president my question number one, is about the tragic death of boris nemtsov. it shook me as a person. you might understand me, we have cooperated with him. it is really a painful event. what is your take on the investigation. will we know who ordered that contract killing? it looks more like a terrorist act. what about political competition -- will your political opponents like navalny, khordrokovsky and others be ready? will they be conditions for them to take hard in parliamentary elections? maybe that will stabilize the situation and stimulate the private sector and draw in a private investment. during the funeral, journalists came up to me. there are also online reports that boris nemtsov got information on the presence of russian troops southeast of ukraine and also during the funeral, western journalists asked me about it. can you clarify -- can you give us more details? were there russian troops are not? -- ornot. president putin: let's start with the opposition which had the right and the possibility to participate officially and legally in politics. n

boris nemtsov led efforts in which he passionately believed in, in a different russia. and i find it pretty outrageous to see the latest narrative that is being portrayed that an islamist plot is the reason why he was assassinated. but to his family, his friends, and his followers, we have our heart felt thoughts and condolences. now, as it relates to today's hearings, there are many experts who would contend the complexity of the geopolitics that led to the u.s. retreat from europe created an opening for putin and the ukraine. clearly we must closely coordinate with our european friends for the sanctions against russia to work, but i think without any doubt we can all agree on one point, and that is that the united states must take the lead. i believe the administration -- the legislation passed with unanimous consent in both houses of congress. it authorized the president to provide much needed military and humanitarian aid to ukraine and imposes additional sanctions against russia. this legislation was necessary in december. and it is certainly necessary today. now,

on your question regarding the assassination of boris nemtsov we were his friends. he was in the opposition. he criticized me and the government even though i used to have a pretty close relationship with him. like i said, in the past, it is a tragic and shapemeful event. about the investigation, i can tell you that one day or 36 hours after this happened police investigators knew the names of perpetrators and the only question they had was how to arrest them. let's give credit to our law enforcement agencies. this was objective data. it is not just footage. they have many different technical capabilities available. i don't want to say too much because i don't want to dive old -- diebold's -- divulge the methods they use. on the whole, this matter was taken care of within a few hours. whether -- they did a very professional job quickly. they used several channels simultaneously. different agencies worked simultaneously and they all achieve the same results. whether they will find a mastermind behind this association and whether there is such a person, i don't know y

they see the move as an attempt to unite a divided option after the killing of bors boris nemtsov. also run together in the local elections. antiterrorism detectives in australia are questioning five teenagers suspected of plotting to attack a first world war centenary celebration in melbourne. >> included targeted police officers. a third man a 19-year-old plan, has been arrested in relation to weapons offenses. >> australia's foreign minister has flown to iran hoping for business opportunities. improving relations after this nuclear framework as to when sanctions are lifted there will be opportunities for trade and australia sees itself well positioned to take advantage of that. andrew thomas explains. >> reporter: iran is a great untapped market. and australia wants to position itself to take advantage. knowing other countries won't be far behind. that's why australia's foreign minister julie bishop has come to iran, hers is likely to be the first of many trips by politicians keen to renew ties with iran. >> iran was a major trading partner for australia before the sanctions reg

. >> it's seven weeks since boris nemtsov died. clearly he's deeply missed. many attending an opposition conference on saturday new him personally. but they didn't come to mourn, they came to plan for the future. >> translator: we don't aim at choosing a leader and uniting around him. if you have one leader you can be easily defeated. we must become a wide scale movement for democratic reforms. we must learn to do something that the opposition never could do. go to people. talk to them. get a huge number of activists to help. only will this bring the chance of victory. >> parliamentary elections in 2016 and a strategic union has just been formed to fight them. nemtsov's party, rpr parnasse and the party of progress led by anticorruption campaigner alexi navalny. opposition is wise to propose a different model to russia's traditional authoritarianism. >> the three leaders of yeltsin or putin style. the key persons do incline to understand that if we do implement the parliamentary model,. >> belkofski is not optimistic of success. russia's opposition facing eas

maybe we might have the bridge named after boris nemtsov. president putin: as for the assassination, i have already said what i think about it and i don't think there is a need for me to repeat myself. as regards flowers and the names of streets, you know it is up to local authorities and regional authorities and moscow authorities in this case to decide there is a law, according to which, flags can be -- set up at a place where someone was killed after 10 years since his death. but i repeat, moscow authorities can and should make an appropriate decision. as for flowers and other things of similar nature, i don't know why there is the need for such restrictions. and i don't welcome that. on the contrary, i think there is nothing wrong with people laying flowers if it does not interfere with other people's activities. i think there is no problem with that. i will definitely talk to the moscow mayor and make sure they don't interfere with that. you mentioned a certain street it is also strange, i never paid attention to that, but i definitely

. >>> five suspects of the boris nemtsov murder have been charged with involvement in the killing. one of the suspects confessed but later claimed he had been tortured into making the statement. >>> singer songwriter joni mitchell has been taken to hospital in los angeles. he has been found unconscious in her home. according to her website she is awake and in good spirits. she has won eight grammy awards during her long careers and had a string of hits in the '60s and '70's. >>> iraqi troops fighting against islamic states in the northern city of tikrit are claiming victory in a month-long battle. troops have entered the presidential palace and raiseing iraqi flags on the build there's. the government has been fighting to recapture tikrit the past six months. the largest operation against is. they were given new momentum when they were joined with air strikes. an official says most of the city has now been liberated. >> i can announce most of tikrit is lib rated today. only a few pockets of resistance remaining. we will give you the good news in a few hours once we have crushed the

he was the only one who confessed of the murder of boris nemtsov. the judge continued his detention but ruled three other suspects were illegally detaped. >>> in context the palestinian authority officially joined the international criminal court. the icc has vowed to investigate both sides. jonah hull reports from the hague. >> the palestinian foreign minister remerged from a welcoming ceremony at the international criminal court in the hague yesterday. a further step to justice but it won't be quick. >> it is an anchor in which stability can be firmly established. >> do you accept this might take a long time to bring any action against israel here to the international criminal court? >> we are not going to alter the work and the mechanisms established by the icc. what we want to do is to cooperate with icc to provide whatever information available in our hands in order to really facilitate and accelerate the process of investigation committed done by the icc. >> in a preliminary examination of the facts on the ground, the prosecutors are looking a

. >> reporter: just last month, another putin critic, boris nemtsov was gunned down in the shadow ofeveral suspects have been arrested, and the office of the president has denied involvement. the victim was about to lead a major rally against putin it went on without him. all of this intrigue and violence may seem very far away. but when nbc news consultant paul joyal was shot just a few miles from the capital, he and his wife immediately thought it was a hit. one big reason, the timing. >> it's four days after i accused the president of being responsible for the - - the horrible murder of litvinenko on your network. >> reporter: in early 2007, joyal appeared in a "dateline" report on the litvinenko case he blamed vladimir putin for the murder. just four days later he was almost murdered himself. you think they were related? >> i don't think there's any doubt. >> people out in the general public say, "oh, that's in russia. it's never gonna happen here." but i know that it could happen here too. i know that it can happen here, because it happened to my husband. >> reporter: there's no

he also was asked about the killing earlier this year of boris nemtsov, prominent opposition figure gunnedhat he had to say. >> i just want to say there are no russian troops in ukraine. if we look at the recent conflekt where openly publicly said we are not fighting with the russian army. as far as the murder of nemtsov is concerned, we have friendly relations. it was tragic and shameful. the question about whether we can find the people who were ordered to carry out, i don't know. >> just enough for vladimir putin to speak his mind and reassure that concerns will be addressed. >> matthew chance. thank you so much. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" beginnings begins after a break. the lincoln mkz hybrid. and who has one starting price for gas or hybrid? mkz hybrid again. mm-hmm. upstaged them. the lincoln luxury uncovered event is on. lease the mkz or mkz hybrid for $289 a month. plus for a limited time competitive owners and lessees get one-thousand dollars bonus cash. headache? motrin helps you be an unstoppable, let's-rock-this-concert- like-it's-1999 kind of mom. when pain tries to stop

the tragic assassination of boris nemtsov really points out just how extreme the putin regime has gotten. i think what we could do, madam secretary, and i would just urge you to look at mr. nemtsov exposed individuals of gross violation of russian rights. it would be appropriate for us to review as to whether we should be imposing the meninski type sanctions against those individuals that he worked on within russia. let's not forget the man who is unlawfully imprisoned in russia today, taken by ukraine from russia. there is just continued efforts and the russia's violations of its agreements, including the minsk ii cease-fire. i'm pleased to see you're looking at additional sanctions. understand that it's going take u.s. leadership. if we wait for europe to act, it's not going to be effective. we have to be out there and with our european partners. but it's going to require the u.s. leadership. i want to change gears for one moment if i might. i think we've had a lot of questioning on the defensive issues. i want to get to the economic front. my assessment from visiting kiev was that wha

at a court hearing yesterday, the man claimed he was beaten while in custody for the death of boris nemtsovwhat to say and how to say it. he is one of five men held for nemtsov's murder. all of them from chechnya. >>> now to a political bombshell on capitol hill. senator bob menendez indicted on bribery charges accused of swapping political favors for nearly $1 million in gifts and campaign contributions. we get the latest from wabc's dave evans. >> reporter: bob menendez struck a defiant tone in a packed room of supporters denying all allegations and promising a fight. >> at the end of the day i will be vindicated, and they will be exposed. >> reporter: it began two years ago when the fbi raided the offices of solomon melgen, an rich eye doctor in florida and close friend the senator. prosecutors allege menendez advocated on behalf of melgen on behalf of a dispute worth 8.9 million. he is a son of cuban immigrants who tangled with the administration on cuba policy and negotiations with iran. >> i'm outraged that prosecutors at the justice department were tricked in to starting this investi

one one hand the nemtsov killing and on the other, one woman asking putin to persuade her husband to get a dog on her birthday. his response i can't order anything. so let's just ask boris, please be kind to buy your wife a dog. wolf it got bizarre and i think this man boris is under pressure tonight to buy his wife a dog. >> certainly is. a blunt question on the tension in ukraine. >> reporter: right. on a lot of people's minds there. came from a person who lives near it's border with ukraine and said we are afraid for our children. will there be a worear? putin's answer it is not possible. his actions belie those words. >> in-depth on all this. joinings deputy security advisor ben rhodes. thanks for joining us. >> good to be with you womanlf. >> ramadi first. bricks and mortar awkward phrase. from the joint chiefs of staff. hundreds of people lives at risk if isis were to take over. 150,000 refugees already. what's going on over there? >> it's obviously of enormous concern as major population center in that part of iraq. what the chairman was saying you have strategic assets like the baiji oil refinery we've supported iraqi security forces in taking and holding and ha