is paul whelan any closer today to freedom? and also, mr. foreign minister, do you believe that you crane meddled in the u.s. election in 2016 and is that specifically something you discussed with the secretary today? thank you. >> thank you. with respect to north korea, we've worked with the russians on enforcement. i've told foreign minister lavrov repeatedly appreciate the enforcement level that they have. they've done good work. these are u.n. security counsel resolutions. these aren't american sanctions, per se. these are all driven by the u.n. security counsel resolutions that the russians voted for, themselves. there's always more work to be done on enforcement. there's a major e vent vent on 22nd of december where every nation is required to have all north korean workers out of their country. we talked about that today and the importance -- there are many north korean workers that have been in russia. u.n. security council resolution requires them to depart. we're hopeful they'll be able to complete that, come into full compliance wi

and russia any closer to resolving that case is paul whelan any closer today to freedom and also mr foreign minister do you believe that ukraine meddled in the u.s. election in 2016 and is that specifically something that you discussed with the secretary today thank you. thank you. with respect to north korea. we've worked with the russians on enforcement i've told foreign minister lavrov repeated that we appreciate the unfortunate level that they have they've done good work these are un security council resolutions these aren't american sanctions per se these are all driven by the u.n. security council resolutions that the russians voted for themselves there's always more work to be done on enforcement there's a. a major event on the 22nd of december where every nation is required to have all north korean workers out of their country we talked about that today and the importance there are many north korean workers that have been in russia the u.n. security council resolution requires them to depart i'm more hopeful that they will be able to complete that come into full compliance with that

as for paul whelan, back in september, the investigation stopped and he has had time to acquaint himself with the accusations. and now together with his lawyers, he is starting his documents. after that, the court process will proceed, and that would put an end to this case. using bilateral documents which we have between us, official documents with law enforcement, we can make these bad decisions. i would like to highlight that a lot is being talked about the health of paul whalen. we treat this issue with all seriousness. i doctors examine him regularly. he complained of a hernia. we suggested to operate on that. he decided not to do that. i would like to highlight once again that paul whalen, maybe this tactic chosen by his he iss, now it is, threatening the penitentiary , and he makes all kinds of arrogant tech's agents. for example, he is saying he would put a drill to the head of the officer. maybe these tactics by the lawyers are aimed at creating an image of a martyr, but maybe that is not a correct one. it is not a correct approach and not an honest one. i would like to repeat a

citizens like paul whelan who had been detained in russia bringing home our citizens abroad as soon as possible as one of president trumps highest priorities we had a success this past weekend. and then on the question of interference in our domestic affairs i was clear it's unacceptable and i made our expectations of russia clear. the trump administration will always work to protect the integrity of our elections period should rush or already for an actor take steps to undermine our democratic processes we will take action in response if i want the russian people to know that the sanctions the united states is leveraged levied on russian individuals and entities are no way targeted the russian people we have no quarrel with law abiding citizens and we'll keep working on the diplomatic level to get this relationship right i want to thank you sergei for mr lavrov for coming to washington i look forward to our continuing conversations in the future thank you sir. as we move them on this but the point is the civil rights will move as it's not synced. with michael but what he will praise m

. >>> here is your cnbc neez ws update a senior diplomat called on russia to free paul whelan he andited him in a moscow jail. >> he seemed to be in reasonably good spirits today he appreciated the fact that all four embassies for the first time visited him for the holidays he sends his well wishes to his parent, families and friends in terms of the comments, they're baseless there's no evidence, no crime. >> afghan president celebrating his re-election victory. the results were delayed until sunday the election has plunged the country into a political crisis and marred by allegations of fraud. >>> venice is facing the prospect of more intense floods when it's still counting the cost of the exceptional high tid that hit in november total damage is estimated at around 1 billion euros that's the update at this hour back over to you >>> the markets are in record territory. the dow, s&p and nasdaq are all higher as you know every time bill when you're at a record and you go up, it's a what? >> it's another record >> well spoken >> why am i talking like bryan sullivan today >> is that how