the austrian partner of over russia's gas is now discussing. another leg of. his dream construction which we believe this project to be. for providing gas supplies for the e.u. you know actually i guess permanent signed. which will be an important step toward implementing things so the south stream project. will continue to go to. discussing economic and trade issues so during my meeting with mr chancellor today as well as doing my meeting with the group interests of the austrian business community where we have a lot of. tradition we have robust cooperation with austria in the area of culture today we discuss our opinions and the future prospects for that of course to get to

with mr president fischer we've also discussed international issues which my colleague has just brought up including the dramatic events in ukraine with our opinions that may be in line with each other on some issues and we differ on others but one thing we. agree on is that we need not only to talk about the violence in ukraine but actually making that happen. unfortunately in four months that i've just received and you go to the every port just now that there is fighting. unfolding right now in the town of slavyansk. has been a landed there and there is there have already been casualties which of course is bad news. we. will definitely.

intention on the part of the korean government and president. to get some results in ending the violence and i agree with mr president let's see that's a long standing still is not a lot. not only be speaking about which is far. about. arrangements. the warring parties. finally i would like to think mr president. your government of austria for their hospitality like i said i will have another meeting with the austrian chancellor but. what we have agreed on today already. and i hope it will contribute to resolving some of the by difficult situation such as the one ukraine or that you think movement mr president for sharing his opinions

with us it definitely will keep in mind. charting our policies as for. human rights which we have indeed discussed with my counterparts and i would like to tell you that despite certain cliches that we see being applied to russia problem because the way my problem. such is the cliches pretty ending to the so-called issue of sexual minorities i would like to remind you that your country from many other countries russia does not accept criminal prosecution for nontraditional sexual orientation for being homosexual issue does not mean it's a criminal prosecution for that whereas quite a few countries that are even consider themselves democratic they still maintain the. yes literally russia does not practice death penalty capital

punishment you know country practice but i do agree we need to improve our legislation over time and i hope you will stay in touch. for this and other issues with mr president thank you very much. colleagues are happy and welcome to ask their questions mr prefer or. really until the vision i have a question to both presidents mr putin the european union has been trying to. do just its policies on ukraine saying changed. by urging russia to change its policies do you consider ostrich should be your ally in your fight for ukraine and my other question is addressed as mr president fischer

you have mentioned some differences in opinion over ukraine what. ukraine do you expect after this. i believe has a very balanced in objective. in its assessment of the situation in ukraine. and we've seen practical proposals and some very realistic expectations as to how this conflict may unfold in the future. like i said i agree with mr president when he says that seven days is not enough for a cease fire in ukraine and we were. informed. told president fischer that we've also shared this opinion with president poroshenko. we've also told them that. announcing

a ceasefire is not enough you need to get. going you need to get off the ground. but if you if you are the warring parties that they need to disarm in seven days but you don't make a single attempt to come to terms with your opponents in eastern ukraine then you will have no results and the ceasefire will bring new fruit but we see that some substantial negotiation has started so that the people in each new queen would see how their legislative how their legitimate interests will be observed and then we will see the prospects for peace in ukraine that is the key but that i would like to make as regards the. asian i'm happy to say that yesterday was the first direct meeting between the representatives of eastern

ukraine that is then us. and the ukrainian government yesterday it was the first time they actually said down to bargaining table they did not arrive at any significant arrangements yet but what's most important is that has finally started that's a very positive development. austria's. conflict . is primarily. aimed at finding a peaceful peaceable solution for the crisis in ukraine. bring it into. some constructive stage of negotiations. stand have. could be make. the most important thing is for russia and ukraine to have dialogue on all their relevant

levels and mr president mr putin has just rita. secondly austria's the foreign policies. are aimed at one objective of. all the stakeholders have a greed to pursue and that is prolonging this cease fire off so that we would have enough time to arrive at some feasible results in thirty or thirty objective is to prevent the shipment of armaments into ukraine and to prevent. the infiltration of individuals in to the crisis here in the crisis serious armed individuals who pursue their own goals in this conflict. if we manage to achieve all those three objectives then we will have sufficient hope that we'll be able. to achieve objectives number four five and so on

was before and of course the e.u. must be realistic as well in the. we need the ukrainian government to engage in negotiation with the separatists in eastern ukraine extend a hand to them and start discussing some practical issues such as language status culture and so on. as far as i know such policies on the part of the government would stand a chance next question please. but if you're not i'm not a. radio station i also have a question with employees who work for both president mr president. you said that. you decision and you massively awarded the world of sanctions. or lose from joining the e.u.

sanctions against russia that's my question and mr putin said today i think you feel it effectively but i will wash your b.g. in your voice directed your or. your request to the council federation. requesting it to know your decision to authorize the use of military forces. but look right now there is fighting inside a helicopter has been shot down and nine people are. ukraine. now being represented by the president and. moderating this discussion is notable picture it is framed as some kind of separatist leader so we're looking into the result of that but predetermined you said that russia is in favor of substantive negotiations what do you mean by that and how long can it take

because it's. take much more than seven days or even a month or five months for that matter. i can tell you the following i'm convinced. that no one can benefit from sanctions. to think. are not a means of. scoring any advantage nobody. thinks distinction there are people who believe they. are indispensable when all this means they have been tried and failed so all that sanctions are unnecessary device and this is even. asked for my definition of sanctions like i've already said he will be best if things were to be resolved through other means such

as negotiation concessions mutual concessions compromising sources all of that would be anything of that would be better than think shot. but. you know that sanctions are often regarded as ultimate radio that is the last thing that you can resort is the last resort hopefully we will be able to come up with some solutions that will be better for the situation because then sanctions. the second question regarding my address to the upper chamber of the russian parliament. requesting them to know my authorization for the use of force. for the use of the russian military in ukraine . i did. address the constitution with such a request today what was my motive what was my rationale is the first of all my

letter to it's. asking for an authorization. to use of force it to be placed against the background of the events in crimea. as you know there was no military engagement. in crimea and thankfully we did not even. we have to exceed the number of russian troops that were officially allowed to the station in crimea according to the. international treaty between russia and ukraine secondly we use our military in order to. ensure the right of the right to vote for the citizens of crimea. we tried to seal off to isolate certain detachment if we certainly units of the ukrainian army so that they would not interfere. and also you know to prevent.

casualties but thankfully there has been and there was. direct engagement by the russian military crimea and for which we i think as for the present situation president poroshenko has shown himself willing and ready to launch a peace process. i have told them that what has been done to date is not enough has not been enough to resolve the crisis because it's not enough to declare a cease fire for seven days a plane that anyone with weapons in their hands will be destroyed and of course that alone will not resolve the crisis but you bet is a useful step we hope that the cease fire will be prolonged and that it will be used for some substantive negotiations now as to your question about

what needs to be done and that is not to let me end this element from. especially in a situation where radical extremists in western ukraine have not been disarmed despite numerous promises to their game and. they have not come i don't put down their arms they have not even cleared the independence square in kiev from their kids and you know. meaning that. militias should disarm themselves. you know it's just crazy because they remember what what's happened in. the limousine. and they say they respond just to research. it feel that if we are. right now. we'll be burned alive as it happened in a death so you get. your bullet but me turning. russia

council federation you noted to. the use of force in ukraine reflects my home that the. peace process will take off the ground but one prerequisite for that one precondition for that is that there are rights. people living in eastern ukraine must be taken into consideration and observed in ukraine it has to start with a constitutional reform. that would give in to their rights and of course cancelling the authorization for the use of russian armed forces outside russia does not mean that russia is giving up on its objectives of protecting the russians because in ukraine where you are as well as the court of ukrainian population yes there is you feel that that there is. broader russian world

which it is still part of and which it is linked to separately we will keep track of that and we will keep offering our protection of course i hope that it may not be necessary thank you. we have time for one more question if you're not all off and also play second will be all that mission. press agency i also have a question for both presidents. my question. to the russian president is as follows. mr putin you said you want action as regards crean what practical steps is russia going to do in order to provide peace to promote peace in ukraine and president today the agreement was signed. on constructing the south stream it bypasses you

queens who do you think that is a correct sign these days you also discussed crimea. other any practical approach is to resolving that issue really well first of all. we have not put forth any preconditions for the negotiations between the governments in kiev and eastern ukraine. russia is not a party in that conflict so we can largely. propose any preconditions she has for our practical steps just address that was a reply responding to a question from one of your colleagues. we need to start with we need to see negotiations started about the future composition of ukraine and about protecting the rights of. the people living in eastern ukraine but we've

discussed it at length a million times. i don't have enough time to go into detail right now but it is clear where this conflict in ukraine comes from there was a coup in the country which deposed the government some people. agreed to that some did night people in western ukraine actually took to arms and people in eastern ukraine said if they can do that why came three so they started getting hold of weapons in order to protect their national interests and now they're told to disarm and they say no we want those guys to disarm first you see this is a vicious circle. the only way you can actually break it is by launching a discussion substantive discussion to the point and the purpose of the discussion is how do you protect the innocent how you how you build the interests of everybody

living in ukraine. first as for south stream is concerned there is a proverb you know austria if you say you need to see to say. those who agree to step one. and that is. the fact that you have needs in energy supplies and that depends upon to view supply. supplying their guests. if you pipelines to you know if you say a this way you need to say b. and that is a greek to diversify energy supplies to europe. has failed and that is why south stream was taken up and. elaborated not only by austria that is a pipeline that runs fifteen hundred kilometers mainly through simple garia and

hungry and those are made a member states as well as e.u. member states and nobody can explain myself and i can not in my turn explain to austrians why the pipeline a gas pipeline that runs through the territories of nato in the e.u. member states may not be hosted by austria even though austria will only get fifty fifty kilometer stretch of that pipeline secondly there is a clause in the in the south stream. and that is the clause of its compliance with e.u. regulations and it concerns not only austria but other even receipts for crimea we have discussed this issue at length several weeks ago i promised mr

mr the leader of crimean tatars that you during my future meeting with president putin i would bring up this issue about the fate of crimean tatars and i've delivered i've made good on my promise today we did discuss this issue with mr putin of course we have not been able to come up with a ready made complete solution for crimea during our rather brief discussions today but the fact that we have. exchanged. our opinions today i was i had my opportunity today to tell mr putin that austria believes that. the annexation of crimea is country to international law if it were as mr putin. shared his different point of view with me comparing crimea to kosovo and i was telling him that this share they'll this comparison is unacceptable that was part

of our substantive negotiation where we did not come. with mr putin but we did come to an agreement on many other issues energy need believe that this discussion has been useful not only for austria but also for resolving the relevant issues where you are. russia news network i also have a question for both presidents. and it concerns the south stream president has just said a lot about how important this project is for us three accounts at the same time we hear statements made by. u.s. politicians by certain u.s. politicians and. officials so i would like to ask you how viable do you believe a south stream to be as a project despite all this pressure against. you know we are engaged in negotiations with our partners with partners who are parties to

contracts with. third party with our american counterparts are unhappy with. the well back in one thousand nine hundred sixty nine they were unhappy with the gas for pipes project. between. west germany back in the sixty's and now they're unhappy with south stream that is because. they would like to ship their all their own shale gas there the liquid liquefied natural gas to europe it's a rush and i can tell you that pipeline gas is always more affordable than liquefied natural gas and it just takes more money to liquify and share my ten years of all across the ocean with russian gas will always be more competitive and of course americans are behaving rather reasonably when they try to. undermine that deal between. their competitors who would lead to. a stronger

competitor and that is a noble thing you political political. speak and political reasons are also used a lot in these relations. so there were as you know it is being said that russia is not being democratic in its gas supplies to europe. but it is a normal thing for russia to you chris you contract with as many partners as possible and that's what we've been doing by signing a guest contract with china recently and by exploring the developing and has markets in southeast asia and easy in general but there is a natural drive for expanding our transport infrastructure on the part of russia and. i can tell you responding to

a query from one of the. reporters i can tell you that south stream aims to bypass ukraine now that project is back quite a few years and you know if you look at north stream where you want to believe. the latter one goes through two g. three through the bottom of the black sea no it shows projects don't really stand for our desire to bypass any one works exclude any one we also have another working plane that runs through russia and poland is that our desire is to bypass ukraine you know we're nearly expanding and developing our transport infrastructure when we do that we don't aim to to bypass or otherwise harm anyone we're just she just developing what we have our assets. i would like to note here. that austria has great relations. with the union

with the united states. which i am very happy about and we also have a good cooperation with russia which i also strongly supports. you know if a company notching company such as. no info concludes a contract with a russian company no one in. this company should discuss its deal with serious parties you know the future and nobody nobody means that guest room should just she should discuss with us or with some three or four states and i think that's the new normal things that men how do the business of everywhere and we were tonight international and have just been watching a q. and a held by russia's president a lot of important his austrian counterpart present fischer it was a busy day of diplomacy at which has seen major progress with the south's shereen

project during the president's visit to vienna russian austria have signed an agreement for a new branch of the pipeline both presidents have stressed the importance of the partnership and bilateral cooperation between the two states the austrian president's welcome president putin's earlier request for russian lawmakers to withdraw their permission to use military in the ukraine stressing that the crisis has to be solved in a peaceful manner meanwhile president putin said that he appreciates austria's balanced assessment of the greens crisis both leaders stressed out the current seven days ceasefire is not enough to solve the country's problems well you can continue watching this q. and a on line r.t. dot com and we'll be bringing you more on that at the top of the hour of course to stay with her to international.

trying to. pull out if. you like. it's a sure thing everybody. know what. like the bugs the snake the society the beasties is. months now but sometimes for nothing the lead this season and it's in the book just keep up the story you'll be just if you see the stage eight looking things up but speech was the book's

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choose to not hear more scope tonight russia's president draw permission for the use of force in ukraine the move is praised by the ukrainian president as a step towards deescalating tension in the country's east. but self-defense forces in east ukraine report mounting casualties. today raising. money to stopping the violence. getting gas to europe without the troublesome deed to is austria and russia strike a deal on a new branch of the south stream pipeline despite pressure from brussels to freeze the. poland's foreign minister is cool.