but putin's russia is a pretty monolithic thing. and whether this will lead to any real change it may or may not happen but this is a moment in time where people are reflecting on where it is, where it's been and most particularly where it's going. >> the message to russians have been quite controlled in the russian media which is possibly why vladimir putin enjoys an 85% popularity rating amongst the russian public, some of that might have to do with pure-out nationalism but in this case the kremlin seems to be portraying this, vladimir putin has said that it's a provocation, sort of suggesting it's an outside group and suggesting he's going to lead the investigation or at least the investigation is going to report to him. how's that going down? >> well, with a lot of skepticism. nobody is saying straight-out that it was putin directly who ordered it. of course there are rumors there are accusations that it was the kremlin. but there are others who say look if the kremlin was going to do it it wouldn't be stupid enough to do it on

putin, president putin is responsible for this killing? >> we do believe in this, and we believe that the troubles the country is going through is because of his presidency. >> reporter: despite these big crowds and the enormous turnout the popularity of vladimir putin is extremely high and the latest opinion poll is in the region of 86%. the big question is will this change russian politics or simply send the message that if you're opposed to the kremlin, this is what could happen to you. matthew chance, cnn, moscow. >>> matthew, thank you very much for that. my next guest interviewed boris them seve several times and most recently in 2013 and michael weiss. let me begin with this. i know that you spoke in estonia with nemtsov two years ago and he said that putin is part of a mafia. we all know how he felt about president putin, but was it to the point where he was worried about retaliation and some are saying this is clearly political and putin is saying we have nothing to do with it. >> i think he felt a certain degree of impunity up un

not of 21st. >> critics of putin, beware. putin of corruption and wound up spending ten years in prison and labor camps. alexander litvinenko accused state security services of organizing a coup to put putin in power. he was poisoned by a lethal dose of radioactive polonium. and viktor yushchenko the former ukrainian president poisoned, disfigured, and nearly killed by a toxic dose of dioxin. i'm not saying official russian bodies had anything to do with it, but it's mighty suspicious. >> i don't think you need to be a conspiracy theorist to say whoever did this very much wanted everyone to know who done it. >> everybody understands. >> of course. >> everybody is meant to understand. >> yeah, everybody understands. everybody understands everything in this country. >> when you're talking classic conspiracy theories and classically russian-style paranoia, you want some classic russian food to go along with it. pelmini, minced meat dumplings served on a pillow of cabbage with sour cream. >> mm. >> it's very good. maybe the most

. >>> vladimir putin makes no apology. the russian president is celebrating the event that put the world on edge and plunged america and russia into this new cold car. one year since he seized crimea, the fighting rages on in ukraine, and vladimir putin shows no sign of backing down, as if dearing the west to stop him. america tried to squeeze him with sanctions, and vladimir putin's top opponent inside russia was mysteriously murdered. all of this puts russia and the west on a dangerous collision course. where does it end, who, if anyone wins in the end. i'm ali velshi - a special report on the new cold war starts now. >>> it's a new cold war. a year ago this week the crisis in ukraine escalated from an internal dispute between ukrainians into a wider international clash that pits russia against the west. last march russia annexed crimea. since then russia has thrown its support behind separatist rebels fighting in eastern ukraine, and that triggered a sanctions war between the west and russia, polarizing trade and threat

is vladimir putin a russian castro, is he in it for life. >> i am not comfortable comparing putin to other leaders, i compare him to stalin, he was there for life. he is putin's predecessor, i think that putin needs to stay their -- stay there for life, i don't know why casto, in fact, cast vo not there focastro is n. but putin needs to stay the minute he gets out of power he will probably be killed. that is the system he created and enforced. kennedy: is it going to get worse? >> unfortunately, my fear that is phaoeufplt because i think that we may be facing the time when after, you know stalin went to his opponents but then actually acting as if he investigating a murder is prominent communist, and that is how the great purges began in 1937, my fear is we may be facing the new kind of stronger even opression because putin, even if he may not have ordered the hit, he was going to use it to strengthen his power that means going up to every opponent there is. kennedy: all right, a scary time and a scary place to be right now, thank you very much nina cruschewkhrushcheva. >> thank you.

putin? be seen as a strong man in a weakened political position? >> i think that there may be something going on inside the kremlin that we don't fully understand. >> reporter: what we do know putin has been under fire by protesters after the murder of his opponent, boris nemtsov. and more trouble as russians realize they are losing troops in the battle for eastern ukraine. according to a you new report from britain's independent royal united services institute, some russian units are so decimated by casualties that new ad hoc front line units are being formed in the field. the interior ministry has sent in special teams to keep russian soldiers from retreating. some russian con scripts are being tricked into signing long-term enlistment papers. still, putin making more military shows of force. u.s. military official say he's sending increasing numbers of nuclear-capable aircraft into crimea for known nuclear weapon. he's ordered snap military exercises of the northern fleet in the arctic ac

because too often russia equal putin, putin equal russia. there are a lot of different forces operating in russia today and i think some of that contributed to the murder of boris nemtsov. >> well let's talk about what some of those forces may have been. there are a number of theories floating around among the fact the people arrested vr are of chechen origin, this may be in retaliation of charlie hebdo one side of thing and meant to be destabilize to the putin regime what do you think? >> i was in mostly cloudy, meeting is with dimitri maratov some of their journalists have been killed, they had a investigative team they had just assembled he had just gone to the investigative commission, and given evidence that in fact the charlie hebdo murders contributed to the murder of boris nemtsov and there was a kill list and angered at the defamation of muslims in alliance with his friend mikhail hortokofski, around putin and the elite that they are angry that he is either not doubling down harder in ukraine or the economics are such they can't get

to do, go to war with putin on our own?as been ruled out by pretty much everyone. i do think that after this i don't think there is a single shred of credibility left to anything that putin does. i would just hope the europeans move along those lines. >> that's the obama line, the only alternative to capitulation is war. the alternative is to supply ukrainians with weapons they have been asking us for for a year. the one thing ominous about the murders putin was elevated when he promised that he wouldn't touch him his entourage or followers. now putin has shown that that pledge is dead. >> by the way new defense secretary says he is for delivering weapons to ukrainians and just hasn't happened yet. stay tuned for some confessions from the administration. the real question that needs to be asked is "what is it that we can do that is impactful?" what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. wha

and, where is putin?pearing from the public eye, the russian president is scheduled to be in st. petersburg today. good morning. you are watching "the pulse."

the putin family also left a son. putin is a survivor in many respects. the only surviving son of the family and he talks a lot about that about history, about suffering, and it's part of one of the most -- the story of -- in many respects for putin the story of world war ii. he didn't think very kindly about ukrainians or estonans all of this who came under nazi occupation, because of the history and his reading of it his view that many of him and the people in the nazi occupation were collaborators. the people of the sovietonon who fought and also for various reasons and some of them are quite justified at the time back to the bleak history of the soviet period so initial period it was -- found themselves also under the occupying forces. a very complicated history that plays out in many ways, and we have missed an opportunity in the runup to the war in ukraine, we missed an opportunity to embrace the world war ii shared history. i think we could have meat -- made a lot mo -- any uncle charlie, the canadians this u.s. and the dutch as well and many other

lou: who is punch drunk. >> president putin is. lou: the rest of nato and this president of united states, they are ones who seem to be to be punch drunk. >> afternoon is a problem -- everyone is a problem, with you with putin saying this and the president of u.s. saying well we'll not ignore that. not pay attention the same way they do not pay attention to the iran saying death to america. it is like sticking your head in the sand, expaiing and saying we'll avoided all problems. lou: why are republicans, where is their voice right nowo the issue of foreign policy, because this is a nation right now we're witnessing a unparallel series of foreign policy defeats disasters and failure. >> they will have a long shelf life they will welcome whoever comes into office with a series of crisis in the world putin shoving his weight around, nuclear weapon arms race, and u.s. leading from behind. the world is looking for america to step up, otherwise, do you have putin pushing people, and supreme leaders tweets out how to any late. >> their l

vladimir putin. boris nemstov was gunned down outside the kremlin. nemtsov was a foreign deputy prime minister who pushed for democracy in mass coand spoke out about corruption for years. world leaders praised nemstov as activist. tens of thousands of people marched in moscow to honor his memory. >> this march is meant of course, to have been a protest against the war in ukraine. boris nemstov would have been at the front. it is one of the ironies that his face here is now everywhere as the crowd approaches the bridge at the point where he was killed. overlooking the scene, the walls of the kremlin from where many people marching today believe the orders to kill him may have come. >> unbelievable willie. you know stalin at least had show trials. i mean this is just -- they just gunned him down there right in front of the kremlin. >> there was an incredible photograph of the body laying on the bridge and the kremlin just behind it. literally in the shadow. david ignatius we've already heard from the r

putin? >> reporter: putin always wanting to be seen as the strong man in a weakened political position? >> i think there may be something going on inside the kremlin that we don't fully understand. >> reporter: what we do know putin has been under fire by protesters after the murder of his opponent, boris nemtsov. and there is more trouble as russians begin to realize they are losing troops in the battle for eastern ukraine. according to a new report from britain's independent royal united services institute, some russian units are so decimated by casualties that new ad hoc front line units are being formed in the field. the interior ministry has sent in special teams to keep russian soldiers from retreating. some russian conscripts are being tricked into signing long term enlistment papers. still, putin making more military shows of force. u.s. military officials say he is sending increasing numbers of nuclear-capable aircraft into crimea though no nuclear weapons. he has just ordered snap

all reports were about putin. and report he was about to release, that is why i believe they immediately seized his computer the reporter was about to release aimed at ukraine eastern ukraine. it was about present of russia troops in ukraine. neil: is it obvious for putin to call out a hit when the whole world would say when you say he could be set up. >> who cares that is -- dictators don't ask why they into why not putin confiscateed if you can use the word annexed part of a neighbors country then started a war in another part, he is not hiding his agenda to destroy ukraine state hood. this is -- whether -- >> he has a network of people that take care of this? >> it is the most powerful network in the world. it is not difficult to organize everything they killed -- in london. and i think that. neil: the guy who was slowly poisoned. >> what happened? nothing. you know, british government had been blocking all of the attempts of the court to investigate the case. now, i think that boris was killed at the bridge. t

putin didn't mean it.aid, putin had no fear of nemtsov. he posed no real threat, political or otherwise, nor does barack obama, nor does the united nations. no one poses a threat. and the more we put stringent sanctions economically on the russian federation and the worse their economy gets, between that and the falling oil prices in the world, that only causes the russian people to love him more and hate us more. they are blaming everything that is going bad in russia on the u.s. and our meddling in theaffs and the more it happens the more they love putin and they more they want him to be a strong man and take on the world. i just don't see that is a strong connection. >> all righty. such an interesting dynamic. tom fuentes, always appreciate your insight. thank you, sir. >> thank you, christi. >> the biggest aviation mystery coming up in history. flight 370 vanishes from the sky without a trace. can you believe it's been almost a year and still no one knows what happened. up next, where the search stands

putin to budapest.he's also recently signed a range of business deals with russia despite western sanctions against russia over ukraine. but now, protests are growing among hungarians themselves. many say they want their country to integrate closer with the west, not with the kremlin. >> back in 1989, nine-year-old bori takacs and her father went out to hang up posters calling for a republic of hungary. now, at 34, she's organizing protests herself. she's working with the group 'most mi' -- which means "now us" in hungarian. the aim is establishing genuine democracy and freedom of speec'k to this point where we realize and decide what kind of system, what kind of country we want to live in? we want to live in a european country. we want to live in a democratic country. we want to live in a country where political and economical elites and oligarchs cannot steal of the money of the hungarian people and the country. we want to live in a transparent country. >> most mi has mobilized masses of people. tens

vladmir putin spent $50 billion for what?ls the world -- >> a show for himself. he's too expensive for russian people. >> november of 2013 talking about the cost of the olympics. human rights foundation chairman with me now in studio and good morning to you. that shows us a little bit about what he was all about. you knew him for 22 years. why would he have been a threat to the russian government based on that? >> it's from a long story. he was a very prominent figure in yeltsin's leadership. he was simply too big for vladmir putin's power. he didn't want to compromise on his principles. he wanted to see russia free and he didn't want to be part of vladmir putin's repression regime. and he moved eventually to run opposition and became the most vocal critic of putin's regime, talking about corruption and vladmir putin's en gijment in the most prominent cases that led to the violation of human rights. >> he alleges that billions were stolen because of the winter games there and also he's a strong and tough critic and has been,

and he also knew putin well. so knowing putin's desire for retribution against people who speak out and knowing his iron fist why was nemtsov so willing to continue to speak out against putin? >> well you know nemtsov was actually potentially at one point the chosen successor of boris yelt sin the previous president and he was his deputy prime minister. he obviously through putin, but when putin was chosen their paths divided and diverge and he was thrust into sort of the opposition path. people believe there is a very small but quite vocal opposition, you know sort of group in russia right now, but they've been thoroughly quashed and it's very difficult for them to get their voices heard. why does he keep speaking out? because people who believe that they must people speaking out despite the dangers. the real big name in russian opposition politics is navalny. and he was meant to be leading this rally this weekend. he was jailed before the rally so that he couldn't go out on the streets and lead the rally. he sa

on the other hand, not for putin.he build very comfortable system, but for russian people, russian people are a bit troubled because what does mean corruption? money disappear. he build super cost in games result in a future for the objects. no discussion in the society at all. big difference between putin and reach and much bigger in the states. that's why this is very uncomfortable country for every in it. >> all righty. anna is a moscow daily reporter for "the beast." and no relationship to the slain opposition leader even though they share a similar last name. you just listened to this interview and he was talking about the corruption in russian and how problematic it is for the people in russia. what stood out to you in what he was saying? >> a lot of what he was saying, i heard from him personally, he investigated corruption in russia. he was talking about corruption and he was actually, i think -- he really cared about russian -- about russian state. until the last days he was working for a local legislator. he

putin wants to destroy ukraine and statehood. putin wants crisis. crisis more -- the lack of international security, those are elements that are vital for survival in russia. and one of the first things to be done is to make sure ukraine can resist putin's aggression. ukraine needs weapons. that's the best thing to be done to remember boris nemtsov. >> garry kasparov, opposition leader himself when it comes to vladimir putin, thanks for coming on "meet the press." >> thanks. >>> another foreign leader the focus of attention here this week in washington. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. he arrives here today for what has become a controversial speech to congress on tuesday. controversial because house speaker john boehner invited him without consulting the white house. our latest poll out this morning found that just 30% thought that, yes, it was right for house republicans to invite the israeli prime minister to speak before congress right now. 48% said it was wrong. joined by former senator vice presidential candidate joe lieberman, adv

for putin, russia this is a system. this is not a problem. >> right. >> we don't have such kind of problem. this is a system. a failed system to control the country, how it works. for example, i am putin, and are you governor. if you are corrupted are you loyal, right? >> reporter: right. >> because if you you don't you will be in jail. i have special cases for you, and you know about the cases. that's why if you build such system that everywhere around have cases, you wetland very loyal system that's what you build. -- you build very loyal system. that's what you build. if you are krupped and loyal, you are rich secondly you are in a very safe position. this is a system, and this is a problem on the other hand not for putin, for him, he build comfortable system but for russian people. russian people are in big trouble because what has been corruption money disappear, he builds super costs olympic games, result in future for the objects. no discussion in the society at all. big difference between the reach in states. th

this is a bigger thing u greta missing vladimir putin. >> missing vladimir putin. media in their own country. go on offensive by entim dating media in foreign countries and quite often in the united states and western europe the media goes along with it. >> it just occurred to me this 447 senators sending a letter directly to iran. they should have had it in the newspaper. they have should have had you repeat it on fox business channel it is true the world is watching. if you have the russians having a criminal investigation for something you said on fox business. all these countries not friendly to us they are watching us. >> isn't it funny they watch us? i got emails i didn't know fox news was watched in russia. >> fox business i should add, neil cavuto would want me to say fox business. >> fox business and fox news. it is not putin's favorite network because as you saw me on that clip you ran, we are trying to tell the truth about what's going on in places like ukraine and places like iraq. this is serious business just like you and i were talking about at the b

putin says there are no russian troops in ukraine. therefore, if we provided -- if that's true, he has nothing to worry about, right? >> i made clear in my opening, not only do we believe there are russian forces in ukraine, we believe they are responsible for command and control, arming financing, directing of this conflict. we also believe there are many hundreds of russian dead in ukraine and it does pose a vulnerability for the kremlin politically at home because they are denying they're even active there. >> i'm sorry, just one quick point. i read in your statement, maybe you didn't say this publicly because you had to shorten your statement, is it not accurate that as these coffins are returning and bodies are returning to russia russian families of the dead soldiers are being told not to comment on it or they'll be denied death benefits? >> yes. and i did say that publicly here? >> thank you. >> i know senator menendez had a closing question for this panel. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for your testimony. madame se

i think putin is clever. he is a kgb man.e knows how to conduct this kind of obscure investigation very well. >> what will nemtsov's death -- what inflew he knew or effect will it have on the opposition? >> the opposition, there are two scenarios. the opposition can actually rally behind. one of the russian arguments that they make in the kremlin arguments is that the opposition, the opposition will unite and go after the crem limb or get scared and deteriorate. i would think it's actually the first. i think because so many people have completely been i insensed. >> have you had a thought of what russia would be like if new mexico until nemtsov had gotten to power stiff intraedmi putin? >> it's not entirely accurate because putin did not replace himself in that position. there were other kangs in yeltsin's entourage. he was one of the leaders of a very good democratic party, bright leaders in that party. it collapsed very soon after putin came to pour in 2000. russia is a pioneer country that observes laws that speaks

boris nemtsov accused vladimir putin of ordering an assassination -- another accused vladimir putin of ordering his death before dying of radiation poisoning. >> translation: there's no independent court in russia we demand an independent trial into boris nemtsov's death. >>> freed am of association says investigations should be pope for killings of other opponents of vladimir putin including journalists. we have more on reaction to boris nemtsov's death. >> reporter: boris nemtsov hoped the rally on sunday would be a re-energizing of russia's dispirited opposition movement. the crowd was vast. bigger than a march for years. boris nemtsov was not here to see it. his murder arguably is the main reason many came. >> we came to protest because they killed a man, a man telling the truth. we think the authorities actions are a travesty of justice. >> i came because boris was killed. not only because of that we need to fight. i cannot look at this. we look around i want to shout people, i love you. >> reporter: boris nemtsov's face was everywhere the bullets that killed him said the banner w

putin is the one and the only one, putin's regime. >> if you have an 86% approval rating that's what putin says he has, why would you kill someone like boris? the russian government has suggested that perhaps he was killed by one of his colleagues and then it could be blamed on the government. where do you fall on that? >> really, colleagues. so many putin's enemies die and every time we're looking for someone tolls come up with a theory that could satisfy the government. he was murdered in front of kremlin. and this is place that has more video equipment than your studio or from any studio in the world and by accident the snow removal track just stopped at the spot covering the angle of the camera that could actually show the face of the killer. how many people knew the angle of the camera? >> vladimir putin the kremlin they say there will be a thorough investigation. having said that i suspect you don't beef that. how do you believe you go about having a thorough investigation of what actually happened? >> we will not because everything vladimir putin promised either turn to be fal

officials tell nbc news putin may be under the weather. russian officials say he's just fine. >> there is absolutely no reason to doubt the state of his health. his health is perfect, and everything is okay with him. >> reporter: still, russian experts say a show of strength is critical to putin's political prowless. >> you have to keep this confidence game going. it's in his health and vitality. anything that challenges that image is a threat to the regime itself. >> reporter: when deputy white house spokesman was asked about putin, he said, quote, i have enough time keeping track of the whereabouts to one world leader. this world might have an answer tomorrow, when putin is supposed to appear at an event in st. peters berg petersberg. >>> the race for the white house. the contenders battle it out. there are new questions about the democratic field, given hillary clinton's e-mail scandal. chuck todd is moderator of "meet the press." good to see you. big weekend for republicans. let's talk about the democrats because the e-mail scandal doe

ros-lehtinen: not headed by putin. i know my time is expiring, but if we were to add -- aggressively add more names to that list of human rights violators, i think that we would see a change and russia knows we are not serious about implementing that legislation. i would love to get the answers to my questions in writing. thank you. we go to brad sherman of california. mr. sherman: ambassador, one thing i noticed about your opening statement was your lavish praise for the ukrainian parliament passing so much substantive legislation and you compared it to congress. ambassador nuland: i didn't compare it. mr. sherman: i would just note for the record and maybe it wasn't a comparison, but came very close, that every day someone in the administration urges me to work hard to block legislation they don't like. and 99% of the bills that the administration does not want on the president's desk are not there due to the hard work of your allies here in congress. if you want lots of legislation passed, be sure that that is a con

so, does that mean it had to be putin?e with access to -- >> come on, come on. you're not going to engage in act of nuclear terrorism in downtown london without the knowledge of the office of the president. >> today we begin the open hearings in the inquiry into the death of alexander litvinenko. >> reporter: in january, a public inquiry opened in london. it's a victory for marina, who, along with her attorneys, fought an eight-year legal battle to make it happen. on the opening day, her attorney argued the evidence leads to one disturbing conclusion, which litvinenko himself reached before he died. >> mr. litvinenko came to the awful realization that he had been the victim of a political assassination by agents of the russian state. >> reporter: and just yesterday an expert witness testified the polonium that killed litvinenko could have only come from russia. the kremlin appears to be ignoring the inquiry. president putin's spokesman declined our request for an interview. and just this week, putin gave lugovoi a medal, t

can what kind of steps are we taking to determine putin? -- thatdeter putin? >> nato has enacted some reassurance measures which include increasing air ground and sea forces in the eastern parts of europe. they are adapting their force structure with a task force, stepping up integration units. these all come out of the wales conference and nato is moving forward with that. the eri is authorized by the congress -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to echo the frustration you are hearing this morning. because of the administration we are in an era where our allies don't trust us and our enemies to appear us. ukraine gave up 1000 nuclear weapons on the assurance that their national security would be protected. last september, the president promised to help ukraine buildup and effective security force to defend themselves against aggression. here we are talking about more delays to that support. a former u.s. ambassador to nato has written that this new cease-fire leads to a frozen conflict inside ukraine. this is exactly what the kre

an believes in putin's new russia.is widely believed from inside of russia from everything we can see. there's the coincidences. for example, some of the cameras may have been turned off for maintenance a the moment this assassination happened. that same night, those same cameras may have been off. now there's reporting they weren't, in fact off, but the russian federal security service may have this information. are we going to get to see it? they're in control of all the cards, all the pieces here and the only thing absolutely certain of at this point is that no one who supports putin's government no one tied to the government had anything to do with this. everything else is still in play except for that theory which i think tells us a lot. >> you're not buying it? >> i'm not buying that based on the facts we see so far. look at who benefits from this and other coincidences by the way, when nemtsov was supposed to go to the rally and talk more about ukraine, it seems to me to defy any rational belief that for example

>> borerus -- >> i mean vladimir putin?> i think given the climate of witch hunts we have witnessed over the last several years, and since russia's annexation of crimea i think is responsible for this murder. whether we will ever link it to president putin or his chain only command is probably not going to happen. but mr. putin is responsible for the sort of climate where terror was okay. >> but there's wide-spread speculation about this nobody knows exactly what happened except the people involved in this crime. there are some who suggest vladimir putin is behind this but there was a yeltsin correction, because we worked for him, right? >> yes. >> some are suggesting ukrainians are behind this? >> mr. putin went on air shortly after the murder and offered the so-called official central line and that was it was an attempt to discredit him, his government and to sow chaos in russia. and the state-owned channels went into overdrive trying to -- >> has it created chaos? >> it has created much anxiety primarily among the opposi

putin's popularity. people just don't see any alternative. >> 90% of russian receive information mainly from the tv shows. about 55% of russians receive information only from television. >> reporter: is so saladvladimir putin's reign continues and here they told me they'd be quite happy to see him running russia for 15 years. sarah rainsford, bbc news moscow. >>> i want to leave you with a moment, at least, with this live shot from the french alps. basically the ravine in which the germanwings plane crashed. helicopters have been buzzing, picking up and recovering whatever they can from the scene. we'll keep across the story of course for you here on bbc world news. discover brookside and discover an exciting combination of tastes. rich, dark chocolate covering soft centers. flavored with exotic fruit juices. it's chocolate and fruit flavors like you've never experienced before. discover brookside. >>> oh, paradise lost. yes, once booming brazil heads for tougher times in a quarter of a century. >>> and