but. what does this choice mean for the relations between russia and germany and between russia and europe in general europe which is now in the grip of an economic turmoil who ask this and other questions to a prominent expert and international relations in germany. blood into putin's travel plans have received a lot of media attention lately after. meeting in america and went to. germany. contra to visit. president germany has long been brushed. and one of the biggest markets last year russia germany is worth a record. countries are also working together. which would deliver russia. its first line was launched.

welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us well first of all how was it seen here in germany that mr putin chose as his first destination in europe first foreign nation outside the space. schools of thought in germany concern and russia one is very into the ethic about russia this is a business community and the enthusiastically of course welcomed mr putin here in germany and they understand that through mr putin they can do business with russia and as long as he's in power they will face stability on the russian market and they simply see no alternative to him and can't imagine any real alternative for him in the next six years there's another through school of thought that of i would say moralists. liberals here in germany who

would rather like to conduct policy oriented and focused solely on values towards russia and to they think that russia is departing from democracy they think that russia is turning towards tele tarion system and they didn't welcome pushing it all so so so the reaction was mixed but german chancellor angela merkel she pressed putin to allow democratic diversity ike want to develop in russia how serious is this issue on democracy in miracles policy towards putin had it's very difficult to understand. german see value oriented policy viz every reality politic which is also always traditional in germany germany's eastern policy mrs america said. two or three weeks ago. that crane is a dictatorship she very much criticized which she also very much criticized the

question and also as a dictator i think that in the past couple of days she understood that she controls the east. and while criticizing marian the core rich for having you let you much and can present she had to balance somehow this kind of harsh criticism was more a real politic approach towards russia because the business in germany has very strong interests in the east and if america would concentrate only on the value or the policy only criticizing russia for not being democratic then business would feel it on the russian markets and also the human to human contacts will suffer so i think she she says she's ok in that she's trying to do both when she talks about values shift or sect sense that it signals to her own people here in germany but nevertheless she understands that the riyadh political approach is very important towards a complicated but

a very important partner russia there was an article in sheffield i think in germany winning about a new ice age in the coming up in the russian hegemony relations then it was followed by a couple of publications in russia and the please the russian expert expert committee started talking about problems that may happen in russian german relations because they said merkel liked megadeth as a partner more than she likes putin is it true or is that speculation and well it's . true speculation because you could witness is that not only mrs america but the of the west favorite video clearly over putin because of send the right messages to the west and individually peer to be more western like more democratic more liberal than the putin who is in many ways connected was was

a traditional authoritarian policy in russia isn't putting more real politik that have been fed i would say made a video for the president was also very much how politics but i wouldn't put too much weight and. who or what was formally saying about me bit of yes she liked him a little bit more than but she's real politik enough they are for the titian enough to understand that innocent russia russia is not put in germany for the next decades centuries need school till ations was russia we can't build a europe was old russia so she has also to deal with putin and i think she will do it at this for the next year until the german elections we don't know who will be german chancellor after next september did this visits did the fact that the new president started his relations with the world from germany did it somehow. add to systems some more understanding when proven tough and the standing between

the two capitals. i mean. of course in this for years had a very good relationship with america and a lot of things especially in the sphere of business person but i would also say in the context between elites about civil societies mehmood forward. i could have been for example the people dialogue meeting every year who's developing it to have very interesting vehicle of connection between two nations to states if you want and to elites but don't forget that putin this long enough in power and mrs america was before becoming chancellor of germany as the leader of the opposition party in the german bund start for many years so she knows putin very well or more or less well since he became russian president and she has a working relationship with him from all the european leaders now and you see the the french president has gone tony blair has gone in britain obama is relatively

new bush was leading america the first decade of the century mrs merkel remains of the old veteran where the coming events. of course are very responsible in in what she's doing for the west now she is the ultimate leader of europe the secret about this and she feels more and more for it was each year when she's in power that kind of responsibility and that means that she also feels a lot of responsibility to what's russia and of course even if she maybe does like fortune because of his biography nevertheless i think she will do good work with him and by the way i watched this press conference during their visit and i detected some positive chester between for those two leaders let's hear more on this now from. this report from the heart of germany. early in the school have gone very much dependent on each other trade between the two kinds.

this has been ruled will bounce in poor it is chilling it remains russia's main mediator in this dialogue with the west one of the reporters first official presidential visit was to berlin despite all that oh it's a first place stay focused in. a country. that might mean spreading over russia's relations with the home of the although a recent joint press conference between the respective leaders in berlin was mostly about mutual understanding on the show of syria he was not devoid of a fly and the german chancellor is raising the issue of democracy in russia from my notes i made it clear on my part that we have every interest in democratic diversity in russia been able to develop further because my experience is it is only that way that a truly robust civil society can rise which supports the development of the country

. and that was just one of the mutual reproaches in russia's dialogue with europe that same day and a news conference in paris it was my dream or putin's turn to criticise the west he spoke of russia's need for guarantees and plans for a european missile defense shield an issue which has always disturbed russia. in the past we've often been promised it wouldn't expand then we were promised that nato wouldn't put military hardware near russia but we've seen it expand and it's base and spread now we need guarantees usually the. another stumbling block in russia's relations with the e.u. is the stalled negotiations over creating a more user friendly visa regime the problem was discussed at length at the recent russia e.u. summit in st petersburg russia stance on the syrian crisis remains one more point of disagreement as the country has been happily criticised by some of its european

partners for its rejection. military intervention in syria. well one of the fields of disagreements between russia and europe in general most of germany one of europe's leaders is of course syria did the rising tensions in syria what's going on this country the attitude because europe thinks that russia is backing and the syrian leader russia is saying that europe is trying to interfere so do you think there can be a compromise between russia and the west in the middle east policy the compromised here is not on syria syria is secondary and the whole thing a power game which which is being. which is developing in the near east and where europe russia and that it states is very much involved i would say the big question is here about the future world order and here of course the germans don't understand the russian position they think that russia is backing the

syrian leader what is from my point of view not true russia. is not backing. out and syria is not such a big friend of russia what is true is that it's to be understood in the studio here in the west that russia does not want to help the west to create new would you let a world order where nato would act as a policeman that can leave yesterday and tomorrow in syria because nato or nato states decides who is civilian and who is a good guy here in the world in the world politics and this is what russia wants to prevent and here russia is very close to connect of course with china china has the same interest to create the multipolar world where there will be many centers of power and where there will be no single made center which would make decisions to punish and who not. miss misbehaves in world affairs you know if if i killed it.

rightly my impression is that the europe and germany as one is not also very very much interested in becoming a policeman anywhere including the middle east because that they are if it's a uni polar world is going to be the united states and not nato. the problem only is that we're live in the in a new world concerning information strategies information communications the role of the media has grown. very extensively in the past couple of years and those pictures which are being produced by the western media is are being very becoming guidelines for petitions what i want to say that if you see more and more pictures of what is happening in syria as this massacre which took place there a couple of weeks ago you can close your eyes as a petition because of the societies your elites demand that you do something with

that because people don't don't want to see it they think that this is a criminal act that this is a genocide what is happening in syria as a genocide which from the point of view of the west what's happening in libya and they force the politicians to react if the politicians don't react they loose or sort of the look simple little sympathies here and also power so in a certain way this is a very complicated game between media images which are being created the politicians have to react says i mean sound is our prominent political spotlight we'll be back to take a short break so stay with us. you

know sometimes you see a story and it seems. 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. time heart was a big check. if you're following up on my bill. are sort of a throwback and archaic part of. it goes back to a time when people would like out of their forces in the wild west and pick up the speech it's important to mention the sheriff for the prosecution. when they go out there he comes when. they have to poke at nothing.

we're chasing killers if you gotta keep that in mind there's a two million dollar bill. we're not superheroes you can be killed to you know they shoot me in the head i'm going to die. once you've hunted and you and i never go back to us no anything else. the world the. technology innovation all the lives developments from around russia we've got the future earth covered. welcome back to spotlight i'm al gore knob and my guest on the show today is alex on the ground a prominent german political analyst we're talking about the recent recent puts his visit to germany and also about the first moves in the foreign policy of the newly

elected russian president mr out there you just mentioned the first steps and the reaction to the first steps i missed wouldn't after his visit to berlin he came back to moscow and he met with the europeans in st petersburg rather well. he was insisting that europe should abolish visas for russians and in moscow it was seen as the main international go for this. for this term of office do you believe this will happen. look into the our hearts and then they will detect that putin made the proposal of abolished spec in two thousand to ten years ago has been in his agenda of his first term and of his second term and it was. a presidency which also was devoted to abolishing of visas between the european union and russia but we know that there are problems. many

technical problems in this regard. which some have to be solved i think it's a nonsense and i said it of many occasions before that representatives of the let in american countries of course united states canadians israelis can travel to europe without results even some representatives of northern african countries school could go with obvious us to france or spain but russians are koreans and belarusian need visas i think that situation must change and my guess is that until the soccer championship in russia in eighteen. this issue will be solved. german ex foreign minister your fish said recently that merkel leads europe to ruin with her austerity measures well at how do these measures serve her popularity do you think that there is a probability that miracle will follow sarkozy and berlusconi. we are now in

a very interesting moment when this austerity policy which was conducted and developed by mrs america and the conservative french president sarkozy may change that maybe another compromise everything looks like a compromise where there are two measures that will remain in place but will be mixed with some kind of other policies of supporting grows in europe that includes more government changing maybe maybe even more money printing we are still in a very deep crisis and the solution is now that. when you see we are in a clearly germany earlier lives the u.n. germany of course germany is also in the crisis of can't avoid there's a german is in a crisis but what should we say about greece and spain so there could be. the greeks are somewhere else the burden of the crisis but europe is in the cries of but europe is not falling apart and they are scenarios of what might happen i mean

one of the scenarios which is widely discussed in europe is a change of the euro zone i mean greece will leave the euro zone but poland will become a member of this euro zone a stone member of this or a zone sweden will enter the results will no catastrophe i think will happen the problem is that if the aura zone will change and greece will leave and the south some countries will also maybe have problems and staying in the aura zones like italy spain and portugal we will deal with a different europe we are you talking about greece leaving the euro zone is something normal but many other people including financial risk would say this is cast this is this is the end of the euro well there are already troubles and i and the markets today you know you don't see it as a comparative i mean not you personally but german the germany in general greece makes two percent of the european economy. and greece will not suffer

badly if they go out of the euro of the depths which. they accumulated. will be forgiven anyway this was the main reason why we kept greece in the aura zone for the past two three years or so probably some experts were right in saying the degree was had to morrow you earlier no big deal if after greece other countries will follow it will be a big deal if even conservative david cameron the british prime minister called the e.u. governments to create a budget union in order to save the euro would germany approve such a decision because they will have to to pay the biggest sure thank you for the advice mr cameron and by yourself are almost leaving the european union because you don't want to do anything with with this sort of problems. which which we have. but. this is the way this is the way how the german politicians and german sallied see it more europe better than less europe because it will stop in the process of

building of a common european states. for the danger is that we will fall back into the national states in europe because europe will not bind countries together and there who are wholly idea of europe will suffer and we are in a very decisive moment in the in the next months where politicians have to take right decisions i see in other decisive moments and in european politics today because the relations between germany and france are or have a very strained you know better than me and they they were never easy but the two countries for five of the last decade they were the main driving force behind the european union now when when merkel lost sara because he as a closest ally do you think new problems may occur here between germany and france if you argue politically then you can say that yes there is a danger that france will become the leader of the so-called south against the.

austerity policy of mrs america in the north of europe but at the same time in every normal thinking european will face of the german french mortar or the german french allies alliance is the key alliance for europe and if this breaks apart then the whole european idea will be that the german french motor and the german french alliance and corporation it's very important and if you look back to the the surpassed even twenty years you always have seen even attempts even by the french to say that if things will go bat let's start to create a common a common state together those germans in order to safe europe what i would argue is that in germany and in france is a dia of keeping this europe as it is even strength and it's this is key it's still with out of turn a tiff and it will stay for a couple of time is there such

a thing as euro skepticism i mean as a serious thing in germany is there sort of a year for the business market for example i don't protect it in germany because the germans so far have won from the ordo because germany is producing something here on its territory. other than other countries in europe who do not do this and germany can sell its products on a much larger interior european market so a lot of people benefit from this and look at the numbers in germany yes i told you before we are in a crisis we are in a crisis because the middle class is suffering from too many taxations from all this money which it has to pay for everything but on the same time we don't have a mess and employment like in spain or in italy or in poor to go in greece we have some perspective on the global markets there is we have we don't have a radical party like in greece or and some other countries which could be elected

to the top of germany. there is more stability in the than elsewhere in germany and this might be a very good also sign for europe that there is still a good chance then the worst will be hopefully soon over what about the nationalistic problem i mean as we saw as the recent russian can been in france has shown us. politics is becoming pretty and emetic in europe and this is worrying for many people do you have signs of that in germany is that what we know anti semitic i disagree i mean this is this is not what i see but. muslim. say for a nurse. other. it's a key problem maybe in countries where you have mass unemployment where people are losing any kind of perspective for what to do how to live in future but not in germany because i said there's not no unimproved no muslims look look at our

elections we have elections every year in on the federal level every four year but we have elections regularly lections in. and of the communes of the criminal level and the lender and you don't see any radical party coming up lately with more stability than elsewhere thank you thank you very much mr jester the man to the my guest on the show today was alexander rock prominent german political analyst and that's it for now from the spotlight will be back with more first hand comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take. france

will ask the u.n. to open up syria's skies for western bombers and another broadside asteroids regime but our creators number two endorses the rebellion. a sinister walk in the woods with an infuriated general opposition journalist claims led to a showdown with russia's top investigator over an article accusing him of my feelings. and gyptian relief over the end of the year emergency rule is short lived as authorities again allow the army to detain civilians the head of the presidential election runoff with the country's women who fear the worst. costing law from moscow this is out. france could ask the united nations to allow a no fly zone over syria the country's foreign minister also says he hopes the u.n.

will authorize the use of force to bring about peace and within syria to receive the blessing of al qaeda second in command of libya he was the u.s. says it was killed in a pakistan drone strike shows him calling on this list worldwide to go to syria and join the uprising against president are set for national reports it's further evidence that extremists might be taking advantage of the country's civil war. this video is a clear indicator that in the conflict here in syria you kind global terrorist organization is taken solid and supporting those who are fighting against president bashar al assad and they extended their presence in the country it's not the first message of its kind earlier in february we heard al qaida is leader calling on all muslims to support the syrian rebels president assad has been blaming militant groups and international terrorists for violence of his country since the beginning of the uprising here in syria last march but it took a year for the.