the president of south korea and the prime minister of japan will arrive and what have all this talk of the mystical forty four to attend the eastern economic forum and we'll discuss these issues they are going to more in detail on the brush to be just one. of the things that was discussed at the most in the recent days as. the u.s. steps to seize russian property russian diplomatic missions could you please comment on the situation. is russia going to respond to that and how this is. a right. well we're saying is that what we have agreed with our partners. in the better the number of our diplomatic staff. i see in russia and in the u.s. should be parents if they stop or. there were thirteen hundred u.s. diplomats working in russia in which we.

four hundred over four hundred so we decided to make those numbers equal it's now four hundred fifty five on both sides and this number four hundred fifty five diplomatic workers our workers working in the u.s. we included a hundred and fifty five staff working at the u.n. . circular speaking to me these are not our diplomats department is it created with the u.s. department of state you know their diplomats working international but it was an isolationist but what if you when the united states wanted the u.n. headquarters to be in new york the. responsibility to provide everything necessary for this organization so strictly speaking if we want it to be parity based it's not four hundred fifty five pieces you have to subtract one hundred fifty so we

reserve the right to make this decision we may reduce the number of use diplomats in russia even further by a hundred and fifty five but we are not going to take this step right now we'll see how things proceed first time you've got to security to. the u.s. reduce the number of our consulates they're entitled to make this decision. but the way they did it when we come skin was it clearly. inappropriate. it's hard to talk to people who confuse australia austria and australia sure and there's nothing you can do about it when you but that's just the level of political culture there because if. i was certain part of the us establishment the us nation the people of america american general this is really that. country. thank you

in your case thank you mr one but still there is a large number of people with a low level of political culture there. tess. mr putin you mentioned that you talked to the prime minister of japan and the president of south korea discussing north korea and i apologize for that story i want to go back to the building itself the diplomatic missions this is really unprecedented and you know i graduated from a law school in st petersburg so i can tell you. any lawyer can tell you that property rights consist of three elements of ownership. produce and the disposal ship. and so what the us did is a. property and this is

a gross violation of property rights of the russian federation so to begin with which you know i will instruct the foreign ministry to go to court and let's see what you and how effective u.s. courts are next question. which is. let's go back to north korea as you said what is your position on this matter and it seems that the order to. diplomatic personnel talks or threats sanctions and nothing works solve it. sold the problem on the theory that it's a very easy question the easiest question today. but what you know when i have a private conversation i had a private conversations with my colleagues but i don't think i should make a secret off what we talked about just what i told them in our private conversations and official as well. this is something that was that everybody

should you be aware of this should be clear to every reasonable person look. we all remember the welcome what happened with iraq. and saddam hussein was saying was. there the idea of producing the weapons of mass destruction still under the predicts looking for w z they killed so i'm just saying. he is family in that suit them to say when they launch their military operations i think his children got killed i think it's a grandson got shot. the whole country's was destroyed and saddam hussein was. well we all know how this happened we all remember what happened there and the officials and the people in north korea remember well. what happens in iraq so. do you think that you can really rely on the sanctions and this will make north korea of course. it will. drop the idea

of rice yes which they creating the weapons of mass destruction in russia russia in the case. against these aspirations by north korea we regard. vocative intentions to but you also cannot forget what happened in iraq and libya. we should remember this is well enough cories not going to forget about those stunts if you will or do you selfish any sanctions relief in this but yes i mean if you useless and. then when the threat of you know like i told one of my colleagues yesterday those people they will eat grass but they will never abandon their nuclear program unless they feel safe and how how can you help them feel safe and we need to restore international law we need to strengthen international law we

need to promote dialogue among stakeholders we need just a little bit of control the party is involved in this process including north korea we need to. help everybody. feel secure and not be afraid of being completely destroyed all the parties in this conflict which should be willing to cooperate. in this situation under these circumstances it does not make any sense to. talk about the military option. and increased tensions with north korea has been in the middle range souls'. north korea has nuclear weapons and they also have it was a long range artillery and multiple launch systems. sixty kilometer

range and using nuclear using missile defense against such weapons doesn't make any sense that there is no way. against there is no defense against long range artillery and multiple launch and you are tory systems duty and you can't find all those guns so you. promoting military solution will not produce anything this can cause huge caster feel with you and massive loss of life insurance no alternative shoot peaceful diplomatic. resolution of the north korea issue next question. is it ok. to continue with north korea. the us says they want tougher sanctions and they want to russia to join those sanctions. how could you comment on that as

well just recently the u.s. imposed sanctions on the north korea russia and iran. right really look at me in this is a ridiculous at least ridiculous putting us on the same border with north korea and then ask how put them with sanctions. they want to impose on north korea well these are people who. cannot differentiate between austrian israel and then they go to the president and they want you with them tougher sanctions they want to work with russia imposing sanctions together on north korea but it's not like we want to make my jokes about this or that we're offended because our position on this issue is to pursue most just like on every other issue principle and it's not. just that we don't want to be on the same list with north korea even though this is ridiculous this doesn't make

any sense you know that's not. the reason. with them scott and actually the russian foreign ministry said as much are think that sanctions. from. the sanctions which are regime has been exhausted. doesn't work it's ineffective for me at least to me and in addition to that there is the humanitarian aspect that when you as these two leaders here integrated with. whatever we do bug north korea i thought of the north korean government is not going to change their policy i see people. millions of people will suffer but. there's little russia of course there's nothing here to talk about because we don't have them. any trade deal with north korea i just checked again with the energy minister on forty thousand tons is how much

a quarter toil and petrochemical in products we export to north korea. to me to do all of that we have over four hundred million tons it's the mill you want to export four hundred million tons of them or what goes to north korea is just forty thousand and this is like zero this is nothing in the company and you none of our major companies were assumed to have their north korean serial nothing that's number one you need to. it's because we have about thirty thousand north koreans working in russia to is this significant you know again this is like nothing zero which should we. believe these people without sustenance and unusually who are anyway so there is nothing here to talk about it so some people always sanctions. just like the foreign minister who initially. denied it this way has been it's of

course we can look at it we can consider in certain details on keep working we are to gather with all the parties involved we are us which is one of the author is. well at least we helped record the need to. lucian that he's in the ball has been adopted and we comply with the existing resolution next question look at it all just as busy. as the eastern ukraine officer i think you will see for the motts government says that they want to see un peacekeepers in eastern ukraine president poroshenko talks a lot about this. and they say that if russia vetoes this decision in the u.n. security council they can still push it through at the u.n. general assembly what do you think about this idea you know they can do this through the general assembly for them with. one because u.n. peacekeepers from can are going to be deployed other than. with the

u.n. security council mandate which is to put some do you said they wanted to push this through that show how i'm not against this but still and i have said as much repeatedly air support the idea arming the boy is seen monitors. but we always see itself refuses to arm its personnel just because they don't have proper professionals and they don't have experience of doing this kind of armed want to war so un peacekeepers are critical. you are un security personnel to guard or you see monitors you know but i'm not against this author think this would be a good thing this would probably when they how to resolve the issue in eastern ukraine is huge because of course. they should always

ensure the security of or you see personnel that's number one number two million euros giving each if they have to be deployed along the disengagement line and nowhere else number two. three. if. this matter has to be. pushed out of the union. this can only happen after. heavy weapons. and these engagement isn't forced on and there should be direct contact with the leaders of the self proclaimed here republicans and the nats going along ganske people's republics your security so if all these requirements but are let off things this will be helpful because this will certainly help to resolve the situation in eastern ukraine which our minister

issues sitting here so you can consider this is my instruction official instruction to the russian foreign ministry to include this. in the resolution of channel one. state let's stay with the ukraine we keep hearing from washington that the us wants to provide ukraine with lethal weapons how serious do you think this is and if this decision is made what the consequences might be. sovereign decision to be made by the us whom they want to sell weapons to or provide their weapons for free wish and it's also up to the country receiving such assistance there's nothing we can do about this but there are general international rules supplying weapons to a conflict zone between. serves the interests of peace it only makes the situation worse if this happens with the crane. so

it works when using this step in you will not have a major effect on the situation but the number of victims can certainly. ritual to the petitioner so i'd like to stress i want to make this. everybody nothing will change it will just increase the number of victims that's deplorable and one more thing i'd like to point out to people who does that which is to contemplate making such a decision to be self proclaimed republics. have enough wealth and use that what you can including the only weapons the seized from the opposing it. marty from nationalist volunteer battell and so on so forth so if u.s. weapons are supplied to the confidence on i don't nor do you know how self-proclaimed republics will respond maybe they will also send their weapons to some other polices to create problems for people supplying weapons to ukraine.

like you and i just like us or russia today cities mr president the syrian army supported by a russian peace force is almost there in store with that. so does this mean that. the threat of isis is over in syria. that the situation is improving what do you think syria should do next. you don't even know which were guarding terrorism in general this is a global problem and it's a complex issue this is not just about syria and this is also about many other. countries in the region and not just in this region problem with this so. biggest problem just in the here is that terrorists are going to keep receiving support in school. and it's largely because of poverty and low level of education

this is another little bit of this is what really helps extremists and six areas and when we meet with them for example at the brics summits we look at the core we look at the root huge problem in the and that's what we're working on that's what we want to eradicate it for to poverty a lack of education in syria your government forces are gaining ground in the places where scum is for as the government controlled territory is. significantly increased. over is the last eighteen months and they keep making reports progress. other terrorist groups have they been destroyed completely it may be too early to say that but we just saw

a ready call change of the situation there but on the ground in the council i really hope that our partners will. finish the operation rocka and jerry sore this is not political this is a military base for. going to tire already called opposition radicals in the negative sense of the word isis opposition and assume is the operation in there is story is completed this will mean that areas that we see which is terrorists have suffered a serious defeat and the government forces a government of. substantial advantage and then they will have to make the next step in by strengthening the ceasefire regime used to lots of strengthening deescalation zones and get the political process going at the political process of

peace and then once the political procedure is underway theater you need to start rebuilding the economy and the social sphere and so a lot of work and the international community will certainly have this is not to help but really syrian government would you. see it. and i'm saying also when we discussed this situation here at this some international soul on the margins during biological meetings which is because you see shoes well and basically all my colleagues agree willing to contribute. at least to improve the humanitarian situation in syria the next question. this is what it was odd like to talk about some domestic issues. director. of. course he's under house arrest it's just some people say that old people are equal other people see. it in

their persecuting artists so what do you personally think about this whole situation. for. you know we talk about culture just like with all the other areas succumb to the law enforcement agencies always monitor people spend government funds. just wars i remember one thing deputy director of least armitage museum is currently under investigation deputy minister of culture and is currently being investigated for what it says if you work in the area of culture should you be above the law and that would be weird right. the city of new of. it was using government funds. this means there was no censorship otherwise we'd just disappear if we wanted to eliminate him in his. creative activities so we would just strip him of government

funding to write oh i know there are different opinions about what he does artistically but that's just a matter of taste some people may like what he does and other people don't it's not least because you for the government funds his projects this means that at least we're neutral we'll watch him create. this investigation is just. making sure that. government funds aren't spending properly and that's a lot of money we're talking about it's like my three hundred million they received from the federal government and seven. hundred million they received from the moscow authorities almost a billion rubles that's a lot of money for. cosmetic of the few look at other directors. and before you mention. for example oregon even there still gators

if watchdogs saluted somebody breaks a lot they will meet their own will do the same with those people as well because their people will be held accountable as well but nobody pushed and says anything about me even though inspectors. were smart to protect the ship because the old government funds all government money that goes into cultural projects and there are inspections always if there is a problem with me they will stay on the. deal with me as well the only problem with. whether this money was used properly but the most immediate thing with even those. doesn't mean he's. of course it's up to the court to decide whether he's guilty or not so i hope this investigation will proceed it

if they send investigation will soon be over in a more have to wait and see next question. and look at you know which we do a lot of mr president the komsomolskaya pravda newspaper. now last may but if you were hearing china and i asked you. if you want to know whether you are going to run you said no at the time maybe now four months later you want to announce that you are ready to run for president you. like i said i'd like to repeat what i said and this is really important to listen to complain of you really do you announce presidential campaign people stop work and immediately i know this from my experience this happens every time with you because people start thinking about the elections in the us you have to keep working right now do your

job and focus on your job. but it is more than a little nose so. at a time specified by the law all those who want to run with this question in the next presidential election will make their announcements. next question. that had bought are you. since we're in china now let me ask you about chinese media and projects that might be. sold on the road. all the countries. not just in europe and even across the ocean everybody wants to join this project and it's still not clear enough for where their route. will go.

where it will go from china whether it will go through russia or through azerbaijan in turkey or through belarus. but the biggest question is it seems like our chinese partners it with are not yet they're really interested in going through russia. that's not true history. specialists agencies. chinese partners and partners from other countries they're just as into this issue you mentioned that there are actually two routes. there is on the highway and there is. that yes there is the road that goes through kazakhstan and we have a chop and work on our section and there is a road there's a growth from china with the railroads that are different options available there is one option which is for profit china i mean there is one option that goes through kazakhstan and then it goes to the east and the south through iran maybe

through russia you also know that. china plans to. build high speed road between moscow and moscow you for you and we discussed this. when he said there. was a mistake chinese chairman who was in moscow we discussed building a high speed rail passenger and cargo road. that would go through the russian federation if we implement this project was this will make it possible for trains to go to move at the speed of about two hundred kilometers fright trains will be a little slower this means that in three or four days you'll be able to deliver your cargo from asia to say germany from china to germany this is a very promising project but you're right it requires careful examination and

assessment was correct so there is nothing here to make a secret. but this will require four experts to. prepare visibility studies. so we are considering working together on that and the northern route is well again all those things they're all part of our overall energy and we're looking at the other routes as well for example the routes that go from north to south when i talk to the indian prime minister we mentioned that you know the first group of containers from mumbai. breached st petersburg and went back so these are all practical things so we keep working our all those things you know limitations on a daily basis what will be the best option and what would work most effectively well we have to test our systems and then we'll choose the optimum solution.

there were to the question ok we're running out of time maybe the last question. people. locals. that she's i would like to clarify about the united states when you visit. this period since donald trump got elected in the news. there is this escalation is happening are you disappointed with. what you know in the states and me the most foreign minister or representative said recently. that not all two presidents. are able to complete their term of presidency so are you considering the possibility that trump may get impeached should mean. and can i ask one more question about domestic issues as we. see external and internal

things together. because of this situation in myanmar there is currently some disagreement between the federal government and the russians on credit of the leader of chechnya and he said that if. russia does not agree with him. he will go against to russia do you think it's ok for a regional leader to have a different position on the foreign policy issue ok let me start with your second with your last question you know the situation in myanmar. well i don't know but i think with. this should have happened after our bilateral meeting with the president of egypt the press office. had to release a statement. join. our joint statement our position we are against violence and we urge me authorities to take control of the situation we're in now

what the people of russia me think about russia's foreign policy every citizen of russia he's entitled to having. on the. regardless of their job. what you do you want to now regional leaders again this applies to them as well. but i assure you from the system it's not like mr could tear if he is in opposition now so there's nothing here to talk about everything the props fine don't worry intercede english now your question about the us president. and you could hear them i need to be very inappropriate for us to talk about. madela it is inside the us it's not our business it's. the you know the show and people of the us said in.