it's. right. thank you. thank. you. this year's presidential election was being monitored by a red corps number of foreign observers over one thousand five hundred these included observers from france poland and the u.k. and their overall assessment has been mainly positive the earth the election upset

observation mission to russia said there were no electoral law violations though it did say the vote that transparency we spoke to some of the observers. who say that they didn't see anybody later maybe i was too short a time there but i don't i don't think that and by the asians. we wanted to see how it works we were we are particularly interested very much in the transmission line which is i sit here and although a very high level really. important thing to do is to have a sister and i wish that also in truman the you would have the opportunity sure lect or president by direct elections or coop consists of eight different members of. parliament i want to congratulate mr putin and hope that we can improve cerm of the russian relations have to disallow actions. it

would be really important because also the chairman's suffer because of sanctions all the pressure was quite positive there was no systematic over all both of them my goodness. we were. in every polling station so what i can say from my observations this was positive and this was the general mood among the other election officer of us here in moscow so a procedure yesterday was all in all. the average of. an observation. the other headlines that came out may be a surprise to some though not to others it was the first presidential election for the only woman in the race. who style this self was the candidate against all the others was a vote against everybody else but didn't really would she didn't seem to galvanize the votes of the young people to disenfranchise the people basically unhappy with the way the government was running the reality show. politician came full through

the end with only one point seven percent of the vote they had at least been predicting two for a subject share their impression about the result with. thirty six year old liberal opposition candidate who devoted most of her time during the campaign to wiping out corruption in this country and also helping those she called political prisoners in russia she will be given credit for spending a decent amount of time at the headquarters speaking to journalists her supporters to time she showed up there and the first time was only just a few minutes after the last polling station closed in russia and then you could see it on her face she was unhappy with the result there was nothing really to celebrate were guard lists of that though she kept portraying herself as the new prominent opposition. candidate and that explains perhaps the heat in the debate

she had with alexei vali who's one of the fiercest critics of lot of our putin. deal with. me with the music. school. music with infections from if you're going to move if you. want to move the moon let's go back to the results that is just under one point seven percent perhaps if you ask any politician or around the world who is running for president whether he or she would be satisfied with these kind of numbers perhaps the answer you would hear would be no but in her case when i had an exclusive interview that was later than one am moscow time yet she stayed there

that late sending a sob chag told me that she could still find positive things in that result of course it's not the result i would dream about but my campaign was not about to solve my campaign was about talking truths on the propagandistic channel so federal t.v. in russia education is the most important value of my program educational for russian people telling them truth of the situation believing trying to make them interest on the collection between their level of life and corruption that is there in the concrete after the debates with alexy nobody but you confident and that kind of future for a so-called united opposition bloc i am very disappointed by the discussion because i came there to discuss all future six years with putin and how we will fight with me but in stand we were discussing k.v. in my instant problem which is. ridiculous to my wage what is your maybe adjective

or a few adjectives that you can use or some other words to describe us it's the success of freedom of speech and this is our most important success during this campaign was the vote itself i mean we should be realistic about this huge amount of support of putting this result well maybe it would be not seventy five percent but sixty eight or whatever the steel we should meet that the majority of people are now really want this president. talking to a twenty four hours ago and of course it was obvious that she probably wouldn't even get two percent of the vote but coming in at seventy six was poaches was a brand new start for him big new impetus again if you like nothing's really changing but it's give you an extra push discuss where this is going to go what is going to mean with martin mccauley russian analysts and all for a the market thanks for your time so two sides of this one is what it's going to

mean internally politically except for the people inside russia the other kind of we're more interested in especially in r.t. international people watch this more good i mean abroad so is it a way for a broader to be more the same old same old. apparently difficult relations with america not only with britain eccentric stature all something different happen over the next six years some people are kind of weary of it i know we get people writing in to us going oh you guys what's happening what's the answer is going to make any difference what do you think. it will make a difference because his vote this time was about ten percent above twenty twelve so therefore if you like that gives you more legitimacy in other words he's a strong man. and. so you know strong putin means a strong russia and that's the message with the whole world now heard and they all know that putin is going to be there for another six years. from

a point of view of the domestic politics are stronger than ever therefore there's no point in saying right we're not going to last very long we don't have to do a deal with him you have to do deals with him because he's going to be there for at least six years and he feels stronger and russia appeared stronger. than most and let's talk about russia u.k. relations the hot topic at the moment how likely are they to improve and taken for . he's got six years and hopefully they will improve during the six years but in the short term they will not improve because we're still waiting to see if they get. to russians if he actually die. and if they die then it becomes a murder case and that means more more investigations and so on and russia will be blamed again so if the script files do die then we

can look for a freeze perhaps three six months already in relations and hopefully after that there will be a warming of relations but in short no relations will not improve because the government has blamed moscow even though they can prove it and the vast majority of people to this country of behind them and therefore the accepted russia is at fault so it's very very difficult now to improve relations in the short term but hopefully over the six year period relations will improve. but nothing in the near term i mean toted says he's seeking dialogue with the west is the feeling mutual here time and time again about russia's syria you know the paranoia over the russia threat eccentrics cetera why are people feeling why people so antagonistic towards russia. well they look at. her input and

he is the president of a rising power i rising power is always opposed the most difficult thing for a rising power is to come to terms with those policies which are there so therefore they're bound to collide with powers like britain and america because they're becoming stronger and spreading the influence in the middle east and so on britain for one except russia is a leading power in the middle east and will play a very important road that together with iran and turkey as americans they're more concerned now with north korea and kim job room and so on subconscious mind is folks they're not really on russia or the middle east so therefore we have a situation now where russia can take take the initiative and when he when he talks about dialogue document don't goodness it takes two to engage in dialogue because i think somebody said was it wasn't proper said. two lovers you could only have love when both sides how we need to communicate and talk to one another and the west

president america was very soon but we had to just. you know we'll do it to donovan. what a change in circumstances people just bought five years ago when president obama is saying russia is just a regional power interesting here now you know that britain is saying yeah it is a world player good martin mccauley rush around listening thank you for your thoughts nice to hear from you thank you mustn't think you're well versed on watching the election the biggest intrigue was not about who would win but rather what about the moustache really the communist party candidate have agreed being in a pre-election in to a pledge to save also his iconic mustache it's got less than fifteen percent jaeger didn't interfere isn't going to let the matter drop either which gets awkward for gruden you. he posted this little hint on his instagram account my shop raiser with

gritted and getting any twelve percent many are expecting him to keep his word so we've taken the liberty of showing you what he might look like if he does know our graphics department too much time on that and what you think improvement or not make he'll leave you don't go down the path i want i think it's about affecting all right that will go to do himself appeared at a media event with this restart still in place of though he did see willing to lose it is if one more condition was met by his interview you're a good. cook on the couch as soon as they did meet some camera that he believes this mix was absolutely fact i'll shave it rocks off in front of it so let's see what votes turn what was it what does it sound that will carry signs it's almost sixty eight percent reason to change now a little more than the election in no twenty told by about five points as you expect people from all walks of life came to cast their vote is a snapshot of what happened in the last twenty four hours.

i. just. tried to. cut. it out except for the money that. i will make. one hundred two years old and splendid to the world and therefore putting your vote in this well thank you very much for watching this leave you with a little view well we've still got it we've got one more hour to go of a special coverage. right in the middle of red square is getting quiet and the

temperatures drop in a bit. studio waving goodbye for the kremlin going round to the same basil's cathedral on the bright lights shining. the still still a few people will be back with more in. the season that. this. here is pushing with the news the presidential election of course coming amid the ongoing investigation into the poisoning by nerve agent of a former russian spy the russian foreign ministry is just issued a statement reiterating that moscow has not been developing the sort of chemical used to target and his daughter our correspondent has done has been following this story so many strands to it but first of all it just brings up to date with the

details of that latest statement from from russia well neil it begin it's beginning to feel like a verbal tug of war so to speak so what happened today was the u. issued a joint in the very careful statement on the whole case of the poisoning of the script poisoning they did not pin the blame on russia but the express grave alertness grave worry about the whole thing they've said that the are treating the incident very very seriously and they've said that the use i quote of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is completely unacceptable and they've demanded some more information from russia effectively because everybody's a lot of countries are pinning the blame on russia for it and the russian foreign ministry had no other option but to reiterate the statement that they've made a number of times already they've said the use fuelling the whole media hysteria that's what they've called it around the poisoning and they've said that russia has

nothing more to demonstrate other than from what it already has demonstrated they've said that they have nothing to do with the poisoning that the nerve agent used in the apparent assassination attempt is not being produced in russia neither is stored the whole chemical stockpile of russian and uses has been destroyed but this is not the you know the repeated statements by the russian foreign ministry have not stopped the barrage of demands that russia explains itself coming from the western countries i mean the french president manuel mccaughan even included one into his congratulatory message to vladimir putin nato also weighed in on this have a listen. we continue to call on the russians to provide complete disclosure of the program britain is to actually this accordance with our obligations under the

treaty on chemical weapons and i would contrast that with how the russians. i think would look people find very first thing about these stories that the burden of proof as been thrown over to the russian side the message from the u.k. and its allies has been prove you didn't do it. but what we haven't seen is much evidence if any well it's doesn't sound like there's a it's a matter of evidence so to speak because the u.k. was the first on this bandwagon of russia bashing and they've been saying that it is highly likely that it is overwhelmingly likely that more school is behind this they are saying that moscow is the only this is the only side that could benefit from poisoning this person they've been saying that there's no other possible explanation boris johnson the u.k.'s foreign minister has said that he feels he senses certain russian ness around the whole incident what sort of

argument is that what is that russian is really and so the foreign ministry tonight have really just stressed the point that yesterday was again reiterated by vladimir putin in his election speech have a listen. i think anyone with common sense understands that it is nonsense for russia to do such things before the presidential elections in the football world cup. so russia has been expressing its eagerness to cooperate with the investigation they have repeated a number of times they've officially asked the filed an official request for samples of the nerve agent used to poison scruple to be provided to russia for analysis to find out what it's where it's coming from where could be coming from who may have produced this sample none of the official requests of russia have been fulfilled instead there's been a barrage of accusations and of demands of russia explains itself and that brings

us up to date then with this political disagreement many thanks. thanks you guys at home to staying with you join as it often our latest news headlines and updates coming your way. well you know that they were kind of adopted because we were called pirates there's a lot. of being there in the smaller boats and it's it a hard pull of ships and it's. not something. the limo self did big cold fish already ninety percent of the dots on a ball on the collar. cons fifteen scoops

seventy five times trying to do it several times a day with a big fleet now you get an idea. the fish. we have to understand we cannot stay still and just. be with them this will be deal going to the hours. i'm doing this because i want the future world to the future can generations to have out and enjoy the ocean we have. a game.

a. game a game. hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered i'm peter lavelle when he was fourth in most probably last term as russia's president vladimir putin has six more years to fashion his legacy how his putin changed russia how will he continue to change.

cross talking russia's presidential election i'm joined by my guest mark sloboda he's an international affairs and security analyst we also have big he is a political analyst as well as a leading expert at the center for actual politics and of course we have. he is a political analyst with sputnik international originally crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump anytime you want and i always appreciated. your take away from this election and his reelection was obviously expected he got more percentage points than i think a lot of people were predicting not only that. just a few more than i predicted just a few facts that they think are important for all of us to understand first. more than in two thousand and twelve. in two thousand and twelve which is what sixty three percent of the vote forty five million russians voted for him this time he got seventy six percent of the vote fifty five million russian voters voted for him

why did it happen well between these two elections. in ukraine. crame year we had syria we asked the western campaign against russia and russia gate to our ship gave. this british scandal now what scrape it all the olympics that's what i said the olympics it all can't put in i mean i think. that yesterday says it all he said i didn't plan to vote so he's a mate. then it's big there's. mean for outsiders looking in there are only two figures in the selection there was a lot of your putin obviously and then your subject the socialite she got what one point six seven percent of the vote i mean she actually went to washington to campaign in washington d.c. and nobody accused. link. she went to.

an american came to that openly going to moscow and meeting. russian officials in the kremlin and having lunch with them and discussing the presidential election in the united states what would this person see if he was there when she got a lot of criticism here also she got a lot of cynicism but nowhere near what an american kid would get over there and she was still looked at the part in the debates she was all that everywhere she went and if you were shown on television i was central to it was she given fair coverage it sure was if you needed it was given fair coverage and in fact after the election was over she recognized that he's old she said the country voted for bush and you know when when. the president gets seventy six percent he has political capital let's call it by any term that is that it's a landslide you know what does this say about the opposition because earlier you were talking about the spectrum of political thought in the selection go ahead

first of all i think the communists running a new candidate a strawberry farm business many runs a strawberry farm commune with swift. yeah. he he did much better than the communists were expected to do even with putin's turnout he finished with twelve percent and i think that this shows that this was the real protest vote in russia. as it were. and it's maybe a vote to be even harder on foreign policy but more for social benefit people talk about foreign policy and what was the election result for crimea was it ninety three percent voted for putin that's a word that that is a very significant not so surprising for you is responsible for crimea for me as being able to vote in the russian elections if you want the same time russia

russian citizens living in ukraine were not allowed to vote yes they were blockaded from entering their own embassies by ukrainian police. there as you know there's a real commitment to democracy there go ahead well i think it's very interesting you know the west reaction it's very important the context for the west the fact that russians in crimea voted for the president isn't except it's a breach of international war they say that the fact that russian citizens in ukraine could not halt because of the ukrainian police. the russian ambitious and why did the ukrainian police do it they said they were afraid. in two thousand and two thousand and thirteen well several dozen people were which was which was never fully investigated and no one was held or were killed and now there's a national who did of course because there videotapes there are video games on you tube it gets even worse because they put people that were the victims and. some of

them who are going to see it by the judge in jail again when the charges as i say with the election mark what would it be. americans we always say they vote for bread and butter issues with their pocketbook here or russians any different. somewhat but i think there's an element of that too and i think that would not have had as high turnout as he did if the economy had turned in the last year. a little over a year ago he reached a deal with the saudis to end the oil price war and that helped raise the macro economy starting about eight months ago and only in the last three or four months did we see that start to trickle into the real economy and we saw some growth and some movement on salaries in russia and if that had happened i don't think it would have gotten quite as dramatic a show of support as he did how much you know how much is foreign policy playing

into the minds of the electorate here because i mean russia is in the news in a big way i mean they're told about it one of the things that's really quite remarkable is that the. russian federal stations they take verbatim lindsey graham's in the john mccain and everybody else that has something to say and they just let the russian viewer. themselves that would be right there and it's not just instagram or drinking when you look out of the british prime minister accusing russia of taking the u.k. audience hold soil or wage an came it go at that with something you know of course people react because these are some of the most powerful people in the world tell you that you are waging a war with no evidence you know when the. american you know the most powerful americans say sure russia meddled in the redactions when they say russia will pay a price when the british parliament openly discuss

a cyber attack against russia or of course for important she plays a role here but i did if i could do with markov i don't think you know i think it was an interesting campaign because economic issues played a role but not in the way the west would like them to a lot of people can see the. of the russian cabinet of ministers to really be too little too pro west them to mourn interest and these people voted for gore didn't vote of good unions made it slogans was that. if my if mike form you know he is a. c.e.o. or were successful for me in moscow if my farm had been run by cauldrons we would be bankrupt in two or three days a lot of russians agree with that because they can see that a lot of policies of the central bank or the finance minister you know when these to keep the russian economy open well i mean when you have costello states such as i'm sorry i'm quoting me smith you know why she called russia course that was state

then i think we have the right to call a lot of the western. international organizations and they got very hostile and you'll give yourself open to them that's a risk you put your actions on the standard to do things obviously there's a lot of criticism leveled at the economic section of the cabinet for the seem to it is these people. like them or not it is these people they are guaranteed russia's economy going through in a stable fashion through the period when massive massive sectoral sanctions sanctions were introduced against russia by the united states of the russian by the by the e.u. but by other nations so the russian central bank and the russian economy minister and other ministries that deal with this the proved themselves successful in keeping the russian economy stable in this their feet but another thing also that western leaders.