is this russia getting it's mojo back? >> sure, and actually i think that's a good way of putting in. i was in a conference in russia at the end of september that the administration runs every year. it's something that putin started up in 2003, the same year that khodorkovsky was arrested. it's interesting because seeing him there, it's a small setting. there are 50 or so foreign experts on russia invited, he has in this--this was impressed upon me this time more than any, he has a vision for russia. the vision is to reassert this country as a global power, superpower even on the international stage, and the sochi olympics are part that have. not just in terms of money, a lot of money has been invest in the sochi olympics, and a lot of of it has been corruptly embezzled as well, evidently, but he sees this as a way to put russia forward internationally and remind everyone that russia is back and wants to be on top. i think with respect to ukraine, this is another part of the plan. not necessarily to reconstruct the soviet union in term

, and russia is trying to grapple with the way the picture haschanged in the middle east. you thinkezinski, do there is an overarching theme in the way russia is engaging in the middle east? is it opportunistic or trying to put out fires? >> i look at it differently. there was a time when russia was one of the better principal players in the middle east, potentially a dominant player. and today brescia is not. and russia knows that. today russia is not and russia knows that. the united states' predominance in the region is declining, and they know that. there are some unfortunate episode in the recent past which have contributed to the decline of american preeminence in the region. gradually,ving in quietly, but establishing its rhythm. china has never been a player in the middle east since probably the 14th century. now it is becoming a player, and it is becoming a player from a geopolitical vantage point that to the russians is not very reassuring because chinese influence is also spreading and central asia. now independent and finding a very u

and morning joe. russiaandchief of global affairs, which is published in russian and tolish, and is very similar the foreign affairs magazine. he is also a columnist with our monitor. and she is head of the center on the u.s. and europe at workings. she is co-author of a recent book. a review said it was not just another putin biography. we have only got an hour and we want to say 20 minutes for questions. is russia back in the middle east. what is russia up to in the middle east question make --? left the middle east. i think the russians have a defense of interest. if there is an explosion in the mid east, it will ask -- it will ignite muslims in russia. that is one interest. another interest is to restore some of russia's influence which decades ago was much larger. remember nasser. russia would like to minimize american influence is not sort of prepared to engage an effort of expelling america from the middle east, because it cannot. we have russia playing a game in games -- some gains are possible, some

and in finland it is twenty percent. research in russia must be oriented towards specific results and there is getting new technologies getting results we need. to stimulate to ensure. being technologies to stimulate government to government procurement and the. state owned companies. innovative products. lately in russia. the community has been splintered into a multitude of. think tanks in institutes each involved in their own activities sometimes those activities are not even science related but that is not a precursor for their existence they were initially set up for. research we need to provide a technological breakthrough for the russian economy to rid it of. even hazardous technologies him for that we also need to establish and enable a system of environmental control and oversight for the russian economy however. this task is. also suggest that we system of. the economy various industries in order to have a an objective. image of an objective understanding of our. competitive system existed back in the soviet time but it was compl

and it -- iran is a major preoccupation for russia and also egypt and the aside regime and so russia's trying to destroy the balance of power that are shifting because of the concerns and the problems that to putin and others are facing, they are thinking about it's not just a regime change aspects. a pretty complex picture for russia and they are trying to whether that's in the middle east. >> you think that there is an overarching theme to the way that russia is engaging in the middle east now? today russia is not a dominant player. but neither is anyone us in this includes the contributing to the decline in this region. china is required to establish this experiment and they have never been a player in the middle east and now it has become a part of this. especially from a political damage point and that's not very reassuring. >> they find it very useful that china is interested in that and investing in them and building up a political presence and thereby diminishing russia's influence. and we are establishing our presence and hoping that we will continue with time and realizing th

and twenty three days. through to some other two cities of russia. really fourteen thousand people or sixty thousand killings. in a record setting trip by land air sea and others face. olympic torch relay. on r t v dot com. welcome back to worlds apart a rear discussing ukraine struggle for democracy and a better future rebounder a shift a prominent ukrainian journalist and politician mr shift russia has been accused of intimidating his crazy man you know call each personally into submission and forcing ukraine to turn its back on to a democratic dream why do you thing moscow is being so mean to follow your craniums report. well i think that rush. the criminal leaders have been very pragmatically they do want to keep ukraine close they do want to see ukraine as part of the customs union so i think the them with evasion is very clear for me but i don't really think that is going to change a lot of things here in the recreant because the west majority of ukrainians do want to create to go to go to the closer ties with the european union and sooner or la

for solutions for corporation of ukraine associated with the european union and russia and the think it's in the long term russian interests to predictable partner here in kiev well i think i would agree with you and one thing that russia and the european union definitely have in common is that they both want to have a prosperous and stable ukraine because if this crisis goes on all those people will go either you know ukrainian people will go either to russia or to the repeating union in search of jobs so i think neither russia nor the european union would be interested in that what do you think would be a compromise that would satisfy all three parties involved. first of all those in russia who can hear us if you look at this madame you should really realize that it's not against russia and it's not against their actions and it's not against iran in the way from. seoul in the ukraine in problems because people here want to want a future as a good prosperous future for themselves so i think that for everyone in. brussels is very important of to find a legitimate solution here for uk

an offer that the west has made many many times and and for some reason russia seems to prefer to look. if they when we must necessarily little ok all right and that's a very very good job of it on the way of looking at it but i think it's a kind of pre-modern bit the european union knows what's best for russia and ukraine alexander would you like to react to that. eleanor that's not what i'm. going to call you to with that i'm for it go ahead alexander the first the first point to make is that of course the people who are protesting. who were protesting on sunday were actually calling for revolution and for the overthrow of the government so when people from outside come along and become involved in all of that well then one does start to become concerned now coming back to the fact about the free trade agreement with ukraine in effect has with russia the fact is it does have a free credit trade relationship with russia is to say that that's a wishy washy thing simply doesn't look at the actual realities that business people in the ukraine have to deal with now as for the gree

and russia, to have chemical weapons fall into their hands. from my perspective, the russians made a virtue out of necessity, in a sense. we were prepared to take action and we found a way to achieve our mutual goal, which was to prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of extreme elements. in our case, getting those weapons out of the hands of assad, who had clearly demonstrated a willingness to use them. it is always hard to make large generalizations based on specific cases, but in this case, i do believe it was something that was in both our interests. i disagree with my friend mike rogers in this. the notion that somehow that the russians were the big winners at the expense of the united states in this deal is absurd. the president possible, with respect to the threat of force, was a very specific. he wanted to get rid of the chemical weapons. a lot of people who were upset that we did not end up using military force had a different goal in mind with respect to military force. they wanted to use it to change the power situation on

we should find a proper solution for corporation of ukraine associated with the european union and russia and the think it's in the long term russian interests to predictable partner here in kiev well i think i would agree with you and one thing that russia and the european union definitely have in common is that they both want to have a prosperous and stable ukraine because if this crisis goes on all those people will go either you know ukrainian people will go either to russia or to the right painting union in search of jobs so i think neither russia nor the european union would be interested in that what do you think would be a compromise that would satisfy all three parties involved. first of all those in russia who can hear us if you look at this madame you should clearly realize that it's not against russia and it's not against the russians and it's not against iran in the way from. seoul in the ukraine in problems the people here want to want their future as a good prosperous future for themselves so i think that for everyone in. brussels it's very important of to find a legitimate

through two thousand and nine hundred towns and cities of russia. relayed by fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand kilometers. in a record setting trip by land air and sea and others face. a limp dick torch relay. on archie's. welcome back to worlds apart a riyadh discussing ukraine struggle for democracy and a better future event duration a prominent ukrainian journalist and politician mr shift chant russia has been accused of intimidating his crane and you know coverage personally into submission and forcing ukraine to turn its back on a democratic dream why do you think moscow is being so mean to fellow ukrainians. i think russia and the criminal leaders have been very pragmatically they do want to keep ukraine close they do want to see ukraine as part of the customs union so i think the dam which evasion is very clear for me but i don't really think that is going to change a lot of things here in the recruiting because the west majority of ukrainians do want to cream to go to go to the closer ties with the european union and sooner or l

so the game that they've been trying to play between the west and russia and that's the decision that mr gannon covered has been taken and that's where we stand at the moment and what the dynamic on the ground in kiev is going to turn out like whether it's going to be a mobilizing kind of effect again as nine years ago i really don't know that's a very volatile situation i wish that the ukrainian government will be playing it slightly smarter with the demonstrators that's for sure ok alexander would you like to weigh in there i mean we heard outside influence i suppose that means russia anything that goes wrong in ukraine is obviously russia's fault i mean that's a fault line for ukrainian politics. well it certainly is and it's what the europeans have been saying for the ever since this decision was made now i've actually read the association agreement and i have to say i am not really convinced of that my own view is that it is a far too ambitious document it requires that ukraine is sensually to convert to all the rules of the european single market within ten years on i don't hone

and russia and the middle east. margaret warner, chief foreign affairs correspondent and i'm pleased to say at this point that we have agreed to coproduced a joint web special about the middle east, hosted by margaret warner beginning in 2014. welcome. >> thank you. cynic i look forward to that and we have some fabulous participants and i know you know the law and i will give brief introductions and a minute and i think we are seeing growing russian engagement in the middle east. after quite a few decades of non-engagement. bashar al-assad and his regime with weapons and the deal with syria to be involved in the iranian nuclear nuclear agreement. russia has been making this part of the middle east and we have seen many have been a sphere of influence in egypt. so is russia and the middle east and if so to what end. and what is the objective and we can explore that today with a person who needs no introduction. center for strategic and international studies. this includes our intelligence council recently. and she is

somehow moscow and russia must lose. that it's not an easy hearing in the one nine hundred ninety s. from moscow it is it's an economic advantage if ukraine does join the e.u. which in all intents and purposes absolutely there's no question about any a saying it be an economic disaster if you. that with all due respect i think you know that that's not true. the ukraine if ukraine if the country has a much more open access to a market of five hundred million people. and with a very hyper capita income higher than russia clear it will be to their economic advantage but that doesn't have to be to the disadvantage of russia on the contrary the more prosperous ukraine is being given that it's a strong trading partner with russia the better off russia should be over the longer term and the same is true of the other nearby countries countries they should also benefit this is being defined as a zero sum game for purely political reasons but in effect even though a few years ago mr putin was talking about nato expansion of evil th

russia? what was your impression of these men and their impact in ukrainian politics? ould've mentioned that in my remarks. it varies to the degree to which they have been affected by russia. one of the oligarchs had an empire that was originally based on chocolate. since then he has been cut off and embargoed by putin and the russians. that has had more of an effect. i get the impression that they are very smart man. i got the impression that they are watching carefully the flow of events. there have been guarded remarks supporting the demonstrators but not calling for a change in government or even specifically a change in government policy. i think they are going to primarily weathervane as to how the course of events take place. on the one hand, they would view economic reforms as a threat to the virtual monopolies that they have in certain aspects of ukrainian economy. but on the other hand, they see the economic benefits to being part of the eu. they are dramatically better than economic ties to russia. they are balancing that out. do not underestimate how smart t

. >> after the chaos of the post selsoviet 90s, russia and president putin wants everyone to know that they're pack. a resurgent russia is the inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. when the soviet union died russia was a mess. it's economy was a mess. the ruble were plunging in value as were numbers and life expectancies. several former sel soviet members went their own way. fast forward, boris yeltsin is dead, and yeltsine successor vladimir putin has reasserted russia's place in the world. >> russian president vladimir putin had a few surprises up his sleeve thursday as he announced the prisoner releases in his announcement. most notable, mikhail khodorkovsky. he has spent ten year in jail. he was found guilty of tax invasion in 2015 and i am bes embezzlementment in 2010. >> he's citing humanitarian reasons, his mother is ill. i think taking that into circumstances it is possible to make the relative decision. >> reporter: the russian president also announced a new amnesty bill which will free several political prisoners. prisoners not involved in violent crimes, minors, women, sma

and around the world and here's just a taste of it. cup upset host russia win just one of their three matches in sochi as the czech republic play in the china one cup and finland the overall euro tour with six weeks to go until the winter olympics. plus a lot of the ring the roy jones jr beat is in a better match to fight a unanimous decision to win the w.v.u. cruiserweight title here in moscow. and alling saying we look at why russia all the world's best in synchronized swimming as champions past and present close another dominant season with a spectacular end of year show. but let's start with ice hockey as host russia lost two of their three matches that the china one cup in sochi to finish third overall from four in the euro to the last tournament before the winter olympics and that's the black sea resort the red machine started well at the bolshoi einstein coming back from a goal down to beat sweden three two on thursday time bondo open for breakthrough not early in the first period russia were level within four minutes three knoxy to the no one. and i

you're doing really well and even in russia. there are a lot despite the. keep happening in chechnya we hear of suicide. explode because it's happening regularly and of course involved . which is a. very meant as a place because of course it is the scene of stalingrad the place where we saw the fight between the germans and the russian during the second world war but while we thing well the nature of terrorism seems to be completely low tech. we have seen a focus on high tech terrorism and we've seen n.s.a. and we've seen them on the phone g.h.q. focusing on kind of social media and things of that and of course the russians had successes when when terrorists have used high technology what we're seeing now is the terrorists using low tech but also tapping we target. yet. out of course you know of any challenges for security forces involved abroad as well as in russia what makes it a target i mean to say have all the right and russia has been used because of the thought ship the events in sochi in twenty fourteen there's been a lot of focus away from volgograd

his plan to end up here and there was the united states made him stale us by revoking us passport and russia to its credit i sure recognized international law and granted him powerful sar the whistleblower remains in an undisclosed location in the russian capital we didn't exist for just this one last. period is lying to somebody want. to suck a. person someone told the truth snowden promises to keep the leaks coming through twenty fourteen together we can find a better balance and mance surveillance and for a minute the government that if it really wants to know how we feel asking is always cheaper than spying. the us government can and will shut down it came to a standstill for over two weeks in what's becoming an annual tradition grand america. took a beating here lawmakers couldn't agree on raising the debt ceiling and came very close to defaulting on some seventeen trillion dollars then surely the market's going to say we don't want to play this game anymore we're not ulit you money at any price the i.m.f. and world bank warned of dire consequences while china called for the world's d.

are changing the entire energy your politics of the middle east and i think russia and putin in particular are very concerned the russia be a major stakeholder major player in that development because it's going to change the geo political map of the entire middle east is thinking it's very interesting you bring in these i j a political aspects to the whole idea here but international reaction so far i mean that the pardon of quote a cult here in russia was suddenly came as a bombshell twenty four hours ago that the international reaction has been fairly subdued so far well it's what i would expect because. the western media has has a certain line that says that by washington or london and that line is russia's the bogeyman hooten is the new star and whatever will end any facts that tend to go against that are not going to be recognized as such they'll be simply ignored and forgotten and the new crimes will be dug up or new issues like the gay rights the question of what for you bring you bring in the whole issue of gay rights because we've already seen some media outlets saying that perha

and i was it. doesn't really help live up to russia and unless he gets very small that security. this is not what he said he said that as of now he doesn't have guarantees of him being able to leave russia for our foreign countries for example for germany he needs to visit that country for example because of his mother and that he isn't afraid of traveling to russia because he's afraid that does anyone actually as you are letting you know you are speaking for him that he never said that he said that indeed there are some legal issues with his skis that have not been subtlety have both he has never heard of this but i'm going to share that while holder of course he is in germany over. his not going to go to jail now goes without saying i'm also not a free for the two women from the pool i don't think that they're going to be sent back to jail as soon as the olympics so what are you what i see all of the rage of is that it. looks in the other direction from russia is this is no longer on russia then the unprecedented crowd of civil society has been witnessing is going to intensify t

and italy. it was the other big grouping. the entente came to include russia. then you had the triple alliance on the other side. increasingly before 1914, you had europe divided up into two armed camps. host: where was the united states during the early 1900 period, and what was his relationship with all of these different groups you are talking about here? guest: the united states is in the process of becoming a world power. united states is a great economic power by 1900, but it has not yet begun to translate that economic power into military power. it was beginning to build a navy. the president was very important in promoting the idea of a two ocean navy. the u.s. had a small army. it was beginning to extend its influence there it was beginning to move into the pacific, the hawaiian islands, china. and beginning to get more involved in latin america. but the american attitude towards europe was complex. after all, the united states was founded in an act of revolt against europe. there was a way in which americans looked at europe and said, we do not want to

towards the russian border now at the moment as this map shows the only blank spots between nato and russia or ukraine and the ropes more expert opinion and analysis on the situation in ukraine are always available on our website r.t. dot com you can also find all of the facts and numbers regarding what brussels and moscow can offer ukraine in case of closer partnership. the latest leak from edward snowden has exposed norway's role in america's global spying operations the nordic country has been sharing intelligence with the u.s. on russia's political elite as well as oil and gas companies and ordinary civilians . us director of the center for international and strategic analysis joins us now live so targeting politicians and energy companies this clearly has nothing to do with the fight against terrorism. no no it does not it's more a say a remnant of the cold war i don't think the fact that more or less conducting widespread intelligence operations against russia will come as a big surprise in russia itself. and this is probably a kind of activity that goes in the opposite direction as w

and russia's threat to cut the markets if they sign with the i is real he says the >> if russia stops buying our products today, factories will stop making money and stop paying taxes. so how is the state supposed to pay our pensions? >> this is a light aircraft manufacturer. it's director supports integration with both europe and russia but has seen first-hand that the russias don't. >> we already sold them 16 planes, and they had ordered two more. but when all this fuss about ukraine and europe started, they canceled. when they signed their agreement, they reinstated the rder right away. >> a third of the 50 employees are russian-born. their equipment is russian-made. but then europe -- for them, europe is a long way away. i do understand western ukrainians. europe is on their doorstep, and they see you can earn good money there. so they want europe. but for us, our neighbor is russia. we are-off sloss. we are one nation. >> a clock on the wall indicates moscow time. some stopped to watch the president give a tv interview justifying his pro-russian choice. >> basically i think he ha

and serves our interests as well. with russia as our neighbor and the warm relations between the georgians and the russians if you have always been in a place with the baby and we the georgians remember these are relations that have been and still are between us. you know that up to a million georgians leave in russia we fully realize that and in light of all this it would be a process sees along the occupation line seem even comprehensible to us. sure it's understandable that relations must be reset but how exactly will you accomplish this task if you become a nato member i repeat that we're not talking about e.u. membership which russia may or may not like russia openly states that if nato expense near its borders it will do everything in its power to prevent it the russians point out that it will threaten their national security. yes but we must succeed in convincing we're sure the georgia can't possibly pose a threat the fact that we sparred to join you european union and nato does not imply a threat against russia that this

look at western media and some western politicians this is a tussle between the european union and russia but in fact it's about ukraine being divided in what kind of future it wants to have and i would agree with you and there are the unocal which is played this game playing one off against another and you know what he's got he hasn't got much to show for it. well peter i have family in the ukraine my family my wife was originally from the crimea and so i have family both in some for or in kiev and i can tell you that the way this is presented in the western mainstream media as the ukrainian people rebelling against their government is entirely. facetious this is a country that is extremely divided almost along the geographic and ethnic lines where you have a russian speaking east and south of the country that does not want this association with the european union certainly not on terms that would mean stripping their relationship with russia which is what the european union has demanded from the very beginning they have from the first point denied that there can be any trilateral negoti

pussy riot issue and so forth these are attempts to isolate russia and her while at the same time it justifies the so-called new cold war with a missile defense in poland czech republic turkey etc i disagree i think that the release of mr hodder will be viewed positively in the west i mean the strains of anti putin and to russian propaganda. are you know the l b l g b t rights issue is one this completely separate from mr holder. but what i say let me just. say these people become celebrity prisoners these are well known people in the west and this is a great gesture of surprise from putin but is it is it actually a genuine change in direction for the country or this p.r. exercise no i don't think this is any genuine change for the country if we're talking about a move away from law and justice roast russian citizens in both of these cases feel that their crime and their punishment was well deserved and i think that this could create a little bit of domestic backlash because the russian people will question why they haven't. served out their full sentence but i have to agree that i d

is up among the leaders and russia saying we have to be listened to obviously russia is a member of the security council has a veto and so on very important member of the g. eight and the g. twenty and so on so russia from of follow foreign policy point of view is doing in fact very well they are saying we are here nobody nobody can threaten us we talk about the military aspect nobody can threaten us and they shouldn't try let's talk about that military threat in terms of the anti-missile defense system for europe saying of course the iranian threat is now subsided after the recent success of those talks and yet the u.s. is still pushing forward with that missile shield in europe putin sees this is a threat but should he. well he's always said that the russians have never believed the shield was really against iran. they see it as really a shield against themselves this is not the head and said this was the first time they've been saying this for the last ten years that nato is a threat if you look at from a military point of view russia seen as the greatest threat but if you tal

but first a world cup football and russia coach fabio capello was pleased with his side's opponents and much venue's after russia avoided the big guns at the draw for the twenty fourteen finals in brazil. reports the draw for nixon was world cup finals couldn't have got much better but the russian. can be a capello's side of the lines of defending champions spain free time winners germany and brazil they were drawn in the last group age and with belgium signs career and i would you and we play their matches in a much cooler climate of the. we are happy about the draw we're also happy about the fact that we're not playing in the northern part of the country that's very important to us. russia were drawn in the same group as belgium the last time they qualified for war camp in two thousand and two on but occasionally lost forty two before crashing out at the group stage for midfielder alexander must avoid played in the tournament for the russians and says despite drawing the inform belgians their opponents could have been much tougher language a lot of people say belgium are really top si

and russia will conduct such policy and internationally and domestically. -- [inaudible] not only private business but executive of government-controlled companies and development of institutions. i'm asking the government change their operating principle. it should be no area of man gear -- [inaudible] will not achieve a major effect of the economy. simply, we will not be able to properly qferred personnel. but control over the work must be set up properly. such entities should address long-term strategy and clearly set goals and ratio of personal responsibility of the management. and labor contract signed by the management need to provide for responsibility of failure to the goal including financial responsibility. [inaudible] should be approve bit government of the russian federation. of the 21st century. the challenge to be met are unprecedented in scale. therefore, our steps should be -- [inaudible] in the far east. i believe it makes sense to expand this regime to entire east siberia. [inaudible] [applause] in addition in the far east and in eastern s

where russia once again one every single night of the bends. puts respects and results down to my coaching mahmoud. abbas only ditsy his cousins every country has children who can excel at sport however in russia we have coaches who can train future and big champions we have a system in place to achieve this is different from a number of other countries other coaches may not agree with our principles you must look we believe the fall methods of bringing home numerous gold medals than our system is working. like a man system requires total dedication to sing that's what this train ten hours a day six days a week. and the country successes also encourage more girls take comes. and bolstered by a strong tradition in gymnastics this is helped boost standards within the country send the sport above the rest. of us the sick the not everyone around the world revels in our success some countries are fed up with our dominance year but it's up to them to try and get up to our levels a little the cause as a coach is difficult as we are always needing to think up new progra

and i was it. doesn't unless he really had to live up to russia and unless he gets very small that security. this is not what he said he said that as of now he doesn't have guarantees of him being able to leave russia for our foreign countries for example for germany and he needs to visit that country for example because of his mother and that he isn't afraid of traveling to russia because he's afraid that does anyone actually if you are listening you know you are speaking for him that he never said that he said that indeed there are some legal issues with his skis that have not been subtlety have both he has never heard of this very british air that while holder of course he is in germany or wherever else his not going to go to jail now goes without saying i'm also not a free for the two women from the pool so raw and bar i don't think that they're going to be sent back to jail as soon as the olympics are so what i what i see all of the rage of is that it. looks in the other direction from russia if the spotlight is no longer on russia then the unprecedented crowd and civil society that's be

and e.u. partners in dealing with the russian he says that ukraine is a very important partner for russia and therefore that he would he would advise that all parties involved in these talks would be considered as russia would also want to see the best deal for ukraine where the e.u. is concerned. there are mixed signals of ukraine's possible trade deal tonight to the e.u. which has been the source of course of the massive protests for the past month on one side a senior official stated that all talks are now on hold on the other ukraine's authorities say they're still progressing in this hesitant computer misfire the u.s. seems eager to to assume the role of decision maker and report. trauma care. bremer oh there's a curfew america is where you. are john mccain's media conference in kiev was rich in loud statements simply veiled warnings to moscow we need to make it clear. to the russian government that i'm here putin that interference in the affairs of ukraine is not acceptable to the united states of america or to any other free country in the world followed by explicit threats to kiev if t

and of course that china is well sitting right there on russia's doorstep so i think we have to see this in that context and as a potential larger geopolitical threat to russia. and expect that anyone will claim responsibility for that any time soon. i don't know if that will be coming but at any rate as we know of course these bombings are linked as we can tell that from the forensic evidence of the bombs themselves and that the types of agents that were added to them so there's no doubt that this is a part of a terror message that's being delivered to russia right now and of course the fact that the sochi olympics are right around the corner is obviously a key component of that message. james holmes and so they depend on websites the colbert report mr corbett thank you very much indeed you're welcome. russia's president has ordered a tightening of security across the entire country following the bombings. in central moscow also in the reaction from the kremlin that well so far at this point we have information coming in this from the president who has met

to simple logic and continues to puzzle many in and outside of russia most are waiting to see what mikhail khodorkovsky will do with his freedom in twenty fourteen and beyond. what is just going to help our state here in moscow the new year is just around the corner and do join us in less than three hours time for our special coverage to welcome in twenty forty. i'm an old school kind of guy i like tradition and heritage and all that stuff when i look to the past i see that there's a lot that we could learn from our ancestors however one thing we don't need from them are debtors' prisons which according to a fox news report are somehow on the rise in the united states in the twenty first century the a.c.l.u. and the british center for justice claim that the local courts have been sending individuals with unpaid fines and fees jail which the courts may not even realize is illegal these courts are locking up people with fines that have exploded in size due to interest imposed on the initial amount and for the representation they had when they were in court which i always thought was supposed

and. the united russia party was set up by me and i used to be the head of the the leader of the year united russia is still the main force in the parliaments. so i acted on its behalf. and well i signed the laws actually so it's part of corporation between our branches so we need to make beyond the same page we need to see eye to eye on the issues so i think this is a very good indicator. so our colleagues from georgia now please. to modernise the beads from rue started to to be channel mr minister for yesterday said that russia's nor ready to introduce a. visa free regime with georgia. while georgia as it has done a lot to change the relations with russia they said we've done everything to ease the tension unfortunately. the russian actions or near the occupy line. are very frustrating but we want to normalize our relations with neighbor there right now i've just quoted the statement by the new prime minister of cores that we have rich cultural and economic ties but all warts political steps is russia ready to take to normalize relations with georgia or. personally you have you changed you

and the united states over their recent losing the bidding war over the ukraine with russia or. certainly such a lympics tainted by the gay propaganda law do you think this is a move really to appease the international community and it is a pretty sort she p.r. exercise well i think it's a very effective move in the sense that. through his sons and the foundation of the united states has been a very proponent of propaganda against mr putin russia. so that takes the. ground from under their feet remains to be seen how mr hodder behaves when he's paroled and on release for sure he has. the line that he or i will talk about that in a minute what the implications are for putin and indeed for khodorkovsky but william is this something that the west will receive positively. i don't think so i think i think so yes. it's a sign of weakness if i may can conclude the sentence or it's a sign of weakness as the west will interpret it first you have to understand the reason for the propaganda campaign on the gay rights issue the holocaust is shoe on the pussy riot issue and so forth these are

this is a perfect opportunity to do to showcase the country here that changing perceptions about russia and seeing that it's a normal country holds normal you know global sporting events mark it's very modern russia certainly spent an enormous amount of money on the games you think they can change perceptions marginal i think it's a much more important that russia seem to be dealing with you know sort of the bigger issues that concern investors such as corruption sustaining that campaign against corruption bringing more corrupt officials to book you know making more progress on the world bank sees doing business rankings improving russia's ranking transparency international frankly these are the issues and you know right now you know we have to potentially negatives that people are talking a lot about again we talk about the disproportionate bad news where but you know a proposal to merge the supreme court with the arbitration court that has a lot of investors and business is worried is that what that might mean and there's also the proposal to give power to the you know to to the to the po

through two thousand and nine hundred towns and cities of russia. relayed by fourteen thousand people or sixty five thousand kilometers. in a record setting trip by land air and sea and others face. olympic torch relay. on r t r g dot com. welcome back to worlds apart rear discussing the interplay between democracy and security with the new year the secretary general of the organization for security and cooperation in europe mr the always see was created as an organization to facilitate the dialogue between east and west during the cold war and to some extent this divide ideological divide still remains and some may even argue that it has exacerbated in recent years in fact these recent toggle for between russia and the european union over ukrainian future may be seen as one example of that what do you think are we witnessing the formation of this new divide between istana west and europe because there's talk of. and what we see is that the relations between the keep players a group of players in the us see space not necessarily become any easier in