is there official reaction from the kremlin? what is the sense how all of this makes the putin regime look? >> reporter: never under estimate the power of denial. that is the maxim by which the kremlin is sticking to. and they, again, in the past few minutes, told us on a conference call they will not comment any further on the resignation of michael flynn. they referred us to the previous statements about the nature of the conversation between michael flien a flynn and the russian ambassador sergey kislyak. they are refusing to acknowledge the issue of sapgs sanctions whs mentioned between the figures. we are waiting to see what else comes out. the kremlin is deeply concerned about what this means for the future relationship between washington and moscow. of course, they are getting used to the idea of an administration in washington which is pro russian. it has sympathies to the kremlin point of view. from nato to syria and the situation in ukraine. will that now change because the political indicatisituation in united states

and really that are moved the kremlin into what we describe as siege mentality. of you, as the west of hostile environment, a source of alien values to russia, making this democratic push that occurred during this protest, during something that is subversive and alien to traditional russian values. >> host: spent time at state department and nsc staff. get your views on new nsc visor. mcmaster after michael flynn stepped down. what will his approach be to russia and how will he convey to the president? >> guest: my time at nsc has been 20 years ago so it has been a while.th i had a chance to work with general mcmaster in earlier incarnations so to speak. he is very competent, very dedicated professional, a true patriot. and, i think that he will pursue, well, he doesn't pursue his own policy of course. brings together policies that are being recommended to the president by national security establishment and state department, the department of defense.me he will be the honest broker and will provide that sound advice from the officials in the administration so, i

the kremlin's observations about his personality and more are being kept in a file. nbc's bill neely has spoken with some insiders who know what's in it. >> reporter: behind the walls of the kremlin, they're preparing vladimir putin for a first meeting with america's president. >> everything is under preparation. >> reporter: compiling a doss arier on donald trump's mental strengths and weaknesses. >> a psychological portrait of trump based on these last two or three months. >> reporter: the kremlin experts believe mr. trump can be naive. >> he doesn't understand fully who is mr. putin. he's a tough guy. >> reporter: he picks risky fights, they believe, like with the media. >> he's dancing on thin ice. it's a risky game. >> reporter: and relies on his intuition more than his advisers. >> he should listen to the people, especially in the areas where he is weak. >> reporter: the kremlin is also watching president trump's problems over russia, including losing his national security adviser with growing alarm. according to putin's former prime minister. is he laughing in

saying it shows the kremlin is running scared. reporter: it's a retrial for russia's main opposition leader. he's been found guilty in the 2013 case and given a five-year suspended prison sentence for a second time. >> the new verdict and the old verdict are 100% identical, including even the order in which they put out the testimonials. everything was taken from the old verdict. you can come over and see that the judges reading exactly the same text. it's wonderful, and says a lot about the whole trial. putin criticir claims the charges against him are politically motivated and will not be dropping his plans to run in next are's presidential race. there is little chance he will be able to take his big-city appeal beyond moscow and st. petersburg. he rose to prominence five years viewed as the kremlin's most significant credit. an opposition colleague and friend was murdered two years ago. a --s a case as robert parsons now explains, russian law is ambiguous on whether or not he can run a request there's a bit of ambiguity and rus

putin's return to kremlin as president, he was prime minister of russia while, while the kremlin had a president. detante a period of between washington and moscow and president obama and the resident at the time pursued the reset in u.s.-russian relations, so that generated a inside f expectations professional class and people who generally are reform and nded for for changes domestically, politically and economically. putin decided to return to kremlin as president to retake all reigns of power, decision triggered substantial significant protest those in remember winter of 2011 and 2012. obama administration at the time was critical of the way treated thevernment protesters, suppressed them with force rable force, real at times and prosecution of some protesters and that triggered a backlash in putin's mind, presumably, we haven't seen his mind, but based on his actions at the time, backlash against the west, a backlash against the liberal reforms that were somewhat cautiously pursued by the and then was followed by series of domestic to constrain eps the ability of that position t

the kremlin's observation about his personality and more are being kept in an file. nbc's bill neely has spoken with some insiders who know what's in it. >> reporter: behind the walls of the kremlin, they're preparing vladimir putin for a first meeting with america's president. >> everything is under preparation. >> reporter: compiling a dossier on donald trump's mental strengths and weaknesses. >> pages describing psychological portrait of trump, especially based on the last two or three months. >> reporter: the kremlin believe trump can be naive. >> he doesn't understand putin. >> reporter: he picks risky fights, like with the media. >> he's dancing on thin ice. it's a risky game. >> reporter: and relies on his intuition more than his advisers. >> he should listen to the people, especially in areas where he's weak. >> reporter: the kremlin is also watching president trump's problems over russia, including losing his national security adviser with growing alarm. according to putin's former prime minister. is he laughing in the kremlin at what's happening in washingt

i will call it the kremlin playbook, which is consistent from then until now. the only thing that changes are the methods because of advances in technology and resources. and i divide it into what people have already said. first, deny and cover up. whether it was chernobyl -- you name it, that is the first step. and then you have the propaganda which provides an alternative narrative to substitute for the truth. then we have fake news. the biggest example of that was walter duranty. this is an interesting case study about his role that he played. it is much more than just writing articles to cover up what was going on. he was an integral part of promoting the soviet position. looking at walter duranty there is an interesting quote. in november 1933 after there had been negotiations about the recognition of russia there was a dinner at the waldorf-astoria hosted by the soviet foreign minister. one of the participants who wrote about that said during the dinner as people were being introduced there was mild applause but when walter duranty who was introduced, it

. >> reporter: in the kremlin, they want president trump to end u.s. sanctions against russia and to improve relations. but they're worried that signs that cease getting tougher on russia and may not deliver. many believe hard-liners in america want to sabotage the president and his russia plans. some even talk here of a conspiracy. >> intelligence services against president donald trump. they want to order strong him. >> reporter: they want to overthrow him? >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: a coup? >> yes. a small coup. >> reporter: many in russia celebrated his election, but doubts are growing that donald trump will be good for russia. putin's analysts are preparing him to meet a u.s. president under pressure. bill neely, nbc ne, >>> well, whoever becomes the president's new national security adviser will be joining an administration that is taking a harder line against iran. today in munich on the sidelines of a security conference, chief foreign correspondent richard engel met with iran's foreign minister and asked him about that. >> reporter: the

perhaps just a bit too early perhaps for a full response from the kremlin. but how big a loss is michael flynn to russia? >> reporter: well, certainly he had a relationship with russia. he notoriously attended a endanger badinner back in 2015, which was a paid dinner, and he sat next to vladimir putin. that drew criticism about his judgment. of course there are more questions about his judgment now leading to this resignation. but there has been a bit of reaction so far not from the kremlin, you're right, it's too early for them yet. but a senior russian official, alexei pushkov, has indicated it's not with flynn, but that indicates there are scandals taking place at the moment which is the relationship that trump has tried to forge with russia, the bettering of that relationship has become a political liability for him. and his critics both in the democratic party and the republicans have made it quite clear that they're going to use that sympathy that he has and the sympathies that those around him have to try to undermine his credibility and undermine the

on that briefing with the kremlin, they talked about iran. kremlin saying it fundamentally disagrees with the classification of iran as the number one terrorist state. iran is a key ally of russia. particularly in syria. a fellow backer of the bashar al assad regime. how can he work with russia and at the same time not backing iran in the conflict? this as for the kremlin, there are profound divisions on certain global issues with russia and the u.s. that should not stop the two sides working together on beneficial issues. >> a fascinating weekend of developments. when you look at it from moscow, different from what we hear in the united states. the sunday shows full of republicans denouncing the equivalency with russia and the united states. thank you, clare. >>> vice president mike pence talking about the violence in eastern ukraine. he says the trump administration is troubled and watching how russia responds to make a determination of the u.s. sanctions, his words, come one day after president trump spoke to the ukraine president by phone

and on this point, we can talk about that disinformation by the kremlin. i have to bring out the fact that the party of president yanukovych was not ready to recognize this horrific event, even though the most harshest of this holodomor was suffered in eastern ukraine. i think this is something that was of interest. in 2008, when the president was doing a major program to recognize the holodomor, there was a lot of criticism. i was in romania, and people said he is wasting his time, he should not be focusing on holodomor, there are more important things to focus on. i contradicted him because i happened to be there, and one of the things i observed was people in eastern ukraine who had lived through the holodomor and had never spoken about it were finally feeling free to talk about it. so can you imagine the impact of keeping this inside, the fear and the terror, and what that has done to ukrainian society? so what we have seen with ukrainians fighting for democracy is that much more remarkable because they have this remembrance of terror. mr. fairbank: do

it was flynn's close links with the kremlin that got him in trouble. here he is in 2015, at a dinner in moscow with president putin, but it's illegalfor a private citizen to conduct us diplomacy. mr flynn denied he had spoken to the russian ambassador about sanctions before mr trump became president, and on that basis mr pence went on national television to defend him. i can confirm, having spoken to him about it, that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the united states took action to expel diplomats, that they had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. in his resignation letter, mr flynn said he had held numerous conversations with foreign counterparts. it went on, "because of the fast pace of events, i inadvertently briefed the vice—president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the russian ambassador." those phone calls had been monitored by us security officials and some of the details have been leaked to the press. people that trump has disaffected within the intelligenc

not just the kremlin, the intelligence services. to help donald trump get elected. >> ed: we have heard that for a long time. we have. i want to play the full context of what you said earlier on facebook lives. >> i am director of the trump war room here at the dnc, over the last 48 hours, the press has confirmed what many of us already suspected. donald trump and his aides have continued to lie about their contact with russia. one of the biggest political scandals in political history. this is bigger than watergate. >> ed: he said president trump has repeatedly lied about contact with russia. when did the president lie? >> on january 11th. on january 6, donald trump -- >> ed: what'd he say? >> he was asked whether his aides had contact with the kremlin and that was five days after he received an intelligence briefing where that said the exact opposite. the cia and fbi informed him that in fact his campaign and senior aides did have contact with intelligence agencies. not only donald trump lied, mike pence lied as well. on january 1

you can bet the push is coming from the russian state, from the putin regime and the kremlin. we know there has been a push from the kremlin to stop lauding the wonderful things that the trump administration is going to mean for russia. for a while there was lots of celebration and apparently there was a message that came from the kremlin, enough of that, we need to get back to serious business. >> hockenberry: so they kind of don't know who to deal with, and tillerson is sort of first on the list right now. >> well, and also, i mean, general mattis, the secretary of defense has been speaking with the russian counterpart. we have the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff talking to the chief of the russian general staff about military activities. apparently they wanted to make sure as much as they could that they were deconflicting things again in syria, and, so, i mean, there are a variety of ways that the united states, over the last few days, has been reaching out to their russian counterparts. >> hockenberry: as long as there is no nuclear phone ringing off the hook in a d

it seems that worries the kremlin. the activist launched his election bid anyway in defiance. volunteers flocked to his campaign office in st. petersburg. another presidential hopeful told me that he believes liberals are no threat in today's russia at all. participates next year, 6%, that isve 5% or all. reporter: the activist once to test that -- wants to test that, but the verdict suggests the kremlin is not ready to take the risk. news, theother international red cross suspended operations in afghanistan temporarily after six staff was shot in the north of the country. 2 others are unaccounted for and feared abducted. they believe the so-called islamic state group was behind the attack. the united kingdom lawmakers have given approval for theresa may to begin the negotiation process for britain's exit of the european union. the decision needs to be approved by parliament, house of lords. the presidential candidate battling fresh allegations for payments for his wife for public funds. the french newspaper claims that she received thousands of euros in severance pay as the a

-- how the kremlin is going to react to this. but, jill, what do we know, what more do we know, i should say, about michael flynn's connections in moscow? because this is just coming 24 hours or so before he was forced to step down. >> well, we do know that he had been communicating with ambassador kizlyback, russian ambassador to the united states. we do know that he appeared, i believe it was last year, at a dinner for rt, which is russian television. there are other comments that he has made. but there too, we don't know exactly why he was doing that. i mean, we haven't seen that transcript of the communications with ambassador kislyak. was it a general conversation? we believe, according to reports, that it was about sanctions. the russians are saying that it was not. so there's a lot of murkiness. and until the facts and the actual, let's say, communications are released, we won't know. but i can say one thing, and this is such an irony, that the president who came into office, saying that he wanted to improve relations, it

what is the kremlin now days? it's a small group of people, a mafia group's members live like sheiks or kings. reporter: on february 8, he was handed a five-year suspended system to for embezzlement. it the same case they human rights court throughout calling the proceedings arbitrary and unfair. as russian law stands, his real record prevents them from running for prep -- for public office. it's a provision he says is unconstitutional. a town hall meeting for the public -- some 600 people signed up to volunteer for his campaign. for many, it's their first experience back. it is standing room only as hundreds of people gather either to catch a glimpse. not for the first time, he's proven he's able to engage people in politics who have stayed home, convinced their voice does not count. russian authorities now face a dilemma -- putting him on the ballot means making him a nationwide figure. exclude him and they risk voter apathy as putin faces off against a field of pro-kremlin candidates who have been in the public

and the situations seems very different, which leaves the kremlin with some egg on its face. and i think it underlines to the kremlin the concerns they had all along, about the reliability of the trump administration. concerns about what messages they're getting from that administration. how they should play this unusual administration in the united states. obviously this, is a liability. the sympathies towards russia is a liability for the administration. republicans and democrats, are gunning, essentially, for trump over this issue. and for those around him. michael flynn is the first victim of this. but what the concern is in russia, is that, you know, in order to ensure his political survivor, donald trump, who has been pro-russia in his stance, he was presenting building a better relationship. he can do a u-turn and become anti-russian to placate his congress and to ensure his political survival. that's the big concern at the moment. and flynn may be the start of this. one tweet from a senior russian lawmaker this morning, says it all. he says, the target is not flynn, b

it was flynn's close links with the kremlin that got him in trouble. here he is in 2015, at a dinner in moscow with president putin, but it's illegalfor a private citizen to conduct us diplomacy. mr flynn denied he had spoken to the russian ambassador about sanctions before mr trump became president, and on that basis mr pence went on national television to defend him.|j can confirm, having spoken to him about it, that those conversations that happened to a car around the time that the united states took action to expel diplomats, that they had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. in his resignation letter, mr flynn said he had held numerous conversations with foreign counterparts. it went on, "because of the fast pace of events, i inadvertently briefed the vice president and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the russian ambassador." those phone calls had been monitored by us security officials and some of the details had been leaked to the press. within the intelligence community, this is how they fight back. t

. >> the prt also said unflattering conch was being followed closely in russia by the kremlin, making it harder for him to, quote, make a deal with russia. those are his words. let's go to moscow where chief global correspondent bill neely is standing by. you've been gauging how the russians and the russian media is responding to all of this. >> reporter: yeah, kate, interesting in the last hour i've just been speaking to a former russian deputy foreign minister who says the kremlin is worried that donald trump is being damaged by all the controversy and that the kremlin doesn't want him damaged because they want a deal with him, they want better relations with the u.s. critically, they want u.s. sanctions lifted. the kremlin apparently, according to this insider, is worried that by taking on the mainstream media, especially, donald trump risks being a damaged president. also there's the worry here that the kremlin is somehow disappointed by what it's sn from donald trump, that he's not deliveng the better relations that he promised. the kremlin official spokesman was asked about that

is he laughing in the kremlin? >> absolutely not. it's very serious and the team is nervous. >> reporter: in the kremlin they want president trump to end u.s. sanctions against russia and to improve relations. but they're worried that signs that he's getting tougher on russia and may not deliver. many believe har lineders in america want to sabotage the president and his russia plans, some even talk here of a conspiracy. >> against president donald trump. they want to overthrow him. >> reporter: they want to overthrow him . >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: well so far no date has been set for that first meeting. some thought it would be in april or may. vladimir putin is preparing for a pragmatic deal maker in donald trump and he's not preparing for easy talks. >> definitely not the end of this ongoing saga between washington and moscow. bill neely love in moscow. >>> the white house says that president donald trump is sirius about the press being the enemy after the commander in chief tweeted on friday, the fake news media failing "

>> we just heard from the kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov. he didn't actually deny any conversations. the deputy foreign minister admitted a few days after the election there were conversations with russia and the trump campaign. but the spokesman did pour cold water on the reporting of this saying don't read morning newspapers. he did say, more might come out so let's waits for that time, leaving the door open there. it is the kind of rhetoric we've been hearing coming outside of russia all morning against the media, mainly. another senior russian politician tweeted earlier trying to beat trump with the russia card. essentially suggesting that the media are trying to whip up anti-russian feeling around this president for a long time saying he had wanted close relations with russia. one thing the russians are worried about, alison, is that comment by sean spicer in the briefing yesterday when he said that president trump wanted crimea to be returned to ukraine. both the kremlin and foreign ministry saying that is a closed issue. that will not

we're going to be speaking to the kremlin with this issue in the hours ahead. it's still quite early in the morning here, but obviously this resignation leaves the kremlin with egg on its face, not least because throughout this whole scandal, the russians have categorically denied that any conversations took place between flynn and their ambassador to washington about the issue of sanctions. they're saying it just didn't happen. they've also denied the idea that vladimir putin's reaction to the last round of obama government sanctions over u.s. hacking, in which he expelled 35 diplomats. remember vladimir putin infamously made no reaction to that. he didn't expel in a tit for tat way 35 u.s. diplomats. kret l the kremlin denying that had anything to do with the conversations between michael flynn and the russian ambassador to washington. and so, from a russian perspective, what turned out, what started out, perhaps, as an attempt to support the white house denials, that the issue with sanctions had been raised in these discussions, as i say, it's become very em

and i think it's all connected to what i call the kremlin clan. all of these people around him that are connected to oil and gas in the kremlin and ukraine. it's all about them. just think about it. manafort, his campaign manager, and who had to leave because it was determined that he had connections to the kremlin and to the ukraine and whether you're talking about him or roger stone or some of the others, they are all about oil and gas and they thought that if they elect trump, that somehow they were going to have someone friendly to them that would help lift these sanctions and this kremlin clan are all going to benefit from it. follow the dollar and follow the background of all of these people and you'll find out that they are all connected to russia and ukraine. why? why is it that you have all of these people around here. >> i do understand that you follow the money trail and that will lead to answers but we have to say that there is not evidential proof. but i do want to ask -- >> absolutely. it has to be an investigation that brings out th

it was flynn ‘s close links with the kremlin that got him in trouble. here he is in 2015 at a dinner in moscow with president putin. is it illegalfor a private zoos and to conduct us diplomacy? mr flynn denied he spoke to the russian president about sanctions before mr trump became president and mike pence went on national television to defend him.|j can confirm that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the united states took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. in his resignation letter mr flynn said he had held numerous phone calls with foreign counterparts. unfortunately went on, because of the fast pace of events i inadvertently briefed various people with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the russian ambassador. his decision to go has been supported by some of those in his own party. you cannot have a national security adviser misleading the vice president and others said the president was right to ask for his resignation. i believe it was the right thing to do. m

and on this point, we can talk about that disinformation by the kremlin. bring out the fact - t the party of president yanukovych was not ready to recognize this horrific event, even though the most harshest of this holodomor was suffered in eastern ukraine. i think this is something that was of interest. president wasthe doing a major program to recognize the holodomor, there was a lot of criticism. and peoplemania, said he is wasting his time, he should not be focusing on holodomor, there are more important things to focus on. i contradicted him because i happened to be there, and one of the things i observed was people in eastern ukraine who had lived through the holodomor and had never spoken about it were finally feeling free to talk about it. so can you imagine the impact of keeping this inside, the fear and the terror, and what that has done to i think creamy and society? -- ukrainian society? so what we have seen with ukrainians fighting for democracy is that much more remarkable because they have this remembrance of terror. mr. fairbank: do you ha

that's a kremlin funded tv net work. >> absolutely. this is a public event that took place in december of 2015 to mark the 10th anniversary of rt, the state funded english language tv network. a very big operation here in moscow. he was pictured there sitting next to vladimir putin at a dinner, and we know that he was paid. he's admitted this, to hold a q and a session with an anchor during the commemorations where he talked a lot about the middle east and american priorities there, and we know he's appeared on rt a number of times as an unpaid analyst as well. so he certainly is open to working with russia to appearing here, and he is a face known in russia. >> yeah. and while the kremlin -- while the president has his hands full at the white house, talk to us about the recent activity in the form of the alleged missile. what does that relationship say about u.s. relationships and what does the kremlin have to say on that front? >> well, nothing officially from the kremlin, but we've had one reaction so far this morning so that accusa

. >> senior officials were in communication with the kremlin.t not just the kremlin, the intelligence services. there were actually to help donald trump get elected. >> ed: we have heard that for a long time. we have. i want to play the fullha contet of what you said earlier on facebook live. watchha this. >> i am director of the trump war room here at the dnc, over the last 48 hours, the press has confirmed what many of us already suspected. donald trump and his aides have continued to lie about their contact with russia. now the american people are witnessing one of the biggest political scandals in american history. this is bigger than watergate. >> ed: he said president trump has repeatedly lied about contact with russia. when did the president lie? >> on january 11th. on january 6, donald trump -- >> ed: what'd he say? >> he was asked whether his aides had contact with the kremlin and that was five days after he received an intelligence briefing where that said the exact opposite. the cia and fbi informed him that in fact his campaign and senior aides did have contact with intell

the first time and now the second time he is a critic of the kremlin. he was traveling around russia with a documentary that was highlighting the assassination of the fellow opposition leader gunned down within sight of the kremlin two years ago. that is why his family is accusing the government of creating the climate to led to alleged poisoning. a kremlin spokesperson said it is ludicrous to link the government with the illness. >> thank you, ivan. >>> joint investigation by cnn and cnn spanish claims venezuela had a passport investigation which linked the vice president to 200 passports and identification to individuals from the middle east. including those connected to hezbollah. for more on this investigation, go to cnn.com. >>> let's get a check on the cnn money stream. the trump stock market falling. the dow surged 9% in the two months following the election. up 1% so far this year. three factors keeping stocks from moving higher. the economy is priced in. little doubt the economy is humming. stocks are a leader indication. number two, the promis

the kremlin denying that. that adds to the confusion about the message coming out of the white house and trump administration and trump team. what will happen with sanctions? on one hand, sanctions remain in place until the occupation of crimea comes to an end. and donald trump saying he would look at crimea being legitimately recognized as part of russia. mixed messages from the russian point of view. >> it has been fascinating to watch. thanks, matthew chance in moscow. >>> we have new developments in the north korea missile launch. pyongyang with a new medium range ballistic missile. the test firing guided by s supreme leader kim jong-un. now the u.n. is stepping in. i want to go live to seoul and get the latest from paula hancoc hancocks. south korea is trinterested and concerned about what is happening. >> reporter: john, we have heard full scale condemnation from countries in the region after the medium range mballistic missile. we have not seen a missile test after 2016 with more than 20 myse missile te

is he was 100 yards from the kremlin. he was walking on that sidewalk with a friend, car drove up, guys jumped out, bang, four shots, they killed him there on the street 100 yards outside the kremlin. this is the leading opposition politician in russia at the time. a genuine threat to vladimir putin. they killed him on the street right outside the kremlin the night before he s going to lead an opposition rally in moscow. that was boris nemtsov. three months after that in 2015, in may of 2015, they tried to do it to his deputy, too. the deputy in his opposition party was a former journalist, fluent english speaker, worked in the united states for years, his wife and children live in virginia, in centerville, virginia. he traveled back and forth between virginia, between the d.c. area and moscow and three months after they shot boris nemtsov dead, shot him cold in the streets outside the kremlin they tried to get his deputy, too, and they tried to get him with poison. "midway through a meeting with fellow dissidents, beads

again, the kremlin playing a cautious line on this. saying they don't want to get involved in current conversat n conversations that are taking place in the united states. they are not exactly throwing michael flynn under the bus. not helping either. >> all right. matthew chance, thank you. fascinating to watch developments. >> let's bring in political reporter eugene scott. eugene, we were talking about matthew chance. he used the phrase they are not throwing michael flynn under the bus. what about the white house? what does the white house do about michael flynn? they put out steven miller this weekend. he said i can't speak for the president. i have nothing to say on the matter. that is not damning someone with praise. it is damning someone with silence. >> it is leaving people with an optimistic perspective on what could happen long term. one thing is important to remember is trump highly values. flynn came on board early and trump was supportive. >> you send out steven miller. trump loved what miller said. if he loves michael flyn

>> well, katy, the kremlin is being very cautious. not just about commenting about yesterday's news conference but about reacting to everything donald trump says or every tweet that's put out. for good reason. a week ago the kremlin was very embarrassed. here is how. the official kremlin spokesperson was talking about those contacts between former national security adviser mike flynn and the russian ambassador to washington he said that flynn did not discuss sanctions at all with the russian ambassador, only for mike flynn to come back two days later to say he actually did. paskov is very careful about what he says. he was very embarrassed about that. this morning he made a broad comment. he was asked by one reporter if he was disappointed about the kind of things president trump is saying. he said, we never wore rose-tinted glasses, we never had any illusions so there's nothing to be disappointed with. russia/u.s. ties, he says, are important and we believe they deserve special attention. that's the key thing, ties between russia and

it was flynn's close links with the kremlin that got him in trouble. here he is in 2015, at a dinner in moscow with president putin, but it's illegalfor a private citizen to conduct us diplomacy. mr flynn denied he had spoken to the russian ambassador about sanctions before mr trump became president, and on that basis mr pence went on national television to defend him. i can confirm, having spoken to him about it, that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the united states took action to expel diplomats, that they had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions. in his resignation letter, mr flynn said he had held numerous conversations with foreign counterparts. it went on, "because of the fast pace of events, i inadvertently briefed the vice—president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the russian ambassador." those phone calls had been monitored by us security officials and some of the details have been leaked to the press. within the intelligence community, this is how they figh

two years ago, another protest leader, boris nemtsov, was shot dead just metres from the kremlin. so when mr navalny wound up on trial here, 500 miles east of moscow, he insisted the motive was political. president putin's spokesman today called it a normaljudicial process. across russia, vladimir putin claims enormous support. if you believe the opinion polls, it is currently running at more than 80%. alexei navalny can't claim even a fraction of that. and yet, he is charismatic, he can rally the crowds and his anti—corruption cause is a popular one, and it seems that worries the kremlin. last weekend, the activist launched his election bid anyway, in defiance. volunteers flocked to his first campaign office in st petersburg. but another presidential hopeful has told me he believes liberals like navalny are no threat in today's russia at all. he never become president of russia. if he participates, this company, next year, much, he can receive about 5%, 6%, that's all. the activist wants to test that at next year's election, but the verdict here today suggests the kremlin isn't

that it might end up harming the kremlin. is that why his press conference wasn't played on state tv yesterday? >> reporter: yes, actually the kremlin ordered state tv to ratchet back, to pull back from some of its constant coverage of trump. in january, katy, trump was on state tv more than putin. that's not a good idea in an authoritarian state like russia, so the kremlin said to state tv, enough of this. russian people don't want to see trump on tv all the time especially when so far he hasn't actually delivered anything. all we're get something rhetoric and indeed i heard today that a lot of russians were just fed up listening about appointments, about mike flynn, and so on. so yes, it was a deliberate policy to keep that news conference off state tv, quite extraordinary, katy. >> donald trump on television in russia more than vladimir putin. remarkable. bill neely in moscow, thank you so much. >>> joining me now is sean henry, the former executive assistant director for the fbi, who is now an msnbc contributor, and john

there are some that say he's a useful opponent for the kremlin. putin doesn't want to run totally unopposed. that looks undemocratic. he's actually a useful opposition figure. a lot of competing theories. obviously this is all speculation. at the end of the day he says he kremlin.token of the he is his own man and he intends to run whether or not the authorities really want him to run. charged with the embezzlement of timber of all things. thank you, doug. there seems to be no end inside for the protests in romania where for an eight consecutive evenings thousands gathered in bucharest. the prime minister tried to relax certain corruption laws before being forced to back down by the public outcry. in president says romania is a fully fledged political crisis. for more we can speak to the al d editor at can romania. freezing rainw and temperatures below zero degrees. people are still coming here in front of the government and protesting even from the first hour of the day. we saw one of them writing on up.snow we don't give that image became vital

yes, this is an attempt bit kremlin to get inside the mind of donald trump to probe his strengths and weaknesses. it's a dossier being prepared for president putin in advance of the meeting of the two leaders, the date which hasn't been set. i understand from a former deputy foreign minister that it's being prepared not just by kremlin insiders, people who work for president putin, but outsiders as well. it's apparently seven pages long and mostly focuses on the last two to three months. this goes way, way beyond any kind of briefing document that a president would normally get. what theremlin appears to be concluding is that president trump is naive on world affairs. certainly not as interested on foreign policy as president putin. also that he relies too much on his own intuition, could be a hangup from his business career, thinks the kremlin, and that he should be relying on the advice of his inner circle, his own personal advisers. thirdly, that he is a risk-taker. now, that's no bad thing, certainly not in a business career, but the kremlin is worried that he is taking on the mas

it's the product of kremlin insiders and political consultants outside the kremlin. what the kremlin seems to be learning is that president trump can be politically naive certainly in foreign policy, as we know president putin is interested in world affairs and they detect a weak innocence president putin. he relies on intuition far too much based possibly on his business career and also that he's a risk taker from business but this is obviously very dangerous they believe in world affairs, and they're particularly concerned that he's picking fights with the mass media and with the intelligence community. interesting that the kremlin here does not want donald trump to fail, and they are concerned that he is weak at the minute domestically and they want that first meeting with president putin, to be from a position of strength. ultimately their number one priority here is that they get u.s. sanctions against russia lifted and that of course was one of president trump's campaign promises. andrea? >> bill neely in moscow, thanks so much. joining me is dr. evelyn farkas,

in the kremlin above all else is to divide the west. they wa nt all else is to divide the west. they want the uk and the us to be divided, they don't want a strong transatlantic partnership. having said all of that, i would offer a state visit to vladimir putin. and this evening demonstrators have gathered in westminster to protest against the president's proposed state visit to the uk. the protests have been organised by a group called the stop trump coalition. politicians and celebrities addressed the crowds gathered in parliament square. our correspondent nick beake is in westminsterfor us. what is the scene there right now? they have been here for three or four hours and since six o'clock the focus of this protest has been on the stage behind me. even see the big screen. there's been a procession of activists, politicians, also some singers as well talking l moved politicians, also some singers as well talking moved white probably l2}; 5.5; tiiif,'.f.;f,lifii'i,;,§ff' '” probably is}; prominent 75:79:57 house. probably the most p

first of all, any reaction from the kremlin from what we saw yesterday from trump? >> no reaction, craig. here's why. the kremlin is being very cautious about reacting to the daily tweets and even to yesterday's news conference by president trump. there's a good reason for that. last friday the official kremlin spokesman, dmitri peskov, said that mike flynn did not talk about sanctions with the russian ambassador to the united states. only for mr. flynn, the former national security adviser two days later to admit that he did. so the kremlin very embarrassed by that and it is choosing to keep its consul and not toy spond daily to donald trump's tweets and indeed to that news conference yesterday. indeed there is a distinct cooling in the enthusiasm for donald trump here. there were high hopes and even celebration when he was elected. there are now doubts that he will be able to deliver the promised reset, the improvement in relations that vladimir putin and the kremlin wants. they feel here that the u.s. establishment is trying to gag president trump to try to stop

any reaction from the kremlin with regards to this breaking news? >> it's very early here in russia and quiet on this front. the issue of contacts between the trump campaign and russia was something we heard about in the past and the days after the election. the it deputy foreign minster told the agency that there were contacts between the trump campaign and russia. he didn't elaborate, but he came back to the topic in january before the innaugzration that the u.s. media was whipping up the fever around these contacts and using it as a way of sparking fears of a so-called russian threat. we have seen the security adviser leave his position because of mishandling his contacts with russia. this is something that russia will be concerned about whether or not it will make president trump make a hawkish stance towards russia than he has been is a way of falling in line with many in his party. something that had a lot of focus in the russian media are those comments we had by sean spicer saying that trump expects crimea to be returned to ukraine and that

what does the kremlin have to say this time? >> you know t' incredible really because they've not condemned this, they've not criticized it. to the best of my knowledge, jake, they haven't even mentioned it in the past several days since this latest issue has emerged. and since vladimir has been in a medically induced coma, which is astonishing given the amount of attention that this catastrophe from his point of view is getting overseas, internationally, particularly in the united states. senator marco rubio issuing scathing statement earlier today. he was still critical. here's what he said. i urge the trump administration, including secretary of state tillerson, to make kara-murza's cause america's cause, and ultimately hold putin accountable if he was targeted by the regime. and, so, senator rubio suggesting this is an important test. just like ukraine is an important test of the relationship between vladimir putin, the russian president, and donald trump of the united states. now, this mystery surrounding the cause of this

the kremlin categorically denying that. if there are transcripts of these conversations and if they are released, we'll get a better picture, obviously a very clear picture of what was actually discussed and whether the kremlin is telling the truth or not on this issue. >> matthew chance in moscow. there seems to be understanding that sanctions were at a minimum discussed. thank you for that, matthew. >>> joining us now, mafia tall lib, jim walsh and paul singer. martha, i have to seyed on the sunday shows when stephen miller went out and with deafening silence refused to defend michael flynn, i haven't seen that level of silence anywhere. why cut him off at the knees like that? >> during what you consider a traditional administration, everyone would read that as a sign that the person in question lost the president's confidence. the difference is this administration in its early weeks, sometimes it's just a lack of planning or preparation leading the the thing that in another administration would seem like a really big dea

is he was 100 yards from the kremlin. he was walking on that sidewalk with a friend, car drove up, guys jumped out, bang, four shots, they killed him there on the street 100 yards outside the kremlin. this is the leading opposition politician in russia at the time. a genuine threat to vladimir putin. they killed him on the street right outside the kremlin the night before he was going to lead an opposition rally in moscow. that was boris nemtsov. three months after that in 2015, in may of 2015, they tried to do it to his deputy, too. the deputy in his opposition party was a former journalist, fluent english speaker, worked in the united states for years, his wife and children live in virginia, in centerville, virginia. he traveled back and forth between virginia, between the d.c. area and moscow and three months after they shot boris nemtsov dead, shot him cold in the streets outside the kremlin they tried to get his deputy, too, and they tried to get him with poison. "midway through a meeting with fellow dissidents, bead

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that's what a senior kremlin advisor tells nbc news. andre federov and retired putin staffers are working on this profile to help putin prepare important a meeting with trump. the russians have determined that he's a risk taker that can be naive. federov called trump's battle with the media is a risky game. people in the kremlin believe he won't have the political power to work with russia. it's worth noting the pentagon has done similar studies on vladimir putin. in 2008, one theorized he might have asperger's syndrome. rich edson here with more. >> given what the officials have been saying about russia, vice president mike pence, rex tillerson, secretary of defense mattises a have warned about ru and to try to reduce the violence in eastern ukraine. that haves will advised that the united states stands behind nato. there's members of both parties of congress that are pushing the trump administration not to relax any sanctions against russia. now there's reports that the kremlin is ording state-run media to curtail their praise of trum