in 2014, ignoring a treaty which yeltsin had signed and turn it into a russian possession.aded ukraine, an extraordinarily brave resistance to interview him for unspun world. the russians have upped their game of bringing the war to an end fast. has been the way the old soviet union collapsed — the humiliation, the economic devastation, the resentment. everything now depends on the way vladimir putin emerges from a trump—organised peace negotiation over ukraine. if he's seen as the winner, or at least not the loser, having tried and failed to recapture one large part of the old soviet union — ukraine — president putin will turn his attention to another part that got away — and nato is bound by treaty to defend any member which comes under attack. but will president trump, with his agenda that at some point president putin but here in the baltic states, well, that's it from this special edition of unspun world in riga, in latvia. from me and from the unspun team, until we meet again, goodbye. hello there. well, for many of us, and there's more winter sunshine around as we he

and now, to take up the story right away, we have john simpson, our foreign affairs editor, boris yeltsinsprightly — pushed him aside four months later. old name of saint petersburg would be restored. his ginger—haired deputy with a kgb past — a certain vladimir putin. i witnessed the russian economies fall about the way older russians support putin, even now. putin himself, no longer deputy mayor of saint petersburg into the topmost reaches of politics, took over as president he was young, popular and effective. and western ideas, to cut it off from ukraine apparently believing that people there wanted to join up resistance to the russian invasion. i went to kyiv soon afterwards to interview him for unspun world. the russians have upped their game with the help of will achieve his intended aim of bringing the war the old soviet union collapsed — everything now depends on the way vladimir putin emerges from a trump—organised peace negotiation over ukraine. he'll be free to carry on challenging the west. one large part of the old soviet union — which comes under attack. and aside from that

but there is very much a strain that found with khrushchev, gorbachev and yeltsin. in recent ruston -- russian history there are movements which get cut off because they are not strong enough. so for me it is a hope that the democratic side of russia would emerge after putin and in that democratic side emerges a gorbachev type leader who will reach out to the west and find in the west a friendly hand and ready to help the east. it is the same planet and we have to share it and find a way to do that without war. without a small war becoming a big war, you have to be incredibly careful. host: this is marianne in the keystone state, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: i have a question about the cuban missile crisis. i only heard it once that khrushchev took the missiles out of cuba because we, the united states, agreed to remove missiles that we had pointed at russia. and that's why it was settled so quickly. is there any truth to that? guest: there is some truth to that, yes ma'am. we had known for a long time now that the uni

but there is very much a strain that found with khrushchev, gorbachev and yeltsin. in recent ruston -- russian history there are movements which get cut off because they are not strong enough. so for me it is a hope that the democratic side of russia would emerge after putin and in that democratic side emerges a gorbachev type leader who will reach out to the west and find in the west a friendly hand and ready to help the east. it is the same planet and we have to share it and find a way to do that without war. without a small war becoming a big war, you have to be incredibly careful. host: this is marianne in the keystone state, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: i have a question about the cuban missile crisis. i only heard it once that khrushchev took the missiles out of cuba because we, the united states, agreed to remove missiles that we had pointed at russia. and that's why it was settled so quickly. is there any truth to that? guest: there is some truth to that, yes ma'am. we had known for a long time now that the uni

an alternative claim is that in the nineties, the first chechen war caused yeltsin in his presidency more or less. so my question is whether you see a pivotal moment sometime in the late nineties, early 2000, when the story of the authoritarianism and, it's putin's modification and the question to is that the perception of the second chechen war was absolutely different from the perception of the first war. and one of the institutional means to ensure there is a different perception was an involvement of mikhail lesson into. the works of the ministry of of the press. and when they started to regulate the coverage and when the media most was transferred around from its original owner to to gazprom and so and so on. so in other words, authoritarianism comes with an institutional package design to to impact people's perceptions. and i remember you mentioned the thousands for a think as one of the moments. so the question is whether it's 2004 or should we look back into the history at the early origins of putin's authoritarianism or we should just look at at the current times. hi. thank

direction and the oligarchs took over this country in concert with vladimir putin and before him yeltsine best seats in the house, right behind the president of the united states was the most ominous thing. it was even more ominous than the speech itself. because those guys are seemingly willing to say and do anything to protect their gigantic business interests and that is a further recipe for disaster. we have seen it before in this country but we have never seen it energized by an supercharge by social media and the tools that they have at hand. >> jon: i don't know why -- >> i am bumming you out. [laughs] >> jon: no. i remain optimistic because the history of this country is such resilience through peaks and valleys that we were sure were fatal blows. it is different than these other -- you know, we are, for the adolescence of america being 250 years old, we are a more mature democracy then i think a lot of those countries. we have a history and a pattern of civic engagement at local and state levels that i think will prove, even if the body politic at that level begins to erode -- >

together with sir john major of the united kingdom and the president of russia at the time, boris yeltsiney were parties to the agreement. the budapest memorandum of 1995, under which ukraine gave up its entire arsenal of nuclear weapons in return for an assurance, not a guarantee i accept, but an assurance that its sovereignty, independence and existing borders would be respected. so not only is russia in flagrant breach of the agreement that it itself signed, but it appears to me that the president, the united states, is unfamiliar with the budapest memorandum signed by his forebear, president bill clinton, and maybe being premature in saying that there should be some kind of deal which would involve the surrender, the capitulation of ukraine, which i personally would find unacceptable, because i think if that were to happen, it would unleash further attacks by putin, who has made no secret of his desire to rebuild the soviet union and europe, would be an even worse state if we do not resist him now. >> okay, so, gerald, of course, we don't know that that would be the terms of any deal

together with sir john major of the united kingdom and the president of russia at the time, boris yeltsiney were parties to the agreement. the budapest memorandum of 1995, under which ukraine gave up its entire arsenal of nuclear weapons in return for an assurance, not a guarantee i accept, but an assurance that its sovereignty, independence and existing borders would be respected. so not only is russia in flagrant breach of the agreement that it itself signed, but it appears to me that the president, the united states, is unfamiliar with the budapest memorandum signed by his forebear, president bill clinton, and maybe being premature in saying that there should be some kind of deal which would involve the surrender, the capitulation of ukraine, which i personally would find unacceptable, because i think if that were to happen, it would unleash further attacks by putin, who has made no secret of his desire to rebuild the soviet union and europe, would be an even worse state if we do not resist him now. >> okay, so, gerald, of course, we don't know that that would be the terms of any deal