the question relates to why is putin really backing kadyrov. >> why is putin -- >> why is putin backing supporting, kadyrov? the response you'll get in this country goes like this. during the cold war and after, americans supported a lot of very unsavory regimes, the fight against the soviet union, 1980s iran-iraq war we tilted heavily towards iraq. there's a very sad photograph of don rumsfeld embracing saddam hussein. the counterargument goes like this, two chechen wars, all the terrorist things, et cetera, et cetera, is putin not really being quite clever in repressing chechen, muslim radicalism by having this little enclave in which the tacit deal is to keep muslim extremism down and you can do pretty much what you want. and from putin's point of view does that not make some sort of geopolitical argument? >> let me take one more question. oh, okay. you had your hand up for some time, so please. [ speaking in foreign language ] my question -- [ speaking in foreign language ] >> not so fast please. >> okay. some scholars, some experts say that the possible integration of russia after

charlie: we started with putin let's end with putin, what is on his agenda?announced his decision and would like to be part of shaping the future of syria. >> i just noted that it is interesting and probably important to note that putin does not have to deal with squabbling underlings giving him conflicted advice. he doesn't have to worry much about public opinion and in fact the reaction on state television tonight was quite striking. they were surprised by the announcement and the war in syria has been championed every day on state television showing it is a great success for russia and suddenly it stops. i think that goes to putin's tactical sense of timing and surprise. i think in the longer term he will continue to insist both on the sovereignty of the syrian state and in other areas where we might come into conflict with him. charlie: thank you, great to have you on. thank you for joining us. see you next time. ♪ angie: gold digs in over a killer's iphone, saying the order exceeds the limits of government power. policy meetings wrapup. step along the ro

let's end with putin.what do you think his -- what is on his agenda right now as he announce this is decision and wants to be part of shaping the future of syria? you know, i was just thinking that it is interesting, and probably important to note that putin doesn't have to deal with the squabbling squabbling underlings giving different advice, he goals a small group of people and he doesn't really have to worry too much about public opinion and in fact the reaction on state television and russia today was quite striking because he didn't seem to know what know what to do because they were caught surprised by the announcement, the war in syria has been championed every day on state television. showing it as a great success for russia and suddenly it stops. and i think that, you know, again that goes to putin's tactical sense of timing and surprise and so forth .. i think longer term he will continue to insist both on the sovereignty of the syrian state, the assad government and in other areas, where we mig

role and no doubt that putin is responsible. >>. >> [speaking russian] translator: because putin created in russia a dangerous political unit and putin allowed to continue every time after a blatant act with the assassinations. >>. >> and to create that environment free with those new political assassinations in russia. >>. >> [speaking russian] translator: one more comment mitt it was the gift to putin. the propaganda will respond to the question by saying that he was less interested in the assassination. >> [speaking russian] translator: this is not true because to be a major beneficiary. >> [speaking russian] translator: not only one of the brightest leaders but basically the opposition to create structures. >> [speaking russian] translator: and with that opposition of the impact brought by his death. >> just to follow up on that , just since it is over one year knu talk how the political environment has changed? and also your own personal experiences? if you have been following this you know, to be the subject of social media it with various presentations in with this situation faced

putin doesn't say things because they are true.says them to influence people. >> i think he also understands that president obama is under significant pressure to change course in syria. i.s.i.s. just launched an effective attack in brussels. we've seen that the regime is not behaving the way the russians might like in geneva. there are a number of factors that are pressuring president obama to take a different course on syria. and i think president putin understands at a president obama has by and large been a fairly good partner for russia in syria. he's been far more conciliatory i think than russians had anticipated. and so anything that president putin can do to reassure peum no president obama not to change course works to russia's advantage. >> rhonda. >> the visit of deputy crown prince of united arab emirates, the crowns print smeet meet -- meeting with putin, the united states can be a significant player but also the regional players, saudi arabia, qatar, turkey. so the visit 50 deputy crown prince can also -- have it by

claire: putin did not specify how many troops would be withdrawn. he did say russian air and sea basis will stay in operation, and they will be secured by land, sea, and air. activity has been reduced since the cease-fire began last month. officially it's job will now be to monitor to what extent the cease-fire -- molly: for more on the fallout, "france 24"by our specialist in jihadist movements. we know the air campaign and the with thebegan in syria objective to beat terrorism in syria, but we know as of now the air campaign will continue, despite this drawdown. so what is the impact going forward? they were very specific and said they wanted to defeat terrorism but also islamic state. russia succeeded in achieving its goals in syria. which is fighting rebel factions rebellion, moderate from islamic al qaeda in the region, where it was vital for the regime to maintain itself. so they corrected no man's land, to the coastal area. they succeeded in squeezing the opposition, if i may say so, north of aleppo, and making the government forces more and

president putin's aim in all of this?it simply now to lock in the gains of the russian military involvement that have been made by the assad regime, or is it something different? is it now a jet onning of assad by president putin. it certainly changes the context for these talks. i got some reaction to the russian announcement from the spokesman for the main opposition block, the high negotiations committee. >> it could be a big relief for our people in syria, if we see this really on the ground, and we hope to see it, you know, very soon. it's a positive step, a positive decision, and i believe it needs interpretation on the ground there. if we see it, then this will help us in this process here. and it will help, really, lift this suffer for the syrians, because assad, really commits a crime because he is defending on the support of the russians, support of putin, but if the decision of putin is to put these troops out, this will help us, really, to reach a political agreement and really achieve something for our own pe

take a look at what president putin has to say. i believe then: goals set out by the ministry of defense and armed forces has in large part been fulfilled, that is light i ordered the minister of defense to come starting tomorrow, start the pullout of the main part of our military units from the syrian arab republic. catherine: earlier on, dr. herbert told us more about what might have been behind this move. doug: they looks on the service to be a classic putin judo feint. you set them up for one kind of throw and move to another when they are offguard. he is withdrawing the main part of the troops just as unexpectedly and abruptly as he moved them in last september. the whole playing field is generally change, drastically changed come on the ground at that time because of the russian inner tension -- intervention and neophytes could what putin is doing is a brutal and cold captivation and it is classic putin could he did not mince his words. he said "our military objectives have been achieved. i am able to order the defense minist

putin said the news in a phone call. russia has been the strongest ally of syrian president bashar al-assad, in the country's 5-year civil war. in the last half hour, bashar al-assad denied there was differences twine himself and his russian counterpart. the development comes as talks take place to end the 5-year conflict. the special envoy stefan de mistura says all parties are facing a moment of truth. >> translation: i believe the goal set out by the military and armed force, that's why i order the minister of defence, as of tomorrow to start the pull out of the main part of our military grouping from the syrian arab republic >>> reaction from the russian announcement coming in. it's been said that russia's withdrawal can influence the conflict. >> whatever russia decides, this will affect the side and the other side will affect the regime. hopefully we, you know, see this on the ground. that russians are not in syria any more. we want - you know - russian people to be friends in syria, but not partners in killing the

putin's intentions in ukraine and now with his new report, putin's close relationship with the chechen leader ramzan kadyrov. this is not the first time we've seen him here at the council. last year he was here to present his report which was started but unfinished on russia's war in ukraine titled "putin war." this report we present alongside our own report, hiding in plain site putin's war in ukraine, exposes the hidden death of the russian soldiers killed in eastern ukraine. and the report that is being presented today was released in moscow just last month to mark the one year anniversary of boris. in the years leading up to this event, opponents of kadyrov received threats, and despite these threats and a bomb thet, he continued on with the presentation. facing increasing pressure many opposition leaders, journalists, activists have been forced to leave russia. yet many brave men and women remain. what we see is that today the who raszment of sanction murder of opposition voice is no longer the anomaly. it is part and parcel of mr. putin's that treejic intent to sub press those wh

a ranking official in putin's administration said "once putin, there is no russia."any criticism of the regime no matter where it comes from. from western oriented liberals or from business people or from doctors, teachers, you know, truck drivers from wherever will be either silenced from the budget or provocation from the west and treated as such. and precisely ill traited to the putin regime the fold of the russian state ruled by personality rather than ruled by law. whey foresee under stagnation is elites will continue to fight among themselves regularly and publicly declaring their love and loyalty to putin swearing i don't know about their willingness to follow the grenade in the fight against external or internal enemies. the federal agencies like interior affairs they have been playing this game already for years. as the budget shrinks, the pressure -- this fight will only increase. and yes, there will be campaigns, from time to time, campaigns against corruption, which will be initiated by corrupt deputies or corrupt officers. and there will be some sacrific

putin is one of -- one of putin's most treasured traits is loyalty. he says he never gives out his people but what i think, of course, he will continue to defend his people but at some point when the conflicts become public, a combination of scandal and shortage is likely to create a situation where a member of his team must be sacrificed for real and not just demoted with kid gloves as form ermine ster. -- former minister. protests with a combination of well-financeed and people will buy that, the confrontation with the west will continue and the worst thing about this stagnation scenario is that it will eventually lead like i said before to the replacement of the elites in peace in more or less violent ways. and one of the most violent ways that it can happen is that a third force comes to power. what third force am i talking about? the committee of january 25th, which was created on january 25th of this year, the hero of donbass and he and some other guys including edward, famous russian writer and some politicians from previous administrations als

so from putin's standpoint. is it as he said, mission accomplished, he's propped up assad, keep the naval and air bases, and the base will be there if needor at least some of them will be? >> absolutely, he could send them back in a couple of days. this is a complete win for russia, a complete win for bashar al-assad and iran. >> on the other hand, to some extent at least doesn't it seem to pull the rug out from under assad's negotiators for not having the russians fully committed? >> no i don't think so. they could come back in a few days. you mentioned that 5% of land that they took back, those were the terrorists according to putin. but according to us, the americans, those were the moderates that we were supporting. he was going against the moderates we liked. putin was going against them first and i.s.i.s. was really a secondary target for putin. >> not inclined transitioning away from assad. assad has sounded much more confident recently. do you think peace talks can go anywhere in that context? >> not rea

in russia, there's no politics, vladimir putin. >> so what do you think now about vladimir putin, as the election has developed. who would he prefer to have in the white house. >> not clinton. still not clinton. people, russian experts. basically they see clinton as obama. and as you probably know, people in russia, that is sad, true. people don't like obama. probability because russians are mostly racist. that is true still. and kremlin loves obama. let me quote, i prepared it for you sales. quote piece from the most prominent pro-kremlin propaganda newspaper. it's about trump. so this is what it said - no candidate can stay silent about vladimir putin, and the important party here is that they talk not about russian policy, but vladimir putin personality. vladimir putin's brand is a significant factor of this complaint. and now we can see that this cart is played by the most promising candidate. it's not only vladimir putin working on trump's advantage. sharing his rate with the candidate. trump works on russia's vaj, exposing -- advantage, exposing propaganda. so as you can see, e

>> it's a master stroke by putin. he achieved exactly what he wanted.when russian planes and troops went into syria last summer, it collapse. he managed to transform the battlefield equation. the assad regime is now basically -- has been shored up. it doesn't look like it's going to fall any time soon. the rebels are on the defensive. russia has enhanced its military preprestige. putin has enhanced his political prestige and now he's getting out with very few if any casualties. and his reputation burnished all the way from tehran to washington. so he has proved president obama exactly wrong while show that military power can change the facts on the ground. >> you were in a meeting with me this week with those of us and gary cast pa remove, former chess champion and he took a different view of this in saying he thinks his withdrawal is a sign of putin's weakness, that he wanted to avoid taking casualties, that the intervention in syria was becoming less popular in russia and he wanted to avoid getting further drawn in. how do you respond to that? >> i th

vladimir putin is the master of surprise. he surprised the world in september by launching this operation in syria, and he has taken the world by surprise again by announcing the withdrawal of a large part of the russian contingent. i think the one thing russia didn't want to do in syria was get bogged down in a protracted operation. it didn't want syria to become a second afghanistan. kremlin seems to be calculating that now with a cessation of hostilities in and the start of some kind of peace process that to scale back,nt to bring back troops, and to declare this operation a success, but the caveat is numbers. we don't know how many troops are going to come back. we don't know how many troops are going to be staying there. we know some will in the russian latakia.ear katty: it's interesting, isn't it? when russia went in in september, there was an international outcry and concern in washington, but it put president putin in the conversation. it gave them, if you like, a certain amount of clout they didn't have before. stev

putin said donald trump is a genius. but putin said good things about me. genius."eader, a they said, you admire president putin. i said no, i don't admire him. he is a strong leader, which he is. he might be bad or good, but he is a strong leader. "you said the chinese and tiananmen square, they were right." i said no, they put down a riot viciously. i did not say they were right, they were not right. they are so dishonest. if i do not have a speaker , andm in terms of my mouth twitter at @realdonaldtrump by the way.

putden -- putin made the announcement on monday. he said the forces have helped bashar al assad's military turn the tide of war. the announcement seemed to take the white house by surprise. later the white house released the statement saying president obama spoke with putin by phone about russia's withdraw and that mr. obama welcomed the news.

give us more about what president putin has been saying. guest: it is worth saying that this is a surprising move. at the meeting with the defense and foreign ministers, he said i think the task has been fulfilled. we got a bit more detail about what that might be. the defense minister said russian airstrikes stop networks supporting terrorists and also stopped the flow of money and weapons among oil and trading routes. given that that has taken place, these forces will start their withdrawal tomorrow. it is unclear at the moment who might be withdrawn, but what we do know is the russians will be keeping a significant part of their operation in syria. they have a seaport and airbase there and i think we will see them keeping a significant presence there. but it is interesting because this comes on a day that piece talks restarted in geneva and i think it is perhaps a message moscow might be sending that this is the time to wrap up the question of syria politically and they are not going to keep on supporting him militarily. christopher: wha

the arc of putin is surprising. this war in ukraine was probably genuinely surprising, but the overall march of putin is a -- march of putin-ism which is now a real phenomenon, it looks like he now may be the longest-serving leader of russia since stalin. to have been there at the beginning is to have seen the germs of all of these things. putin's love of all of these press ops, riding a horse bear-chested will stop that has turned him into a global icon. that was a foundational time we happened to be in. there was such a break from the 1990's a story of russia that there is more continuity with the story that we sort of stumbled into from 2000 through today. him?you able to interview was lucky enough if that is the right word to have been at the very first interview that he gave to american correspondents and that was in the late spring, 2001. he was a very unknown figure. he had been an of skier former cagey b guy. guy.b he was little known in the west. he had little experience with western journalists. we were in

just how close was mikhail lesin to vladimir putin? steve: lessin was very much involved in the development of the media ministry and ways that -- and with that the takeover of independent media that began in vladimir putin's first term. laura: did the to have a serious falling out? steve: there does not seem like there has been evidence of a a personal falling out but he did leave the government a few years ago. he was very much involved in the media, the national media group that is related to another close friend of vladimir putin's. so, he still seems to be very much in the inner circle. if not the very inner circle but the second ring. in 2014, beginning of 2015 he left. there is some speculation there was a power struggle within the company. some disputes over one of the other independent media outlets, a radio station, but no one ever explained why he suddenly disappeared and seemed to relocate to the u.s. laura: there could be people in russia who would see him as a threat? steve: there has been wild speculation -- without a lo

administrative critics, such as vladimir putin said critics had achieved their goal. of the russians, mccain said: privately the millings accomplished statement by the vladimir putin is an administration that it was never about isil. the only mission was the regime of bashar al-assad is deniably in a stronger position, while isil is nowhere near defeated >>> jamie mcintyre at the pentagon. kurdish forces in iraq say they have captured a palestinian american man that fought with i.s.i.l. 27-year-old turned himself in. at the time of his surrender he had a large amount of cash, three cellphones and three forms. identification. one was a driver's licence identifying him as mo whommed jamal >>> the newest mars mission has something that sets it apart from others. next, the new push to find out it there is life on the red planet. and how climate change could lead to another great migration in the united states. . >> rising sea level caused by climate change may cause a mass migration in the united states. a study published in nature climate change looked at the worst state

the arc of putin is surprising.his war in ukraine was probably surprising, but the overall march of putin is a which is now a real phenomenon, it looks like he now may be the longest-serving leader of russia since stalin. to have been there at the beginning is to have seen the germs of all of these things. theses love of all of press ops, riding a horse bear-chested will all of those things, was the foundational timeframe we happen to be. in many ways there was such a break from the 1990's story of russia, that there is more continuity with the story that we first stumbled into in 2000 through today. brian: were you able to interview him? susan: we were just talking about that. i was actually lucky enough, if that is the right word, to have been at the very first interview that vladimir putin gave to american's correspondence -- american correspondents in late pring. he was a very unknown figure. he was a very unknown figure. he was a former kgb guy, he was little-known, he had no what experience with western journa

putin says they have achieved what they came to achieve.in september that was helping president bashar al-assad fight what they called terrorists. >> translator: i believe that the goal set out by the ministry of defense and armed forces have overall been fulfilled and that's why i order the minister of defense as of tomorrow to start the pullout of the main part of our military grouping. >> reporter: the move has been welcomed by the syrian opposition as well as by the white house. they believe it will put pressure on the damascus government to be more flexible, and agree to a political transition. the timing was significanting can't, it coincided with resumed u.n.-lead talks in geneva. the message from putin to its diplomats, it's your turn. >> i think that it should be -- >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> well, we believe we have helped undercut their infrastructure and destroy much of their infrastructure. the fight against terrorists there is going to continue. >> reporter: russian air strikes in syria have allowed the syrian government t

putin will do what mr. putin wants to do despite what the other countries ask him to do. >> certainly that's the track record, i suppose we could describe it, of the russian for the purpose policy, certainly in recent years. we've seen the issue of ukraine raised and that is an ongoing issue. there was a meeting in paris thursday in relation to the on going unrest in ukraine and the political uncertainty in eastern ukraine. so russia has its foreign policy stance, and the efforts of the european union leaders is to try to align their foreign policy as closely as possible with russia's in the sense that trying to push for a common good. it's not always going to happen. there are vast areas that the foreign minister's have said many times where the two countries or the russian side and the european side simply are poles apart. that said, there are refugees, syrians who depend on a resolution of this long standing conflict in order to try to either return to their homes or resume some kind of normal life. >> p

this fascinating figure of the vladimir putin. she came out of the kgb and was determined to use some of the but had beenwest misread in some ways by people here in washington. and elsewhere in the west. they wanted to believe in this onward trajectory of democracy. it didn't prove to be russia's trajectory. it was a revelatory experience and the face of the idea of going out there and judging for yourself and being open-minded and reporting on the ground. people talk in a very cliched being at the value of foreign correspondent. going out there and engaging with the world. for us that really was the case. and deepened our understanding of the world. trajectory as journalists. brian: when you two were working together, where you both bureau chiefs? how did you do it? how did you stay not at each other's throats? peter: we wrote this book that we were promoting in that video. we did that while she was pregnant with our first and only child. wehad this great story where were back in washington and finishing up the book and we were c

vladimir putin says they have achieved what they came to achieve. back in september that was helping syrian president bashar al-assad fight what he calls terrorists. >> translation: i believe that the goals set out the ministry of defense and the armed forces have overall been fulfilled. that's why i ordered the pull out of our military group possessing from the area. >> reporter: the syrian government told the decision and said it was a joint one. the syrian opposition is cautious. the timing of the announcement was significant. it was made at the same time as u.n.-led talks were going on in geneva. the message from putin to his diplomats, it's their turn. >> our diplomacy has received a time to march. so it should be - we believe that we have helped undercut their infrastructure, under mine their infrastructure, destroy much of their infrastructure. the fight against terrorists there is going to continue. >> reporter: moscow will keep control of an air base in latakia and they still have control of another area >> the air strikes have already decl

another man was poisoned possibly on orders of putin. boris was shot and killed in moscow shortly before he was even so, a top russian spy says that lesin met a similar end. >> there were no political assassinations ever committed by the soviets or the russians on the territory of the united states anywhere, any other country but the united states. >> reporter: for now, d.c. police say they are not even sure lesin was murdered but his death has become an international mystery. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> and a reminder as you start your weekend, it's that time of year to spring forward and set the clocks one hour ahead saturday night before you turn in. as americans prepare to deal with one hour less of sleep, lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are looking to do away with changes the clocks altogether because so many people like it when it stays light out later. they join hawaii and arizona which already opt out. >>> when we come back, one last good-bye to the former first lady the tribute to nancy reagan from the community

well, putin is always a man to pull off a surprise.ig of surprise is this in the big scheme of things? >> look, for the last five years we have had two mind sets, two styles of action in syria. there is putin's and obama. there's the commando, and the commander in chief. the commando, mr. put tin he plans, he supported assad with arms and every possible way to block any attempts at undermining assad at the united nations. and when the came last summer, he stepped in to save the assad regime from breaking down. on the other hand, we have president obama, the commander in chief who deliberates, who p procrastina procrastinates, who even vegetates in the process, and weighs all of the scenarios, but more like a general of sort of an armchair general, i should say, he -- he has been basically focused on how to avoid getting militarily involved in the syrian crisis. so between the two, we have president putin who basically sees now that his gamble in syria has worked, and he wants basically to cash in his chips. where do you cash in the chi

lauren: putin and president obama spoke yesterday.ition is required to end the violence in syria. nicole: congress taking action against jesus. the house overwhelmingly approving a resolution that condemns isis atrocities against christians and other minorities and syria as genocide. >> according to the syrian center for policy research, approximate five years of wanton bloodshed has killed either directly or indirectly an estimated 470,000 people. other estimates put the death toll at a quarter of a million. nicole: the nonbinding measure would create an international tribunal to try isis members accused of atrocities. the vote just days before the march 17 deadline announcing a civil issue official declaration of genocide. lauren: starting in asia, the shanghai composite the only other pair up 0.2%. the hang seng in hong kong.0.7%. the cost become fractionally in south korea. nicole: all down arrows across the board. the london ftse down half a percent. cac down three quarters of 1% and the german dax down half of 1%. lauren: u.s. s

it was classic putin. it was unpredictable.resident gave the order for the military operation in syria to come to an end. today, the russian defense minister has announced the planes carrying out more than 9,000 air strikes are being prepared to make the long flight back to the permanent bases in russia. it does seem that russia declared victory and it is pulling out. it has victories it can point to. the bashar al assad issue where it gained 10,000 square miles of territory. it brought the warring parties to the table. they are in geneva now starting the peace process. that would not have happened if it weren't for the russian intervention and pressure on the opposition forces. this bolstered the reputation overseas. russia is seen as a global player who should be taken seriously. >> matthew chance, thank you. >>> we mentioned the surprise move by russia comes among peace talks. we have our editor nic robertson with the latest. >> reporter: they are saying if putin's actions are matched on the ground, they can hold the talks h

. >>> and a surprise announcement by vladimir putin.nd an american reportedly hands himself over in iraq from isil. and a new species of dinosaurs. what it tells us about the trex. ♪ >>> the presidential candidates are gearing up for a day of primaries that could all but seal the nomination for at least two candidates. voters will go to the polls in florida, ohio, illinois, north carolina, and missouri. enough delegates are at stake to effectively end the race. perhaps no one has more to lose than marco rubio tomorrow. al jazeera's michael shure is live for us in miami. michael good to see you. look, could we actually be seeing the end of marco rubio's campaign? >> reporter: it is quite possible, tony. there are a lot of people here who think that this is marco's last standing. i'm in florida now. marco rubio just spoke here at the university to a very receptive crowd, but it seems to be a forgone conclusion by reading the polls that this is not going to be marco rubio's race. he ran into trouble from the get-go running against jeb bush

was a member of putin's inner circle murdered in america? >>> airport nightmare. just in time for vacations. why the tsa lines are suddenly getting a lot longer. >>> and a star-studded farewell to nancy reagan. presidents and prime ministers, family, [000:00:58;00] first lady laid to rest by her husband's side. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt reporting tonight from simi valley, california. >>> good evening from a rain-soaked california as we're here to bring you the final farewell to former first lady nancy reagan. we're going to get to that star-studded gathering in just a moment. but first, to an increasingly dangerous and developing situation, another major storm system, this one in the south triggering states of emergency and over 1,000 high-water rescues. families have been pulled from rooftops, some from trees as police and the national guard move in amid historic floodwaters raging. millions of people being warned of flash floods. that's where we begin with nbc's january snet shamlian, in the [000:0

putin takes the world by surprise.will break down what a russian pullout could mean for serious peace talks -- for syria's peace talks. coming up. ♪ manus: emperor's palace in emperor's palace in the background. 6:30 london, 7:30 in brussels. let's get you the bloomberg first world news. -- first word news. >> the bank of japan is bolstering its record monetary stimulus as policymakers gauge the impact of a negative interest rate strategy, adopted in january. the bank kept the target for increasing the monetary bank unchanged and left its benchmark rate unchanged. by decision was forecasted 35 of 40 economists surveyed. president putin ordered the extraction of most of his troops from syria. increases pressure to complete peace talks . the war has killed millions of people and displaced more. has draftedchina rules for attacks on foreign exchange transactions, according to people familiar with the matter. the initial weight may be kept at zero to allow authorities to define the rules. mostevy would be the extreme polic

brian: how does putin look to you -- this was 2007 when you wrote the book.hat year did you leave moscow? >> the end of 2004. the book came out in 2005. the trajectory, not only was he so there -- still there, but what has been really fascinating to watch is the trajectory, the art of putin is surprising in the sense that we didn't expect most russians were shocked when he invaded crimea. the war in ukraine, it was genuinely surprising. putinism which is now a phenomenon, it looks like he may be the longest-serving leader of russia since stalin. to have been there at the foundation period of that was to see the germs of all of these things. putin's love of these crazy photo ops and these bare chested horseback riding at his turn them into a global icon, we used to love to run photo essays of him. all of those things, that was the foundational period we happened to be in. in many ways, there was such a break from the 1990's story of russia, that there is more continuity with the story that we first stumbled into in 2000 through today. brian: were you able to i

is president putin believed to be serious about this?ll there, didn't seem to be much evidence according to the u.s. officials we had spoken to that russians were ever planning to stay for the long haul but the announcement certainly comes as much of a surprise in many ways as russia' decision to commence this military operation back at the end of september. although it wasn't preceded by a speech that president putin delivered at the u.n. where he said russia wanted to create an alliance against terrorism, and he's cast his campaign as supporting theçó assad regime as the best bulwark against islamic state and other extremist groups. >> woodruff: well, what is it exactly that is believed putin's forces have accomplished in syria? because as you said, i mean, he said this was intended to go after terrorists, but we know that civilian syrians, civilians have been targeted, hundreds if not thousands of them have been killed. >> right, and there have been accusations leveled against the russians of the indiscriminate use of force and the us

>>> and putin pulls out. a stunning announcement from moscow, as russian president vladimir putin orders his forces to start withdrawing from syria. in an exclusive, cnn goes inside syria with a first happened look at the devastation brought by russian warplanes. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." we're counting down to another super tuesday, but for republicans and democrats alike, this tuesday may completely change the race for the white house. five states are holding primaries and more than a thousand delegates are up for grabs. on the republican side, there's an all-out effort on the campaign trail today as donald trump's rivals try to block his direct path to the nomination. florida and ohio are winner-take-all contests and senator marco rubio and governor john kasich, they are desperately needing to win their home states. trump says one of them has a good chance. trump is being widely condemned, meanwhile, for the violence at his rallies. house speaker paul ryan is the latest to call thos

it ads vladimir putin succeeded in ending the situation in ukraine. "the japan times" asked the question now that russia pulled its forces out of syria, where will vladimir putin focus attention next. it's like loi it will turn towards europe. it warns the rest should be ready because vladimir putin's mission to return russia to great power is nothing less. president obama's refusal to stand up to russia opened the door for russia to attack with impunity. the paper says comment will likely embolden not only the kremlin, but dictators around the world. >> the west african giraffe roamed throughout the region's havana. there is an effort there to rebuild the giraffe population, we have this report. on the look out for the last giraffe. this is 50km south. the african t.v.annas stretched out. soon it shows up at a distance, grazing on the favourite abbing asia trees. there was a time they roamed across the region. drought and hunting reduced them to a small group. stloorties are trying to protect what remains of the speesies. >> in 1996 we have 50 giraff

putin has his own collision and he gained a lot from coming to syria.lt that he is threatened by those terrorist organization and are fighting in syria, he will deliver a constructive support for the syrian government but in the end i think thal the question how to resolve this issue, it has to be resolved through political means. the message and the thyming of the message at the start of the geneva again it's really the message go and find a solution for this crisis and continue dialog with the obama administration and remaining time for the obama probably this will give more push. on the other hand probably mr. putin he is looking for maybe working relation with other arab countries, maybe there is more work to be done with the saudi and the persian gulf country and some economic maybe contracts and other political coordination could help in the process by stopping and withdrawing from syria. >> okay what do you think it means russia's withdrawal for the other external players who are supporting assad such as iran? >> well, i'm sure there is no politi

putden -- putin made the announcement on monday. the forces have helped bashar al assad's military turn the tide of war. the announcement seemed to take the white house by surprise. later the white house released the statement saying president obama spoke with putin by phone about russia's withdraw and that mr. obama welcomed the news. syria's bloody civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created millions of refugees. >>> an american man who travelled overseas to allegedly fight for isis has been captured in iraq. the man was trying to flee isis when he stumbled into kurdish held territory and surrender. the kurds say they found this virginia driver's license on mohammed jamal khweis. the family thought he was on vacation in europe. the top isis leader omar the chechen has now died. he was injured in syria earlier this month, according to the observatory for human rights. >>> well, one of the hottest shows to hit broadway visited the white house yesterday. the cast of "hamilton" performed for the first family aroun