policy toward russia to be. and that we let the russia and the u.s. team go to the breakout rooms and refine or confirm what had just been presented to build what would be their baseline for going forward. in each case, we told if you are the russia team consider yourself advises to president putin. we walked back into the plenary session. each side had an opportunity to brief the other. and then they had a chance for clarification, questions of clarification from one side to the other. once they had baselined their policy going into the game, we then provided what we would call a strategic scenario that each side would have to deal with. what we found was that there was not a lot of movement from the way we had designed the russian system or the way we presented u.s. policy. we felt we had a good baseline. after they came into the plenary session of pretty good refinement. so we started with the first scenario. the two teams went to the breakout room. they would confirm the policy they had was valid. and what changes they needed to make and what was

russia. here tonight in conversation with masha gessen is peter finn, "washington post" national security correspondent, join me in welcoming masha gessen and peter finn to the jcss. [applause] [applause] >> good evening. it's wonderful to be in san francisco, and i'm especially happy to be here with masha and a gifted and fearless journalist whose work i haveed admired for a long time, and we had the opportunity 00 work together when she blogged for the "washington post." and let's jump right in. russia has experienced a lot of trauma and turmoil since the fall of the soviet union and you witnessed most of it, and but as you look at russia now and the war in ukraine the assassination of boris nemtsov the crackdown on the lgbt community, an opposition that is completely marginalized, a docile media. how pessimistic are you about the current situation and the opportunity, if any for change? >> guest: very. that may be all i have to say on the topic. you've gone through the list. i think it's e

china had the upper hand and russia needed china, but not russia needed china. that's why the chinese relationship was one of risk for the russians. they could play to it, but they were coming into it having to negotiate less than their optimal deal, if you will. >> just a quick comment. the u.s. needs to be aware of its own seams and weaknesses. and i think one of those is now we tend to view the world regionally. there is some broad transnational threats. we get that. we have functional combats and commands. but in general terms, we have -- this of course goes back to the cold war. one combatant command focused on europe and russia and one focused on the asia-pacific region and china. so we tend to want to put our problems into those bins and assign our military commander to deal with it. that said, there's a huge amount of cooperation that goes on with other u.s. government agencies as well, and we're finding more and more that perhaps that regional structure for the defense commands is not as helpful in places like the arctic, where you have several u.s. fou

russia refers to world war ii as the great patriotic war.e than 26 million people in the soviet union died that is nearly a quarter of the population. today as many as 4 million soldiers still remain unaccounted for. the russian president, vladamir putin said victory day is russia's biggest holiday. today's parade, russia's premiere showing of its best, newest military hardware. let's go to matthew chance from moscow with more. matthew, first tell us what we will be looking for, looking out for today. what will happen? what sort of military hardware is going to be on display? >> andrew. first of all, the victory day parade here in 2015, marking 70 years since the end of the second world war, great patriotic war they call it here. just about now getting under way. behind me i can see a long line of armored vehicles, tanks, missle-launchers lined up in preparation to roll through the cobbles of red square, past that audience of invited guests in what is perhaps the biggest victory day celebration that russia has ever staged. 16,500 troops. tak

policy toward russia to be and it would let the russia team and the u.s. team go to the breakout rooms and they need to refine or confirm what had just been presented to build what would be the baseline for going forward. in each case we told each of the used intensities of members of the national scared counsel, advice to the president. in the same thing for the russian team consider yourselves advisors to president putin. we brought them back in to the plenary session to each site had an opportunity to brief the other and then they had a chance for clarification, questions of clarification from one side or the other analysis will the white cell or the control group. once they have baseline that policy going into the game we been provided what we call a strategic and check or a scenario that each side would have to deal with. what we found was that was not a lot of movement from the way we have designed the russian system on the way we presented you with policy so we felt like we have a good baseline going in, and after they came into the session a pretty

we started in russia and the russia-asia relationship actually. it was programs we were already doing at the u.s. army war college and over time we had meetings from many respected experts from think tanks, from universities, dod, state department as well. and and those meetings were to confirm, improve or help our understanding of the systems. that's what we did over time. the war game was actually a month ago, but prior to that we had many meetings in washington on think tanks to discuss our view on what we thought the russian system was like. we used what we call operational design. it's a way to frame the environment, frame the problem and the approach to the system. we started with first understanding the problem. we looked into putting in scramsochi, to find that out. and looked for problems within the current system and fractures that are in the system as well. for that environment, we used visualization of the russian are bear. and russian bear with his own dna, and he is moving through a forest, and he used keys that control the bear or u

and this one was explicitly intended to prevent the ukrainian like revolution in russia as though russia had any chance of a revolution. and a lot of the people people who marched actually carried placards with a portrait of boris nemtsov, identifying him as an organizer of the ukrainian revolution. so the message of that march was that the kremlin is forming and unleashing an entire military force, a band of thugs. for the explicit purpose of attacking people who are opposed to vladimir putin. >> is that organized by the kremlin? and do you see them as directly complicit in the murder. >> yes, i do a. >> you believe that they directly organize it? >> i do not think that is necessary. there is a clear chain of command that is not necessary an environment like that were the most important messages are messages -- what kind of violence can be carried out with impunity, what kind of violence will be interpreted as being done in the name of the regime and to help the regime. >> who are these people? do you have any sense? are they part of the state apparatus? are they part of -- are the peop

of russia.d crimea and subject to u.s. and european sanctions. i'm not sure that paragraph advertise occupation is related to a change in western stance towards russia in light of developments in ukraine. >> all right. thank you so much. we shall see. we appreciate you being with us. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> cuban president castro welcomed french frent hollande on monday. during his short trip, he also met with the former leader, fidel castro. this marks the first time a french president has visited cuba. >> coming up, we have an exclusive interview with a north korean defector. find out what he has to say about the regime's brutal executions. and who has one starting price for gas or hybrid? mkz hybrid again. mm-hmm. upstaged them. the lincoln luxury uncovered event is on. lease the mkz or mkz hybrid for $289 a month. plus for a limited time competitive owners and lessees get one-thousand dollars bonus cash. hey mom, you want to live by the lyeah.right? there's here. ♪ did you just share a

beginning the program in russia, where the u.s. secretary of state is due to speak shortly now this is the first and time that kerry has visited russia since the crisis in ukraine began more than a year ago, it is the highest level diplomatic talks that have taken place earlier he met russian president, in the resort city. now, the two and leaders were expected to discuss the shaky cease fire in ukraine. that came into force in february and. we have seen some statements from the foreign ministry. some of the statements that they made, was russia was ready for druggive cooperation with u.s., but it would do so on an equal partnership basis. and yet other statements even though john kerry has met president putin he was also in talks with his counter part the foreign minister for hours prior to that. so some of these lines coming out we aren't quite sure which meeting but they say that the russian foreign ministry says that the attempts to pressure russia with sanctions will lead to a dead end. so those two and sames coming out of tho

how bad was russia? talk me through the situation on the ground for russia. that is what everybody seems to be focusing on when it comes to your business. >> it still does despite russia is a lot smaller for carlsberg today now less than 20% of our profit. the market is still challenging, so from a consumer point of view, it is a challenging situation. that is being felt by the economy. very strong in terms of market development. in western europe and asia. francine: when do you expect the trenton eastern europe and russia to reverse? could take years? with the lifting of the sanctions, with that - in six mo nths, would we see an improvement? joergen: i wish i knew. nobody knows really. the issue is driven by politics. so, i think what i can say i do believe at some point in time the situation will improve and that the benefit, that will benefit carlsberg. that is just a matter of when, and that i do not know. guy: how do you and press the analyst community at this stage with this bit -- your business? 35 analysts cover your business. only four of them have a

and that maybe it is softening it's stance towards russia.t's not the impression that is given by the state department. the state department says that it is coming other here mainly to keep the channels of communication over, it isn't expecting any break throughs. it is really a challenge for the state department to come over here, as they say and talk to the bos, the man that makes the big decisions in russia. >> again when the news conference begins we will bring that to you where he is meeting with president vladimir putin the two sat down and have been discussions issues the for the past four hours. we will bring you that news conference as soon as they come to the podium. the fighting in ukraine was also the topic of talks talks in kiev today. they promised to continue supporting the government, he also pledged more than $30 million in humanitarian assistance. >> that overemphasized canada's opposition to russian's aggression against ukraine. the agreement deserves our support, but russia has shown that it simply cannot be trusted to ful

policy toward russia be then let russia and u.s. team go to breakout rooms and either refine or confirm what had just been presented to build base lane going forward. in each case told two teams, if you're the u.s. team consider yourself members of the national security council or advisers to the president and same thing for the president. consider your selves advisers to president putin. we brought them back in. each side had an opportunity to brief the other. then a chance for clarification questions for clarifications from one side or the other, white cell and control group. once they had baselined policy going into the game we then provided what we would get with inject or scenario each side would deal with. what we found was, there was not a lot of movement from the way we designed the russian system or presented u.s. policy. we felt like we had a pretty good baseline coming in. after the plenary session a pretty good refinement. so we started with first scenario, two teams in the breakout, russian and u.s. team. they would con

after the russia/georgia war many 2008 russia recognized two georgian regions as independent states.it has taken almost full control over both and built fences between them and the rest of georgia. it has also sent troops into moldova, but moldova wants out and which russia pledged to withdraw in 1999. so russia has been violating the territorial integrity of its neighbors for years and continues to do so. that brings me to my second principle the independence of states. ukraine's desire to move closer to the european union was met by force. so was georgia's aspirations -- as prayings to join nato -- aspiration to join nato. moldova has also received clear warnings about closer moves toward europe. russia's leaders claim that its neighborhood represents a zone of privileged interests. but its efforts to create the sphere of influence risk taking us back in time to when greater powers when great powers drew lines on the map at the expense of smaller states. and nations were not free to decide their own destiny. this could create a sphere of instability for us all. and it's not the sor

secretary of state john kerry heads to russia. he will meet vladimir putin for the first time in two years. stocks in london down by 1%. join us in two minutes. ♪ jonathan: welcome back. it's time to talk about greece. the greek finance minister insists his nation is serious about delivering reforms. the dutch minister says progress is accelerating. it sounds like good news. i think that picture says a lot. cross fingers. i think that is how a lot of people feel about this. tom, you have been speaking to policymakers. is 30 thing concrete that came out of this meeting and the last 24 hours? or is it crossed fingers? >> we did catch up with the finance ministers. it is definitely cross your fingers and hope. there was a mood change following the acrimonious meeting just three weeks ago. the statement came out yesterday , which simply acknowledge the change in attitude and said, well done. no concrete proposals, but a change in mood. now the ecb, which has been threatening to reduce emergency liquidity are less likely to do that. th

and they need russia's help to do so, but it is also rather angry at the moment with russia, because moscow is trying to fast track through the sale of missile defense systems that has displeased washington somewhat, and then there's the big issue of syria as well. washington believes that the ground in syria has changed somewhat, and that now we have asaad looking weaker than he has been for some time, maybe washington thinks there is now some flexibility in moscow's thinking, maybe moscow can be persuaded to get asaad to come to the negotiating table and try to find a political solution there. but clearly there is much that separates these two. although there is this one area of agreement to do with iran, they are a bigger bigger issues that separate them. >> rory with the latest, rory, thank you. and now let's go to rosalyn jordan, she is at the state department ever the us, rosalyn, these are the highest level talks between russians and the americans in russia itself. so what is the u.s. looking for out of this meeting? why did john kerry travel all the way to sochi. >> what is t

greece left russia empty hand he but as john siropolous reports greece and russia share a strange situation. >> it was the greeks who created the slavs to you christianity. greece needs friends. russia wants to prevent eu sanction he from being renewed in june. sanctions which prompted it to ban european agricultural products. >> offering various deals in the energy sector and perhaps a unilateral suspension of the counter-embargo or counter-sanctions on greek agricultural products. but whether they can make a very tempting offer, offer in 30, 40 billion euros in the least which is the amount greece is going to need in the immediate future. >> a direct loan to greece isn't its only option, because greece spends ten times that amount buying russian gas, russia could lower the price. it could also bid for infrastructure greece is privatizing such as port authorities and hellenic rail. there is an overarching priority. greece wants to remind europe of its strategic value and demonstrate that it has friends wrels. but is this enough for it to break wrarchtion europe? just before he became forei

's when he was looking for was a greater russia and the only way that would be a greater russia was it roosevelt gave it to him. so no fool he accused going to get along with the most powerful country in the world which was us. >> susan i'll just ask you one question while the isolate is making her way to the microphone. what is the perception that it of the relationship? >> if you go to moscow there is a museum which is very important to them which is a museum showing all of the aid that america gave to russia. and they consider that world war ii is, they call it the great patriotic war. it was sort of the hague of their greatness and to remember it with nostalgia and to remember us with really with a great deal of appreciation and nostalgia. and to the incredible astonishment of the rest of the world, the question has been of the last 20 years, it's all going to run for office now probably more than half of russia would vote for him because he presided over the greatest years. so they have totally different perception of what happened in world war ii and we do really. >> i was recent

you know i think russia is just as concerned, all the reports i'm hearing, is russia is just as concerned with returning jihadsists as we are and, in fact maybe a little bit more so. they have a great many boundaries with countries that have these kind of terrorist threats within them. they fought the chechens for a while, repressed some elements of their population so there is the potential for this increased linkage. you have the issue with their previously backed syrian partner that is as michael said earlier, is falling apart right now. i think they are going to be looking for an increased partnership with the united states in terms of fighting terrorism. >> and we're waiting for this news conference to happen, bobby, between the foreign minister of russia and the secretary of state of the united states. do you anticipate anything major emerging? it's been a long time since the secretary of state has been to russia two years since a high ranking u.s. official has met with the russian president putin. >> well the major thing that was going to happen is that that kerry has gone. i would

is there investment or potential investment between china and russia china putting money into russia or the other way around? >> well the chinese have a habit of moving into vacuums where the west will sanction a country, whether it is sudan or iran, other such countries venezuela, because it is an opportunity, and i think they view russia very much this way. russia has energy china needs energy, and china has now very, is very keen to both sort of consolidate the relationship with putin, give him loans make oil and gas deals. they signed some deals for weapons and new s 400 missile that russia is now selling to china. so things are getting much, much closer than they were before. >> expand on the military relationship as well. when these two countries decide to align, there is that, not just an enemy, a specific enemy but as large the european union and the united states and the west seem to be in a different camp, especially in terms of russia's intervention in the ukraine. >> well, militarily speaking the west has never sold any amount of weaponry to china. it is almost all comes

china or russia? thank you. >> back to the panelists. >> so, sir, in regards to your question on religion, it did come up in the initial net assessment. mainly in relationship to the orthodox church. while you don't see it on the actual diagram, we characterized it pretty much as a tool of russian nationalism frankly. we didn't see it as a driving factor as much as a resource that could be used to continue to push forward russian nationalism. >> on the question about russian allies, i don't -- we didn't consider that as a major factor within the artificial construct the war game. we know that russia has reached out to particularly central asia and some of the countries there. but we didn't see that as those partnerships as really contributing much either to russian policy or to the russian impact in the situations we were trying to look at specifically. russia will never be able to recreate the warsaw pact. and even the warsaw pact was an alliance of unequals, much more so than nato, i would argue. bu

-russia relationship.ty to resolve the issue, to look at possibly cooperation between the united states and russia, or nato and russia, thus far without success. back to 2007, a conversation between president bush and president putin about, could there be a cooperative effort between washington and moscow. when the george w. bush administration plan was to deploy ten ground based interceptors in poland, accompanied by a supporting radar in the czech republic. the russians were opposed to the plan. what you had was an offer from the russian side to make available to the united states radar data from the russian radar. i think it's been closed down now. also a radar under construction. both of the radars having good views of iran. the problem was the u.s. government was interested in that idea, in addition to american plans. the russian proposal was providing the radar data in place of the plans to deploy missile defenses in europe. that never really got started. the second attempt came at the end of 2010. a

with russia's backing of assad.t's what kerry has come here to discuss on that issue and finally we get to ukraine. another area where the united states and are such shadow not see eye to eye on. both sides of this are upholding the minsk ceasefire but both sides accusing their allies of pro-russian separatists for moscow and ukrainian government for the united states both sides accusing their allies of breaking that ceasefire. so for the americans this is a chance for them to keep the channels of negotiation open to see what amount of flexibility there is here in russia not necessarily to reach any firm resolution on any of these issues. it's just a chance to talk to the man at the top who is making russia's foreign policy decisions. >> indeed a lot to talk about and rory challenge reporting from sochi. ahead europe seeks u.n. approval to strike human traffickers in libya and concerns over greece as it continues and athens admits it will run out of cash in two weeks. ♪ >> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlin

secretary of state is in sochi russia. it is kerry's first visit there, since the start of the crisis in ukraine. those iran and syria were also on the agenda. we will hear from rory shortly on the meeting between the president and secretary kerry and also the meeting between secretary kerry and the russian foreign minister. there was a scene the podiums are set, and we are waiting for the two gentlemen to come on out and address the press on the conversations held so far today. a new front for u.s. oil exploration, the obama administration has given conditional approval for shell to begin drilling in the arctic ocean. many think it is a dangerous idea. >> the approval from the federal bureau to allow shell oil to drill in alaska met with a cheer from the american petroleum institute. the safe and responsible development of oil and natural gas in the arctic is critical to our economy, and national security. failure to develop these resources would put america's global energy leadership after risk at a time when russia and

stance on russia.ever, that is not really echoed by what has come out of the united states and the state department which seems to think that this is not going to come out with anything particularly substantive, but is a chance really just to keep the lines of communication with russia open a chance to come over here and talk with the boss the man who takes all of the foreign policy decisions in russia of course vladimir putin. >> and one would assume sanctions might be a big issue. have the russians said anything about that? >> reporter: not sanctions specifically. we're expecting there will be three main topics of conversation in this meeting. they are all geopolitical issues. the first is one where there is the most common grounds between the united states and russia and that is iran and the nuclear deal, both countries have been working together to secure as part of a p5-plus-1 group. now the united states is worried about russian sale of missile systems to iran but at least that's something that t

it's an opportunity for russia to show it's strength.o show that it will never be subject to an invasion like it was in the second world war like nazi germany. that's very important for many russians to see. it's a source of great national pride. what we wonlt be seeing here is any kind of western leaders that have mainly decided to snub this event over russia's involvement in ukraine. it's allegedly backing the pro-russian rebels in ukraine and because of that, the president of the united states and most european union leaders as well decided to stay away. that's not been the attitude of other leaders in the world, though. the chinese president, he's here standing next to vladimir putin in red square. so is the indian president. so i think, you know, it's very symbolic this day. it's meant to be a commemoration of the alliance that defeated nazi germany 70 years ago but in the context of the politics today it's very symbolic of the gap, of the distance between russia and the west. >>> matthew, you're putting it into perspective for what

/russia relationship. there have been attempts to explore the possibility to resolve the issue to look at the possibility of cooperation between the united states and russia or nato and russia thus far without success. if you go back to 2007, a conversation between president bush and president putin about, could there be a cooperative effort between washington and moscow? when the george w. bush administration plan was to deploy ten ground based interceptors in poland, the missles now deployed in alaska accompanied by a supporting radar in the czech republic, the russians were opposed to this plan and what you had was an offer from the russian side to make available to the united states radar data from the russian radar actually now has been since closed down and also a radar that was under construction. both of the radars having good views of iran. but the problem, the nub of the issue was the u.s. government was interested in that idea in addition to american plans. the russian proposal was providing the

china or russia? thank you. >> back to the panelists. >> so, sir, in regards to your question on religion, it zid come up in the initial testament, mainly in relationship to the orthodox church. while you don't see it on the sexual diagram. we characterized it pretty much as a tool of russian nationalism, frankly we didn't see it as a driving factor as much as a resource that could be used to continue to push forward on russian nationalism. >> on the question about russian allies, i don't -- we didn't consider that as a major factor within the artificial construct of war game. we know that russia has reached out to particularly central asia and some of the countries there. but we didn't see that as those partnerships as really contributing much either to russian policy or to the russian impact in the situations we were trying to look at specifically. russia will never be able to recreate the warsaw pact. and even the warsaw pact was an alliance of unequals much more so than nato, i would argue. but no

russia has a right to lucrative oil fields oil and gas 90% of russia's income. russia is a major developer of the oil fields and started production. it's thought to contain 43,000 barrels of oil, one big cash cow. baghdad spend a decent amount on arms. in 2012, baghdad concerned with arms uprisings, it signed an arms contract with moscow. russia provide bilateral trade is bilateral trade is returning to pre-saddam levels turn over $2 billion. there's a renewed focus on agriculture, transport and infrastructure. and baghdad and moscow can benefit >>> correspondent rory challands is covering the meeting for us. why has haider al-abadi come to russia? >> well the main issue that the countries are talking about is military cooperation. iraq wants russian weapons basically to continue the fight against the "ultimate 8," and russia is concerned that the spread of the islamic state may affect the southern borders. russia has been happy to provide baghdad with weapons. last year it sent the first consign. attack aircraft. more are expected to come. iraqi sources say tha

the way over to russia maybe he is bringing a softer stance towards russia.ut they are treating this more as an opportunity to keep the channels of communication open. a chance to talk to the boss the guy who makes all of russia's foreign policy decisions, really. because there are lots and lots of issues that divide these two countries. only one, really that unified them at the moment. >> what specifically is on the agenda? and are you expecting some sort of a news conference at the end of this meeting? >> reporter: yes, we are expecting a news con fresz about 7:00 in the evening local time. that's about an hour and a half. it depends on how long this meeting with putin is going to go on for. what they are talking about, three main topics of conversation. i mentioned the one there, where they have some common ground, really that is iran where getting iran around the -- the table has been one of the key achievements of russian and u.s. cooperation. but then there are things like syria and ukraine, where the two countries are still polls apart and seems little

they didn't go to the headquarters of russia's black sea fleet. the crimean city, they went to the less controversial city. china is still shy of recognising russia's annexation of crimea. european and american policy makers will be watching these mediterranean exercises closely, but it doesn't seem like they are overly concerned, seeing these as provocative posturing. they are calling it an active phase of naval cooperation, what does that entail. >> nine vessels taking part in several days of exercises. the chinese said that what they'll be doing is maritime defense, replenishment, escort actions, navigation security operations, and live firing drills. the russians chipped in and said that these exercises are not aimed at any particular third country, they are friendly. >> what common military defense interests do vladimir putin and china share? >> well, russia and china are both in the process at the moment of beefing up their military in order to better project power. so it makes sense for the two countries to learn off each other. they are no

that is the new battlefield tank that russia is incredibly proud of. it actually broke down on one of the parades earlier this week, and high infantry kits, basically an opportunity for russia to say to the west you may not like us much at the moment but don't try and pick a fight with us either. >> rory, thank you very much indeed rory challands. >>> oversaw the operation from an offshore location. the reports didn't reveal the timing or location of the launch. if it's true though north korea would be defying warnings. >>> the bodies of seven people killed in a helicopter crash in pakistan have arrived in the capital islamabad. the arrives evere wives of the indonesian and marianna ambassadors were also killed. they say it was caused by a technical problem. >>> political pollsters taken by advise. lawrence lee reports from london. >> david cameron still in downing street and still prime minister. his conservative party confounded every single one of the polls and won a small majority. that allowed him to tell the queen he can now form a government. we

russia is displaying new relationships intended to mitigate damage to the older ones. also shown off is military. a newly designed battle tank since before the soviet union fell. russia is modernizing armed forces as fast as it is able. trying to build a professional military. other departments are facing severe budget cuts defense spending increased significantly. watching the parade were some of the few remaining people that fought against the nazis in what russia calls a great patriotic war. perhaps it will be the last anniversary where it's possible. >> i have pride for the motherland. i'm amazed by the modern technology. i feel so proud. i'm satisfied that there are people that can defend the land that we once defended. >> victory day has multiple functions. it displays military might and slows off friendships and unites russians in the politically potent themes of sacrifice and victory. >>> still to come here at al jazeera - people from myanmar used as slaves on indonesian fishing trawlers we hear from one mother who hasn't seen her son in years. plus as a race f

to review many areas where we can and should be working together with russia and where russia indicated that they wanted to work with us as well. but even then, i made clear, i made it crystal clear, that quote, "we will not recognize any nation having influence could will remain argue that sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances." i meant it then, and we mean it now. in 2009, when we came to office, president mandela -- was in power. and he talked about the need to combat russia's -- what he called nihilism to strengthen the rule of law. without being naive, we decided to test the process that russia would strengthen the rule of law and gradually embrace the path of modern -- economic modernization and patterns which could help integrate russia into the world of responsible nations. and it was -- it was in that same spirit over several administrations, the united states supported russia's membership in countless internode -- international organizations. we also welcome his political reforms, like the direct election of governors in rus

dismembering russia. a lot of corollary terms regarding financial reparations which is interesting because the germans endlessly bellyache in the 20's and 30's about the reparations they were forced to pay. they forced reparations upon the russians. that said, despite this rift in march between the bolsheviks and germans the relations improved over the course of the year. some of this has to do with a browser bizarre saga -- a rather bizarre saga inside the area when the detachment of czechoslovak prisoners of war rose up and seized most of the trans-siberian railway and the gold reserve's. this in turn was a part of the larger story towards the end of the war. all questions seem to be on the table. he prisoners of war were left go so they could fight on the western front. this was negotiated between the western allies and trotsky. it was during that time attention that trotsky actually invited allied troops into russia. this will later be endlessly denounced in soviet propaganda as the great imperialist

but russia made no mention of mr. putin saying instead that kerry would meet with sergey lavrov, well, matthew chance joins us now from moscow with more on this. and it is interesting that russia's not reporting that john kerry will meet with president putin. talk to us about what that means and what all the two men will likely discuss and achieve in these talks. >> well, the fact that it hasn't been officially announced in russia, it may mean that the meeting won't go ahead. it has something to do with protocol, the russian foreign ministry speaks to what the russian foreign ministry's doing and they've been identifying what his agenda is. sergey lavrov will be meeting with john kerry to discuss a whole gamut of grievances between russia and the united states, from the situation in ukraine to the nato defense shield and u.s. national defense system to other issues outstanding as well as areas of cooperation like syria and iran. that could well develop into a meeting with vladimir putin as well, but as i say, it's not

russia's richest person talks sanctions. the relationship with the west and life after putin in a bloomberg interview. ♪ francine: welcome to "the pulse ." i am francine lacqua. over the next hour, we will be joined by an award winning economists and get his take on all of today's news. the president of the european commission has ruled out the possibility of a great deal when leaders meet later this week. the greek government has expect awesome -- as experts -- has expressed optimism. yanis varoufakis gave an indication of just how close he thought the sides were to reaching a deal. yanis varoufakis: i think we are very close friend or until the deal is done, nobody knows when the deal will be done. could it be a matter of 24 hours? yanis varoufakis: let's say about a week. francine: for more on all of this, to berlin and hugs nichols. what did -- hans nichols and what did we learn. you had one side saying it will reach of the deal and a commission being more pragmatic. hans: that has been the dynamic for a long time. a gre

victory day in russia marks nasser al-attiyah germany's surrender to the soviet union. many western leaders didn't attend because of their involvement in neighbouring ukraine. here is some of what vladimir putin had to say. >> in the past decade the basic international principles have been ignored. those invented after the sufferings after the war. we saw attempts at a neopolan world and forces gaining momentum. all undermining global stability, our joint goal should be equal stability for all countries, a system responding to growing threats >>> rory challands has more than the parade in moscow. >> helicopters, nuclear missile launchers, tanks, soldiers in uniform. russia is in the middle of an ambitious military upgrade, trying to make its armed forces better equipped and more professional. other departments are suffering budget cuts, defense spending here has increased significantly, and this is a chance for russia to show off all that kit. another thing that is useful is rallying russians around the flag. it's difficult to overestimate the importance of victory day

official inside russia.y will be meeting the russian president vladimir putin at some point later today. the tensions between russia and the u.s. right now. the crisis in ukraine and sanctions imposed against russia for the involvement in ukraine. the expansion. these have sunk relations with russia and the united states. it is crucial for the two con countries to get together to forge some kind of working relationship because a working relationship with russia and the united states is essential for global security. there are whole area where is they cooperate despite tensions. you mentioned the situation in syria. the situation in iran. without russia the u.s. would not have got so close to getting iran to the negotiating table and deal over the nuclear program. they need the russians as well for cooperation of united nations security council for resolution on yemen. whole areas where they need to cooperate and try to get a normal working relationship started again. >> a normal working relationship after a

russia has not contacted me at all. >> russia's ban on these citizens is a cold war style ban. some have noticed the russian list concentrates on eu states that have been be especially harsh on their bans. >> by looking at this list you could draw a map the map of russia's friends and russia's opponents, inside european union, so it's very selective actually. >> reporter: tensions in eastern ukraine remain high. there's sporadic shelling and russia is conducting exercises on ukraine's border again. the minsk agreement is still not implementand both ukrainian and western officials fear russia and its allies are gearing up for another round of fighting. russia admits there is another list of banned u.s. officials but that has yet to be published. simon mcgregor wood, al jazeera, london. >> china has reacted angrily to u.s. criticism of reclaims land in the south china sea. the ongoing diplomatic row has dominated a meeting on regional security in singapore. jerald tan explains in more detail. >> the south china sea rich in marine resource he and minerals. a third of the world's s

and russia are going to be enjoying closer relations any time soon. even though they share concerns about the ongoing civil war in syria about the situation in yemen, about the status of the iranian nuclear talks t has posed to be a roadblock in their relationship. the u.s. is opposed to the russian takeover of the crimean peninsula. they believe that crimea belongs to ukraine. and they're very critical of russia's flouting of the two minsk agreements that was supposed to end the military tensions in eastern ukraine and set the stage for some sort of political reconciliation in that country. and in the u.s.' view russia has not done anything to make that possible, and so a warmer, closer relationship isn't going to happen, at least not any time soon. >> you say it's not going to happen any time soon, but the fact that they sit down with each other in a meeting at a high level mean anything at all? >> it makes in difference to reaffirm that relationships are not so strained that these two countries can't discuss their differences. a that is what they d

the inbound sovereign wealth fund for russia, they attract investment into russia.have been having a number of deals with beijing as well. they signed a deal with china construction bank to jointly provide about $25 billion in loans. western sanctions have really ability tocow's attract financing. been of -- up at the border. there are no bridges across the river. there is little trade back and forth across the border between russia and china. hues of animosity and distrust. angie: they are very close neighbors geographically, at least. president jinping was in moscow marking the anniversary of the ending of world war ii. may 9 in moscow. angie: what did they have to say about that? stephen: these were the two countries that lost the most people during the war. china lost an estimated 15 million to 20 million people. the soviet union lost about 25 million people. chinasaid russia and suffer the most during world war ii. there is the common history and misery. they had the big military march, attended by xi jinping. they have something in common there. angie: thank y

sanctions on russia. >> absolutely. actually russia is trying to repeat that sanction policy. that is why it is using the stick and carrot approach. it's not just simple retaliation. we are in the midst of a war. what i find striking is that this decision was taken just weeks before crucial e.u. summit. which has to decide on the future of sanction policy. it has to expand the sanction imposed last year for one more year. or to abandon it. it seems that russia is filling e.u. weakness. inside the e.u. there's a group of countries not happy with sanctions. it seems that the e.u. is scared. russia is trying to press hard. and send in e.u. members of e.u. clear signal - think twice before taking decision. because it can bite >>> you look at what has happened this last month. angela merkel went to moscow for talks with vladimir putin. john kerry went to sochi, and you have to wonder is russia really strange when assistance is sought by the west. >> well we see it conflicting. on the one hand you are right, what we have seen in recent weeks and the terms on part of the western lead

russia relationship. john kerry will fly to russia to meet with president putin.ighest level talks between the countries in two years. website.ons we look at where simmons could land, next. salesty shares jump after and profit. we will talk to the ceo. whether he sees any big drug deals ahead. the american idol era is coming to an end. the upcoming 15th season will be its last. came toing competition television when it premiered in 2002 but ratings have declined in recent years. the decision announced at the .eginning of the upfront it could be a week at buying season with more dollars shifting away from the networks and into online videos. joining me to discuss the media landscape is paul sweeney. also with us, lucas shaw. let's start with this bombshell from fox. american idol has been such an incredible success for the network. it was averaging 30 million viewers in its peak. that is bananas. how big of a losses is going to be? lucas: it is a sign of a change at fox. dana walden and gary newman are the heads of the network and they are still in their first year

does it give you an ironic sense of russia's future versus russia's past?>> well, russia doesn't have the future. as many say russia's everything in russia's presence is about the past, it barely has that. apparently now only 16, a very small number but it is the largest number since the end of the soviet union. and it is appropriate to have one or two or three big tanks. here not so much bust in moscow it was a big joke a big story one of those big tanks apparently better than anything the united states would ever have, actually broke down in the street. it is a symbol or annal gory an aligory of what was in the reality. >> planning to detonate the bombs on sunday now to northeast nigeria where a school came under attack. five students were wounded by gun fire and another 45 were wounded. boko haram is suspected of carrying out the attack a year after it attacked a school. another bomb exploded in a dormitory. the fate of the attackers is unflown at this point. >>> south africa's murder rate has dropped nationwide except in capetown where drug gangs are ba

russia's combat aviation controls around europe? has that picked up within the last year? between 13 and 14, queue drupele drupeleddrupele quadrupled or something. >> we talked about this last time i was at the podium. there was a period where we had a spike in the aviation patrols. we are back down now to essentially norms. so -- >> why do you think that is. >> i can't tell you. there are all other kinds of focus that the russian military has right now, and including the ukraine and other places. they may have put demands on the fore structure that they now have to address in maintenance ways. i really would not want to speculate, but we are back to a pretty close to norm. >> i'd like to go back to the questions asked earlier today about turkey. specifically how they said no to bring combat search and rescues and as operation continues and american pilots are flying every unfriendly area, and you talked how a pilot how important the guys are to you, is there an initiative to bring guard yap angels in other areas to support the oper

in russia in russia there is a great respect for vladimir putin, and they are taking his results. he is sky rocketing, and in general the russian public is thinking that the vladimir putin is doing the right thing right now, and probably he's standing up to the western leaders. he made russia resurgent in the coming years. and even this very complicated question of acute ukranian crisis is taking - in russia is perceived as the crisis which russia shouldn't be taking much care about. and the main thing, actually, that russia is a resurgent country, and that is connected with the name of the russian president vladimir putin >>> thank you very much indeed for that. speaking to us live from moscow >>> more to come here on this newshour including... >> and, yes, we will deliver the referendum on our future in europe >>> after a stunning victory in the u.k. elections, david cameron looks to the challenges ahead. plus, in sport - find out why lebron james was not a happy man during the n.b.a. play-off game. >>> now, the world health organisation declared liberia ebola free after 42 days