mr. putin didn't like that and the other thing that mr. mr.litvinenko was doing with investigating the murder of a journalist. she was a muckraking journalist. she was assassinated in the doorway to her apartment. again it has never been resolved. i think one of the problems here is that there were a number of rather high-profile mergers in russia most of them in russia in the 1990s and since then but particularly the 1990s of businesspeople and none of these things were ever resolved. sometimes they would pick up the actual assassin. at one point yeltsin's minister of nationalities and i think that adds to this tendency in the west to assume the worst about everything just because they have installed so many of these high-profile cases. >> host: i thought for a long time actually that the russian government could not be in balked with litvinenko because i could not see a sufficiently good reason and now i'm totally agnostic of that. a man called ahmed zakias who was the former chechen separatist leader who was a very close friend of litvinenk

mr. putin mr. putin -- the kremlin and he has thrown out the united states agency for international development, now the u.s. ngo's. we have had a spat over the magnitsky act and the so-called adoption of russian children. i think what we have to understand is we have to differentiate between the obama administration and the u.s. congress. the obama and i think it's been fairly reserved. the u.s. congress if you look at the entire 23 year. not that i'm looking at has not been a force for promoting better relations with russia. those people in the congress who are adjusted in russia have tended to be people who are highly critical so things like the magnitsky list which freezes the assets of russian officials involved in human rights abuses originated in the congress and was not something that the obama administration wanted with this legislation on adoption. so the administration i think understands it but i think we are a pluralistic system and the congress is very important. they take a diffe

putin when he became clear that mr. putin was going to take charge and mr. berezovsky was not going to be able to do what he was doing before. so yes, i think nobody really knows. and no one will ever know. and i think that we are in this situation where it's partly has to do with the way that people made their money in the 1990s. you can refer back again to what was going on politically and behind the scenes. nobody really knew, so that's a period about which many people have many questions. we do know that once mr. berezovsky was in london, he and mr. litvinenko were highly critical of what was happening in russia and what mr. putin was doing and mr. putin didn't like that. the other thing that mr. litvinenko was doing was investigating the murder of a journalist. she died, again shot into one of our apartment to begin it severely been resolve. i think one of the problems here is that there were a number of rather high profile murders in russia, most of them in russia in the 1990s and since it, particularly the 1990s a journalist, of businesspeople and non

economics can a country develop quickly to a china has exactly what russia wants there at least mr putin made that claim on a number of occasions that this is exactly what russia wants ukraine to be i would say this if mr putin thinks the do your asian economic union is the path to russia's economic prosperity he does not understand economics. the way to develop economically used to be open to the global economy the way china has been well that's also true but on the other hand the european union is very protective of its markets and the united states mines here as well so why what is still unorthodox i should say about russia really trying to protect its markets reach is one of the main reasons why it wasn't so excited about ukraine signing that economic association agreement with the european union russia has done very well trading with the e.u. to create an economic union based on russia kazakhstan ukraine tajikistan and kyrgyzstan is not the path to economic success it's a path to economic stagnation well i think mr putin argued on a number of occasions that it's not about you know y

kyrgyzstan is not the path to economic success it's the path to economic stagnation well i think mr putin argued on a number of occasions that it's not about you know you know trading within the former soviet republics he also wants to take to make sure that russia trades with the european union but i think he believes that together if you're creative if bellicose with kazakhstan russia they will all have more bargaining power but i would like to transition a little bit to believe this is not really to know where the russia's economy has done will all be because it has large amounts of gas and oil this is sells on the world markets. if you created a business environments which would which would reward entrepreneurs who do not have a crucial russia's economy would thrive the way china's economy has thrived well i think you're even gonna mean sadistic approaches its focus on the ukrainian economy at the moment or rather on the political implications of that crisis just the other day are part of the you say in a bloomberg interview that quote out mr putin believes he should be able to dictat

of that crisis just the other day i heard that you say in a bloomberg interview that quote that mr putin believes he should be able to dictate what kind of government rules in kiev and i would also like to take an issue with that because i think mr put it was pretty comfortable go parading with the previous prole western government of mr you should go and yulia tymoshenko after all it was on there that government that this very lucrative for russia gas deal was signed so it seems that mr putin is pretty capable of building bridges with whatever government there is in in the ukraine isn't it i think that if mr putin had been interested in good relations with mr you should know what his government he would not have conducted the gas war in the winter of two thousand and five and two thousand and six but we had similar scandal with mr unocal which is well and also was was was was of course below mr lucas shaker that's true absolutely and only too willing to use gas as a method of imposing political pressure on a country but i think it also contradicts that this very familiar western claim t

and when it was clear that mr. putin was coming back, that was a breaking point because mr. putin blamed the united states for aiding and abating them. we had the relationship with edward snowden now always. so we are working together in syria, but where president obama said we have to lay back and president obama is a lame duck president and mr. putin understands that. >> one problem with democracy proliferation that one no one believes in american sincerity. i rememb i remember meeting with the secretary of state, i think you were there, i came back from moscow. a couple people at the meeting stated that officials didn't like what i said and said what is your evidence? i was taken aback they were asking me this because we had an ambassador in russia, tom pickering and you refer to tom grim, who worked with the bush administration, and i thought they were objectively. and the united states completely identified with the administration because he seemed to be more agreeable on foreign policy issues and we were willing to support him blindly. and russians got the impression th

i remember being struck that putin, who i guess would accept mr. putin rather than comrade putin, he made the adjustment to the vocabulary, including the vocabulary of partnership. but i remember being struck a number of years ago, including, i suspect you picked this up when you and susan were in moscow, that when he would say "our western partners," there was a touch of sarcasm in his use of the words. that brings us to the title of angela's book, which is "the limits of partnership," and i think it is important that the word "limits" is italicized, as it were. one of the questions that we will be grappling with in this conversation and with you joining in due course is whether limits goes far enough. is it the end of partnership? how do we work within the limits that are still there? so with that, i am going to turn it over to comrade -- [laughter] s., dr. hill. >> thank you very much, strobe. we are here at quite a moment was occasion. and we set up a book launch for angela, we were aiming for valentine's day but a few things got in the way. many of

two days after these olympics have ended mr putin has been singing the praises of russia's athletes to the nation's media he said that before the games at best many people had said russia would finish third in the medals table of course they finished top with a record haul of medals including thirteen gold and he went on to give a lovely little anecdotes about one of the biggest stars of these games the figure skater adelina sotnikova he told the media that he'd actually met when she was only twelve years old they had their photo taken with each other and then at that time she predicted that one day she would be an olympic champion how true that was mr putin then also addressed the criticism that russia had faced in the run up to these games and said that basically it had come from two areas all these years we have been working in conditions of criticism but it was constructive criticism in the first place very friendly and helpful on the part of the international olympic committee i am sure that without such friendly criticism and support we would have still managed to do everything b

mr. putinrong feelings about ukraine. he believes he should be able to dictate the type of government that rules in the capital kiev. he was a strong supporter of the yanukovych and encouraged him to use force to crack down on peaceful demonstrators. you might say that mr. putin's advice is one of the reasons hy he fell from power. the use of force ultimately failed because the police were to use all of the force at their disposal and the people resisted. >> what role does energy and military, specifically the russian naval fleet, play in the calculations of the future of ukraine? >> for the russians, their base n ukraine is very important to the naval operations and the mediterranean sea. one of the first things that yanukovych did was to extend russia's lease on that base rom 2007 until 2042. the russians very much wanted to retain that base. as for energy, ukraine has more oil and gas pipelines than any country in the world. russia's greatest source of foreign currency is the export of oil a

i remember being struck that putin, who i guess would accept mr. putin rather than comrade putin, he made the adjustment to the vocabulary, including the vocabulary of partnership. but i remember being struck a number of years ago, including, i suspect you picked this up when you and susan were in moscow, that when he would say "our western partners," there was a touch of sarcasm in his use of the words. that brings us to the title of angela's book, which is "the limits of partnership," and i think it is important that the word "limits" is italicized, as it were. one of the questions that we will be grappling with in this conversation and with you joining in due course is whether limits goes far enough. is it the end of partnership? how do we work within the limits that are still there? so with that, i am going to turn it over to comrade -- [laughter] s., dr. hill. >> thank you very much, strobe. we are here at quite a moment was occasion. and we set up a book launch for angela, we were aiming for valentine's day but a few things got in the way. many of

mr putin and the united states were both dedicated to getting back to the democratic process and allowing elections to happen and allowing people who are elected to make the decisions for the country in this case i don't see a dichotomy i don't see mr putin opposing that and that should be our position as a as americans that we believe in the democratic process so i just you know mr putin is demonized by a lot of people here and there when he's overwatch you know for russia's interest we're acting as if this is the old cold war days and it was a communist overture to do something to dominate the world well putin has a right to watch out for the interests of the people there just as the way we do in the united states and just as the ukrainian government should be doing what you know for the interests of the people of ukraine so it all boils down to business essentially what you're saying now let's talk about this peace deal you say that if ukraine wants to have peace then they should go to the ballot boxes and do it there now with this new deal they're saying they're calling for early elec

mr. putinice is one of the reasons why he fell from power. the use of force alternately failed -- ultimately failed because the police use all the force to their disposal and the people resisted. >> what role does energy and military, specifically the russian naval fleet play in the calculations of the future of ukraine? baser the russians, their in ukraine is very important to the naval operations and the mediterranean sea. one of the first things that the did was to extend russia's lease on that base from 2007 until 2042. the russians very much wanted to retain that base. morer energy, ukraine has oil and gas pipelines that any country in the world. russia's greatest source of foreign currency is the export of oil and gas to europe and most of that passes through ukraine. has economic leverage over ukraine but ukraine, as the owners of these pipelines, have some economic leverage over russia. >> you mentioned a potential economic crisis in ukraine. describe that for us. >> it is very simple.

caller: i'm very glad that mr. putinas worked so hard to minimize security and terror threats in russia. but you know, i want to go back to when you're earlier guest was talking about. we shouldn't forget that mr. then was appreciated by greatest moral profit of the -- moral prophet of the 20th century, alexander souljah needs and. doeso hold up these girls grading churches and unnatural heroes of human rights reflects the nihilism, specifically american nihilism, of our times. host: anything you want to respond to their, ray kelly? guest: not really. host: we will move on to david in morin, ohio. caller: thank you. i have a question about waterborne threats, coming from the black see itself. the other one is the media disclosing detection methods and deterrent methods that the enemy might not know about without that being told about it. repeatedly.at i think that is always a concern in the age we live in a there is an awful lot of leaks and what people put information out, and the media seem compelled to publicize that

it's reported that these games will be the most expensive ever of the fifty billion critics mr putin alleges that businessmen officials close that of president stole billions in olympic funs are you concerned about the charge about corruption. i have heard this but nobody was able to present any evidence of it so when it comes to the price there for the olympics many people overlook very simple thing for us to lympics it's not only the games which are very important and we have loved a lot of importance for these games as a as a festival of. sports festival of friendship between people and it's going to be so but also what is important in two weeks the olympics will be over but everything that has been created for the olympics including the infrastructure are going to stay and they're going to stay to be used by russian people and mind you sochi is a wonderful resort area that a long needed additional investment and the olympics is the proper vehicle to attract a lot of investment into the region and make a significant change the riches embezzler the chairman of the house intelligenc

overall mr putin has succeeded him self up. clearly a terrorism and security. everyday the problem for the games of table that made the problem with the game's over. he's also succeed in controlling attention has been known to one of the biggest criticisms of russia and his administration corruption the fact that such enormous amount of money has been spent on these games. the way that the boat. the russian establishment. from all of the regional development policies in order to. i'm the veiled of state in order to develop the region via that's all she did that to vladivostok and if i read stuff with the run up to the apec summit back in two thousand and twelve. you mobilize the resources of the country and to build that actually more than the olympics would need to do do you do build. for the region. i've got with the state beyond the olympics like the new four legged of the new roads it's not just for the olympic spot of the of the project inevitably in russia. these things cost more that they wanted to be elsewhere. road construction of the costs of several

think it might it was a it was not a good decision on the part of the russian government or and mr putin to insist on having this olympics i mean it's sort of hard headedness. it's going to cost them a lot more money than if they would have perhaps had the olympics more of a summer olympics in an area that was not in the caucuses which is so close to the radical islamic terrorists who they have to have now guard against tunnels in another area what do you have thoughts on russia granting. this is silent temporary asylum to edward snowden. well as you know snowden has a mixed bag with snowden many people many americans and i am included in that. are not upset with mr snowden for informing us and and drawing the attention of the american people that there was over surveillance on the part of our own government of our own people and i think it's ironic that mr snowden is warning a population against over surveillance by their government of their of their own of their private lives and then he flees to russia which is throughout my entire life was the country that over surveilled their peopl

living in hopes that mr putin will have. the main bulk of the money in the short time will come from be original promises that were made by moscow to mr got to covert and which the russians themselves they are not necessarily going to stall for in fact they have said they will be reviewing the situation once the government in its place they haven't said what kind of government that will be they haven't indicated should be a government that is anyway favorable to the kremlin so it may be that mr putin will go on paying out. brussels to reflect on the situation after that while christina give been observing ukraine for a long time and you observe the orange revolution and of course the outcome. of the followed i mean how do words what do you expect to come out of the upcoming polls in ukraine is there going to be any change there what what is your forecast for the country's immediate future. well the first thing that might help is if there was some kind of opposition all these laws that could be. so far the last few days in the

russia does not like that under mr. putin. they have threatened economic boycotts. for mr. tin, establishing control over ukraine is more important than the prosperity of the russian economy come or perhaps he does not understand economics. host: what role has putin played in the violence that we have seen? guest: this is overwhelmingly a ukrainian story. putin's role has been uniformly negative. they threatened to boycott, they have urged mr. yanukovych to crack down the demonstrators. the point man of the ukraine has justified a violent crackdown. every time yanukovych comes back from seeing putin, he is restrained. host: "wall street journal" -- "americans are only waking up to the crisis. they should care how this turns out. they should want to pull ukraine into the western orbit as a matter of human dignity and strategic interest. a europe leaning ukraine can join the company of free nation that fulfill the aspirations of its people. a ukraine tilted toward the corrupt authoritarian regimes allied with moscow will be a source of regional unrest at best. guest: there are

. >> he seemed to provide cover for mr. putin, jackie kucinich. >> i think frenemies may be the best way to describe the relationship, particularly right now. the president had come out and said something disparaging, the focus would be on the president instead of the olympic games and that's something he doesn't want and putin doesn't want. going forward it makes sense he would say that at this time. >> this issue of gay rights, has been closely watched over the past year. are the olympic games actually working to the advantage of those fighting for gay rights since it's shined such a spotlight on the issue there for the last year or so? >> it very well could, craig. we know gay rights is the same as civil rights, we've watched that evolve over time and enjoyed watching gay rights become a major part of an overall civil rights agenda, even including in this country, immigration reform. any time you are allowed to call out bigotry for what it is and educate the masses on the challenges that prevent people from loving who they wan

i would conclude by saying that we have emphasized what mr. putin has riding on these games more in the negatives, but if there isn't a successful terrorist attack in some way she bore for me even though there's already been significant kind of disturbance because of what's happened and what has been said, then this would be looked at as some sort of defeat for those that have announced that these games are a target and having said that, that threat isn't going to go away anytime soon because unfortunately, the sources that are generating those that are inspired to make these kind of the attacks isn't going away anytime soon. let me thank juan, gordon, jeff, for attending in your excellent questions. may we not have a reason to have a press conference or a meeting at csis >> terry donavan talked about the housing authority in washington, d.c. and his remarks are 25 minutes. >> glenda, thank you so much for an incredbly introduction. i want to say thank you for your tribute to earnie. i am joined by your former and incoming president on their new rol

does mr. putin just want a russian bloc?ey believe that there is a western effort to break apart the sphere of influence. >> why isn't oil moved? >> there was no oil at risk. they are concerned about a potential gas cut off. so much of the pipeline goes through the ukraine and there was a concern that russia would shut off the flow of gas to russia through the ukraine. that was a big concern. this time, no one is thinking that is going to be the russian play. it is not in their interest to do this. that is something you always have to watch. >> i would say that the weapon they are likely to use -- i think shutting off the gas weapon theyld be a would use. georgia-crimea equivalent? >> that is what is in the back of people's minds. would you have a situation? that is why john kerry and u.s. officials are telling russian officials to stand down and reminding them of what the russians said about libya. you told us not to going to libya, you should stand down on the situation. ramificationsge with regard to syria. >> this is a q

mr. putinrn passivity are leading. mr. obama may still be able to stop it if he final admits vladimir putin's deep hostility to a free and democratic europe and clearly tells protesting ukrainians that we're on their side. >>> mika, what should our response be? "wall street journal" talks about the passivity of the united states in the west. you talked about we should do something in the olympics. what do you think we should do? >> look. i think a lot, obviously, the president could be doing and shoulding done and sanctions should be pushed for whatever it taps. right now it's frustrating to watch putin to have this incredible platform of the olympics that he can present to the world, as the "the wall street journal" points out. and, quite frankly, this man's ego is bigger than his care for the human cause in any way for human life and if he could do something to stop what is happening in ukraine, then we should do something. it would be unfair, dr. sacs to have all of the athletes to pull out

i would conclude by saying that we have emphasized what mr. putin has riding on these games more in the negatives but if there isn't a successful terrorist attack in some way she bore for me even though there's already been significant kind of disturbance because of what's happened and what has been said then this would be looked at as some sort of defeat for those that have announced that these games are a target and having said that that threat isn't going to go away anytime soon because unfortunately, the sources that are generating those that are inspired to make these kind of the attacks isn't going away anytime soon. let me thank juan, gordon jeff for attending in your excellent questions. may we not have a reason to have a press conference or a meeting at csis during or after the they're very effective in helping communities health care centers, grocery stores, small businesses in some cases charter schools. so energy efficient commercial real estate development, all within underserved communities in urban centers and rural areas. i think the

mr. putin had a meeting at the sochi, it was clear that the russian influence carried the day so far which is obviously what we're seeing in the streets right now. >> recently the vice president yesterday called in very strong language i think said you don't want to be killing your own citizens. >> exactly. i'm sure the other thing they talked about was georgia and i'm sure the russians do not want to see that experience recreated in the ukraine. this is a pretty important moment in terms of not only what's happening on a day to day basis but what's likely to roll out in the future. >> what are the risks? >> in terms of military confrontation, probably zero. >> they clearly have the capacity to put down the revolt. the protests, whatever they call it. >> sure. the question is what do they do about it and i thought the question is what do you do about it. i found the president's speech was instructive in the sense that we have figured out that sanctions in the case of iran for example were sever

mr. putin is obviously very interested in a different russia, vis-a-vis the europeans and vis-a-vis us. >> and russian influence in the middle east, he's interested in. >> exactly, exactly. so if we're getting back to the time or even remotely to the time when we say up they say down and we say -- >> they say west. >> exactly. that's not good. it's not good for russia and i don't think it's certainly good for many of us who have worked for really hard and very long towards bringing together a path that is away from the cold war. >> resetting the relationship. let me turn to energy. where are we yet go how far away is energy dependence and how far away are we? >> let me start with energy independence if i could because that's a term that i don't like like to use because it has some vestiges of isolationism. basically if you really sort it out, it says we've got ours, you worry about yourselves. but energy sufficiency i think is something that most countries would try to adhere to. we have a worl

this is not a good day for mr. putine right, overshadowing somewhat on the other hand you've got a lot of people writing around the world in some corners at least, that president putin seems to be pulling the strings in the crises where it's ukraine, syria, iran negotiations, he has a strong hand in some of these places. >> you know that very well. he has a very strong hand in some of these places. it's just not being played very well. there's no game of cards in which putin played ukraine well. and the reality of the situation is the last thing vladimir putin wanted in the middle of his olympics with all of the glamour and glitter and accomplishments was to have this violent uprising in ukraine that was directly tied to him, that results in his guy, the president, heading for the hills. it isn't the story he would have written. >> maybe i shouldn't have said strong hand, strong iron fist or something like that. >> yeah, yeah, right. >> susan, holding back a little bit, not telling all of her opinions -- being very meek

mr. putin i think is taking a step back. he's put forward an ombudsman for human rights, a known figure in the west. that's a softer voice. i think they're going to have to see how this plays out and they're certainly going to be very concerned about their military base and if some of this instability would move further south and east. >> i want to read something that yanukovych said earlier today. part of what those of us in the west trying to understand who is the opposition? yanukovych said to "we are seeing a repeat of the nazis, when in the 1930s in germany and austria the nazis are closing offices. is that an accurate description of the opposition forces? >> no, i don't think so at all. remember, this now former president yanukovych, he became president after a wave of actually having stolen an election in 2004. this is a man who has blood on his hands through the brutal crackdown he tried to orchestrate the past few days. the rhetoric he uses about the nazis is frankly outrages. what you're seeing play out right now i

that's in deeply destabilizing, i think, is really code that mr. putin, you better back off here. how else could we take that? kristen, your thoughts on that. >> i think that's absolutely right. and what you're going to see over the next 24 hours, ed, flurry of conversations, certainly between the white house, this administration and russian officials. and it is such a fragile situation because if this does escalate into some type of actual violence, that is certainly going to change the equation. it's gonna change the equation for the administration, for the folks on the ground in ukraine and obviously for russia. so it is going to be a tense weekend here at the white house, undoubtedly, as they continue to monitor this situation and those phone calls that they will have, they are going to reiterate what you heard the president say and to your point, ed, probably make the point that the united states will take some type of action. i don't know that it would be military action, but some type of action if this situation in ukraine currently turns violent. ed? >> of course, we will

>> i think mr. putin wants mr. yanukovych to restore order by any means possible. has said that publicly last week. putin does not control yanukovych, though he does have some influence. as for the outcome, i think we're seeing today the outline of a deal. mr. yanukovych has said he's willing to have constitutional reform, which will reduce his powers. he's willing to have early elections. the strange thing is, they're talking about having ukraine's parliament vote on those constitutional reforms in september. i don't understand why they need to wait. i'm sure the demonstrators will not accept that delay. if they were to establish the reform right away and if the leaders of the opposition, one of them became prime minister, in addition to mr. yanukovych, i think they'd be able to resolve this. >> mr. putin, has he ever gotten the short end of the stick like that? we let him walk all over us. >> i don't know if we let him walk all over us. mr. putin tried very hard to mr. make sure mr. yanukovych became president at that time, via a fraudulent election. he lost big-t

however, he made a visit to moscow where mr. putin kept him waiting for a number of hours, did not promise to meet with him at all initially. it may be difficult to get that new and bolts going with regard to russia. >> melinda crane reporting for us. thank you so much. staying in germany, a scandal involving claims of leaked information and child pornography in the cabinet. >> prime minister resigned for allegedly tipping off other top all editions about a criminal investigation involving child and a member of parliament. >> it has seriously damaged relations between chancellor merkel and their coalition partners. >> it was a somber day when he appeared before the press. he said he was aware of the gravity of the allegations against his fellow social democrat. >> the spd was hard five and stunned about these allegations and his behavior. his resignation from the bundestag was more than justified. >> in october 2013, the then interior minister on speed or friedrich informed about the allegations. he himself resigned from his new post

and mr. putin should listen carefully to ukrainians who have voiced their desire for change. so we're hoping that russian -- russia will not see this as sort of a continuation of the cold war, we don't see it that way. we do not believe this should be an east/west, russia/united states. this is not rocky iv, believe me. >> the russian prime minister today said that the opposition and the rebellion in ukraine are extremists. >> we are not looking for confrontation. but we are making it clear that every country should respect the territorial integrity here, the sovereignty of ukraine, russia has said it will do that and we think it's important that russia keeps its word. >> and then there is this, kerry has told me that now russia has increased its weapons to assad's regime in syria, despite the horrific images we've seen day after day of the regime bombing and starving its own people. this is another source of friction between the united states and vladimir putin. >> andrea mitchell at the state department, tonight as we said no ordinary time. thank you, andrea mitchell. >>> a