign affairs committee told us he that they need chronons international agenda is one area that will follow the course topped by treatment. i expect that there will be continue to between. foreign policy under president medvedev and the foreign policy which will be conducted by the russian. federation under president putin in the last six seven years there is a large consensus in russia on foreign policy issues unlike domestic affairs i think that russia will insist on this position on the issue and yesterday vladimir putin signed a decree in which he. stressed that.

russian foreign policy will be based on requests on the request for security guarantees from the united states and nato and those guarantees should state that the new a.b.m. system that will be established by the united states of america and nato in europe will not be directed against the russian nuclear potential however it was also stressed that russia will seek balanced and constructive relations with the united states what is important to moscow is that there are no military interventions in the countries where the reason internal conflict this trend which we have seen for instance in libya. is not acceptable to the russian federation russia would not like that in syria the military intervention that happened in libya repeats itself and as legend pretend it gets busy in his new role as

president some people have taken to the streets in moscow sharing their discontent with his return to office rise police have been deployed to despair stocks of this have been trying to hold marches against protests inauguration our correspondent has the latest for us. several groups of protesters remain on the city streets the activists have been wandering around the city center throughout the night evening and really the entire tuesday in what they call are just walks that they've been taking and sometimes from time to time gathering for unsanctioned protests rallies in different places of the center and were blocked by the police who have been also sort of following them around the city center on the off duty say that they've detained around two hundred people throughout the entire day on tuesday several opposition leaders have also been detained the latest one was. the leader of the

left front movement also a blogger alexina wiley and socialite and t.v. host who was released shortly after she was detained and right after she was released she did decided to take part in another unsanctioned protest rallies but when we talk about the demands of the opposition this is a really complicated question since the opposition is really diverse throughout these five months but they still haven't been able to establish one leader and establish concrete and well specific constructive demands since the movement itself consists of various and different movements and organizations which often don't share the same political views actually the only thing that unites them is the demand for the new elections and that they don't want to see president vladimir putin as the head of russia the protest movement had really strong momentum in the

beginning when it started in december following the parliamentary election and amid accusations of ballot fraud then we saw tens of thousands of people taking to the streets for peaceful protest rallies the figures we're talking about now are hundreds of people who are attending the unsanctioned. and also the character of these rallies seems to have changed since lead us towards paul just rally on may sixth showed us that besides the peaceful middle class which she came to the previous rallies there are also. some radical activist who often. leads to violence and clashes with the police like it happened on the me when there were injuries of course deals and injuries on both sides. washington says is disturbed by police action during protests and has concerns about human rights issues in russia but america is another position to criticize after its own

nationwide violent crime down on the occupy wall street movement as eric draitser political analyst from the imperative. it's just another example of the double standard of the authorities here in the united states anything that falls in line with the political line that they want to put out there of course they will support it they will talk about election fraud in russia despite the fact that there were something like two hundred fifty thousand election monitors throughout the country an election that was more democratic and more open than anything we have here in the united states so again it's you don't want to read too much into what the u.s. authorities have to say simply because they have no legitimate ground to stand on the putin government is willing to allow dissent it's willing to allow of the least of the people in so far as that voice is able to follow the law here in the united states we've seen a level of police violence related to occupy wall street that is in fact i would argue much higher and to a much more extreme degree than what is being what is being seen on the streets of

moscow and elsewhere in russia. and i think he's the u.n. envoy to syria warns that his peace plan in the is the last chance for the country to avoid civil war has all psyches damascus a failing to even once the road not saying civilians are still coming on to the time he's going to to count has details of c. reza response. well purred the syrian ambassador to the united nations say that a number of regional arab powers are sponsoring terror in syria to undermine kofi annan. he said the syrian government remains committed to the plan but it faces a surge of terrorist attacks including. the message it shows in the d.v.d. and said it has the confessions of dozens of individuals involved in terrorist activities upon the order of thirty countries here's what he said these terrorists did not come into syria. by using. they

came into syria through the syrian borders with the neighboring countries so it's not a secret anymore who is behind these groups the. who are giving orders and try to work through these terrorist. live. he also accused turkey of harboring armed groups which are infiltrating syria committing crimes and returning back to turkey the syrian ambassador said what also undermines kofi annan his plan is the inflow of arms into syria now both the syrian ambassador to the u.n. and even the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. noted that there has been a decrease of violence in syria but the international envoy kofi annan said there is still a profound concern that syria is descending into full on civil war up to one hundred international observers are already working there the only said the number will reach three hundred by the end of the month so there's going to be more eyes

on the ground as of now he said and i'm going to i'm going to quote here there have been a worrying episodes of violence by the government but we have also seen attacks against government forces troops and installations it's very interesting how the u.s. ambassador susan rice responded to the claims made by the syrian ambassador she brushed off the question about terrorists and then she went on talking about those who took up arms stepped down to fight for their rights a very dubious question arises here is it an attempt to justify violence on one side while. the other being exclusively the syrian government susan rice confirmed it in a way with her latest statement by putting all responsibility in the hands of the syrian government and never not once mentioning the armed groups in the opposition with this regard and that despite the fact that the u.s. has accepted kofi annan plan which addresses all sides of the conflict not just the syrian government. and the inside syria we're now joined live from new

york by dr yunus sadly huber such school at columbia university dr yunus of the you welcome to the program so the syrian ambassador to the u.n. claims that foreign powers are into minding the un back plan by sending in armed groups and weapons but if that were true surely it couldn't be enough to plunge the country into civil war was coffee and. well we have to send a stand that the syrian revolts the revolution depends how we want to call it has started as a grassroots movement but has evolved into something completely different it's no longer an issue of democracy or human rights or accused by the government from the standpoint of view of some gulf countries mostly say saudi arabia and qatar who wants at actually first of all to want to push back the prestigious money edge of many of iran and the shia. movement in the region and they want to

basically stop syria or break that alliance between syria and and iran and the same thing. has said it very clearly the emir of qatar so clear that he wanted to arm and fund the opposition he basically sees this revolt only as an armed rebellion so there is no no doubt that these countries are funding and arming the rebels there who. they security council is played now some calling for intervention others supporting coffee announce a peace plan which promises to be most effective for the people of syria from your point and from my point of view i think the best would be to follow the. plan to the end give it a chance this is the best plan we can have we have seen what military intervention and i am rebellion in those two states we see what happens in libya we just saw the attack today on the building where the prime minister was i think even in

a lot of syrians understand the scene was the start of the as a genuine popular revolt has evolved and something that there could be on control anymore and even after solution in syria is all and we're divided story is divided is lacks credibility we see every single week a new development that tarnishes more and more the image of this really i think the best way to solve this is to give peace a chance and give politics a chance but at the same time the government should a lot of. the civilian or peaceful protests and peaceful demonstration so they can. take away illegitimacy from those who are using guns to voice their dissent washington has placed responsibility for the violence early on asimov's regime and doesn't mention the opposition surely this is finally the commitment from all sides in the conflict doesn't it because i mean what do we expect from

certain countries when it comes to syria you know i hate to defend the government of syria we. know syria well i've been there many times i know how harsh the government is and i know how difficult the for the people to to be under such a government but at the same time you have to be fair i think that the violence comes from both sides but in the case of the speech splat. it's been. proposed by coffee and i think the government is generally trying to achieve it because it is in its interests to solve this by loans as soon as possible but on the other hand the rebel groups first of all you don't have any unity different groups are fighting a difference of different wars if you want you have different leaders we don't have one single command so if bashar al assad say's to its troops inside because there is a state system there but who is going to say it is rebel groups to start if one group

stops maybe two others one stop and we just heard yesterday that there are information saying that some groups are even fighting between themselves for control or because they belong to different factions so it's unfair to say that it's only a violence committed by the by the government there violence from both sides yes doctor gave you say you backed a year back the u.n. peace plan and according to the united nations is expected to deploy and not three hundred independent observers by the end of may well that help to ease the situation. well of course no guarantees this is going to take some time but there finitely already those sixty that are on the ground whatever they are posted even two or three observers we can already see that there is that these collation of violence and those observers have said it they've said it publicly and even koffi annan said it so it's already

a good sign there is still violence but it's nowhere close to the violence we have noticed during the last year and recent months so there is some good hope and good signs that this could work so we need more involvement by the u.n. more observers and maybe with these new elections if these elections are perceived as genuine as france parents are bringing new faces into the polity of syria maybe this could be a way to build this lack in trust between the people and the government dr yunus every year research scholar at columbia university of thank you very much indeed for sharing your thoughts. now the office of libya's interim prime minister has been attacked by gunmen in tripoli leaving at least two security officers dead and several others injured they militia men surrounded the building demanding to be paid for the role they played in last year's uprising against moammar gadhafi the premier wasn't present however when the shooting happened and are you or me as a kiwi at the pan-african newswire told us earlier that the security problems the

currently been government is facing god might pave the way to foreign intervention . there is a lot of our problems that exist are wanted the national transitional council inside of libya they were put in power socially by the pentagon and nato are they have not been for the air power the naval blockade the intelligence surely on the part of the united states government and the various so european governments there's no way to see could have defeated the libyan army or last year so these are of the dilemmas that the other government is facing right now so it actually is creating a situation where there will be a rationale for possible u.s. or nato or direct military intervention on the ground in order to poorly or stabilize the situation in the country. and of course there's always

a lot more in store for you in our website r.t. dot com including this year a claims that the man hired by al qaeda to board a u.s. airliner wearing an underwear bomber was a double agent the full story is waiting for you online. and also get a preview of moscow's massive victory day parade go to our web site and see dot com to see footage of the final grand rehearsal in the heart of the that's hot. i'll bring you the headlines again in about ten minutes time and up next one of president. was to order the foreign military to take. that america's missile defense shield in europe is not a threat to russia in

a few moments we'll talk to nato deputy separate trying to go on the new trial called gratian between moscow and. alexander vershbow deputy secretary general great to have you with us sir good to be here so last night was something you probably never heard before. is greatly concerned about nato anti-missile defense system will be able to shoot down its nuclear missiles that's upsetting the balance in the region but the negotiation on this topic has started two years ago in two thousand and ten why do you think that

the united states still is and haven't been able to personally rochelle's the opposite well it's not something that is very satisfying and we want to continue to work on this dialogue with russia but it is a serious difference of opinion that we have to overcome because it's really about the facts about the science about the capabilities of the system that nato is developing with the strong contribution from the united states we remain convinced that there is no danger to the russian strategic nuclear force not. today not ten years from now and that the russian analysis is based on a series of worst case to some sions and unrealistic assumptions that creates an image of a threat which really doesn't exist but is worried that maybe in five six seven years time the european anti missile defense system will be able to shoot down for

example specifically its concern about the modifications of the s m three interceptor that can travel fast enough to actually shoot down russia's ansel's and sent a key issue it's a very technical issue but it's a very fundamental issue is that in a nato system can't fire. today system in the system we might have ten years from now it cannot fire until they were told the i.c.b.m. that it's targeting has finished its powered flight until the engine burns out and only then is it going in a ballistic trajectory by the time that happens if this we're talking about a russian system it will be too far to the north nato will it might fire but it will be chasing the tail that missile all the way to crashes into the arctic sea in that case why can't america or nato russia legally pounding guarantees that's a complicated question relating in part to politics and in part to the nature of the problem the cooperation itself we think is the best guarantees come

inside the structure participate in the planning learn more about the system we could agree to exchange information about what we're going to have not just tomorrow but five years from now ten years from now there's lots of ways to increase predictability which is really what russia is looking for a guarantee. as we saw with the treaty. just a piece of paper can be torn up and abandoned just took six months for president george w. bush to abandon the a.b.m. treaty president obama when he sought the ratification of the new start treaty made some very specific commitments to the senate to get that treaty through he said that the united states will accept no limits on its ballistic missile capabilities i know president veggie have had to make similar deals to get it through the duma. but political leaders need to. understand that no one has the ability to override the will of their of their parliaments i understand but in this case in

this particular case america needs this defense system much more than russia because it's. it's a topic of concern for russia so it's the only thing that's coming in the way of sealing the deal is the legal legal guarantee why not just give it because of the commitments that have been made it would be rejected by our senator we're in a worse situation so i just don't think that's the answer i think political guarantees transparency predictability. and the benefits that come from cooperation. in which nato would be helping russia protect its territory just as much as russia would be helping nato i think all that leads to the kind of confidence that. both necessary and sufficient to move forward well from what we're told they say european missile defense system is really directed against the iranian threat and it will be fully operational in two thousand and eighteen there are numerous ways right now to contain iran u.s.

is building bases around it israel has kept abilities international sanctions are in place it really doesn't look like in the nearest future for another five six years iran will be representing a real threat to nato so why so what is the purpose of this whole european anti-missile system if iran is contained well there's a i think a good judgment debate that we could have maybe if we had more time about can iran a regime that has a radical ideology that has pledged to wipe country not far from its borders off the map whether it could really be contained but yes the threat today is not as bad as we think it will be five ten years ago or ten ten years from now so we do have time to work this out right now the threat is concentrated mainly in the southeastern part of europe and southern part of russia if you look at the circles on the map. but we've also seen iran conduct tests of a new generation missiles that are even longer range that can begin to threaten central europe by the end of the decade will be threatening northern europe will

they actually attack. who knows from the russian perspective the whole missile defense is break or make as far as they do as far as nature relations go present advance of has stated more than one step at a new arms race could be in place if the two sides don't come to the agreement but is it really as important to nato as it is to russia i would hope that at the end of the day it would be important to both parties because we're talking about our security at the same time we take the russian concerns very seriously so we have to address the. it's about strategic stability i think we can then i think we can really be thinking about nato russia relations in a totally new way we're still not yet free of the hostility and the suspicion of the cold war and it's our mutual obligation to try to work together to overcome. deputy secretary thank you very much listen to pleasure.

fifty two meters. more than eight thousand tons. skin thickness thirty centimeters. the guinness record. commemorating the battle of stalingrad. the motherland close an arcade.

welcome back to see the headlines. the russian parliament has a well stay appointment up to me that of as prime minister will now form a new government while the newly inaugurated president putin has a record to get nothing out his mapping out rather his own vision for the country's future. and protests against putin's return to power continue into the night and sent. with around two hundred activists detained over the day meanwhile some on that side of the open the movement is losing momentum with no coherent leadership or. to an end which is to. ask this for the ongoing bloodshed warning that the country could plunge into civil war meanwhile they see right now possible some gulf states are in demining the u.n. mission by sending in all the units.