last year in june 2013, the russian duma in moscow passed a new law banning the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships ~ to mine ores. this new law is closely related to several regional laws that were already on the books all of which seek to penalize "propaganda of homosexuality generally with the intent of "protecting minorses, which as you know has been for many years an argument ~ that homophobes use [speaker not understood]. the language of the new law focuses on nontraditional sexual relationships to contrast with "traditional values or traditional family language." russian russia is promoting aloe ute u.n. positive tim statements of the human rights of lgbt people. the federal lgbt propaganda law as signed by president putin last june took effect in june of last year. in the federal law propaganda is defined as "distribution of information that is aimed at the formation among minors of nontraditional sexual attitudes, attractiveness of nontraditional sexual relations, misperceptions of the social equivalence of traditional and nontraditional sexual relations or enforcing i

extraordinary behavior well when he allowed himself to openly call for violence within the walls of the state duma. all journalists of our agency and colleagues from other media organizations were outraged and we did manage it or not his actions in a strong legal response achieved paul wilson russia's parliament quickly continue the offensive remarks and corporate ethics committee to write an inquiry into the baltic exchange. and it's not the first time juno scheme has faced criticism last year he claimed it and tell me to which his russian team and was actually a secret if american weapons test and early this year he was quoted as saying his ear with the help of members to have . nine more than four times he needed the politician also to make various anti semitic remarks don't use before drifting his father was actually one at the new train prime minister urged any of you celebrated easter sunday with a family in kiev where he made a short statement calling for ukrainian across the country to try to pressure would be political. it's the first time on this great day at the stat that ukraine is con

know that given the anti-gay propaganda law which passed 4 02 to nothing ~ when it came before the duma, if this goes forward it will pass overwhelmingly as well. so, the fear and terror among the community and particularly for lgbt family is extremely high and we're already seeing immigration equality in new york talk about a 300% increase in asylum claims from lgbt people to the united states and there are other similar situationses in europe. the situation is actually quite terrifying. more importantly, i think it's important to know this is a kremlin directed campaign. this is a deliberate conflation of nationalism and homophobia for political gain. it is not only important our country stands up for what is right and fair, but that we do it with our actions as well as our words. and as you probably know, u.s.-russian relations are at another all-time low. our diplomatic opportunities to influence the situation in russia is very limited. human rights defenders in the country have increasingly few opportunities to speak out. [speaker not understood] any country that has growing dictat

nazis them that will punish historians denying crimes during world war two the bill was adopted by the duma in the first reading it it uses a criminal charge. knowing facts established by the tribunal regarding the crimes of jimmy need to be a d seventy two false information about civic actions during the war punishment for violations would range from a hefty fine tuning the joke so. critics say the bill would be used to enforce the kremlin approved version of the street and has links in the coming says it is directed against liberals and democrats. the company of regime with the regime about the papal a respected professor underneath the boat was dismissed from the moscow state institute of international relations last month for news. they brought to court in which he compared bush's actions in ukraine's crimea to hitler's annexation of austria and is today to land. putin's regime is made to look to the cornerstone of its policies with the province of west and opinions. several politicians compete for team to hitler over crimea easy to view the clinton got to co star of our most notably co

first of all, duma, thanks for coming back on the show.ight? you brand different kinds of marijuana, right? and you sell it, too, that's what you do, right? >> that's correct. we are a manufacturer and, first of all, thank you for having me back on the show, stuart, i really appreciate it. i think of our company as a distillery. we take a raw product just like alcohol takes potatoes and turns it into vodka, we take cannabis and turn it into something that is predictable and reliable, meaning it's going to make you feel the same way every single time. stuart: wait a minute. the raw cannabis comes into ebu, do you change it, or do you just analyze it and find out what different strains will do for you when you get high on it? >> i think anyone could do that sort of analysis or at least anyone with a scientific background. what we do is much more like what a distillery does to grain or potatoes when they turn it into vodka. we do alter the product and make it something that is a completely different category. you don't look at a bot bottle of

and today the duma adopted another piece of election cutting us out of elections. designed this way that concerns only our party. it means just again we are coming to the environment that the instrument we thought would be just very practical not through the, say, revolution on the streets but through normal constitutional ways through elections to have a gradual the changing in the whole vironment just, we lost such opportunity. and today i already made the statement that now just we have one way to create another wave of protestant russia. it could happen not necessarily tomorrow maybe in one year, maybe in two years. and people understand. and the failure of putin to perform as he promised to people in his propaganda vis-a-vis ukraine would be another failure and there would be another disappointment of people that's what would speed up the whole collapse of the regime. that's why just a lot of different circumstances and things we should deal with simultaneously but in this case just the west in general position i would say principled position is absolutely nec

want to focus on the duma.uma i want to get a nasdaq stock nothing comes up. due ma, russian parliament, holy cow. >> the three musketeers, it depends -- >> i like that. >> right. >> down here at the big board, nyse hosting an event on the financial empowerment of women in recognition of financial capability month and at the nasdaq churchill downs ringing the bell remotely from the churchill downs, kentucky derby televised may 3rd, on nbc. >> i've been there a bunch of times. one of the great events. you have to get there. >> never been. >> once in your life get there. dress well. don't dress like a slump. >> go to the millner. >> got that word from oprah. >> we'll keep our eye on the big ones we mentioned at the top of the show. starbucks and microsoft are going to get the benefit of the doubt today. amazon is not. >> no. and amazon, we -- remember we want growth. like charlie the tuna, we don't want tuna with good taste. we want good tasting tuna, profits. you know who has profits is vf corp, north face, eric

military officials and some of them linked to the de-facto annexation of crimea including a member of the duman parliament responsible for starting legislation to integrate crimea into russian federation and another figure is chief of the russian staff. now, we should point out that some of these people are politically important but they are not in putin inner circle as some of the american sanctions have gone to. >> russia vowed reprisal for the u.s. sanctions, are we seeing any reaction to this? >> reporter: they are mixed. in the last few hours the russian foreign ministry put out a statement saying that the european union is doing washington's bidding with unfriendly gestures. now just before that the deputy foreign minister said that the american sanctions would hurt russia's high tech industry and he has now said that this is basically a revival of a policy from the 1940s in which western countries applied what he called an iron curtain, stopping supply of high-tech goods in the soviet union and other nations so obviously it's very unwelcome but they are stressing the eu and the u.s. hav

voted and decided it wanted to go into a different direction and soldiers before the kremlin voted the duma voted to support what putin wanted. so what we see unfolding is that putin has planned this for some time and he's engaged in the same kind of tactics he's been talking about, a new russia and basically trying to raise aspirations with his domestic public that he's redrawing the lines of russian influence and its boundaries. while sergey lavrov and john kerry may be trying to put something in play that looks like diplomatic progress, vladimir putin back home is continuing to roll against ukraine. >> while that happens you have a situation of trying to decide what happens next. the president talked about that yesterday on cbs. let me play that. >> each time russia takes these kinds of steps that are designed to destabilize ukraine and violate their sovereignty, that they're going to be consequences, and what you've already seen is the russian economy weaker. >> so, ann, what's the administration's options here? what's the next move? >> the administration's options are really diplomatic

we got our representatives down in two regions, and today the duma adopted another piece of , designed to be just for our party. it means again, we are coming to ,he environment, the instrument very practical, not through the revolution, but through normal ways, constitution, having a gradual changing in the whole .nvironment we lost such opportunity. today, i already made a creatent that we have to another wave of protest in russia. it could happen may be in one year, but people understand that. the failure of putin to perform appropriately as he promised to people. propaganda in ukraine would be another failure. disappointment of people. that would speed up the whole collapse of the regime. why a lot of different circumstances. we should deal with them, but in this case, general western opposition, principal position is absolutely necessary. >> thank you very much a lot more questions in the audience but we have run out of our hour. let me thank you. as david said at the beginning, thank you for your own courage, coming here to the atlantic council to continue this conversation. the

and chairman of the management board for ross nafta oil company alexei pushkov chairman of the state duma committees healing to national affairs and dimitri cause ark a deputy prime minister of the russian federation let's now get more from robert oulds chairman of the bridge group same time mr robert oulds thank you very much for joining us here on our seem to national so president obama. has recently put all the blame for the chaos in ukraine and russia let's now have a listen together russia has not lifted a finger to help in fact. there is strong evidence that they have been encouraging because of the. activities that take place in. eastern and southern ukraine the geneva statement pointed towards are we could resolve this statement what it asks of the russians is hardly onerous make a split statement those militias need to lay down their arms so robert how can you comment on that. well this whole crisis was stirred up by the united states in the first place they were the ones who invested five billion dollars funding opposition groups to overthrow the democratically elected president

on 18 march in his address to the russian duma, president said, and i quote, "a referendum was held in crimea on 16 march in full compliance with democratic procedures and international law -- an international norms." in stark contrast to this bold assertion, the report concludes that "the presence of paramilitary and so-called self-defense groups, as well as soldiers in uniform without insignia widely believed to be from the russian federation, was not conducive to an environment in which the will of the voters could be exercised freely." "theeport also states, delegation received many reports of vote rigging, including cases of non-ukrainian citizens participating in the referendum, as well as individuals voting numerous times in different locations. locations." furthermore, there are port expresses "serious concerns of theiolations political rights of the inhabitants of crimea." it cites objection, harassment, and violence against peaceful demonstrators, arbitrary arrest, and torture. it also expresses deep concern at the consequences of introducing russian citizenship and estimates

that dugan is positionsly occupying claihair chairmen ma urrently with the current .airman of the dumashese theories have one problem with them. problem is not that they are wrong. he problem is that people who promulgate them start it believe them and the policy is built on conspiracy theories. to conclude, what can we do? first, i agree with my -- to pay, we need it attention. we need to study the russian ropaganda and the tools that are used to disseminate it and for the life of me i do not and i'm the first to support freedom of the press but don't understand how the russian government shuts down the voice of america, creates a problems for radio liberty and we have something journalists here on new tied.avenue from russia russia today is a channel that they can invite you and if you foolish enough to speak they no t you down and for me more. thank you very much. i'm not diagnose russia today again. we had need to -- and i'm sounding like a broken i'm here in this organization for 21 years -- we reform international and casting and b.b.g. nothing is happening. like a hobbling along

. -- duma chairman. these conspiracy theories have one problem with them.t is not that they are wrong. people start to believe them. the policy is built on these conspiracy theories. to conclude, what can we do? i agree with my colleagues. we need to pay more attention. we have to have systematic study propaganda and tools that are used to disseminate it. i do not understand. i am the first one to support freedom of the press and expression. i do not understand how the russian government shuts down the voice of america, creates a lot of problems for the radio liberty and we have something like hundred journalists here on new york avenue from russia today. russia today is a channel that they can invite you and if you are foolish enough to come and speak, they shout you down. i am not doing russia today again. -- i sounde need to like a broken record. reform international broadcasting and bbg. nothing is happening. like as hobbling along three legged cat. rethink it, decide if we want a separate agency -- which i think we need in terms of public diplomacy. or

are talking the acting governor of sevastopol, the russian port there and the deputy is the state duma in moscow who proposed the annexation of crimea last month. as well as that, there are various figures believed to be agitators in the east of ukraine. one name in particular is alleged to be a military intelligence officer who was active in crimea now appears to have moved to eastern ukraine. it's a distinction that's clear. the united states has apparently decided to target putin's business associates, where the european unicef targeting only those who had direct involvement in what's happening on the ground. >> we have to point out russia's biggest trading partner is the e.u. let's move to the ukrainian parliament, the interim prime minister calling for a new constitution before the presidential elections next month. what changes is he asking for? >> >> what the new interim administration here in kiev is very keen to do is deinvolve some past where local areas can look after themselves. the presidential candidate said we don't want to give too much power to the areas. >> president

crisis in ukraine the targets include russian individuals including alexei pushkov who's russia's state duma foreign affairs committee head eager said chen he's head of russia's oil giant ross nath and deputy prime minister dmitri calls acts well businesses and high tech exporters are also on the hit list but so far the financial and energy sectors are not being touched gas problem is not there ross nafta itself wasn't targeted probably because it has contracts with america's exxon mobile new sanctions are built on earlier u.s. and european view the family asset freezes imposed after crimea was reunified with russia but the e.u. is expected to lift further sanctions on individuals on two. tuesday because without the europeans these latest same questions will have little or no impact here is why i take a look at twenty thirteen numbers and you will trade between russia and the us was about twenty eight billion dollars well trade between the e.u. and moscow was a whopping four hundred and billion dollars yeah it's a big difference so no wonder washington is really pushing the e.u. to sanction

thought was unnecessary and should not have been passed but then they were reaction of the russian duma was actually damaging to russia's interests so these emotional issues tended to simply intrude upon cooperation where our interests really were similar so i guess that the u.s. blames russia for the downfall of the ration states russia blames the us it's there are troops somewhere in the middle. well i think the time has come to say let's draw the line all of this let's go back to square one so to speak and look at where our interests lie now the fact is that. the things that threaten us all are things like the deterioration of the environment the global warming the spread of disease poverty. you know violence and conflict in areas terrorism these real problems are international we need cooperation to deal with them and to have disputes over pieces of land and and abstract ideas you know such as sovereignty and territorial integrity these are important things but basically it is keeping us from concentrating on the issues that we need to cooperate if we're going to be successful in th

different ideas coming out for example from duma members of russia that we should perhaps find an agreement that ukraine should be neutral and so on and so on i don't support that at all i think the ukrainian people should decide from for themselves or for interrupting but this is a very crucial point nato is not a democratic organization it's not people who are deciding to join it it is the governments that governments that decide that and need to can always refuse that request if it finds it not to not to be in the interest of collective sick. so my question to you whether you think that accepting a country that has become such a bone of contention between russia and europe is really in the best interest of danish people or europeans as a whole you know what i still believe it's very democratic if a government decides to because the government should be democratically elected and should also be able to make decisions on behalf of reach is not the case i mean there isn't any right to know and i don't always that's a question if the current government before we have new elections say ok we