these years and these time for putin was very important because putin managed in a very short time to bring back his colleagues from the f.a.a. from the k.g.b. into the higher ranks of presidential presidential administrations we talked briefly about what's actually 66 years old he can go on for ever is there any sign of a successor being groomed. i think there is no direct sign of a new successor i think there is one person who is very influential that is the minister of defense mr scheuer who. also can play a strong leader i think he has also the trust of putin he was very successful in in strengthening the defense of our ottawa's the defense system in russia but i think the main the main question will be whole putin by himself can protect his influence behind the scenes i think it would be not i cannot exclude that the kremlin will find some way to make putin maybe or fish really a representative of some security council but which is more informal power then he is just a visible so at some stage he will go but not completely yes good talking to thank you so much for joining. us fro

that vladimir putin. yep. vladimir putin. that guy. the president of the united states insisting putin should be welcomed back into the group. even though russia has done absolutely nothing to deserve it. that according to two diplomatic officials and a senior u.s. official who tells cnn things got especially heated when angela merkel, boris johnson, and justin trudeau insisted that as long as russia still holds crimea readmitting putin is a non-starter. those sources say the president took every opportunity to try to make the case for putin, even interrupting discussions about fires in the amazon and about iran to insist that russia should be part of the conversation. they say the president got more and more combative as the dinner wore on. but of course, he wasn't taking putin's side behind closed doors. he did in front of live cameras too. >> a lot of people say having russia, which is a power, having them inside the room is better than having them outside the room. by the way, there were numerous people during the g7 that felt that

using to suggest that, as you said, putin hasn't congratulate zelensky. you also seem to suggest zelensky is made a couple of overtures that putin really hasn't responded to. i at least know they have had two conversations and have also heard through let's say well informed american sources that zelensky has at least indicated that he's prepared to take a different approach to these ossified minsk agreements, and actually look hard at the idea of holding elections in the east. if he were to take that step, if you were to say, begin to actually implement the ukrainian requirements under minsk, what would be in your judgment the russian reaction there? or would they just pocket back in session and stand back? >> so far we've seen no russian movement under the minsk agreement. we've seen some, although not a great deal of ukrainian movement. the key point is the way the two sides interpret the most controversial provisions of the minsk two agreement, which relates not just to the elections but the influence, or lack of influence, that local authorities in th

and putin who loves to have the last word, he loves those colorful phrases, putin has been silent. zelensky had won that battle. because that's zelensky's strength. ukraine class comic. that's actually unfair. i'll roski near class comic. [inaudible] >> he's not going to be so easy for the kremlin to manage. and let me make it one more point. this can't , by attention big t. actually two weeks ago. that the ukraine sees the russian tanker involved in the kremlin attacking ships. that was a gutsy move. that was a gutsy move. but gutsy but not stupid. because he kept the tanker. he released the sailors, and i think the kremlin doesn't know what to make of this guy. and my own interactions with russia on various tv programs i think underscore that. and, in fact, the criminal reaction to the ship seized has been pretty mild, pretty mild. okay now, so that's zelensky. what happens with the war, right? for me to address this i knew to explain to you my own peculiarities. so you can read what i say in context. i think that ukraine has the upper hand in donbass. the reason for that is the

i'm interested in what it was about putin that boris yeltsin saw because putin was was his 4th prime minister i think in less than 18 months so what was yeltsin looking for yes he was looking for a faceless technocrat bureaucrat who can protect him from a political demise and a political decline so what he needed in the time of crisis after the fine and crisis you should remember the finance crisis 998. needed someone who is loyal who is young but who is faceless and who is who was seen by not to be a rival to him yes and what is a very important that putin. these years and this time for putin was very important because putin managed in a very short time to bring back his colleagues from the effort from the k.g.b. into the higher ranks of presidential presidential administrations we talked briefly about what's next the 66 years old he can go on for ever is there any sign of a successor being groomed. i think there is still no direct sign of a new successor i think there is one person who is very influential that is the minister of defense mr scheuer who. also can play a strong leader

president and mr putin last year when putin said we'll give you the 12 indicted military intelligence officers indicted by a special counsel robert mueller but what we want in return is you bill browder how did that make you feel well again i was i was actually in america at the time and it and donald trump's reaction to that was i think it's a brilliant idea so i of course i couldn't feel anything other than. a little uncomfortable but 2 things that made me feel 1st was that in america donald trump doesn't have his own personal rendition squad this has to go through the department of justice and the courts and the united states the rule of law wouldn't have handed me over to the russians whatever donald trump reaction was but again the fact that i'm living rent free in putin's head shows just how how effective the magnitsky act has been that i would be the one thing he brings up at the summit and so from my perspective it only emboldened me to carry on and to push harder to get other countries do magnitsky and it was an extraordinary example was it of the state of modern politics and

all the stress could this give us any indication about putin's putin future particularly post 2024. well the entire russian political system since the year 2000 has been both around putin he's an essential part of it he is the arbiter general he busy balances different groups different interests he does an enormous amount of actual personal work and running russia if something happens to bush and he's not a very young man he's 66 approaching a neck tobar 67 and he is will not be able to run away his role in the political system the political system is going to melt down it can't function without and that's a very serious problem for the future of russia the law hinges on the workability on the intellectual and physical conditions of one person actually the host ability of the whole country and i think our fortune is going to is there at the helm i think he's going to prevail but he can't stay there forever the mattel or the path to democratic transition in russia which has been debated for is this something that could still take place in the future do you see it as a wishful thinkin

in police custody every judge on the court including the russian one in agreement that why the mere putin state was in the wrong tonight we ask will this ruling change anything is anyone listening in the world that's run by vladimir putin i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day. subsequent years ago he was completely illegal to put him in prison and that was no evidence that just a fund keeping him back for so long will be what they moved him from cell to cell. as soon as he started to complain about the conditions they immediately tell him to sound with even worse conditions. when mr magnitsky died in prison it's a tragedy and we regret it but so what the americans don't have people is dying in their presence. which is what happened to. the if he was confident and why did he die of the extent of humans ill and why didn't they treat when he was. also coming up he is a green politician and he could become germany's next chancellor tonight we ask him about how he plans to win and has he found the new center of german politics visits new certainly hold positions other policies used to hold t

and weirdly pro-putin. that to the point where it's been investigated to death to figure out is there some kind of financial relationship. what is going on? it's been this mystery for years now. and he has no self-awareness that is something that seems a little suspicious. goes into the meeting. it's not on the agenda. russia is not asking to get in. none of the countries want him in. they set down the criteria to meet to get in. and they haven't met it obviously. and trump all he talks about his big priority is putin should be here. >> one question. why? >> i don't know. i don't know. we have not that mystery hasn't been solved. the mueller report didn't solve it. it's the question that hangs over the presidency. it might be a simple adds putin didn't like hilary and wanted me to win. he helped trump win. and that's good enough for trump. there were not a lot of world leaders who wanted trump to win. putin was the by far the most important. and it maybe as simple as that. i don't know. that clip you played

why so aligned with putin? when russia actually needs an intervention, not an invitation, to the g8 -- to join the g8 but rather some kind of admonishment, not encouragement. putin will view this as i need to continue having an advocate in the oval office, and what do i need to do to do that? what have we just come out of? the special counsel report and hearings where we learned that emphatically russia interfered with our election. what are we coming up on again, brian, but yet another presidential election. is this a quid pro quo playing out in the public arena? you do this for me. i do this for you. >> shannon, you are hardly new to this. it is so tempting hearing michael and frank talking about this to remind younger viewers especially how highly unusual all of this is. aside from burnishing the prestige of putin, are white house aides, are they out with any particulars or takeaways or deliverables they actually hope to achieve at this weekend's meeting of what is still as of air time the g7? >> well, i mea

well putin's image really here in russia and putin's popularity has been based on this idea of stability of restoring order of restoring national pride but we've seen that recent economic stagnation does seem to be de king a bite out of his popularity there have been protests across the country in recent months and kind of in the past year after the unpopular pensions reform as well and also against a plan to garbage dumps for example in the north of the country and there have been these recent protests for the last month or so in moscow for the registration of independent candidates to the moscow duma elections there does seem to be a growing sense of dissatisfaction here in russia especially with the economic situation and putin in the last few months and even since the beginning of his last term has kind of been trying to shift his focus away from the international stage to really get to grips with those domestic issues and we shouldn't thank you very much for that assessment on and judging you putin is 20 years. now 50 years ago 4 men crossed as road in london and a photographer took

from political unknown to authoritarian ruler russia's vladimir putin marks 2 decades in office we'll ask our moscow correspondent what's behind this staying in power. and the cough really welcome to the show italy has been plunged into political crisis after the far right league party said it would go ahead with a no confidence motion against its own government that's after the party leader deputy prime minister matteo savini and nouns that his coalition with a populist 5 star movement had collapse over policy differences the prime minister accuses salvini of fabricating a potentially destabilizing crisis. this is not an election rally but it looks like mintier salvini is already gearing up for a vote. i do my job with my heart with with pride if i can do it freely and until the end i mean if i realize that someone is trying to stop me then the decision must go back to the italian people with no ifs and buts. you decide that you and no one else is not a people that you. will. sell feeney is leader of the far right league party currently in coalition with the n.t. establishment 5 star

president and mr putin last year when putin said we'll give you the 12 indicted military intelligence officers indicted by special counsel robert mueller but what we want in return is you bill browder how did that make you feel well again i was i was actually in america at the time and it and donald trump's reaction to that was i think it's a brilliant idea so i of course i couldn't feel anything other than. a little uncomfortable but 2 things that made me feel 1st was that in america donald trump doesn't have his own personal rendition squad this that's to go through the department of justice in the courts and the united states the rule of law wouldn't have handed me over to the russians whatever donald trump's reaction was but again the fact that i'm living rent free in putin's head shows just how how effective the magnitsky act has been that i would be the one thing he brings up at the summit and so from my perspective it only emboldened me to carry on and to push harder to get other countries do magnitsky and it was an extraordinary example was it of the state of modern politics a

. >>> and putin's private army. cnn investigates a secret fighting force doing the strong man's bidding. tonight, the kremlin so rattled that a key putin ally is falsely accusing our courageous correspondent of being a spy. we want to welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. i am wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> we are following breaking news on the dayton shooting massacre. a friend of the gunman has been arrested on federal weapons charges. authorities say he admitted to buying items used in the attack, that includes the high capacity 100 round magazine that allowed the shooter to kill nine people, wound 27 others, in less than 30 seconds. also tonight, president trump is lashing out after his response to the dayton and el paso shootings cost him support of a once loyal aide. former white house communications director anthony scaramucci tells cnn he no longer supports mr. trump's re-election, and thinks republicans should consider replacing him at the top of the 20 2020 ticket. i

president and mr putin last year when putin said we'll give you the 12 indicted military intelligence officers indicted by special counsel robert mueller but what we want in return is you bill browder how did that make you feel well again i was i was actually in america at the time and it and donald trump's reaction to that was i think it's a brilliant idea so i of course i couldn't feel anything other than. a little uncomfortable but 2 things that made me feel 1st was that in america donald trump doesn't have his own personal rendition squad this that's to go through the department of justice in the courts and the united states the rule of law wouldn't have handed me over to the russians whatever donald trump's reaction was but again the fact that i'm living rent free in putin's head shows just how how effective the magnitsky act has been that i would be the one thing he brings up at the summit and so from my perspective it only emboldened me to carry on and to push harder to get other countries do magnitsky and it was an extraordinary example was it of the state of modern politics a

putin gear up for talks the french leader summer residence with. syria are all expected to be. propaganda machine donald trump launches a blistering attack on the new york times. its editors are seeking new ways of covering the president after 2 years of fixating on russia. and the u.k. . for its move to strip citizenship from the former islamic state known. international news center in moscow this is r t pleasure to have your company i mean and o'neill our top story french president is meeting russia's vladimir putin his summer residence on the mediterranean coast today ahead of the summit in the weekend. on the french riviera too where the 2 leaders are i believe soon to start talks. said i can see perhaps not entirely though a holiday out what's expected. you know and you really can't help feeling like you are on vacation here called who are in france but this is a very special moment because right when i began talking to you the. helicopter of the russian president i hope you can see it behind my shoulder i just want to ask my cameraman to try and zoom in it's right there.

is heading with putin right now? specifically inviting putin to come to the next g-7 and once again, rebranding it as a g-8? >> i mean, clearly trump was shooting from the hip here, right? i think it's too early to say if the white house is really serious about this. a lot of aides behind the scenes questioning what the heck is going on, right? but what we can say from this is that trump clearly feels like these investigations that have sort of haunted him for his first two years of his presidency, that they've cleared. and that he doesn't need to worry about them anymore. that's one of the reasons why he's up there saying, i'm going to bring russia. this politically might not be good for him, but i'm going to talk about bringing russia to the u.s. when i host the g-7. and not only that, in this press conference, he was giving, you know, he was talking about his own business and talking about bringing the g-7 to his own company in miami, one of his own resorts. and that is 100% against the constitution's emoluments c

all the streets could this give us any indication about putin's putin future particularly post 2024. well the entire russian political system since the year 2000 has been both around putin he's an essential part of it he is the arbiter general he busy balances different groups different interests he does an enormous amount of actual personal work in running russia if something happens to bush and he's not a very young man he's 66 approaching a neck tolbert 67 and he is will not be able to run away his role in the political system the political system is going to melt down it can't function without and that's a very serious problem for the future of russia the law hinges on the workability on the intellectual and physical conditions of one person actually the host ability of the whole country and i think our fortune is going to is there at the helm i think he's going to prevail but he can't stay there forever the mattel or the path to democratic transition in russia which has been debated for is this something that could still take place in the future do you see it as a wishful thinki

yet here he's going out on a limb in favor of vladmir putin at the very time when putin has perhaps covered up a nuclear accident. when there have been according to the "wall street journal" when four monitoring, radiation monitoring sites went dark in siberia for a number of days. >> not the mention the u.s. pulled out of the inf treaty because of what this administration said were brazen russian violations. so much going on there with those comments with the g7 and g8. first of all, the president saying that we should bring russia back in, they belong in there, adding no conditionality to this. bring them back in. this was not a day after french president emmanuel macron said publicly maybe russia could come back but they have to resolve the situation in eastern ukraine. president trump attaching no such conditions. then kind of bizarrely spinning the narrative that russia was kicked out of the g8 because of barack obama's wounded pride. >> he's repeating that as we speak according to people who are e-mailing us. >> as he's want to do, yeah. so that's not the reason. he cast it as a matte

traveled to russia on tuesday for talks with russian president vladimir putin and relations between the 2 countries have been strained in recent years with. opposing sides of the syrian conflict but during a visit to an airshow near moscow the 2 leaders seemed keen to stress the relaxed nature of their relationship. celebrating cooperation by eating ice cream together russian president vladimir putin paid for his turkish counterpart wretch of type street offering up a sweetener before talks. about the directions cooperation can go as well as some delicate issues in the region that's are on the agenda. the venue and aviation show reflects increasing military cooperation between russia and turkey which is a nato country turkey has bought russian anti-missile systems irritating nato and is now looking at purchasing russian fighter jets as well co-operation has limits russian and turkish troops are both in syria on opposite sides russia backs the syrian government while turkey supports the remaining rebel forces in province. recently russian backed syrian forces have stepped up their campai

putin future particularly post 2024. well the entire russian political system since the year 2000 has been both around putin he's an essential part of it he is the arbiter general he busy balances different groups different interests he does an enormous amount of actual personal work in running russia if something happens to bush and he's not a very young man he's 66 approaching a neck tobar 67 and he is will not be able to run away his role in the political system the political system is going to melt down it can't function without and that's a very serious problem for the future of russia the law hinges on the workability on the intellectual and physical conditions of one person actually the host ability of the whole country and i think our fortune is going to is there at the helm i think he's going to prevail but he can't stay there forever do mattel or the path to democratic transition in russia which has been debated for is this something that could still take place in the future do you see it as a wishful thinking

diplomats described derapaska's favorable relationship with president putin. they described him as a more or less permanent fixture, for example, on putin's trips abroad. the same year as that u.s. diplomatic cable about deripaska, in 2006, the associated press reports ntered strange contract with an american, the american man who would ultimately become donald trump's campaign chairman, paul manafort. according to a memo written by manafort proposing this arrangement to deripaska in 2005-2006, manafort proposed for the low, low price of $10 million a year, he would run a campaign to influence politics, business, and news coverage in the united states to benefit the putin government. "we are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the putin government if echl pl employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success" and in manafort's view, the appropriate commitment was reportedly $10 million a year as specifspecified. the a.p. says they saw transfers of millions and millions of dollars to paul manafort in conjunction with tha

and, of course, he said i would plan to include putin, invite putin to next year's g7 summit which he plans to host at his golf course in florida. but it's a noteworthy move for an american president to be advocating on behalf of the russian autocrat and not be the forceful defender of democracy in that setting given long history of the g7 as a group and previously g8. >> chris, you just expressed a bit of a pessimistic view, but the role of the g7 or lack there of. the united states is due to host it next year. the question of where it will be. we'll get into that later. also this issue of the president going out of his way to say he would like russia back in this group and would like putin to come to the united states next year for this session. how will that go with the other members? >> they don't want it. they said no already. they support democracy, and trump has a real serious case of dictator envy. i mean, he loves to talk about his friendship with kim jong-un, who's probably the worst tyrant alive on the planet right now. he loves vladimir putin for reasons we've never really

vladimir putin and his regime killed my lawyer sergei magnitsky from covering a massive putin connected corruption scheme and they killed him in a in a horribly sadistic way at the age of 37 and i've been going after them. ever since they killed him and we've created a law in the name of sergei magnitsky in the united states in the u.k. in canada and the stony alathia lithuania and many other countries and there's a lot putin hate so much and that's the reason why he hates me and the fact that this law is causing him so much grief is something which which shows that we've got him back and that's what you with with pride you've been convicted in russia in a censure on 2 counts accused of tax fraud arrested very publicly in madrid last year accused among other things of killing mr magnitsky yourself. and then we come to this meeting in helsinki between trump donald trump the us president and mr putin last year when putin said we'll give you the 12 indicted military intelligence officers indicted by special counsel robert mueller but what we want in return is you bill browder how did that

that having president putin in what was the g8, he was a member of the g8. and i heard he was a good member of the g8. having him in i think is more of an advantage. >> a few years ago russian foreign minister saying it's not their foreign policy pursuit to return to g8. what's your reaction? i think they would be there. >> trump also reiterated the false allegation that president obama pushed russia out of what was then the g8 because he was embarrassed when russia innecksed crimea from ukraine, which was the official reason for russia's suspension from the g8 in 2014. fox news had this fact check. >> president trump says the russians were removed because putin was outsmarted by obama. the reason, putin invaded and annexed crimea. zoo look what they did to get the deal. look what they did to john kerry and president obama. >> a very big and important area in the middle east where the red line was drawn, and then president obama decided that he was not going to do anything about it. >> i know you like president obama, but it was annexed during president obam

why is ukraine so important to putin. >> well, putin's whole goal is to restore russia to greatness. the days of the soviet glory when there was a big empire that could shake the world and people respected the soviet union, that's what he's trying to bring back. ukraine was obviously part of the soviet union, it separated but in russia, there are russian speaking people in the ukraine, many people still view it as part of mother russia. he has devoted a huge amount of his efforts to bending the will of the ukrainian people, fighting them, attacking. this war in ukraine is -- it's not some skirmish, 10,000 people have died here. and this $250 million was supposed to be for lethal defensive weapons so the ukrainians could defend themselves against this aggression. ukraine is our ally, and now we're not standing behind our allies yet again. >> switching gears, there's this also. the inspector general releasing its report to james comey. comey broke fbi protocol on his meeting with president trump. ultimately, the doj decided not to prosecute. explain why they declined to prosecute? >> b

from political and known to rush us all for experiencing ruler blood in your putin marks 2 decades in office we'll ask our moscow correspondent what's behind this staying in power. plus and the footsteps of the bad new reports from abbey road 50 years after the beatles created one of the most recognized album covers and music history. on the welcome to the program. italy has been plunged into a political crisis after the far right league party said it would go ahead with a no confidence motion against its own government that's after the party leader deputy prime minister matteo salvini announced that his coalition with a populist 5 star movement had collapsed over policy differences the prime minister accuses salvini of fabricating a potentially destabilizing crisis. this is not an election rally but it looks like material salvini is already gearing up for a vote your thought should i do my job with my heart with with pride if i can do it freely until the end if i realize that someone is trying to stop me then the decision must go back to the italian people with no ifs and buts. you d

putin? he has always represented stability. he was very much in contrast to boris yeltsin as president who was known as a bit of a drunk. putin represented a fresh face. he represented stability. he came to power just after the 90's, which was a decade of huge social upheaval. a decade than many here in russia still see as traumatic. vladimir putin was aided by rising oil prices which brought economic upswing of sorts. still, that sense that he has raised russia from its knees as many people say about him, that is still at the core of his popularity today. phil: like many european cities, berlin's local government is struggling with skyrocketing rent and shortage of housing. many tenants are still worried about being priced out of their neighborhoods. dw has met with tenants facing an uncertain future. reporter: this is east berlin. alexander likes this historic area where hisis grandmother lived. >> this is my home. i grew up here. this is where i went to school. about a kilometer away is where i graduated high school. this is

>> well, the president is frankly a puppet for vladimir putin. we see it over and over again, whether it was during the campaign or since he was elected president. he can say nothing wrong about president putin, he can say everything wrong and criticizes our allies repeatedly. so we have a president who is frankly decompensating in frochfront of our eyes. >> we're also follow ting this storm, as you know, that's bearing down on puerto rico, could hit sometime tomorrow afternoon, the island. many of the island residents still haven't recovered from hurricane maria two years ago. they have received only about $14 billion in disaster aid so far, that's nowhere near what the president tweeted this morning, claiming $92 billion in aid. how do you ensure congresswoman that puerto rico gets the federal support it needs? >> well, even when we appropriate the funds it appears the administration is acting very slowly to getting those funds to puerto rico where we have american citizens. we sometimes forget that. but they're all american citizens and i don'

i think it's the putin envy. he doesn't have a real constituency in the country because he does everything kind of by fiat and force. that's the kind of leader, no protest, no acrimony from the people, that's the kind of leader president trump wants to be and the reason why the republicans don't say something i think is pretty simple. i think they're just putting party over country and, you know, it's a pretty sad thing. you would think some of the conservatives, the party of ronald reagan, would say something more about, you know, a country like russia which they say out loud is interfering in the u.s. elections. it's interfering in world elections, you know, across the globe. so it befuddles the mind to ask why these people aren't saying anything. it's possible that some of them do in private but i think it goes back to back to what joe and what richard were saying in terms of this summit was really interesting in terms of the tale of two summits. there's the one in president trump's mind where he's winning the

apparently italy doesn't support it because of this or sell vini another friend of putin and so to the extent that these other e.u. member states don't support it they've had to rely on some arguments not to have it and some of the arguments they rely on are the russian propaganda which have effectively been rubbished as of today by the european court for human rights and so i believe that the to to the extent that there is dissent within europe some of that dissent and perhaps all of it will fall by the wayside as a result of this judgment bill that's quite a statement you're making there you're saying that russian propaganda coming from the grammar has been so strong that it has convinced european lawmakers not sue so i know for this magnitsky act and you're saying that the ruling by the court today is going to have so much impact that it's going to change that do you really believe that a ruling by the european court of human rights is going to change the way that lawmakers are thinking. well so it's not so much lawmakers are thinking this these are officials in different government

putin said russian forces in syria were under threat. of terrorists continue to show for positions of syrian government forces trying to attack russian military installations in the deescalation zone should not serve as a refuge for militants let alone as a rich head for new attacks. both countries see a huge stake in syria and are trying to do without the west as they settle their differences putin and marijuana are due to meet with officials from another key player in the syrian conflict iran next month. well our almost no correspondent really sure when she's been covering the meeting force and she told us more about putin and other ones should we view that the 2 leaders do have had close relations for a while now and they were it seemed key to stress that came to stressed out today they seem very at ease with each other they have met very frequently in the last few years aired on always calls putin his dear friend and today they kind of presented a picture of friendship with putin even buying aired on an ice cream on the sidelines of

glad you made putin and emmanuelle mccrum discuss the ukraine conflict and the iran crisis in a friendly encounter on the french riviera. u.s. conducts its 1st test launch of the mid range cruise missile since pulling out of an arms treaty with russia. a british social media network aimed at young british muslims is revealed to be part of a government plan to tackle radicalization. hello you're watching international i'm rosana lockwood welcome to the program the leaders of france and russia have held a meeting ahead of this weekend's g. 7 summit emmanuelle mccaughan i'm glad i'm a putin spoke for about 3 and a half hours in a patrol car reports from the french riviera. well i guess you don't really give personal invitations to an international leader to these kind of places and this kind of format even if it's the president of a very important geopolitical player unless they are your friends so clearly in the past 2 years mr mack on mr putin developed a close relationship we heard emmanuel macron call his counterpart dear vladimir a few times in death of lot of our putin just when he ar

turkey's president is in russia for talks with vladimir putin. relations between the countries are improving. >> celebrating cooperation by eating ice cream together. russian president vladimir putin paid for his turkish counterpart's treat, offering up a sweetener before talks. >> we will talk about the directions and where cooperation can go as well as some delicate issues in the region that are on the agenda. >> the venue -- and aviation show -- reflects increasing military cooperation between russia and turkey, which is a neutral country. turkey has bought russian antiaircraft systems, irritating nato, and is now looking at purchasing russian fighter js as well. cooperation has limits. troops are in syria on opposite sides. russia backs the syrian government while turkey supports the remaining rebel forces in idlib province. recently, russi-backed syrian forces have stepped up their campaign against rebels there. >> we cannot tolerate the syrian regime sowing death by air and land against civilians under the pretext of fighting terrorism. unf

he was outsmarted by putin. he was outsmarted. president putin outsmarted president obama. and i can understand how president obama would feel. he wasn't happy. and they're not in for that reason. now, i'm only thinking about the world and i'm thinking about this country in terms of the g7, whether it's g7, g8. i think it would be better to have russia inside the tent than outside the tent. do we live either way? yes, we live either way. is it politically popular for me to say that? possibly not. i think a lot of people would agree with me, frankly, but possibly not. i do nothing for politics. i know of you are going to smile at that. i do nothing for politics. i do what's right. and people like what i do. but i just do what's right. if i wanted to go strictly by politics i would probably poll that and say i don't want russia in. but i really think it's good for security of the world, it's good for the economics. remember, they're building a big pipe line in europe going right up to germany. and i had a great relationship and i said, you know, you pay russia billions of dol

with mr zelinsky mr putin and will try to work with the normandy formats in a few weeks. there's no alternative to the normandy format and will obviously support it. now here's something else that's very important the french president emmanuel made it clear that for him it was very important to me president putin face to face before the french leader heads to bad trades that is the venue of the upcoming g. 7 summit that's about to kick off in just a few days and this is a summit that russia has not been part of more than 5 years straight after the events in ukraine and mr putin was asked by one of the journalists if russia was keen to return well here's what he said. a little g. 8 doesn't exist anymore how can i return to an organization which doesn't exist today it's the g 7 regarding a potential format with 8 member states we never reject any proposals some time ago it was russia's turn to hold a g. 8 meeting but our partners didn't. and he for now it seems that russia and the g 7 countries that were used to be known as the g 8 when russia was still part of it are on th