well highly capitalized nor are they consistently profitable and quote so do you think that he's ready to address the importance of it the main reason are the situation the lack of transparency the you know. the fish in management most of whom are. personal friends and so on yeah i've put and takes a lot of flak about about the so-called. corruption that's. it's. he's he's at the top so he has to stop here he has to answer for what's happening in the country but. i guess that and this may be unpopular but he's probably trying i imagine he's trying to do something maybe he's not doing enough. i don't mean to apologize and not on the putin payroll that's for sure but i mean i wish i was but. i don't but i don't

think i think of course you have to fight hard you know it's a tough problem and it has a history and he inherited it it started before his time and other quote from that interview put in promises that i quote the government would support large infrastructure projects firstly this means transportation their words and reliable communication with siberia and russia's far east end quote well the question to you as a free successful businessman you were so so are so the cost of road construction it's too high in russia it's raising corruption suspicion so so what's putin what is he proposing to control it and why could couldn't they start construction rosewood ten twelve years ago. it's a difficult question but i'll try to make the answer first of all in the whole world there are few programs international programs which can be very useful and

convenience to many countries. instructions and build the buildings yes it's a very good because it's a lot of people who will be involved a lot of money turnover and etc etc etc and then the same time he has to declare to the any other sector of economy possibility to develop so this is two way one belong to the state sector and another one belongs to the private sector if you will have a very good combination between these two and give them very good road conditions. definitely all of them has to strengthen again is the corruption and this is the main question how. for both of you well one of the favorite favorite person in the putin's government is mr force and how they can lead to their the education minister the same goes for simcoe reforms hated by by the parents by the kids by teachers by everybody put in says new head you creation is the primary base

for the new economy let's hear the quote. restoring the innovative nature of the economy should begin with universities which should be seen as equal centers with fundamental science and resources for innovative people we need to pursue a national objective that results in globally competitive russian universities by twenty twenty we should have several world class universities that spans the entire spectrum of material and social technology. if i would comment on this i would say that putin is understands that the quality of education in russia is falling and the rate of the brain drain is rising which is what your strange way but it is admitting so do you think that something urgent should be don't rush and u.k. should please show even lobby obviously i mean if if if somebody plans to stay in

russia and plans lead russia they have to keep russia strong and that has that means they have to keep what they have you keep keep obviously keep your your best people in the country i mean that's why it was impossible to solve you hear it right you couldn't open the doors in the soviet period you spent twenty years investing in these people and you had a closed system a closed economy you couldn't just open the doors and say ok you want to go so you're taking our equivalent of i don't know how much is a great brain worth two hundred thousand five hundred thousand just take it and go and then who work in another economy can't do that well and he has. to protest to how much is like a pair of feet worth and if feet from the bolshoi i mean. i mean that's just common sense so obviously that's his job can he do it. i wish him luck because i like this country rich as far as my opinion a long time ago during the period of soviet era we had

a very good system of education it was in my opinion that one of the best but it was previous period and the new period has to have the new variance of education which will be much more convenience to the new used of economy definitely we need force and maybe he is not so good in this way because he didn't think about this like about something extraordinary he thinking i have a task i'll try to do the best but it's not in my forces in general we have to see that the new house a structural failure in russia just grooving just wrong and forcing it is not the last period he just maybe just maybe he's not clear we're going to so smart but we have to do more in this way and this is i'm in this way i supporting mr putin exactly because if you want to build a new country you have to have the new kind of education i want to just add if i may that russia has a tradition of great as you said in tradition of great education and it also has

the resources it's the ninth or the sixth largest economy depending on how you're judging in the world can afford and if it does if they don't do that and it's a big failure in a long while one thing more you have a lot of program is the. people who are making the programs in the united states from who belong to the rusher and so that we have a capacity we have a potential but the main idea how to organize it and force and unfortunately he's not the best person to do move to to push this process that is the question. in one of the in one of the lines putin talks of the so-called rival countries he says russia is losing out to rival countries in terms of its investment climate one well what would you say sean. what this put in imply which one of those rival countries is. and what is it well obviously is it just actually read through i've

been talking about enemies very gravels around the world or does he really believe that somebody wants to take or to take over russia. well i mean. is he talking about china for instance or india. is the food in about the only way we where we couldn't have their say so because you know we will we just talked of earlier before we came into the studio and we talked to the anti-american rhetoric of the russians and the russian government somebody but we said that it's only inside it's only in the in the russia when russia wishes go outside they're not anti-american at all i mean i mean. what putin does isn't better role for the united states is it he doesn't do anything bad for the states no other countries in the world i mean right i mean in fact. obviously we're since mr obama has kind of dealt with the nato issue so that nato no then the west is no longer pushing pushing the former

soviet union poor of russia in with nato expansion into its you know into its socks . i think you know basically putin has said we're on good terms right there's no big reason for for problems that can last very short question to mr similar to many people many ordinary people read this article said oh it's about the luxury tax there's going to be a special. there are you concerned with on us it is necessary because we have a country who. came out from the soviet union system and not to come to the new one we are in the middle and if you want to go in the wind somebody you have to see what the hell you are make the invitation for what he said in the future in a new world all the rich people will be how it's a punish because they are not so good and you are simple people workers the collective farmers if you will be together with me will give some people that is

the it's a propaganda nothing else lot of thank you thank you xan thank you letter and you're reminded that my guests on the show today were journalist and filmmaker sean ramsay and filmmaker and journalist politician and businessman of lattimer samantha banks was a pleasure talking to you in just a reminder that spotlight will be back with more first time comments on was going on and outside russia until then stay on russia today and take a. you

know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

of. the. russia's foreign minister warns of chaos in international relations saying moscow will block the new resolution on syria at today's u.n. vote while barack obama calls on president assad to leave right now. more than two hundred thousand people braved russia's bitter subzero temperatures to ensure their views on national politics are heard. we've seen people out on the streets demanding free elections insupportable the code russian government join me for more than a few moments. europeans demand free internet as people flood the streets and protest against an anti-piracy

act being signed cross the continent. a.p.m. in moscow i mattress i could have you with us here on our team our top story russia's foreign minister warns that meddling in internal conflicts marks the road to chaos in international relations the u.s. president has called on syria's leader to step down immediately while the security council members are meeting at the u.n. moscow says it still has strong objections to the re drafted resolution on syria and may use its veto if the text is put to a vote in its current form artie's marina portnoy has the latest from new york. this draft text resolution while it has been revised since first being presented on tuesday russia says the text has been softened at its request but while dropping

demands for explicit demands for regime change in arms embargo moscow believes that the text still needs to be revised down here is an example as to why the last draft resolution i saw says that the security council. supports the arab league plan which calls for syrian president bashar assad to delegate power to his deputy that is something russia is very much opposed to it is not going to support any resolution that calls for regime change even if it could be interpreted in different type of language now the current tax contains other elements that moscow says could open the door for possible intervention it does include the attack saying that in the event that syria does not comply with the resolution the security council has twenty one days to review the circumstance and consider further measures what those further measures are is not clear russia's foreign

minister sergei lavrov says that meddling in internal affairs of sovereign states can lead to chaos in international relations while attending a security conference in munich mr lavrov raised his concerns about the current draft resolution saying it is unbalanced because it makes too few demands of armed groups in syria through its. condemnation of the government is accompanied by much grief for the mission of the groups for the institution of the for the ethics against the state institutions and then the government receives a list of demands what it is to do no demand so that is through the lobby groups except that this should stop one of us about the demons the government the much more specific russia's foreign minister is scheduled to visit damascus on tuesday where he will be meeting with syrian president assad on mr lavrov said moscow has no special concerns about president assad but has concerns about security in the world the security council meeting comes amid reports from syria of

a new crackdown in the city of homs with hundreds reported three dead damascus claims the killings were carried out by terrorists seeking to influence the u.n. vote r.t. sarah ferguson has just returned from reporting in the region shares her insights. with regards to the situation in homes at the moment it's very hard to get a gauge on the accuracy of the figure is certainly a really high priority to try and get some kind of accurate information coming out from that because you know that does play a big part in how the international community going to respond to the situation certainly in the country the situation is absolutely does to these people you've got an increasingly polarized country you've got a situation that just seems to be escalating all the time and these armed conflicts breaking out in areas with civilian populations and speaking to people and saying i can't believe that we were watching this play out on the international stage right now they're watching that u.n.

security council resolution going through being discussed and then there are people on the ground having to live this so i mean it's absolutely pivotal that i think some sort of decision is made of fairly soon of course they want to get this draft resolution right but time isn't on the side for these people in the country you know they're in a desperate situation right now you know they don't have any real towards resolution of any kind on the ground so you know whilst this resolution is being discussed in the security council you know action is needed there in the country asia times correspondent pepe escobar tells r t v a large crackdown in homes coincides suspiciously with the u.n. vote and he thinks neither when the arab league are seeking to overthrow the assad regime. the timing of this alleged massacre in the hold so more than two hundred people killed just as the when is gathering to vote a result lucian more or less establishing what the arab league says is a road map for peace and syria is very suspect well coming back to what this

resolution is all about it's an ally as between nato basically led by washington london and paris and this six person go from the gulf cooperation council dara genda from the beginning for months now is reaching change in syria no matter what they knew that they couldn't never get the un that security council resolution authorizing a no fly zone over syria for a number of reasons first of all because that did assad regime is not so bold bardi its own population would mix so this has nothing to do with the syrian peace process and old and not only. developing countries are pointed this out apart from russia and china but syrians themselves began being very explicit look we don't trust this big zeile council would like to organize ourselves and will like to discuss with the go sit down with the government and discuss the real map for

peace but between ourselves between syria it's not happening i was asia times correspondent pepe escobar with an assessment of the events in syria while around two hundred thousand people came out to the streets of moscow saturday for a day of protests the largest in the capital so far one group was demanding fair elections others rallied in support of the current leadership our correspondent pierre all reports on both gatherings. well saturday was a day of demonstrations here in the russian capital we saw a march and a rally by opposition supporters a large group of them meeting in the center of the city and marching here to block my a square which block my has really become the central focus point for opposition protesters here in moscow this is the second time that opposition protesters have taken to belong in a square far fewer the this time than last but of course the the weather a big deciding factor in not cripplingly mode temperatures here in the russian

capital in fact the organizers of the protest here shortened the events that were going to be happening just to make it more comfortable for people who had come out in the cold minus twenty times on saturday here in moscow. so they came out to to voice their opinions you know if you were i came here because i'm tired of the government which doesn't do what it promises lies and wants this to carry on for years if they. change their elections and normal life it was because my girlfriend wanted to come here and hear from six now talk about some of those groups that we've seen come here they really come from all across the russian political straw answer we've seen far right groups far left groups and everybody in between. all coming out coming here to pull up the square to demonstrate we didn't hear from

a lot of the the presidential candidate the independent presidential candidates because he's drawn a lot of support from some of the groups that have come here to protest he said he would attend but he wouldn't give a speech this wasn't the only demonstration there was taking place on saturday there's also being gatherings of people who are in favor of the government pro-government supporters. and those two who been campaigning saying that they don't want a revolution in russia using the example of the the orange revolution in ukraine and the chaos which pushes that country found itself in after last saying that they don't need that in russia they were first stability and not for revolution saying that russia had had its times of instability and they didn't want to return to the dark days of the ninety's now the good news for everybody concerned is just how peacefully everything is being carried off on saturday both the opposition and the

pro-government protests going off well relatively without a hitch however at one of the pro putin rallies we did see the leader of that rally taken into custody by police now this is because it was a sanctioned dryly and it was sanctioned to have a certain amount of people the amount of people turned up far exceeded that we saw a lot of police and she's they did say say protesters must remain within the law they did do that and everything going off very peacefully is such a day becomes the day of demonstrations. joining me more to discuss this i'm joined by evans as a risky professor of journalism at moscow state university thanks very much for being here on r t so we've seen protests protesters amassing in russia both in support of the government and those calling for reforms and venting their frustrations what do you read into all this well i'm i'm quite happy and this is all taking place actually i'm happy that we're seeing is the return of interest in

politics in russia i think what has been missing for there was the case is that educated opinionated people have grew colder and colder to politics and started to you would old with dismay they were to maybe disillusioned or too disappointed for whatever reason but they they went away from the public arena from the public sphere and they are trying to get back to you know to do something about it and i think this is a very happy sign that some of that a lot of educated opinion a few people are coming back to politics and i think russian politics will be much smarter and much more interesting now the opposition that's been a rallying has been calling for mainly two things spare elections and what they say is russia without putin now in terms of that second part in terms of an alternative to a putin candidacy what other candidates are there who you think can be legitimately

seen as taking that you know that role we have the usual suspects and there's also a dark horse candidate in terms of much help what do you think well i think that i think the course was too late in coming so we are seeing more or less usual suspects and even even if we take seriously prokhorov i mean he's a he's a smart man and he's a rich man but. he's. goals. in the category that he's not involved in russia are rich and successful man we are not in america we are in russia and this basically a social democratic country with putin has in store he's social policy that would give support to so many people that's why so many people who together today to support him i think that what is happening today is that there are so many people

calling for fair elections my hope is that they will get the fair elections but i think that they will may be disappointed again because in parallel actions there is a fair chance that we can move when we are going to be quits not in the first round but still he's a i mean i don't see anybody who could. as a candidate not as a political force not as a you know who could throw a challenge to him and wins in these elections i think what is happening now is more important than the return in the one term that so many people may be entering politics now and regina did you believe we can laws are open ways to cool parties and to start political communication in the political tilt to create. different movements and interest groups and i hope that we will see much more civic activism i think i hope that we will see people fighting for different issues and i hope that we will see a new kind of coalition emerge officially that will be strong enough to give

a good position to the party of power now you mentioned the mid better political reforms and also prime minister putin recently called for webcams to be installed in all the polling places to ensure a transparent vote there what else do you think could be done what else can be done what i mean the problem with the problem with the educated illuminated russians who . who are walking the streets of moscow today is that the. they're not satisfied with russia but they think that power is the way to reform it where is anybody who's been to power knows that power is not really a way to reform but you need this a great social movement you need a great force of conviction you need so many people who believe in something then you can have power and do something so i think russian in this sense russian educated classes are still trying to make a shortcut instead of working with russia with the whole of country to instill some

values interesting new concepts college in the mother nature concepts you know education for all all this sort of humanistic values are missing they are trying to make a shortcut to get the power straight without first convincing russia that this this this needs to be done the only issue that all the opposition forces can now agree on is that there must be fair elections some votes may be recounted whatever but the but in terms of contents they still don't have a shared position they don't have a value system that's ready to use this is why strategically they're still weaker than putin because putin at least is a man and we know him for so many years so we know what to expect and still they have time they have for the next five years to grow into something and then present a real challenge and i think they will do. alright thanks so much for your insight

avanza risky from moscow state university pleasure. still to come on the program religion as a testing ground we take a look at new forms of islam and how they can change the face of a nation and potentially lead to serious consequences. but first protests raging across egypt have left at least twelve people dead as police have a fire volleys of tear gas and birdshot into the crowds who threw rocks in reply more than two thousand people have been injured in the clashes they continue around the interior ministry with several government buildings reportedly set on fire people are venting their anger at police for failing to prevent wednesday's football violence and court saeed which killed seventy four people demonstrators are demanding the military council step down accusing the rulers of hijacking the revolution middle east analyst walid far as says egyptians are furious that many of ousted president mubarak's generals are still running the country. the main

recipient of criticism now in egypt is the military council because it really have on powers and they are demanding that will be transferred quickly either to a government or to and to president and the military council is still very hesitant and i just knew something that happened a couple of weeks ago when the military council ordered security forces to go and shut down democracy agencies both and gyptian n.g.o.s and international n.g.o.s u.s. based n.g.o.s all of that indicates that the military council is very hasn't been in transferring power to democracy forces they want to cut the deal with a force which most likely will be in the muslim brotherhood that is something very odd about the fact that egypt brought down but then again and leader and yet some of its agencies are acting as if they're again if you missed in iraq what is happening right now is that large segments of civil society specifically the youth of egypt who began to revolt and revolt was thing.