in russia's european northwest lies one of the country's oldest inhabited areas the north east. with records dating back to the midnight century this is a place with a rich history a powerful medieval republic it was famed for the quality of its first on the bent of its scholarship before it was a mix to the greats of russian state in the fifteenth century. the region is around six hundred kilometers from moscow and an overnight train journey will drop you right in the center of its capital i've arrived in the famous old city of great but i'm not actually going to stay here because i've heard that this region disposed to be one of the most beautiful in russia so that's where i'm headed. so this is telling me exactly the right way to go my problem is how do i get from a to b. and with lakes and dense forests making up sixty percent of the region that's not always an easy task. one thing about traveling through the novgorod wilderness is that you are likely to come across some fairly sizable obstacles including the largest area of swamp land in northwestern russia and if i'm going

business in russia thank you very much for joining us so what difference is this going to make to european companies operating in russia if russia is going to enter the w.t. or indeed with detectors being done today and then the ratification done next year . the rules of the game will much more be much more transparent to european companies because russia is going to move into the mainstream of international business behavior into its a more clear rules when it comes to arbitration when it comes to public procurement and in very many other areas as well. you mentioned that rules going to be more transparent in russia but have you seen a pickup in interest from european companies to expend into russia where we certainly see constantly foreign direct investment coming from europe into the country although certainly the crisis in the euro zone is not helping this to say that now due to accession what let's say increase the direct investment coming in from europe it's not the case yet it's because too early the signatures are being put on the document today and instead the rhetoric asian has t

will continue in a positive direction our common goal is to have a visa free regime between russia and european union on energy we also discussed some matters of energy we are welcome to progress in the energy dialogue and also the close you russia energy partnership i stress that a reliable transparent rules based energy framework applying to all of the reuters remains a key priority for european union. we have very very strong common interests with russia in energy and in many other fields this summit was by the quality of the dialogue and by the constructive tone of the conversations and the other testimony to this and so i will work also to thank personally president medvedev for is strong commitment to the russian. ships and to thank him for what was i believe a very successful summit i think you for that thank you i should know like to give the floor to the president of the russian federation mr davis treatment with your. name of them and his brother says ladies and gentlemen to your colleagues the but put it into the restroom with always good to speak you don't have to say much unless i'

in a confident weight the two thousand and six european russia opening but found their stride later on lading by four points midway through much didn't come close to leveling matters in that and ultimate and thus the russians showed their dominance by controlling the last one five male living the final score thirteen seven and place wrapped up that was only the. country is second over piece of silverware. just on the bill of it but i don't think the game turned out to be very tight were confident how to trigger it stayed focused and concentrated on the result and you'll be and so very happy to win a bronze medal. easier than in denmark is a very experienced team and we expected them to fight until the end we kept in mind that we should battle even if the equalized we followed the plan and we won but as the game. now one man has played many times against all the cato teams kevin tillman is this focus of our profile series this week the canadian captain of various us tonight has been busy blazing a trail in the league since he first arrived in kazakhstan in two thousand and eight but wha

nato isn't taking russia's concerns over european missile defense into account and isn't ready to seriously work together on the shield the strong words from russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov nato russia meeting in brussels. and european leaders race against time to save the single currency by gathering state some of the brussels on brother germany and france are pushing for new e.u. treaties to bind the nations into a close knit union but it's only taxes and fines. and indeed the financial fallout from the going euro crisis tends to ignore borders is waiting for him to return to business just now with a squeeze felt far beyond europe next on r.t. gets expert insight on what's likely to be a slow drawn out recovery. today i'm talking to cuba who's the managing partner of fusion asset management based in london we are talking as ratings agencies increasingly look at downgrading the debt rating but the entire city of the year is a including financially healthy countries like germany mr lidsky thanks for talking to us today now this is a crucial time for the old europe is pushing for mor

nato isn't taking russia's concerns over european missile defense into account and isn't ready to seriously work together on the shield those strong words come from russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov after a nato pressured me taking brussels. and european leaders arrive for a key summit in brussels as they race against time to save the single currency germany in france a pushing for a new e.u. treaty used by the nations in a close knit union with its own taxes and fine. indeed the financial fallout from the euro crisis tends to ignore borders to with a squeeze felt far beyond europe next on r.t. we get expert insight into what's likely to be a slow drawn to recovery. today i'm talking to. the managing partner of fusion asset management based in london we are talking as ratings agencies increasingly look at downgrading the debt rating for the entire c. of the year and say including financially healthy countries like germany mr lecky thanks for talking to us today now this is a crucial time for the old europe is pushing for more fiscal unity and meanwhile the u.k. is backing away from it

disturbances and changes in russia but there's a hell of a lot of austerity too with russia's major trading partner in the european union i mean can we put this into perspective and people are looking at things happening in russia protests which you know on a very large scale that we haven't seen since the one thousand nine hundred which i think is a net good thing not a bad thing and we compared it with riots going on let's say in athens and and in london i mean does russia look better and better all things being equal. well i mean i'm not sure mate made the comparison because the riots and. in athens for example were academically born rather than sort of politically born here i don't think there's any huge issues in russia with the economic situation and i don't think these were protests in russia about economics i think there's a potential link through if you look at night so it's a little bit about pressure on disposable income now they could be some issues and sounds of access to credit and loan growth you know i wonder if you know the we've already seen it's an extent actually is that the uncertainty that em

right now ok you know the subject earlier this month after the parliamentary election in russia the the european union called russia to hold new elections because because they they they criticized the the alleged fraud that took place during the parliamentary vote does this political move sharply criticized by official moscow does it actually derail the russian relations it's hard for me to tell something on the russia you i will tell what i know for sure which is russia us with your permission to use under secretary clinton. was very sharp in her remarks criticizing the elections we. telling the our u.s. colleagues two things number one. no one from abroad should give characters we have a post-election period we have a campaign period for presidential elections we do not need any meddling is specially any meddling in terms of financial support of russian n.g.o.s from abroad and then i'm very sure that this message this signal has been heard by. u.s. partners the different thing is whether or not they will listen to you. in two thousand and twelve russia will have a new president do you think th

making predictions on how the world would be interest and one of the predictions was that russia will be part of european union do you think it's possible you know why not first of all. russia is much too big you know and i think that. europe president loves a lot in since the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago and we have not they just. the newcomers and don't forget that we have a huge controversy about. just cannot emerge in the candidacy of russia. in a time when we are still struggling and debating a bangle so. about turkey so thing that i'm not saying that russia will never be in the european union you know my own vision is that in one hundred years from now or two hundred years from now the european union will have extended to the whole planet actually because i think we are the seeds of a new model of world government so the european union is a very serious thing but if you tell me in ten years that there is not the slightest chance for russia to join surprised to hear that theory for many people now that the. basis for your play very well specially with a. badly you really think such