would invade russia, you know, or, you know, make some restrictions against russia, like russia should never have nuclear weapons or whatever weapons solely because, yeah, i don't believe this will work. i mean, if any -- there are some people in russia -- i wouldn't say many, but there are people in russia who help for a popular revolt to be supported by the west or financed by the west, and they say the west should do anything to rid russia of putin. what i think the west should do everything to change russia, to help russia change, the initiative should still be from the russian people. if the initiative goes from the outside russians will never forgive that. they will also remain in their historic memory, and they will remember there was -- we were changed have the outside. they will never forgive that. there is a difference. i mean, there is a difference. again, i understand the logic of natella, but there is a difference between the nazi germany after the war, and japan after the war, and today's russia. i mean, we may regret that, that there is such a difference, but there is su

would invade russia, you know, or make some restrictions against russia, like russia should never have nuclear weapons or whatever weapons solely because, yeah, i don't believe this will work. i mean, there are some people in russia, i would not say many but there are some people in russia who hope for a popular revolt supported by the west are financed by the west, and say the west should do anything to get rid of russia putin. what i think the west should do everything to change russia, to help russia change, the initiate of should still be from the russian people. if the initiative goes from the outside, russians will never forget that. this will always remain in their memory, historic memory and they will remember that we were changed from the outset. they will never forget that. there is a difference. i mean, there is a difference. i can, i understand the logic of natella but there is a difference between the nazi germany after the war and japan after the war and today's russia. i mean, we may regret that that there is such a difference, but there is such a difference. and sometim

it always was, russia is an imperial russia, soviet russia, post russia always was the same system of power. extremely hierarchical. tell me if i'm wrong, i don't see how, i'm a historian. it's always, russia is textbook propaganda. it always was a country of propaganda and it always was country of human rights violation. so all this statements, are kind of what you guys are trying to avoid our, you can see the historic heritage with that so why do we have hope that this will be different? after the breakup of the soviet union, now it can be a democratic country, nothing has been changed really so do we really have any arguments to believe the country can be changed so drastically to be no light imperial style of internal policy? if there will be respect for human rights and it's the ability for that so how long this will take and what should we do about people in the united states or other countries because every effort so far to try to there has failed. thank you.>> the microphone is here. you know what? i, i've got at least three friends who were now in their 50s to go on is in his

russia's intentions are. a russian analyst in moscow joins us by skype. thank you for joining us. any insight that you can give us about what the statement means, the forces in syria just explain to us what you see that to mean. >> well, the most important part of it is, it is being announced by the kremlin that russia will retain its bases in syria including the air base near latakia. if you have an air base you can always deploy combat aircraft or withdraw them. planes can fly back to russia, right now that would make practical military sense because after the ceasefire has begun the number of sorties, have been decreasing. they can fly back to russia or back again. >> this statement doesn't necessarily mean an end of russian air strikes in syria? >> well, they have been cut down but not -- since we are going to retain the air base, and that is absolutely sure, that's official, we retain the air base. and that means some aircraft are going to stay. but the number of aircraft will be cut down. that's obvious

and russia. if part of that deal was for president assad to stay on for a time, would you be prepared to compromise on that? >> really, we don't know if there is such a deal. but we know there is big efforts from the states, from european countries, that really made putin to take this decision. there were, some -- i believe some talks between the states and -- and russia, and hopefully that, really, the big decision would be -- is to really bring democracy, bring freedom to syrians, away from this regime. i don't think it's acceptable amongst syrians to see assad any longer. >> james what happens now after this move by russia, and the buzz around it? >> reporter: well, the talks continue, and we're really only very early into this round of talks. we have the government here on monday for their meeting with the mediator, stephane demistura, and now we have the parallel meeting, the first meeting in this round of negotiations with the main opposition block, the high negotiations committee, the man

so in russia, oh, my god. there was many calls to this talk show and some woman said russia -- latvia is a country but russia is our motherland. latvia is our homesblaland and russia is our motherland and they came from our motherland to our homeland to say awful words about our motherland. this was great actually. but i'm not sure how this position is popular in latvia right now. i think they have many problems by their own, yeah. >> i have a question. >> please. wait for the microphone, please. >> voice of america. you probably -- i'm sure you know that every american business has a mission statement. do you have one? and if you do, what is it? >> actually, we have a mission statement. there are five points. i forget all of them. i think the main -- i said something from that. so, like facts. we'll talk less, listen more. for me right now it's the most important thing we're in the global world. thing about russia is the global world and this is our main thing i think right now. yeah. >> so i'll ask one final

and outside of russia. and i've got an impression that majority of those chechens who live in russia do not wish -- do not want, do not strive for independence. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: what is quite obvious that very few people in chechnya are willing to fight against russia again. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: therefore, answering the previous question, i would like to say the most important thing now the russian government should be able to offer a meaningful civilized alternative to the present situation to chechnya. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: basically our concept is chechens should be masters of their own republic however remain as part of the -- integral part of the russian federation. >> we're running short on time. let me take three questions. the young woman in the back. >> hello. i work for -- i have two short questions. the first one is, so, ilya, while there has been an -- >> could you speak up a little? >> oh, sure. there's been an

it's been said that russia's withdrawal can influence the conflict. >> whatever russia decides, this will affect the side and the other side will affect the regime. hopefully we, you know, see this on the ground. that russians are not in syria any more. we want - you know - russian people to be friends in syria, but not partners in killing the syrians. it will be important if this decision is taken - it will be more important if putin decides to really stand beside the syria people, not the dictator >>> reaction from the syrian opposition. al jazeera's lawrence lee has more, which is near the turkey syrian boarder. >> talk about capturing the element of surprise, clearly nobody expected that the russian government was to make this announcement times, and it can't possibly be an accident as the talks in geneva are under way and on the fifth anniversary of the war. so many questions come out of the announcement that it is withdrawing what vladimir putin says is the majority of forces. for a start, does it mean the russian air strikes around places plik aleppo -- like aleppo can continu

in 208 russia invaded georgia. it still occupies two of the territories there and has recognised them as independent states. it invaded ukraine, it has annexed part of that territory and continues to support separatists in eastern ukraine, regularly violates the air and sea states and neutral countries in europe. it has threatened military attack, including nuclear attack against bar saw or against danish ships and the countries in the eastern parts, particularly the baltic states, are very concerned about this more aggressive russian behaviour. so for them it's very important that nato make clear that it maintains the political will and the military capability to fulfil its collective defense obligations. as long as that is true and visible, then we can continue to deter any russian aggression in the future. i think if anything it is going to cause russian to be more cautious in some of its approaches toward eastern allies and europe, and i think it you will understand and respect that the u.s. is taking a clear p

in 2008 russia invaded georgia. it still occupies two of the territories there and has recognised them as independent states t invaded ukraine, it has annexed part of that territory and supported separatists in eastern ukraine. it very longly violates the air and sea states of native allies. it has threatened military attack, including nuclear attack against warsaw or against danish ships and countries in the eastern part of the alliance, particularly the baltic states, romania, bullbaria and poland are concerned about the russian behaviour. it is clear that nato made clear that it maintains the political will and the military capability to fulfil its collective defense obligations as long as that is true and visible, then we can continue to deter any russian aggression in the future. i think that, if anything, it's going to cause russia to be a little bit more cautious in some of its approaches toward eastern allies and europe, and i think it will understand and respect that the u.s. is taking a clear position cons

given russia's other activities, it is a signal to people in russia's nakerussia's neighborhe ukraine and georgia. >> what does the u.s. look in the region? >> i think our regional partners have significant questions about how much they can rely on the united states. about the credibility of the united states. i think they have looked at how president obama has managed u.s. policy towards syria with a great deal of concern. they people quite strongly that -- they feel quite strongly that great powers like the united states should not draw red lines around issues like use of chemical weapons and then not act when those lines are crossed. i think president obama is seen as having been too weak in the amount of support he's given both to regional partners and to the syrian opposition and that he has, i in effect, created a position that has emboldened the assad regime including russia. so mience is that our partners in the region and in fact assad regime and the russians as well, look at the u.s. administration, see the extent of its disengagement and feel that they either have more scop

you are right that russia turned to syria and that russia put itself back into the game. that has to be admitted. but we are aware of the fact that we, we is the coalition against terror, all of us, will not find a solution for syria without russia. it is better to sit down at the table now and to work on the process in syria. >> rose: what do they want, russia. >> what they want. well they wanted to keep their bases in syria which i think is important for them. they wanted that the assad regime will not fail, which they were successful in supporting or reestablishing the assad regime because the assad regime was about to fail. >> rose: it would have failed if they hadn't come in. >> it would have failed that's true. so this is a fact. but a fact that russia is talking about the possibility that over time long term there is a future without assad because ofy5 both sides. i think it's wise not to aim that destroying destruction in syria because we've seen too many failing states, governmental fractures so it's wise to keep an eye on governmental structures not to be clear

the password will depend on russia's economy. russia has made commitment in the sanctions will be lifted. if not, sanctions will continue along with the pressure they imposed over time. a third lesson we have learned is they are in is shown not to be effect is, sanctions programs required an investment in infrastructure to support and implement efforts. powerful sanctions require investigators and analysts to track how key actors move and store their money and build detailed cases drawing on intelligence analysis. they rely on investigating violations and penalties. targeted sanctions means the commitment will be freezing assets and separate access as a powerful step that requires decisions to be appropriately reviewed in reverse where appropriate. this requires a careful review of evidence in a rigorous legal process. finally using mice and as we can protect against unintended effects on the innocent. to authorize exports of food, medicine and medical devices as we did in the aftermath of the earthquake in iran and burma. here a

with regard to russia. and with regard to north korea, here's another lesson on the importance of international cooperation. china worked with us at the u.n. china is the neighbor to north korea. they have more influence over north korea than any other country. they worked with us at the u.n. and we have since that u.n. resolution had our teams working with the chinese to execute against it and to implement it. in the case of russia, russia is one of the u.n. security council permanent members. we have sanctions against russia working with our g-7 partners and others around the world. there are multiple ways to work in the international community. charlie: here's what's interesting about that. secretary kerry just returned from moscow where he's trying to work something out with vladimir putin, the president of russia, about syria. so he's there trying to work out something about syria. at the same time that we're imposing sanctions not only on russia, but on some of their leading friends of the president.

and russia, perhaps our syria. or pakistan and india that escalates and that leads to places neither party intended. many regions, we all know this, are ready to blow. the use of a radiological weapon of any kind in syria could become an international crisis overnight. and if the world's responsible nations, the grown-ups in the situation room, can't manage these risks, then that's the ballgame. as usual the wilson center is ahead of this problem. nonproliferation is one of our so-called length of excellence. and today's conversation is led by our top expert on the issue, robert litwak. tonight is our vice president for scholars. he handled this file on bill clinton's national security council and is the author of iran's nuclear just one of the go to monographs on this subject. today he moderates a conversation with brilliant thinkers and very good friends. want to thank a special friend, ambassador bob colucci, call out the honorable frank miller with whom i serve on the defense policy board and then embarrass ass

oday, russia is great. -- russia today is a great tv channel. we are at number one unit is channel on youtube. brian: so when you watch that, as an american public television station that carries a here in the station, what is your action to him talking about the fun they will have? peter: it is a state-funded television operation that is meant to translate to the west basically the kremlin's point of view. their view is because cnn, c-span, and washington post are not giving them a fair shake, hey have to counter. it is an information war. what i remember is the first story recovered when we got to russia. it was time putin's takeover at mtv, the only independent network in russia. his whole rise to power was orchestrated through television. he understood that television mattered in russia as a way to maintain power, and to control the airwaves. ske -- so he took over basically mtv. it was a formative event of his early presidency. it showed a lot of what would come. so this is an extension of that. tv matters in controlling olitics. brian: how

with regard to russia. and with regard to north korea, here's another lesson on the importance of international cooperation. china worked with us at the u.n. china is the neighbor to north korea. they have more influence over north korea than any other country. they worked with us at the u.n. and we have since that u.n. resolution had our teams working with the chinese to execute against it and to implement it. in the case of russia, russia is one of the u.n. security council permanent members. we have sanctions against russia working with our g-7 partners and others around the world. there are multiple ways to work . the international community charlie: here's what's interesting about that. secretary kerry just returned from moscow where he's trying to work something out with vladimir putin, the president of russia, about syria. so he's there trying to work out something about syria. at the same time that we're imposing sanctions not only on russia, but on some of their leading friends of the president. ja

as portrayed in russia. -- that is certainly how it is portrayed in russia. charlie: he called assad to tell him? >> i think washington is probably surprise that did not get a heads up on this. a lot of officials said this is the first sunday heard about it, but what putin tries to do is to cooperate where he can and in other cases work against u.s. or western interests and that serves him in multiple ways. it creates a lot of uncertainty among our european allies who had a lot of mixed views on putin being involved in syria in particular. they are sometimes hopeful that by getting engaged militarily that putin will be more engaged in this cease-fire process. i think that putin would like to keep us guessing sometimes showing he can cooperate on the cw issue. sometimes countering by going against u.s. interest in syria. messaged --also an a message to assad. he had a strong message to us going in. it is not a coincidence. i said, we saved your bacon and we are not good to let you fall, not because we love you but we , butour own interests don't think that we

you are right that russia turned into syria. russia put itself back into the game. that has to be admitted. aware of the fact that we, the coalition against terror, all of us, will not find solution for syria without russia. so it is better to sit down at the table now and to work on the peace process in syria. charlie: what do you think they want? russia? minister von der leyen: what they want? they want to keep their basis in syria, which is extremely important to them. regiment that the assad will not fail, which they were , oressful in supporting reestablishing the assad regime, because it would have failed. charlie: you would have failed if they had not come in. minister von der leyen: yes, it was a fact. but russia is talking about the possibility that over time, long-term, there is a future without assad. this is important for both sides. it is wise not to aim at destroying the structures in syria, because we have seen too many city states that when you destroy the complete governmental structures, it is wise to keep an eye on her mental structures. -- govern

a lot of pressure on russia. if these talks fail, there was every possibility that sanctions were be levied against russia. there is military pressure. the allies will want to put surface-to-air missiles to take down russian aircraft. that would be a game changer on the battle field. you have the arabs putting pressure on sunnis. if you want a relationship in the region going forward, we will judge you on what you do now. there is evidence of russian back channel talks over the past month or so. people in the region there indicate to me they had an inkling that russia might do something like this. so a surprise to many people, but not a total shock, christine. >> nic robertson, thank you for that. >>> a huge day in the race for president here in the u.s. critical contests in key states that could spell the end for some candidates. it could complicate the candidacies for some frontrunners. will they keep the momentum? that's next. yeah, i was just talking uhabout yourico?... emergency roadside service and how it's

scandal about the, so like in russia, some, oh, my god. -- russia,said latvia is our country, but russia is our motherland or latvia is our homeland but russia is a motherland. say are from the homeland but they say awful things about the motherland. it was great actually. rights popular in latvia now. izabella: ok. wait for the microphone, please. you probably -- i am sure you know that every american business has a mission statement. do you have one, and if you do, what is it? i forget all of them. i said something from that. we talk about facts a little more and for me right now, the the important part is global world. and as part of bush, we are part of the global world. -- as part of russia, we are part of the global world. izabella: what is the next big thing to do? what are you thinking about? what are your plans? ilya: we have huge plants but we don't talk about them in public. [laughter] we plan to have subproject with "meduza" this year, but we have many experiments and some of those don't work. actually, we have some for our audience that uses every month, and i use that the c

what russia cares about is a government in syria that will do its bidding and that depends on russia and that russia can influence and use to advance its objectives. if bashar al-assad is willing to play that role, fine. if he is not, they will get rid of bashar al-assad and put somebody else in power >>> if there is hope that that's peace talks will bring a solution, the turks didn't want the syrian kurds at the table in geneva, certainly the syrians didn't, it's one of the few things this that bashar al-assad and erdogan agree on, but the kurds have declared an autonomous region in syria. was it a mistake to exclude the kurds from the process? >> i think what it has mistaken to do is to arm and support the syrian kurds that are allies and part of, frankly, the turkish kurds in the form of p.k.k. the p.k.k. for years has been trying to overthrow the road accident regime in turkey. the u.s. has been working with their partners, the ypd, in syria against i.s.i.s., which is a huge mistake, and now russia is supporting the syrian kurds. why? not because they care about the syrian kurds,

russia was flying the airplanes. turkey is now got russia on a bunch of sides of its borders. is there a possibility of relations turning between turkey and russia, into something that is dangerous? >> no, because i think both sides realized mistakes are high. there's an n.a.t.o. member country, on the other hand russia, and things can get nasty. it doesn't mean that the russians will not shoot down violation of air space. it will be a controlled escalation, not an all-out war. the turks realise the decision to shoot sound an aircraft that cross the their frontier for 17 seconds was a huge mistake and they'd like to take the decision back, but with vladimir putin, once you anger vladimir putin, it's difficult to make him change his mind. i suspect in the long run vladimir putin doesn't want to have very bad relations with turkey. they still sell gas to turkey, they still have trade relationships. even though russian tourists don't go through turkey. some have been kicked out of russia, in the end the two countries are too big for each other to ignore themselves and become host

russia has contended that this kind of a deployment is a violation of the 1997 treaty between russia and nato when it expanded its membership, but he said that russia would choose to respond asymmetrically. it's not clear what that means. at the same time he said that any attempt by nato to add ukraine and georgia to its membership would be met with very severe consequences from russia >>> an israeli military court is set to decide whether to release a soldier accused of killing a palestinian who had been injured. he was shot in the head and killed. he had been wounded after attacking an israeli. get us right up to speed here. what's the back story to this? >> reporter: the back story you have probably seen that video a few times now. in the occupied west bank two men approached an army check point with a knife. they stabbed one israeli soldier. he was lightly injured. one of the men were shot dead. the other was shot and lying injured on the ground incapacitated. you see him moving around somewhat and then this video that was taken by a resident of hebron shows the soldier in questi

it didn't prove to be russia's trajectory. it was a revelatory experience and the face of the idea of going out there and judging for yourself and being open-minded and reporting on the ground. people talk in a very cliched being at the value of foreign correspondent. going out there and engaging with the world. for us that really was the case. and deepened our understanding of the world. trajectory as journalists. brian: when you two were working together, where you both bureau chiefs? how did you do it? how did you stay not at each other's throats? peter: we wrote this book that we were promoting in that video. we did that while she was pregnant with our first and only child. wehad this great story where were back in washington and finishing up the book and we were coming home from dinner and she said i think the time is coming. i think the baby is coming. but we still have two chapters to go. she finally went upstairs and i sent sleep and i said off those last two chapters to the publisher. she said it that's good because i

>> exactly. >> so at the end of the day as far as russia is concerned and as far as russia's role in syria, and the syrian talks, and i would say as far as russia's role in the middle east is concerned, and that's very important, jane, because it's clear now from the mind set in russia that after that your row asia, which is the primary strategic concern for moscow, the middle east is becoming the second in importance. and hence, really russia is looking at expanding its influence, and it needs to be a partner of the united states. it seems for the united states it's probably easier to work in a bipolar way, to organize conflicts, resolve conflicts than to do it aloin. so that means there is a message to president assad, be careful, this is not a game. don't go around playing in some sort of formal game in geneva. you need to get serious about the talks, because of your cannot depend on russia to support you endlessly because there is no military solution. in syria there is a diplomatic one, and there's one on the table now, and the assad regime needs to get serious about that. there

showing it as a great success for russia and suddenly it stops. and i think that, you know, again that goes to putin's tactical sense of timing and surprise and so forth .. i think longer term he will continue to insist both on the sovereignty of the syrian state, the assad government and in other areas, where we might come into conflict with him. >> rose: stop while you are ahead. thank you, stephen lee myers, thank you, thank you, julianne, smith, great to have you on. thank you. see you next time. visit us online at pbs.org and charlierose.com for previous episodes. >> captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> funding for charlie rose is provided by the following. and by bloomberg. a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. >> on the next pbs newshour, a report from the battlegrounds of ohio, florida and illinois, as voters head to the polls in five states. >> you are watching pbs business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. >> it's the economy, how the

russia and china have been less so. we have made it very clear that we are prepared to have a discussion with both russia and china on the full set of strategic capabilities. one of the issues with regards to russia that i have been involved in for three administrations now is missile defense cooperation and there have been numerous proposals for cooperation and transparency that we have put on the table and the russians have rejected all of those proposals. we have been trying to engage china in a dialogue on strategic capabilities. the very concerns that bob mentioned. but there has been a clear reluctance on the chinese behalf to talk. bottom line, i agree with you. we need to factor these issues into our strategic discussions. however, our russian and chinese colleagues have been less than enthusiastic about engaging in those types of discussions. >> i will make three points. i worry very much about the pakistani case. the fact that it, there are elements in the pakistani government which believe that their nuclear

the reality is we are working with russia, we worked with russia on the iran negotiation. >> rose: they were very helpful. >> they were helpful. we're working with them trying to change the conditions in syria. but we're also making it clear to them that their aggressive actions to take crimea and to move and eastern ukraine are unacceptable. the sanctions we put in really reflected a highly sophisticated way of putting pressure on the look, whatever you think about the agreement we're getting, and there were lots of differing views in terms of the benefit to the united states and where they would truly inhibit iran. but they also said by eliminating these sanctions, you're giving them at least a hundred billion dollars of which they can use for an engagement in all these behavioral thing that we object to.>> well, first, the number s not as big as people think it is. it's not really a hundred billion because a lot of that money is locked up and can't go back to iran. there's maybe 50 billion that theoretically could go back but that's also the money to do international trade, they have

trade between ukraine and russia has nearly come to a standstill. instead, kiyv has already allocated tens of millions of euros to build the european wall as the fortified border is dubbed. >> we're defending our homeland here, but i think we are actually also defending the democratic world. >> remarks like that indicate that officer dudko supports a pro-european, pro-western stance for ukraine. but would the fences and anti-tank trenches really be able to hold back a russian advance? >> in any case, it would enable the soldiers of the border unit to hold back the attack for some time. if you're attacked, it's definitely better to be returning fire from a protected position like this one to meet than it is to go out and meet the enemy on an open field. >> over the next few years, the cost of the project is expected to run to hundreds of millions of euros. some of that money may come from the european union. [alarms] >> but three hours further to the south, here on the dnieper river, many doubt whether the mega-project actually makes sense. oleksandr

iran and russia are assad's main backers. russia's growing influence in syria almost led to major confrontation with turkey in november. when the turks shot down a russian military plane, they said we have violated their airspace. the u.s. is another player in the conflict. it has repeatedly said it wants assad to go and now appears to think that can be achieved by glomatic means. but the assad's fate may not be decided anytime soon. amid growing differences the key actor in the syrian conflict. many heading for europe with hopes of a better life. the u.n. refugee agency says the burden isn't being equally shared. moist of the refugees from syria, refugee status. they have appealed to the eu for support and reached a draft deal to help with the influx of refugees. greece is used as a thoroughfare to the rest of europe. in 2015, close to a million roughege ease arrived there alone. the balkans countries have been criticized for closing their borders. macedonia, croatia and slougheen i can't announced their borders were closed

showing it as a great success for russia and suddenly it stops. and i think that, you know, again that goes to putin's tactical sense of timing and surprise and so forth .. i think longer term he will continue to insist both on the sovereignty of the syrian state, the assad government and in other areas, where we might come into conflict with him. >> rose: stop while you are ahead. thank you, stephen lee myers, thank you, thank you, julianne, smith, great to have you on. thank you. see you next time. visit us online at pbs.org and charlierose.com for previous episodes. >> captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> funding for charlie rose is provided by the following. and by bloomberg. a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. >> on the next pbs newshour, a report from the battlegrounds of ohio, florida and illinois, as voters head to the polls in five states. >> you are watching pbs >> hi, i'm ed slott, america's ira expert. it's 2016, and congress has gone and do

you are right that russia turned to syria. russia put itself back into the game. that has to be admitted. but we are aware of the fact that we, the coalition against terror, all of us, will not find a solution for syria without russia. so it is better to sit down at the table now and to work on the peace process in syria. charlie: what do you think they want, russia? minister von der leyen: what they want? they wanted to keep their bases in syria, which is extremely important to them. they want that the assad regime will not fail, which they were successful in supporting, or reestablishing the assad regime, because it would have failed. charlie: it would have failed if they had not come in. minister von der leyen: yes, it was a fact. but russia is talking about the possibility that over time, long-term, there is a future without assad. this is important for both sides. it is wise not to aim at destroying the structures in syria, because we have seen too many failing states that, when you destroy the complete governmental structures, it is wise to keep an eye on go

what about the imminent withdrawal of some of russia's forces? >> reporter: i think that's very, very important development julie and in fact we have come to the hotel where the syrian government delegation are based to try and get some reaction. no reaction so far. we know that president putin did inform president assad before making this announcement, an announcement he made while he was with his defense minister. he said in large part they have fulfilled their objectives in syria. they started the withdrawal from syria the main part of the russian force. and asked his foreign minister sergey lavrov to intensify the russian role in the peace process. a lot of questions b at this stage because russia has been absolutely key, the trump card in many ways for assad regime as we come very close to the fifth anniversary of the war in syria. russia played a ski role particularly in new york at the u.n. security council. those vetoes that russia cost back by china very important for the assad regime and then the big game change are and that was in sept

and russia. if part of that deal was for president assad to stay on for a time, would you be prepared to compromise? >> we don't know if there is such a deal. but we know there are big efforts from the states. >> a diplomatic answer but one of those representing the armed groups in the interview he was more forthright. >> he will not accept him having a roll. >> they have changed things. how much is not yet clear. the government delegation is likely to be uneasy. the opposition slightly more positive. however, they're still wary will russian motives. perhaps this there are more surprises up their sleeves. al jazeera, the united state united nations, geneva. >> we look at what impact this could have on the syrian conflict. >> it comes as quickly as the intervention began. this russian defense ministry showed several aircraft leaving. russia said it's now ready to withdraw it's main military force. in russia the first fighter jets to touchdown on home soil were welcomed by cheering crowds and milit

they ought to be dictating prices to russia, not taking prices from russia and this would be a great time to do it but they continue to not let be organized enough and let russia pick a country off, put pressure on a country. this is for the europeans to do but i'm surprised there isn't more of a move in this period by to do something more by way of organizers so they're price setters, basically. on north korea, obviously, the intelligence community spends an enormous amount of effort and time on north korea. we talk about the big four. russia, china, iran and north korea. so we spend a lot of time. we actually have a separate national intelligence officer for korea. so we certainly spend an awful lot of time on it, worrying about it. it is a worry. it's as i said a strange kind of worry, this country that's a failure in every respect except military. awkward. i confess sometimes i have trouble taking it entirely seriously but i understand i need to. >> megan, you get the last question. >> sir, my question for you is a regional one. it was reported last week that a group of -- small

>> the effect is very similar to russia. i think programs are already in existence and will be carried on. will be less likely to be signed. take saudi arabia. they just in the last year of their 700 billion reserves, they went to 18 million and one aircraft this is a difficult thing for them. > vago: what does the chinese picture look like? >> it is driving a lot of these trends. people think there is 5% of the 6%, there is a lot of questioning of the numbers. i think indications are they will match the gdp spending with the defense spending at the moment. that is our central estimate. it could go higher. but at the moment we think in for 2016., about 6% vago: in europe he said there was a stabilization, and all eyes were on europe at one point . one of the priorities of these governments when it comes to defend lending? >> particularly, there is a question of critical mass. critical mass is an issue there. but in other parts, your seeing foment timetables. you see that in poland for example. you're looking at modernization

based on russia's military withdrawal? and also, is russia claiming success? and is their strength, their swagger political clout in that area? >> well, as i said before, russia came in wrong-headedly because they said they were going to fight isil and they didn't. instead they supported assad, which prolonged the civil war, fueled the civil war. >> correct. >> so their effect has been the opposite of what they stated and certainly the opposite of what is needed. it hasn't had an effect on our prosecution to get to what we're doing in syria of our counter isil campaign. it has had the effect, in my judgment, of prolonging the syrian civil war. now, maybe russia can do what it should do, which is use its influence over the assad regime to promote the transition. and that's what geneva is about. and to get to the question about the kurds, that's exactly the kind of thing that's being discussed in geneva. but the russian contribution has not been positive. and we're watching its withdrawal. i don't know how far that will go. but the russian effect was not what th

beginsdlines -- russia to pull out forces from syria. it is time with a fresh round of syrian peace talks in geneva. burma elects a new president. of syu kiis become the first civilian ruler in two decades. democrat hillary clinton looks to consolidate her lead in the race for the white house. also coming up this hour in our business update, we will tell you about the bookstore in paris that started a new chapter by renting books on demand. that will be with stephen carroll. we would bring you the latest discovery. haverchers say they discovered the long-lost ancestor of the tehran a saurus rex. rex. the tyrannosaurus first, russia has begun to withdraw military equipment from syria. president vladimir putin made the surprise announcement yesterday, saying moscow will pull most of its forces from the country. five months of air support have helped the syrian army regroup and go on the offensive, but that this stage -- but at this stage it remains unclear what the kremlin's plan involves. claire williams reports. claire: our task has larg

one, he's reminded assad that syria needs russia more than russia needs syria. two, he's also denied the u.s. any possibility russia might get caught in a quagmire in syria. what long game could putin be playing, do you think? >> i think what he's doing is he already transmitted the message not just to the folks in the middle east and north africa and in syria but to the nato alice, and that is that russia's back and russia is not afraid or intimidated to act in their best interests when they see those interests being challenged. so he got that message out from a strategic stand point. the other thing that he's done is now he's going to say it was the russian forces who established the conditions where peace talks can take place. so he now stands on the world stage as the peacemaker going into geneva because his drops were the ones who put assad back on the move again to solidify the western side of the syrian country. and what you're probably going to see coming out of geneva is an agreement if they get an agreement for a federalized syria where you'll have ass

the challenge with russia is in almost everything putin has done from my our russia's downfall. but that is years away. and the long run we're all dead. pruden seems completely oblivious to the horror he is the horror he's doing in the longer run. the assertion target of opportunity he will continue. he didn't want to huge risks i hope, but i imagine they'll continue to get a seat at the table, to try and assert his weight with respect to the former soviet. so if you type to the chinese about central asia, they just laugh at russia. russia has no capacity. central asia not the russians. back row, please. >> thank you. kevin barrett with the sense one. talk more about the use of covert ops on the rise, the overclassification with a lot of officials over the last few years say the intelligence community needs to a better job telling the story. they want more information in the american public to understand more, yet we are finding makeover for when it comes to isis, terrorism and the middle east. how cannot be reconciled? what's happening with the whatever else you're hearing and

and russia. obviously, u.s. generals have spent the last six months telling everyone on the hill that russia is the greatest existential threat to the u.s. because they have nuclear weapons. it underlines why -- how important having these open talks will remain in the future. jill: i it is about $350 billion we have i modernization. mr. maeda: that is what we will spend two modernized nuclear triad. jill: does it send a risky message? mr. maeda: it is adjusted, because russia is also modernized nuclear weapons. both sides are doing it at the same time, both are saying we want to draw down. at some point soon there needs to be discussions about what is the new start. so, it is a tentative dance that is going on. you have two working together to reduce nuclear material. you also have two countries investing heavily in modernizing nuclear weapons, and general on both sides saying the other country is the bigger threat. jill: thank you. on the money minute -- personal finance expert jeanette that offers tips on the

russia has some economic problem. i'm sure maybe russia do not want to be entangled in a confrontation with no end in it. for that i think the political solution probably would be the answer at this time. >> thank you for joining us there from beirut and five years of war in syria created a huge refugee crisis in bordering countries and further afield and lawrence lee is live for us in kinis and you are in a refugee camp five kilometers from the syrian border and ceasefire or no ceasefire how safe is it there? >> that is a good question and i'm not in a refugee camp but overlooking syria and let me give you a sense of the terrain and three kilometers is syrian territory and to the right of the shot is the road border going into turkey and at the border left and you can perhaps see the silver lines in the past and if we track further left again is in the foreground you will be able to see kinis population 90,000 and hosting 127,000 syrians and so you can see even here in ta microcausm split by war and if we leave the c

>>> russia says it's withdrawing the main part of its military force from syria and focussing on diplomacy, as geneva talks head into the second day >>> hello, this is al jazeera, live from doha. also ahead - myanmar's parliament begins to vote to pick the next president >>> refugees stranded in greece make a desperate attempt to cross to the macedonian side >>> before the t rex, a pre-relevant - a dinosaur providing insight into one of the jurassic era's top predators >>> russia's president vladimir putin says his troops will begin their withdrawal from syria in the coming hours, this as u.n. brokered talks aimed at ending the fighting heads into the second day in geneva >>> russian air strikes in syria allowed the syrian government to regain lost ground and killing hundreds of people. now it appears they are coming to an end. vladimir putin says they achieved what they came to achieve. back in september. that was helping syrian president bashar al-assad fight what he calls terrorists. >> i believe that the goals set out in the ministry of defense and the armed forces has been fulfilled.