putin is very russian. there's a big inferiority complex about how the west doesn't take a serious a d.c. has says the kind of retarded little brother that they can just kick and insult all the time they had been a great power that was on par with the u.s. that was calling the shots all over the world and now people don't even listen to them. not only was the west not listening to russia it was also moving closer and closer to russia with its bases. in the summer of two thousand and twelve a civil war had been raging for over a year in syria an old ally of russia the opponents of president bashar al assad received weapons from europe and the u.s. . there was no doubt in putin's mind that the west had ordered a regime change as it had done in two thousand and three in iraq and in libya where the deposed president won or gadhafi had just been killed. when vladimir putin got a hold of the video of khadafi being killed lynched in the streets. so he watched that video on repeat he just watched over. and over and

putin on a successful farce. and related to me was the statement by the justice who congratulated not only mr. putin but the people of russia on the presidential election. i must say to you appears either as a mockery when we hear that from a leader of a western democratic country. >> well stated. >> we can hear. we can hear. >> how would you explain the voted for vladimir putin? ont is your parties decision the russian language schools? regime.y yourou going to use influence in the west -- are you going to -- what is your opinion on its effects? the propaganda? they are using it as we speak. thank you. >> thank you for the question. we have people with very different views. left, right, liberal, social. we are not yet in that stage in our country. we are looking forward to having this kind of differences. we're not very basically having free election. having the rule of law, independent judicial system. these are issues we are working on end involved in. so we have positions on many things. if you want my own pe

putin and his regime. we must lay the groundwork. >> there have been a couple news stories suggesting that russian millennials were actually voting for putin. i would appreciate your comment. >> we should not consider those results from yesterday as any kind of a serious indicator. what we do know about millennials is how many of them took to the streets this last year, all across russia to actively protest against putin. to protest against the government in russia is not like protesting against president trump in the u.s. there were threats. people were threatened from being fired from their jobs and expelled from universities. 200,000 cities and more. the first wave of protests was about a year ago in june. him so many of those protesters were in their late teens and early 20's. we do not know how they would have voted in a real election because we do not have a real election. more and more, we are prepared to go out and show that they have a different vision of russia in mind, not a russia that is gover

or a servant of vladimir putin, a colluder with vladimir putin. so while he spent the day furious and embarrassed by the leak to not congratulate. we had to publically be proud of the thing that we know embarrasses him. so he tweeted i called president putin of russia to congratulate him on his election victory. the l.a. times is reporting one person who speaks regularly with white house officials said the most recent leak seemed more geared toward infantilizing trump who has ignored numerous suggestions that he rebuke putin. i'm sure there's going to be a scalping over this. how is the leakiest white house in history going to catch the person or persons responsible for this particular leak? we now know that all of the white house leakers have signed a completely ridiculous and unenforceable confidentiality agreement that they violate every time they leak something. it was the trump family's idea to force them to sign the nondisclosure agreements. ivanka trump was a cheerleader of the idea. it was a stupid idea. in all of the reporting today, ever

what you think the aim is for putin? his agenda is clear, in the past 18 years he has been in power. he wants to restore the greatness of the former soviet empire, the former russian influence in the world, and he's winning. his idea, they call it political technology, is proving the winning idea because it's winning on all the kind of theatres in which he has pushed and pushed and he keeps pushing. nobody seems able really to do anything about it. so i think that is what he wants to do, especially in the former satellite countries of the soviet union. he wants to restore a firm grip. alexander, what do you think that will mean for people outside russia, putin's agenda? it seems there is a degree of unanimity about what that agenda is, what do you think it will mean for people outside russia? first of all i find it absolutely unbelievable that russia is supposedly fixing a grip on its neighbours when it lost influence in every neighbouring country, every neighbouring country has lost to the influence of... alexander, we

what you think the aim is for putin? his agenda is clear, in the past 18 years he has been in power. he wants to restore the greatness of the former soviet empire, the former russian influence in the world, and he's winning. his idea, they call it political technology, is proving the winning idea because it's winning on all the kind of theatres in which he has pushed and pushed and he keeps pushing. nobody seems able really to do anything about it. so i think that is what he wants to do, especially in the former satellite countries of the soviet union. he wants to restore a firm grip. alexander, what do you think that will mean for people outside russia, putin's agenda? it seems there is a degree of unanimity about what that agenda is, what do you think it will mean for people outside russia? first of all i find it absolutely unbelievable that russia is supposedly fixing a grip on its neighbours when it lost influence in every neighbouring country, every neighbouring country has lost the influence of... alexander, we hav

he says it is wrong to demonize vladimir putin, start planning for a post-putin russia. we also welcome gemma porzgen, commentator for the -- she says -- posener says his army of internet trolls poisons the political atmosphere in the west. 's aim is to paralyze democracy. -- his aim is to paralyze democracy. gemma says, it's always the same reflects: whenever happens, it was mcow. this is the first offensive use of a nurse -- nerve agent in europe since world war ii. are you shocked, alan? alan: i'm not shocked, disgusted. it is stupid to say you are shocked. this will happen sooner or later. the couple of years ago, another ex-russian spy was poisonewith polonium in london. nuclear, if you will, a weapon used against britain, and now they have used a chemical weapon against britain. this is the face of russian imperialism. leaders of the u.k., france, and germany have come out with aoierve agent attack as an assault on u.k. sovereignty. they say it is highly likely that russia was behind it. you say that russia always gets the blame. you seemed to be doubting that russ

it damages putin's and russia's image. and with the world cup coming up, it would be suicide for anyone in moscow to think it would benefit us. putin does not have a problem because he is popular. his opponents are not strong. so why would he suddenly think, i need to get more votes for myself? it doesn't work like this. you think it's no coincidence but it is a troublemaker trying to undermine president putin before his re—election? it undermines russia. let's take that around the table, coincidence or not? i don't think it is a coincidence, it's possible it is a botched operation, there's lots of things, we cannot be sure how this happened. i think it's likely however that because there was the call for a boycott... by the opposition leader, who is barred from standing... yes, there is sensitivity about the results of the election, turnout matters, speculation that playing the "the west is against us" card, which is very powerful for putin and has been for a long time and has deep historical roots in russian attitudes

putin. whenever russia is accused of something indiscriminately and without any evidence, the russian people unite around the center of power and that is putin. do you agree that this crisis with the u.k. played to mr. putin's strength or favor? >> i don't think it was a decisive factor in the victory of mr. putin, but i can imagine that it added some votes to the victory of mr. putin. indeed, the general perception here in moscow that the british accusations are not fair, that they are premature and when it gets down to a situation like that, the country usually rallies around its leader. moreover, i should say that whether you like it or not, but the foreign policy of mr. putin is perceived by the majority of russians as a successful foreign policy, not as something that russians should be ashamed of or should regret. >> so that's an interesting point. the russians like what he's doing abroad. do you agree that the assessment is unfair by the british and by the west to what happened in the

beringia corruption that's for certain they're not necessarily anti putin or anti anti putin's foreign policy survey or you know we're caught in a way so what we hope for generational change and i think we should generational change because it will inevitably bring something we weren't necessarily bring some kind of nice cozy comfy russian liberal democracy. it it's more like he's a very soft changes around the edges so we don't see this is somewhat exceptional we do see a hard line conservative nationalist in power we do see if it's going to be election results point i mean you know then that kind of happy of seventy percent if you're an ass natural to us you have to have ninety nine point nine nine percent in western liberal democracy is your kind of happy with what you put a five percent so we're always going to see that kind of thing from russia it's not it's going to be a while before it becomes what you and i might regard a normal west western european style state if you know as we view ok if we look at just the next six years that will bring it back a little bit have a what does

and, of course, if we had had a democratic election, putin would not have won, lam election, putin would not have won, i am pretty sure of this. but in the environment of an authoritarian state, it is absolutely, and of control over the media what we have right now in russia, and of no real competition of course it is a predictable result, and i am not surprised at all. as i have been mentioning, there are thousands of supporters gathered on the other side of red square, holding a concert this evening, and about to join them is my next guest. you very happy this evening. very happy this eveninglj very happy this evening. i am excited and very happy. being here with a very nice view in mother russia, being with such a great day for my country, with such a good result, i am for my country, with such a good result, lam happy for my country, with such a good result, i am happy tonight. the turnout, though, not as good as vladimir putin had hoped. he said he wa nted vladimir putin had hoped. he said he wanted 70%, it is only 60%.ij vladimir putin had hoped. he said he wanted 70%, it is only 6

so pavel let's just start with you because the key question here that least the one that putin wants to know is is it looking like a large enough turnout to legitimize this phase or apparently yes oh and occasions are that this rather robust and the u.s. president's words in reports and would be reelected than is being reacted rise as we speak and there was never doubt that he would be reelected and apparently he'll get a good turnout and a good man mandate for another six years he wanted this seventy seventy seventy percent turnout and seventy percent of that vote was that a bit too ambitious or do you think he's actually going to get that well we'll get to see the exact figures as they're announced of course and maybe in moscow it will be less and then big cities somewhere in the caucasus and other places that could be over one hundred percent and over one hundred percent voting for putin why not say eric unchurched yeah so no nor he'll get you know he'll get a rebuffed mandate there's no doubt about that ok so no doubt about a robust mandate but out of there was a huge campaign wa

i trust putin and i like the way he. they are a of choice is not all it seems a series of televised election debates over the past fortnight featuring seven of the eight candidates minus putin of course quickly descended into a circus like fast in fact circus is a word the kremlin has used to describe the other seven election candidates so it's more a show of democracy than the real thing. conspicuously absent from the ballot is this man alexina valmy and to corruption lawyer turned opposition figure who's led enormous street protests in the past he's putin's most outspoken critic barred from taking part after a conviction for embezzlement a charge he says was politically motivated novelli has called on his supporters to boycott the election as the voting day wore on low turnout what the kremlin really cares about seem to be high so to the number of alleged voter violations reported on social media big numbers will add legitimacy to the putin victory and it does appear that big numbers have turned out to vote jonah for i

russian president vladimir putin has declared wednesday a national day of mourning for the sixty four people killed in a shopping center fire on sunday at least forty one children were amongst those who died in the shopping center in the siberian city of kemah over the victims' families held a huge rally on choose day demanding those responsible for what putin called criminal negligence be held to account the fire alarm wasn't system system wasn't working and the exit doors were blocked in mars' parliament is elected a new president with mint is a loyalist to me a mars leader and saying suchi his predecessor tin chore blamed health problems when he resigned a week ago but testers in spain gathered at barcelona's main railway station to demand a former captain on the day. be released from jail in germany riot police blocked the entrance to stop them staging a sit ins in the tracks is currently being held in germany wealth already it will decide whether to extradite him to spain those are the headlines about with more news in half an hour next its inside story to stay with us. u.s. pres

so far from undermining putin it underlines that it from undermining putin it underlines thatitis from undermining putin it underlines that it is with his agenda. that's right, iam that it is with his agenda. that's right, i am strong and i am winning. all of this, there has always been a winning card to say the rest of the world is attacking us and failing so whoever did it, they did it to help putin's re—election and make him strong. so you think it takes more people to the ballot and takes more people to the ballot and takes more people to the ballot and takes more people to make their cross in his box? it strengthens the idea that russia is at war with the west and the west is trying to take advantage of it, no doubt about that. it is nice to agree with alexander for a change, i think the timing of this was bizarre, it would not help putin and the question is to what extent was this activity within his control. i don't know. i think russia is a fairly chaotic place. i think these agents are around. i think these agents are around. i think there are a lot of people who might want

among them, putin and his inner circle. are you saying putin is corrupt? i'm saying putin created a system for those money to get money from the state. direct criticism of vladimir putin seems dangerous, and many people do not want to know. but sobchak‘s journey to dissidence has been an unusual one. when money gets into my hand, i spend everything on clothes. it's where my budget stays. it's about $3000—$4000 month. in the first decade of this century, as many russians struggled, ksenia sobchak transformed herself from society rich kid to tv celebrity, feeding the masses a diet of reality television and branding herself simply ‘ksenia'. but then the girl with the silver spoon had another transformation. in 2011, shejoined opposition protests and was promptly carted off to a police cell. alexei navalny, the movement's leader, has long been a thorn in the kremlin's side. i was close with him for all those years. we shared many values and we still share many of those values, i hope. but when navalny was banned from standing in this year's elections, an

putin's russia if putin was behind this then what this amounts to is surely state sponsored terrorism it is but that is no proof behind it and this always has to be seen and taken into account look there was a russian expert on chemical weapons who as proof positive that the russian state wasn't behind this if we had been behind this the man would be dead already this is the kind of cynicism we have to deal with you having been in russia and on to also know that the whole sort of k j b slash. corporate private terrorism even down to tensions operating somewhere in the south of russia that is the whole continuum of a continuum of power but in the end if putin wanted to stop it he could if he can't it's almost even worse so the fact is we have a russian state surrounded by terrorist agents who are. even who possibly act on their own account in but it's in order for the kremlin to have plausible deniability but the fact is when there is a power center there which employs terrorism as a matter of course against its enemies in russia and outside russia and this is what we have to deal with

putin clearly he's not keen on a large made putin four point zero the newspaper coverage here in the u.k. has been. it's been very critical of putin it's very much conveyed the message that his reelection was inevitable in the run up to this vote it hasn't taken out many column inches in the sunday papers this is page seven of one of the broadsheets and it's talking about putin's reelection as president being inevitable there's another one here also page seven talking about the russian state mobilizing to ensure a huge win for putin so a lot of articles now talking about there being pressure exerted on the people of russia to vote because vladimir putin putin needed a high turnout in order to ensure legitimacy for this presidency to look legitimate but really most of the papers have been focusing on this you've got something like this may stands up to putin the diplomatic fallout the tensions over the square power poisoning and all the sorts of perceived threats coming from russia as a result you can see caricature up on your screen of the way that vladimir putin has been presented i

putin ban is clearly he's not keen on a large made putin four point zero the newspaper coverage here in the u.k. has been it's been very critical of largely a putin it's very much conveyed the message that his reelection was inevitable in the run up to this vote it hasn't taken out many column inches in the sunday papers this is page seven of one of the broadsheets and it's talking about putin's reelection as president being inevitable there's another one here also page seven talking about the russian state mobilizing to ensure a huge win for putin so a lot of articles now talking about there being pressure exerted on the people of russia to vote because vladimir putin putin needed a high turnout in order to ensure legitimacy for this presidency to look legitimate but really most of the papers have been focusing on this you've got something like this may stand up to putin the diplomatic fallout the tensions over this poisoning and all the sorts of perceived threats coming from russia as a result you can see caricature up on your screen of the way that vladimir putin has been presente

if it was putin's or russia's military, it was putin's or russia's military, it was putin's or russia's military, it was positive. they got written instructions of what to present and the conclusion is that people should draw. ludmila thinks that very few trolls are driven by patriotism. she tells me it is about the money, and, ifa tells me it is about the money, and, if a new boss instructed them to criticise putin, they would. and it seems the trolls are still operating. we have been told that the troll factory has mooted this premises. i am coming to see if any of these people in the smoking shelter opposite work there and what they can tell me. the man tells me he has seen here and he does not like what they do. inside, i managed to speak to the director of one firm named in the us indictment, but he would not comment on camera its work. 2000 kilometres away perm as weathered all the twists and turns since the soviet union fell apart. it was the home to soviet factories for decades and closed to foreigners. then a dry day transformation. —— then i tried a was

putin. declaring victory on the election on sunday this is his fourth, six-year term. hosting the discussion. >>> good afternoon, i'm njohn hertz. i run the center here. we have a wonderful event for you this afternoon. we had an election yesterday in russia that had a result which was not unexpected. there are nuances worth exploring and we have a panel here to provide that exploration for you. you have bios, so i will not read through them. let me introduce them from my left. ambassador and former secretary. one of the most active people writing. and she fits the same description. and one of the world's greatest when it comes to economies. i would be interested in your skpru take on the most significant things with yesterday's election and what it means going forward for russian politics. >> thank you, john. it is a pleasure and it is fine to be here and to be apart of this panel. i will give you a couple of breaststrokes. very fast in an accrued way. firstly, including president putin tha

i also spoke to a young supporter of president putin. is the only xi has ever known and she says she was smiling from ear to ear. she believes he is the strongman that this country needs to lead it forward despite the fact that we are now seeing russia increasingly isolated once again on the international stage. i really think that the voter turnout will be looked out over the next few days. it is only 60%. it is good for countries in the world that are good for some countries in the world but it is down on the previous election here in russia. the salt was was it that there was no other candidate and in the bag for vladimir putin or those who support the opposition and are boycotting. i think perhaps that would be the figure that will be contemplated over the next few days here in russia. it is three in the morning out there in russia and 90% of the vote has been counted. 0nce we reach the final tally we will bring it to you. we heard vladimir putin deny any knowledge of the poisoning of a former spy here in the uk. later today, experts

there was a big victory of putin know and we will live with putin for the next six years and so there are many more. it will see this yes and into we have i think we still need a common policy on this. where we can't only focus on incidents like this but you need also to develop a certain strategy absolutely being cautious i think we agreed on this and to to to see certain dangers which rich are in. government but but still i think with this very black and white picture we are not prepared enough to have had a black for a while they said because black and white picture would paint us as purely white but it is a black picture when it comes to putin's imperialism and it is not the whole of russia and well not all policies but you know you just said he had enormous victory or seventy percent i mean it's like it's not quite soviet you know style that would be ninety nine point nine nine percent but it's huge and it's huge because he didn't have any real opposition so you know we agree on this i mean look at the muscle the fallen must not in in france is a client of moscow's and the f.t. i

to go through i voted for putin because i don't see any alternative. i've made the right decision i think in that i voted for putin everything he does works for me. for putin there's not much of a choice shall we say. as they say i chose the lesser of two evils. there are claims that in some parts of russia employers have been putting pressure on staff to turn out to vote and there are reports of other irregularities. alexei navalny and opposition need to have banned from standing in this election claims voter turnout is lower than in two thousand and twelve. yet the results from our observers show that in some regions of russia at least those where the so-called elections have already finished the turnout is lower than in two thousand and twelve that's even taking into account all the pressure that took place. on the may have called on russians to boycott this election but it looks like a done deal for the man who's dominated this country for a whole generation. let's bring in emily sure one our correspondent in moscow emily you're there in the heart

to get that i have to vote for putin. he didn't reply that there's no alternative of course we hope for a change for the better we've been hoping for fifteen years. but i don't see any improvement. she needed. there's little enthusiasm but few speak openly about putin like elsewhere in the country people are afraid. i don't talk about politics i'm afraid of politics i know who the candidates but i will say silent. the media portray putin as a patriotic father figure he shows off new weapons he says can penetrate western defenses strong feelings of national pride quickly overcome doubts one might have about putin's policies. show thank god putin's head now has helped bring back a dying russia from its knees since the year two thousand and one. who has a following like no other candidate the recent friction with the west is likely to help bring his voters home. or at evan am now all the candidates are available that all seven of them to any of them even half the slightest chance against bush and. it doesn't look like it if

all the limelight will be as expected meeting with president putin several weeks time and i think it also demonstrates that actually china could. you know its way over north korea well the u.s. ambassador to the united nations has all members of the security council should be ashamed that the bombing of eastern route of continues despite a cease fire agreement that gailey blamed russia and syria for what she calls a slaughter but her syrian counterpart struck back saying the area has now been liberated from brussels five people are facing charges related to a fire in a russian shopping center that killed sixty four people forty one of them children the tragedy sparked a rare protest on the streets of moscow and the siberian city where it happened demanding justice for the victims some of gyptian zur facing a campaign of intimidation and bribes to push them into voting in the presidential election it's part of an effort to boost turnout on the third and final day of the vote which president top in fact that has sisi is certain to win facebook boss mark zuckerberg role reportedly testi

or a servant of vladimir putin, a colluder with vladimir putin. so while he spent the day furious and embarrassed by the leak to not congratulate. we had to publically be proud of the thing that we know mba rae s embarrasses him. so he tweeted i called president putin of russia to congratulate him on his election victory. the l.a. times is reporting one person who speaks regularly with white house officials said the most recent leak seemed more geared toward infant liezing trump who has ignored numerous suggestions that he rebuke putin. i'm sure tlchere's going to be scalping over this. how is the leakiest white house in history going to catch the person or persons responsible for this particular leak? we now know that all of the white house leakers have signed a completely ridiculous and unenforceable confidentiality agreement that they violate every time they leak something. it was the trump family's idea to force them to sign the nondisclosure agreements. ivanka trump was a cheerleader of the idea. it was a stupid idea. in all of the reporting

vladimir putin there and his supporters. counting is under way in the russian presidential election. a huge effort, you can imagine in a ca nd reva a huge effort, you can imagine in a candreva size of this, 11 different time zones, 97,000 polling stations we re time zones, 97,000 polling stations were open today across russia. we saw some scenes of cosmonauts boating in space, even down in antarctica, polling stations were open there. it has been an incredibly busy day, quite festive at some of the polling stations, i was at one earlier, there were people singing, a man with an accordion, people playing sports as well. there was all very festive, but with a wrap—up of what has been happening around the country for us, here's our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg. it looked more like a show than an election. russian polling stations providing free entertainment to boost the turnout. inside, you could cast a ballot, and cast an eye at the art. pride of place here reserved for a legendary russian ruler, who had battled th

vladimir putin was not a fan of hillary clinton. >> of course putin wanted hillary clinton to lose. he hated hillary clinton. >> prime minister, we have a lot of problems -- >> reporter: the tension here brewing for years. in 2001, another american leader, george w. bush, vouched for putin. >> i was able to get a sense of his soul. >> thank you. thank you. thank you. >> reporter: but on the campaign trail in 2008, hillary had a different take. >> i could have told him he was a kgb definition. by definition, he doesn't have a soul. i mean, this is a waste of time, right? >> mrs. clinton said you as a kgb agent, by definition can have no stole. >> reporter: his reply, statesmen shouldn't be judged by their life. >> he is a very arrogant person to deal with. we have to stand up to his bullying. he is somebody who will take as much as epossibhe possibly can. >> reporter: but it is what happened in 2011 that marked a point of no return. [ chanting ] >> reporter: it began with the arab spring protest early that year. the kind of popular uprising that putin dreaded. >> he begins to see him

to cast their ballot with banners and putin clearly he's not keen on a large made putin four point zero the newspaper coverage here in the u.k. has been it's been very critical of me and putin it's very much conveyed the message that his reelection was inevitable in the run up to this vote it hasn't taken out many column inches in the sunday papers this is page seven of one of the broad sheets and it's talking about putin's reelection as president being inevitable there's another one here also page seven talking about the russian state mobilizing to ensure a huge win for putin so a lot of articles now talking about there being pressure exerted on the people of russia to vote because vladimir putin putin needed a high turnout in order to ensure legitimacy for this presidency to look legitimate but really most of the papers have been focusing on this you've got something like this may stand up to putin the diplomatic fallout the tensions over this poisoning and all the sorts of perceived threats coming from russia as a result you can see caricature up on your screen of the way the lives o

you know i voted putin there's not much of a choice shall we say. that you. might choose the lesser of two evils. there are claims that in some parts of russia employers have been pushing pressure on staff to turn out and vote something one of putin's presidential challenges says she is trying to highlight. it but i don't think we will observe what happens we will monitor irregularities as you know our campaign team works as a poll observer to cast i want to do that in a war that is that is the only opposition leader who's seen as a real challenger to putin is alexei no valley and he's been banned from standing in this election over what he says are trumped up fraud charges he may have called on russians to boycott this election but it looks like a done deal for the man who's dominated this country for a whole generation. for more now we'll go to our correspondent emily sure one in moscow. you are there in the heart of the capital polls are open any excitement bearing in mind that many russians believe that this is a one horse race. well there is some excitem

the are also standing. indications are that putin has won the indications are that putin has won by a 0ur moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg at the kremlin. thank steve rosenberg at the kremlin. you. according to results thank you. according to the latest results of vladimir putin has won more than 70% of the vote in the election, not a surprise, many russians support him. but crucially it‘s the political system mr putin put in place in russia that virtually guaranteed he would emerge the winner. it looked more like a show than an election. russian polling stations providing free entertainment to boost the turnout. free entertainment to inside, you could cast a ballot and cast an eye at the art. pride of place here reserved for a legendary russian ruler who had battled the west. for a legendary russian ruler who the current leader is facing international pressure after salisbury. facing international still, vladimir putin was relaxed as he voted. "i believe in the programme i‘m offering my country," the president said. offering my country," the and his supporters agreed. offeri

still, vladimir putin was relaxed as he voted. i believe in the programme i am offering my country, the president said. and his supporters agreed. he is a genius, he says. putin wants russia to prosper and for russians to live in happiness. it is thanks to putin, she says, that russia still exists. but critics of the kremlin say the election was fixed, that only those candidates who stood no chance of unseating vladimir putin were allowed to run. the problem with russia is that there is no such thing as russian politics. politics has been eliminated in russia altogether. there is only one political institution in russia and that is the physical body of vladimir putin. which is why the result of this vote was never in doubt. this election is less about choosing a new president, and more about reappointing the old one. the political system vladimir putin has built ensures he doesn't face any challenge. he's set for a fourth term in the kremlin. but these images will embarrass the kremlin. caught on cctv, a woman stuffs the ballot bo

what for in america yeah well that's what mr putin says at the end of the interview if you remember he says he's been to four presidents and i asked him what's changed and he said basically nothing so he's indicating that there's a bureaucracy he called it a bureaucracy in america they call it a deep state of bureaucracy that has been resistant to change certainly the policies towards russia for the most part the united states been highly negative since one thousand nine hundred seventy since the revolution when mr wilson president wilson said american troops to siberia to join the british expeditionary force. when he was forced in most probably last term is russia's president vladimir putin has six more years to fashion his legacy has been changed russia how will he continue to. seem wrong. to me. to say proud. trail. one son find themselves worlds apart. she stood up for common ground. twenty eight team coverage we've signed one of the greatest gold people. but there was one more question and by the way it's going to be our coach. guys i know you are nervous he's a huge star and the

without putin if you take putin out of the picture and well he's just a mortal man then suddenly you're going to have have very destabilized russian ruling class fight infighting openly inside itself as right now it's infighting but it's kind of they all go to putin and he they have dress him and they put different ideas and he's trying to find a middle ground saying will decrease defense spending at the same time a continued the friend spending we're going to kickstart the economy it's trying to make reforms in all directions and the result is not very effective the people still hope that put in will pull off the trick as it was in the year from the year two thousand to two thousand they're around and that there's going to be robust growth that he can do it puts him a believes that sue on a flan could rip. can pull off the trick and the kick start the economy but if it doesn't we're going to be in the very strange situation where on the face of it it's a very stable regime where for public support but it's split inside russia economy not growing the problems are going to pile up yeah o

putin has not said anything negative about him. it continues to say to me that he does have something to fear and something very serious to fear. >> brennan's assessment there has a lot in common with another long-time member of the intelligence community, former fbi special agent clint watts who joined us on this program here last night and got our attention with this comment. >> he owns the president. putin does. whether it's witting or unwitting, he owns him. he's doing everything that vladimir putin would want to be done, which is undermining u.s. stature around the world. >> with that, let's bring in our leadoff panel on this wednesday night. jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the associated press. san none pettypeace, white house correspondent for bloomberg. heidi prisboa, nbc news national correspondent, welcome. a tendency to blame the deep state, and in cases like this, what does that demonstrate? >> that's right. it's a familiar refrain from president trump. what we're hearing today. in the last 24 hours, you know,

. —— it is or is on vladimir putin's side. so i'm not trained to win, ijust wa nt to so i'm not trained to win, ijust want to be heard. —— it is always on. once upon a time, in the former capital of the czars, eight girl was born with a silver spoon in the mou. —— a. when the soviet empire collapsed, so it was turned into gold for some. ksenia sobchak‘s family was among those view. her father, one of the founders of russia's new democracy, became the mayor of st petersburg. he would later die in uncertain circumstances, while his former deputy, a once unknown kgb officer, would become the most powerful man in russia. it was a person who gave but admitted his first job. in russia. it was a person who gave but admitted his firstjob. —— vladimir putin his firstjob. but admitted his firstjob. —— vladimir putin his first job. but by a strange twist of fate, nearly two decades later, the girl with the silver spoon would challenge the new star for the silver spoon would challenge the new starfor the highest silver s

know and we will live with putin for the next six years and so there are many will. see this yes and we have i think we still need common policy on this. where we can't only focus on incidents like this but you need also to develop a certain strategy absolutely being cautious i think we agreed on this and to try to seize certain dangers which rich are in. government but but still i think with this very black and white picture we are not prepared enough to have a black picture because a black and white picture would paint us as purely white but it is a black picture when it comes to putin's imperialism and it is not the whole of russia and well not all policies but you know you just said he had enormous victory was seventy percent i mean it's like it's not quite soviet you know style that would have been ninety nine point nine nine said but it's huge and it's huge because he didn't have any real opposition so now we agree on this i mean ok so so what i'm saying is this is an author of authoritarian government which for at least ten years has been constantly aggressive

putin administration? joining me now is gary kasparov, revered as the greatest chess champion of all time. he attempted to run for the russian presidency in 2008 and he's been warning the world about putin's moves for years and he joins me right now welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> in fact, i covered your attempted presidential run back in 2008. i remember you being hauled with some of your supporters into the back of a police van, remind us why as an independent candidate you couldn't officially be a candidate? >> because we should stop misleading people talking about elections, it's more like a ritual to reappoint a dictator his endless rule. putin has to do it, has to pay tribute to russian constitution that he's been violating all the time to russian citizens but most importantly to the rest of the world and even ten years ago, which many of us called vegetarian time because at that time you could spend five or ten days in jail for protesting, today it will be five or ten years. >> you call tha

putin. >> why would you allow an attack like this on the united states? >> why have you decided the russian authorities gave anybody permission to do this? >> this is some sort of nonsense. >> come on -- >> nyet. >> come on -- >> this is all a smokescreen. none of this could or would have happened without the direct authority of the man who sits in the kremlin. >> reporter: putin on trump -- >> never a harsh word for you. >> reporter: putin on syria -- >> do you believe the chemical weapons attacks in syria are fake news? >> of course. first of all, the syrian government long ago destroyed their chemical weapons. we're not even interested in it. i just feel like saying -- simply boring. >> the bodies of dead children thanks to sarin gas attacks, that's boring? >> reporter: and will america be attacked again? >> so what does that mean for our elections in 2018, in 2020? we can expect more of the same? >> i didn't say that we don't have the goal of putting an end to it. >> you just said that.

but putin had no intention of stopping. moscow is now also suspected of having interfered in the twenty sixteen breck said referendum and in the french presidential elections in the spring of twenty seventeen. yes and because i was a dual national but. you know i think that putin is a very complicated mix of someone who is tactically quite shrewd. but at the same time he he is caught up in his own rhetoric in the long run is this a win for russia that it's isolated that it faces economic sanctions this is undoubtedly the price putin has paid for his revenge on the west for now it has allowed him to hold on to power in russia but where will his desire for revenge leave. how far is president vladimir putin prepared to go. all the good crises if you felt that if you when you got collapse you would even though. alam. furnishings can be a lot more than just functional. plane with. combining. zoom and. design in your lomax thirty minutes on. the scars on. the pain. from the bug. they have survived but do they also have a future.

after every election, vladimir putin gives way to more vladimir putin. little turnd see out. >> only 30% of people turned out to vote yesterday because the island as been seeing a lot of unrest for the last month. this has to do with problems caused by the influence -- i nflux of migrants. ofthe problems are most visibln schools. classrooms are overcrowded and have become the stage of violence between rival gangs. primary school kids have been bringing knivest t t t t t t t d themselv. people have also been rounding up illegal immigrants themselves and taking them to police stations to get them deported. deputy prime minister has visited the island. they warned of a climate of civil war and say the french government has to act. molly: coming under fire for a controversial children's book in india. >> it is a list of 11 liters a single inspire you. -- leersers they say they say will inspire you. alongside barack obama and mahatma gandhi is adolf hitler. that has brought shop across the world. publishers say the reason they chose adolf hitler was because o

we can't let putin and his allies succeed. we have to, as a nation, learn how to fight back and shine a light on this shadow conflict. we have to get our act together here at home. otherwise, we'll still be shooting blindly into the shadows. thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> and now i've got to go back to my day job and save democracy. thank you all very much. >> that was fascinating to hear from the senator. my name is bianna golodryga. i'm with cbs news. we're going to spend the next portion of our time having a conversation with the panel, and we're going to open it up to q&a. i want to thank carnegie for having us on a timely day. seems like every day is a timely day on this subject. this is live stream. so if anybody is blogging this on twitter, snapchat, use #globalrussia. let me introduce my panel. far left is andrew weiss, where he oversees research on russia and eurasia. to his right is john mclaughlin, the former deputy director of central intelligence, and to my left is liza osetinskaya. a russian journalist

deny any involvement in the chemical attack but lavrov counterpart boris johnson accuses president putin of ordering it himself meanwhile a murder investigation is now underway into the death of another russian in the u.k. earlier this week business was found dead in london on monday police have confirmed the cause of death was compression to the neck was a close associate of prominent bhushan opponent boris berezovsky who was found dead in the u.k. in two thousand and thirteen tens of thousands of slovak ins have turned out in the capital bratislava to demand early elections they are angry at the failure of political leaders to address high level corruption slovakia's prime minister abbott feet so resigned on thursday following the killing of journalist young could siac that's it for myself and the team here in london counting the cost is next. al jazeera. where ever you. alone has a secret this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week are all knowing russians getting all they bargained for as putin heads for reelection. also t

among them, putin and his inner circle. are you saying putin is corrupt? i'm saying putin created a system for those money to get money from the state. direct criticism of vladimir putin seems dangerous, and many people do not want to know. but sobchak‘s journey to dissidence has been an unusual one. crazy. as soon as you approach people, they run away. but sobchak‘s journey to dissidence has been an unusual one. when money gets into my hand, i spend everything on clothes. it's where my budget stays. it's about $3000—$4000 month. i really like this sweater. in the first decade of this century, as many russians struggled, ksenia sobchak transformed herself from society rich kid to tv celebrity, feeding the masses a diet of reality television and branding herself simply ‘ksenia'. but then the girl with the silver spoon had another transformation. in 2011, shejoined opposition protests and was promptly carted off to a police cell. alexei navalny, the movement's leader, has long been a thorn in the kremlin‘s side. i was close with him for all those y

display and the people still chose vladimir putin and i mean putin is not seen as being very ideological and i think that's one of the attractions he has with the with the voters i generally want to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on russia's presidential election stay with our team. when i was still seems wrong. why don't you. just don't call. me lol but you get to shape out disdains you can stick out to it and gain from it equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart. just to look for common ground. level blogs sell you on the idea that dropping bombs brings produce to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles that still. do socks for the tell you that every gossip and public bush though most important news. on the box of advertising tells me you are not cool enough to buy their product. all the hawks that we along with all the walking. the far right. isn't just on the march it's taking violent. action like it. usually split into which we take different names how do you view that. a. complex web of workers. who are all

mention it to putin. and trump doesn't bring up putin election meddling even though his own chiefs is attacking the u.s. midterm elections right now. >> there should be no doubt that russia perceived that it's past efforts has successful and views the 2018 u.s. midterm elections as a potential target for russian influence operations. >> we have seen russian activity and intentions to have impact on the next election cycle here. >> so why did trump congratulate putin? and not confront him on anything? that gets to the heart of the question facing this country and trump's presidency and ryan noble outfront lich at the white house to begin our coverage. ryan, white house is on the defense over this call after russian released details of the conversation first before the president even talked about it. >> yeah, that's right, erin, in fact the white house didn't officially acknowledge that the call took place until the president was asked about it during the oval office with the crown prince of saudi arabia. a

do you support that element putin's message? do you support that element of putin's message? that is not the message he gives to the russian people. he — the message is different. mostly the message is for the west. and this message could be read as "you don't want to talk to us when we are weak — we think that you will talk with us when we will be strong." i think the perception of the situation in the world is different, between the west and putin. he thinks the west made many mistakes against russia. i partly agree with that, because in the 90s, the west did not support russian in the democratic processes. we thought there would be huge educational programmes. thousands of russians will go to the west to learn about democracy and the market economy. it didn't happen. of course, nato is coming closer and closer to the russian borders. putin considers that not understanding of the russian interest in the world. sorry to interrupt. i don't mean to be rude. there is a time delay on the line and if the answers are too long, we will not get through all of the important issue