but the main reasons why russia's economic development ministry could the g.d.p. two thousand and twelve forecast to three point four percent from an earlier announced three point seven percent former finance minister aleksei could drink gave yet another wake up call shall we continue to only use the country's resources we may be able to only hold out for one more year if the oil price lowering is not dramatic maybe two years but not more some experts however are more up to mystic when it comes to russia's ability to resist the potential crisis well currently the national reserve fund is about three percent of g.d.p. or sr is its forecast for two thousand and twelve so i think there is still there is quite a buffer there and i think correction economy could cope with the recession in the european union another spike in oil prices could benefit russia if the upcoming negotiations with iran result in more sanctions if finance ministry is determined to save all the additional oil revenue to either replenishes or fund a cunt domestic borrowing like law that took right

russia. the jackson benny commitment has long been a thorn in the russia you ask operation it was introduced at the height of the cold war the saudi. denies normal trading relations with countries that restrict freedom of immigration and human rights the u.s.s.r. has long been gone but the names and places are rarely called more hostile time. president obama and many american businessman are calling for it to be repealed especially since russia is being admitted to the world trade organization but some republicans want to leave the place as a reminder to russia. it's human rights. heard welcome to the show thank you thank you very much for being with us thank you for that well first of all welcome russia's w.t.r. membership expected. to become final this summer will it have any immediate effect on the volume of bilateral trade i think you'll have. want to overstate it but we think cording to a study that was very well known. back where economic research institute states that we could see a do

to see it today or is it just popular discuss a story and i don't really an expert in russia and russia the local elections stephen. went to meet him in the bath and barack obama came to power they proclaimed the famous reset in the russian american relations after the cold rhetorical administration that manton a new period of partnership and cooperation rather than a standoff. knowledge the reset has been one of the biggest foreign policy achievements of both russian and american leaders the biggest reward is being used in the trade he signed in april two thousand and ten as the kremlin a song about to welcome the return of president putin and there have been downs the recent year old continues yet also insists it's not going to confront washington but americans are yet to choose their new course the leading republican. romney for example has recently russia america's number one geopolitical. politico welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us. well first of all i've got this new book or the new edition of your work here in my hands which is called service for the last a

and status to russia will not enjoy the benefits of russia's accession agreements that only refers to the united states new things or this program where it may become history before the presidential election in the states or the other things to do well i'm going to be optimistic and say i think that it could be lifted by doing by the end of the current congressional session that is sometime by sometime in july i would. guess another question listen will russia when it will become a full fledged member of the senate would get a possibility to see the united states over this and then restricting free trade. not that i'm aware i don't i mean we extend those formally we have this right i mean. lawsuit. i don't believe so no ok now. do you agree that the. jensen think an amendment is mostly is mostly defended by the so called big chicken. no i think that i think that there is a understanding and awareness that now that russia is going to be a member of the w.t. you know it doesn't provide any leverage in our trade negotiations with russia and that's what the degree even is what we've got a

russia will no longer be held hostage by energy. it's as it is today so but we should go for a lot of what do you think about that i mean it looks like they're really everything is being said in the right way but i mean do you think that the next presidency in that putin's six year term coming back to the presidency do you think that he has everything together to make that happen. well actually i'm fairly bullish about future developments in russia for a reason i think that what was perhaps one of the major lessons that the russian government and particularly mr putin have learned from the recent crisis was that the government cannot really fully become dependent on the reserves of its own money that it has managed to it can do it the government has been very bullish pre-crisis on its ability to fund growth and russia on its own however when the crisis came they had to use a very considerable part of or their reserves to try to bail out companies to try to stop diversification in russia so now looking to the next term of mr putin ac

discuss the investment climate here in russia and the program on the money. when you feel spring overseas my grocery birds will come home to roost. when their massive tongue great. empathy gives way to the emotions. towards those who live on the current. welcome to on the money where the business of russia is business i'm peter lavelle to invest or not to invest this is the question asked by investors and money managers all around the world with so much uncertainty impacting the global economy how do countries like russia stack up air are they sufficiently insulated from external shocks. to discuss russia's economic and business environment i'm joined by timothy crouse he is head of the russian bank opportunity phone i have see asset management company we also have let america mirror he is chief economist at all critter financial corp and simon fenton fletcher he is a portfolio manager with renaissance asset managers ok first let's have a look at where russia's economy stands. following a significant drop in december two thousand and eleven russians tugs gain

the protest mood sweeping through russia and relations with the u.s. president may be evaluates his legacy in his final of the q. and a and before leaving the kremlin. also a massive blast tears through an allegedly rubble bomb making labs in syria as the successor to the influenced a lot water mercenary company seemingly takes the opposition under its wing. coming up with the american missile shield in eastern europe house been a focus of discord between russia and the u.s. for years with washington refusing to give written guarantees that it won't target russia next up post all good most of takes to the issue in the spotlight. hello again i walked into a spotlight. and today my guest on the show is nikolai. the american missile shield in europe has long been an issue in russian american law much as the u.s. keeps insisting that it will never pose any threat to the russian side but for some reason washington this one to put anything in right this may be the reason why the russian foreign ministry recently mourned of some corresponding steps which may

coming up the american missile shield in eastern europe has been a focus of discord between russia and the u.s. for years with washington refusing to give written guarantees that it would target russia next host takes the issue into the spotlight. wealthy british style sun it's time to rise on. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into a report on our. hello again to waltham to spotlight i live in all of that and today my guest on the show is nikolai. the american missile shield in europe caused me to shoot in russian american english because the u.s. keeps insisting that it will never pose any threat to the russian side but for some reason washington doesn't want to put anything in right this may be the reason why the russian foreign ministry recently mourned of some piracy ponding steps which may fall out if an agreement isn't selling so what does the russian side have in mind let's put this question to the commander of the general staff on the russian armed

i thought show that russia is growing russia is changing but there was no blood most importantly there was no blood i don't think it was any harder on demonstrators than any any other country i know myself. i myself hold very much that what happens on the streets it will be peaceful and things what it was peaceful so i think it's a big step forward for any country in the world to do it to have demonstrations protestors but to make sure that their lives hell for their well being absolutely not. and i think russia is moving and moving in the right direction but it's my feeling i'm artist i'm not spending hours and hours myself on the streets even in st petersburg and working actually i hope a lot of people of russia will do the same just work quite hard that's why i'm interested in your opinion because the opinion of politicians are more or less easy to game for them but for you it's not a game it's a piece of sheet music is no world and this thing it's part of your world of this so this is why it's very important for me to know your point of view what do you think and many people say th

series is an overview of the peculiar winter sports one can enjoy here in russia. with the winter olympics coming to sochi in twenty fourteen it won't be long before the always of the world to train them russia's snow easters. thankfully you don't have to be limping athlete to make the most of the country's one stone. i think it's fair to say how do real russian experience until you've lived through one of their wins it's snow comes up the knees and bone chilling temperatures that last for months at a time but if you travel around a little you're find that one thing the russians do really well is have fun when it's freezing. but we're not just on your average trip to the peace to my chilly journey is going to spam you three thousand kilometers take me from the racetracks of western russia to the streets of some period sunset with some culture so i could see. my friends i went to pretty for example the losses by this with my seven sons so i until the spring. but there are a great variety is this a guy still the best seller. this busy gary just fully speedway competi

we're grateful to russia for it russia has always been the first one to come to our rescue i think that the countries that recognize our independence will be followed by others we will try to create a certain image of our republic so that other countries make its new south a city a better and let's hope that we will not share northern cyprus its destiny. on election day spoke about your dream to unite south a city with a north which is we know is a member of the russian federation how do you foresee this happening. it is not just my dream it is the dream of our people we had this dream for a century today we have an independent state but we have this dream for our people to reunite we have been split into two parts one part lives in north of the other part lives in south ossetia say we held a referendum in one thousand nine hundred two where we asked one question do we want to become part of russia people answered yes to this question over ninety nine percent did so we still have this issue and this problem cannot be solved in a day we work together with north the city or towards reunit

much more communal in the sense that that some point if russia wanted to participate and russia could and to me that's the. that's the value of it. there are people though who are still living in another century in a cold war the kind of things you know what need down inside it's really us and the russians the guns but that's not the case i don't believe that's the case i don't know anybody who is serious a serious thinker and my former profession which is the military that think that sees russia as an enemy. we think that it's a lot better for russia and the united states to find a common ground and missile defense is one of those areas where we should work very hard with the rest of the europeans. to find a solution but with goodwill trust and confidence and knowing each other better. i'm a big believer in the military to military training and participation so the young leaders today in uniform will grow old together and at the end of the day when they apply to the throne telephone going to always be there. we can bridge a lot of those gaps and we must leave the twentieth century to

we did not live in his creative life and i live in russia. and so his influence was sort of behind you know behind the doors so to speak his influence on creating in the mind i personally believe in creating a mind about to go second the idea that he had to deal with serfdom and he had to do something about it comes principally from her it's. but you know you can see that it's sort of again if you put it under the table it's not so visible and furthermore the spectacular reclusion aries and the creator of the nudes were later and there are a lot of them who shouldn't have seen one of his most famous words as as an integral part of the russian revolution process well as a matter of fact that was a very lucky thing for us because the fact that he did meant that in the soviet period he was an acceptable figure. whereas in fact if you look if he's as good a very good whereas in fact you know he was a very strong opponent of marx. so in fact had lennon not said i think we would have had some trouble well you mentioned it was interesting that you m

you are one of the most renowned cardiac surgeons not only in russia but also worldwide he was in the papers recently that he knew headed received an award for developing a new diagnostic method. that the article said it was a group of mathematicians and engineers how did they let it to get involved in what exactly is the method it's a code examination method to rate the activities at their absolute absolutely was that you see having started out as a chord extension of eventually going to perform interventional surgery and seizure free flowing catherine technology in recent years we started to answer training and ideal for diagnostic patients using a new method the so-called heart mapping and in rules setting up two hundred fifty electrodes on the patient's body filler the patient undergoes their c.t. scan and we map out the position of the electrodes on the patient's heart and now it's me and then our mathematicians physicists and programmers if you can just download from now the rhythm to calculate the difference in portentious between body surface and heart illnesses and other word

it was so over and that in russia that russia defaulted sovereign defaults are the hardest. if you want to resolve their hardest to overcome because the sovereign default rules of the sovereign and makes certain that down the road the sovereign caliban finance they feel they liquidity operations of its own budget what russia's response to it was was exemplary in many ways because what russia did it simultaneously entered this very fast rapid correction phase on the budgetary side so it cut deficits very rapidly it devalued very aggressively to get the medicine up front that it had to take and therefore it back on to the recovery post before within the span of about say six months it was back on the road to recovery and so the most painful phase of the default was these kind of four to five maybe six months immediately after the default. in addition to it it didn't stop there in the arctic circle very important deep structural reforms both on the budget decide on taxation side it introduced later within the bout a year and a half after the default itself it introduced entirel

and nato acknowledging the role that the corporation it has with it with russia is very crucial russia has been providing corridors for military or transfers to do once again it's it's it's a partnership here is crucial especially since the war is being seen as failing at this moment there are a lot of countries pulling out their troops earlier than planned australia being the latest and also their pledges for funding for various and funding for the future of the country is a big point among the countries were still involved in it the u.s. saying that it will contribute about three billion dollars a year and asking for other nato partners to contribute about a billion dollars but this is proving to prove difficult especially for european countries who are facing a lot of a lot of us thirty measures at this point to contribute to a war that is increasingly unpopular again electioneer in countries like france it's not going to be popular with voters there and also we've seen a string of embarrassing events in countries like afghanistan and iraq in the past . of the soldiers committing at

russia global security are let's focus on cooperation first i think. russia u.s. bilateral relationship is one of the most important relationships on the planet today and i was with all the things i was privileged to be able to do in the white house i think working on the so-called famous reset of the relationship was one of the most satisfying it was manifest by the personal relationship of our two presidents from day one and resulted in that spirit of working together and developing trust and confidence that resulted in the start of training. and i think resulted in. the two countries looking at the same problem through a much more common blandness and perhaps ever before so it's not only very important i think it's crucial certainly the signing of the new start treaty and twenty ten was hailed as a tremendous step in the reset but a lot of people now are wary that progress is being halted by differences on missile defense how do you see that moving forward well i think missile defense least in my view and not in my discussions with my russian counterparts. in w

re some political protests in russia the fate of prisoner mikhail khodorkovsky and russia's relations with other countries those were part of a whole range of issues that came into focus as the outgoing president to meet them individually was grilled by journalists and the final question answer event of his tenure let's get the details from our tease. alot of things to assess for me the video of who is leaving the kremlin and two weeks following his four year term what exactly did he say. while a very very lively q. and a session with the representatives not of just state a run media outlets but also with opposition channels of course a very wide range of issues that would which was covered first and foremost of course as you mentioned the protests which followed the duma elections to that's meant to be did have said that he respected those who came out in moscow in another russian cities to express their own political view but he did say that he believed that the speakers a lot of people who were speaking from the stage these protests were actually pursuing their own political agenda

former soviet union from russia now the russia seems to be sort of losing its positions on the indian market do you think that india will and russia will come up with a new agreement on our straight in the near future well i think it is one of the most. sustainable. and going difference relationship that we have every day the russian federation i think that is going to continue and. they said that we need to end drug this and we need to defend this i think it is my idea of a trickle. thank you thank you very much mr krishna and just a reminder that my guest today was the indian minister of external affairs and that's it for now from all of us here the spotlight will be back with more for us and problems on what's going on outside russia until then it's they who are take and take. it. seriously. think. there hasn't been anything good on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact possible. before the source material is worth helps keep journalism honest real optimism. we want to preserve. something else. if. it. is easy if. you believe. you to. see.

paper so what will be russia's reaction if bashar assad's regime will fail to withdraw. by the eight. thank you very much earlier than a live news story from the maybe major point. as you know yesterday the security council it. can do because eventually the so on syria as you rightly mentioned one of the provision of the mistreatment. is about stopping or fighting. suggested the syrian authorities stop the violence stop fighting with the road the heavy arms by the fans of people after that period the forty eight. starts and during this period the opposition and the komen should stop all primed of violence so this is the major point of course he announced eleven the beginning of the process after the escoffier anon suggested it a little but also should start syrian led early to call all embrace of political process and if it happens saw that means the. solution get political therefore it's only succeed. s. four of the russians position it is a very well known from the very beginning we had a political settlement we supported the effort of sorbs. special envoy kofi annan a

it's technology innovation all the latest developments around russia.

former soviet union from russia now the russia seems to me so losing its positions on the indian market do you think that india will and russia will may come up with a new agreement on our straight in the near future well i think it is one of the most. sustainable. ongoing difference relationship that we have every day the russian federation i think that is going to continue and. as a set that we need to have brought this and we need to do this i think it is my endeavor total. thank you thank you very much mr krishna and just a reminder that my guest today was the indian minister of external affairs and that's it for now for all of us here the spotlight will be back with more for us and problems on what's going on and outside russia and so then stay with our team and take. i. i i. i.

and nato saying again it's not directed at russia. russia is saying you want to guarantee. nato u.s. missile defense shield is not a russia or live in brussels thank you. activists a gathering near a moscow court today in support of a feminist punk band whose members were arrested on hooliganism charges back in february or the court will consider whether to extend custody which expires and now in less than one week the group rushed to the altar of russia's christ the savior cathedral in moscow and performed what prosecutors claim was a blasphemous song of the five women who took part three were arrested and charged in our face up to seven years in prison performances drawing huge public response and a wave of criticism from russia's orthodox church. a twenty two million dollar fine that's the latest punishment dished out to america's perhaps most controversial financial giant goldman sachs and the penalty came after revelations the bank gave inside information to us preferred clients allowing them an unfair advantage over other investors and as always our very own kaiser re

and russia also hopes to do so india also appears keen on the opportunity to let russia help modernize its defenses. comes and says a partnership with a country could be beneficial for both sides russia is one of the few countries that have joined us in joint development of military hardware one of the classic example. of that example is the. d.m.k. and we are also working together on the fifth generation for growth so india a string of military scandals is providing a shakeup in its military suppliers but competition to fill the void will be fierce among the russian and international firms bidding to bring india's armed forces up to the preassure either r t new delhi india. time now to delve into the world of business with. a live update from the desk so the russian markets reversed from losses at the very close of the trading session and what happened out there they took quite a beating earlier they did they did two days of losses pretty much till the very end of the session and there was a trigger which came from the united states as it usually happens and that's retail sales in mar

russia didn't arc very significant long lasting reforms the legacy of the. it was present and you can see today in the piece of the bible and domestic economy all right constantine go again thanks so much for out of time thanks for being on the kaiser report thanks when it's all right that's going to do it for this edition of the kaiser report with me max kaiser and stacy herbert or think i guess cause a team go together if you want to send an email please do so at kaiser report at r t t v dot argue until next time this is nice guys are saying by. the way.

clear he did not feel safe keeping that money in russia or even keeping himself in russia. so despite his apparently have a relationship with the kremlin, took his money and moved to london, where he is been living for the last nine years. he was recently in court with his former business partner who is suing him for billions of dollars, alleging that obramovich with the kremlin's help forced him to sell him his assets for below market value. and obramovich's testimony in court has really been his only public statement, ever. he's another one of those guys who really doesn't like to really have a face. his testimony was incredible. i mean, he confirmed everything that we have ever heard about kremlin corruption, and it was very clear that, he assumed that his audience was in the courtroom, and i see clearly new in russia, people were following the trial very closely, that his audience was prepared to hear how corrupt the putin system was. and it's also clear that he's probably not going to be going back to moscow anytime soon after having made those statements. >> had an in

headlines we're following breaking news a passenger plane with more than forty overboard crashes in russia's year olds after takeoff thirty two confirmed dead eleven survivors taken to the hospital in critical condition. in. a group of nations backing the regime change in syria thought to have the rebels on the payroll prompting fears the syrian people are being ignored over questions about their future lead to party fever permeates russia's opposition movements as the government pairs to loosen up registration for new and not so new political factions. time now for our special report on r t the latest in our discovering russia series and overview of the peculiar winter sports you can enjoy in the world's biggest country stay with us. with the winter olympics coming to sochi in twenty four teams it won't be long before the always of the world to train on russia's snow easters. thankfully you don't have to be in a limping athlete to make the most of the country's points. and i think it's fair to say the incumbent had the real russian experience until you've lived through one of their winter s

well to discuss the wider implications of this now to speak to a martin mccoy and expert on russia at the university of london he joins us live from the u.k. capital thanks for joining us here on r.t. what impact do you expect these polygraph results to have on the investigation. it's a very positive step because it been done by a british company but one should remember that. in an english court it's not really admissible as evidence as you pointed out but it could be brought forward you could get the polygraph people to attest testified that they believe that lugovoy was telling the truth that in fact was not lying and so on that would be evidence in his defense so therefore i would see it as a positive step forward of course the next step is for scotland yard common to look at the evidence and to say whether they think it's a step forward like to examine it and so on and so forth then after that would be for the british government then to make a move because the look avoid case litvinenko case really soured under russian relations for several years both countries need to move forwar

a long way away but i believe that russia is the closest neighbor to japan and yes russia is the largest country in the world and the eastern part is very close to actually the distance between japan and russia is only for forty three kilometers. and yes. well they're both very culturally very very different yes very different and i think every year the interest in japan you know gets larger and larger every year no matter what kind of japanese festivals like there are in the music. and traditional cultures paintings i don't people can't just come for last year we have. japanese contemporary culture festival in the offender and during the two day period where we have over twelve thousand people well coming from visit so. there is no doubt that the japanese culture in japan itself. very very popular and becoming more and more popular among the russian people here from a question what do you miss about about japan with the whiniest the hot springs and . of course people of my god my hometown. but thanks very much for the time although you're welcome you're watching a machine couple thank y

now the ups and downs in russia u.s. relations endure and facts on the world are under scrutiny in our special interview we talked to brock obama's former national security adviser. general james jones thank you for taking time to time this of course former security advisor national security adviser to president obama from two thousand and nine twenty. i'd like to start with what you think the top priorities in terms of u.s. russia global security are let's focus on cooperation first i think. the russia us why lateral relationship. is one of the most important relationships on the planet for. words. of all the things i was privileged to be able to do in the white house i think working on the so-called famous reset of the relationship was one of the most satisfying it was manifest by the personal relationship of our two presidents from day one and resulted in that spirit of working together and developing trust and confidence that resulted in the start training. and i think resulted in. the two countries looking at the sa

relative to russia. putin is not a dummy. putin was nostalgic for the soviet union. putin was resentful of the west because he thinks we walked all over russia at the end of the cold war. but he's not a dummy. and i think he sees in the six years where medvedev was the president, that he got a lot of thing done that putin didn't -- that putin couldn't get done. is not the stall check for the cold war and so on. putin, when he said now i'm going to be the president again and he's going to be the prime minister, i think was actually surprised at the reaction inside russia because you know, that's the way russia works. well, it doesn't now. but i don't think he is a dummy. and i think you may see a different putin and a different russia, which i think as zbig said, is, i would say, over some period of time, and i would say maybe a generation or more, going to fill in what has been missing in russia as a european member. and that is, rule of law and civic government. >> i would just add this. i think it's un

russia hopes to do so india also appears keen on the opportunity to let russia help modernize its defense systems and says. partnership with a country could be beneficial for both sides russia is one of the few countries that have joined this joint development of military hardware one of the classic examples. that example is the. way we're also working on the fifth generation fighter aircraft so india's string of military scandals is providing a shakeup in its military suppliers the competition to fill the void will be fierce among the russian and international firms bidding to bring india's armed forces up city preassure either r t new delhi india. meeting on joins us the latest from the financial world and it looks like traders have no reason to smile these days not right what's happening out there well actually they could be smiling if they sold three days ago of the shorts at the market but overall you are right the mood is quite bearish it's pessimistic no news and still no rebound on the market that's pretty much demonstrate that it's more or less in a bearish market rather than a b

and russia. to be even more. the only accusation up to now from alexander litvinenko was that putin ordered the poisoning when you're. this statement revealed after he died never exist until the very last moment i was there and sasha believed he would recover. he heard the spoken english and the letter was written in. english someone did it for him before now but sure wasn't line with the victim's close circle all pointed the finger at former f.s.b. officer. saying no he porters along in the victim's teen. boy didn't kill my son with them here with polonium you need two to three grains of it in a thimble but large quantities were scattered everywhere it was done on purpose and lugovoy was not used as i think i was are you ready to say this little guy will directly call him right now. i will happily go. the whole to the. things that i said about you i hope you can forgive me you realize of course what sort of people we're dealing with here can you explain told viewers what exactly you are apologizing for no good t

operation between russia and the e.u. it is a step forward it is a significant mark of progress in terms of the two two sides implementing judicial request on working together on legal issues and that's of course despite some political and diplomatic disagreements the u.s. has deployed a contingent of its latest the most sophisticated jets the f. twenty two raptor to the united arab emirates pentagon officials were quick to defend the move once details emerged saying they are there for regional security g.'s indeed snoozer editor of antiwar dot com give us his take on the aims of the mission. of course it's not going to bring any security at all if anything it's going to increase tensions in the region convince the iranian government that next month's talks in baghdad are not serious and that the u.s. is simply negotiating in bad faith once again i think it is largely symbolic it's the fact that there are rumored to be organizing a simulated attack run on iran with the cooperation of israel particularly since it's suppose

area headlines the plane crash into russia's western siberia kills thirty one off to be aircraft went down just minutes after takeoff twelve did survive the accident possibly thanks to the attempted emergency landing technical failure or a build up of ice on the french italian made aircraft are among the possible causes being investigated. the international envoy to syria kofi annan is due to report on the progress of his peace plan the friends of syria group that reportedly decided to fund opposition fighters it's criticized by russia undermining u.n. backed peace efforts. and the much anticipated reform a loosening up of registration for political parties in russia meets a controversial response some opposition leaders fear the legislation prompted by mass protests will result in too many factions bidding for power. and it's time now for a special report here on the latest in our discovering russia series an overview of the rather peculiar winter sports one can try and enjoy here this is art. with the winter olympics coming to sochi in twenty fourteen it won't be long before the alw