and i have a file at home which is called trump on putin putin on trumped you know things they said about each other the only thing that i can find that trump ever sad in a really positive way about putin was and i remember when he said it he said putin is a strong leader well that's true what is he supposed to say putin's a weak leader that would be untrue i don't find that pandering or subversive or treasonous i mean what do we want i mean it's almost as though we're no longer grown up do we want the president of the united states to curse at the occupant of the kremlin the other superpower i mean ever since the advent of atomic weapons and president eisenhower every american president has attempted to do diplomacy with whoever sits in the kremlin to keep us safe from war conceivably nuclear war and we applauded that and by the way larry here's an interesting thing the biggest episodes of what we call detente that is cooperating with the kremlin were presided over by republican presidents right eisenhower correct nixon and finally ronald reagan who had the biggest cooperation dete

that was true putin didn't sink to the level of campaign spots or t.v. debates as far as i remember all the other candidates did take part in debates but may need to emphasize their closeness to putin himself. it's time to win this phrase turned into putin's campaign slogan but i personally think as i assume the majority of russians did that the beginning of putin's campaign really dated back to a time long before he was made acting president you can actually fix the day hour and even minute. on the 8th of september 19th 1900 11 59 pm a block of flats in a sleepy suburb of moscow was blown up with the explosive r.d.x. killing many of its residents the same thing happened 5 days later and then a rash of explosions broke out all over the country. i very well remember how military patrols began to appear in the buildings and on the city streets the country was gripped by fear prompted by the intense media coverage the man in the street started to climb a louder and louder calling for a firm hand. and had been appointed as prime minister 22 days before the 1

rule 12 years after putin became president he joined the opposition. senior palmarejo over the former head of channel one russia and deputy head of putin's campaign office she joined the opposition shortly after the election and died in 2016 at the age of 54. mikhail kasyanov prime minister of russia during putin's 1st term also later went in top position he was persecuted and publicly humiliated after a t.v. show screened a hidden shooting of his intimate life. as lobster or cough was the kremlin's main ideology. just and held senior positions between 2002013 he was demoted after putin returned for his 3rd term in office. in the euro valentyn you're musharraf was piracy out since chief of staff in the 1st person yeltsin spoke to after the election results were announced in 2002 you must have married yeltsin's daughter tatiana. anatoly to beis was co-leader of the union of right forces in parliament and one of the architects of economic reform in russia as well as a close associate of boris nemtsov after putin's fast term his party lost all its seats i

but to putin's propaganda? >> this is highly puzzling especially when the entire congress received warnings from somebody like dr. hill. remember, fiona hill is not a democrat. she is a trump appointee in his own white house. she is a career professional scholar, intelligence officer. she served as the national intelligence officer overseeing russia and eurasia for the national intelligence council. she's written literally the book on vladimir putin. so, i think you are getting, you know, the only people who disagree with this thesis are people who don't want to face the truth. >> greg, what is your reporting suggest in terms of all the calls from inside the house? we've seen fiona hill because she was subpoenaed to testify in the impeachment. we've heard from george kent for the same reason. but they both testified to john bolton's alarm. are there more fiona hills, george kents, and john boltons inside the government? or is there anybody else who believes the russian propaganda that comes out of trump's mouth

for vladimir putin, it's already 20, and counting. nadyezhda is a putin fan. when eight houses in her village burnt down, she went on tv and begged the president for help. the very next day, mr putin sent in the builders, and — abracadabra — new homes, courtesy of the kremlin. da. nadyezhda even got to meet russia's leader and shake his hand. translation: people in the village told me, don't wash your hand for a year. some of them asked me to shake their hands with the hand the president shook. under putin, russia has risen from her knees. let him stay in power. give him another 20 years. this is exactly how vladimir putin wants his people to see him — as the solution to their problems, not as the cause of them. and because the kremlin controls the media here, and the whole political system, for the last 20 years it has been able to push this message quite successfully. over the last two decades, vladimir putin has honed the image of modern—day tsar, all—powerful, irreplaceable. but not everyone in russia believes that is a good thing. someone who's

mr putin mr president. i don't have my glasses on. but it was to be expected. we've just been listening and again to a lot of important as here holds his annual q. and a marathon he was just touching on a diplomatic spot that's taken place between germany and russia over the murder of a man in berlin and augusts he said of course that reciprocal cooperation needs to be enforced in these type of situations and i will be touching back on that press conference throughout the day as he touches on pressing international issues. and other news israel has been christians in gaza from visiting holy sites such as bethlehem and jerusalem during christmas there reportedly around 1200 christians in gaza last christmas 700 were granted permits to travel to the holy cities artie's paul slayer has more. with christmas almost upon us some peoples faced of plans are having to be aborted because of israel over this holiday season it's banned christians in gaza from visiting some sites that for them embody exactly what christmas is about basically him which jesus christ was born

enter vladimir putin. russia's president is trying to erase the memory of his country's humiliation. to restore its power, its influence. but modern russia isn't reinventing the soviet union — its methods are different. these people in the kremlin do understand that idea of restoration of the former superpower is impossible. but they have other ideas, and their idea is to be a blackmailer, to be a producer of mischief, to be the grand spoiler in the world, to be the nightmare for the neighbours and for the outside countries. so this is the new idea of superpower and empire. it is an idea that russia has put into practice close to home. in 2014, masked soldiers in unmarked uniforms seized control of a ukrainian peninsula, crimea. they acquired the nickname "the little green men". but they were russian special forces sent in by president putin after ukraine's pro—western revolution. at a referendum, voters backed joining russia. but the poll wasn't internationally recognised. it had taken moscow less tha

film that was supposed to be used in putin's election campaign. will do in this race will audiovox a little but if you want commission i read a month. or so. much of the footage was taken from my old film about putin the audience back then. notice trivial details such as the watch on his right wrist rather than listening to what he was actually saying. but looking back over those shots today i notice that even as acting president putin was already clearly embodying traits that some worship and others demonize. some of. our main goal is to make people believe in everything we say and do that ours is a heartfelt position dictated only and soley by considerations of the national interests. just that this is the key to success if people believe that that's the main thing. did you get that the task is to convince the russian people that national interests are more important than those of the individual. meanwhile his electioneering was in full swing even though he wasn't publicly campaigning at all he was just all new present on all the t.v. channels e

. >> tucker: vladimir putin. are you now or have you ever been upon a vladimir putin? you would think -- they would say things like that out loud but of course they never do. not only are these people unwise and hysterical, they are also kind of dumb. d and because shifting mental gears is hard for dumb people, it turns out the entire staff at mbm bc is still pretending that russia collusion is the most important story there is. it's like robert mueller never rodelivered his report. >> is a possible donald trump takes his belief in the world from the president of russia?tr he's acting as a russian asset. he's amplifying talking points put together by the kremlin. >> i can't come up with a plausible explanation for all of these officials wanted to turn our government over. >> the enemy is russia which seems to have consumed one of america's great political parties. >> the constitution is a piece of paper they would rather rip up or cut into segments rather than defend this country at all costs. the russians set th

mr putin next year. can you speak up please yes of course so mr putin next year russia was liberated for the 15 stein the day of national unity they day was meant to honor the memory of our past and our ancestors our forefathers was and gave this heritage to us all that we have we all were to them i'm sorry. their. thanks to them the youth today understands very well the value of our country. so let me put in every year on the 4th of november thousands of people have the opportunity to attend the. it's. called we are united to it's been 3 years since we started holding this concert says there is no void for us and your kind words when you were d. we've just been listening in to a lot of your putin as he feels questions from both foreign and domestic journalists and his annual marathon a press conference where we bring you more on that just a little bit. your tech giants among them apple microsoft and google are facing a lawsuit from numerous congolese parents and children human rights groups accuse the c

sowinski is inexperienced and he wants peace in eastern ukraine putin is a master of his craft and he still claims that russian troops are not in eastern ukraine tonight from reality t.v. to reality politic the reality check for ukraine's new man in charge i'm bored off in berlin this is the day. we're hoping for peace after all this time we need to resolve this war it's been 6 years since it all began. to live in harmony in friendship so they don't call us separatists but at least nothing good will come from the troops pulling back not from some kind of talks from a position of weakness. i don't understand what michael and michael want to do so then skinned putin should sit down together drink some folk get together and put all this behind them we need a united ukraine and we need an end to this to giving the other suddenly making peace and that's going to be tough. also coming up no lympics no world cup russia faces a 4 year ban from all sports a nation called cheating about its own dopey consequence including the finding of russia from the olympics battling fake said whoa champions

that sounded a lot like putin disinformation. and there was even this incredibly obscure story about revisionist history about what the soviets did in afghanistan that even for me as a stanford professor that follows this stuff pretty closely i'd never heard until donald trump said it. and i don't know for sure but that sounds like another crazy conspiracy theory, and the author is most likely vladimir putin. >> again we're hypothesizing here but we're hypothesizing based on evidence in front of us. right? the evidence. we know they talk and world leaders talk all the time. and that's fine and they should, even if they have adversarial relationships they should talk. i want to wholly endorse talking, two world leaders. is it your hypothesis putin is just kind of feeding him this stuff? basically oh, you should ask about the server, the server's not there. is that the kind of thing that would happen in a conversation between two world leaders? >> i've been in meetings with vladimir putin many times when i served in the obama admin

>>> so vladimir putin is marking 20 years in power today. he remains a central figure in many of the world's international issues. our fred pleitgen is live in moscow with more. 20 years with such a strong grip on power. >> strong grip on power and a growing confrontation with the west. just to drive that point home, a couple of minutes ago i got a wire saying the russians conducted drills with a medium range missile that the u.s. says threatens america's western european allies. you can see that that confrontation is something that's constant and indeed seems to be growing. here's a look back at 20 years of vladimir putin in power. after nearly 20 years in power, vladimir putin continues to polarize praising russia's advances in hyper sonic missile technology which moscow just announced it has deployed for the first time and standing by president trump as america's leader faces impeachment. putin's reign began after his predecessor boris yeltsin announced his resignation in his new year's address on january 1st, 2000. vladimir putin, the ne

for vladimir putin, it's already 20, and counting. nadyezhda is a putin fan. when eight houses in her village burnt down, she went on tv and begged the president for help. the very next day, mr putin sent in the builders, and — abracadabra — new homes, courtesy of the kremlin. da. nadyezhda even got to meet russia's leader and shake his hand. translation: people in the village told me, don't wash your hand for a year. some of them asked me to shake their hands with the hand the president shook. under putin, russia has risen from her knees. let him stay in power. give him another 20 years. this is exactly how vladimir putin wants his people to see him, as the solution to their problems, not as the cause of them. and because the kremlin controls the media here, and the whole political system, for the last 20 years it has been able to push this message quite successfully. over the last two decades, vladimir putin has honed the image of modern—day tsar, all—powerful, irreplaceable. but not everyone in russia believes that is a good thing. someone who's bee

for vladimir putin, it's already 20, and counting. nadyezhda is a putin fan. when eight houses in her village burnt down, she went on tv and begged the president for help. the very next day, mr putin sent in the builders, and — abracadabra — new homes, courtesy of the kremlin. da. nadyezhda even got to meet russia's leader and shake his hand. translation: people in the village told me, don't wash your hand for a year. some of them asked me to shake their hands with the hand the president shook. under putin, russia has risen from her knees. let him stay in power. give him another 20 years. this is exactly how vladimir putin wants his people to see him — as the solution to their problems, not as the cause of them. and because the kremlin controls the media here, and the whole political system, for the last 20 years it has been able to push this message quite successfully. over the last two decades, vladimir putin has honed the image of modern—day tsar, all—powerful, irreplaceable. but not everyone in russia believes that is a good thing. someone who's

>> putin knows what he's doing. putin was an agent handler for the kgb. he's trained in identifying people's vulnerabilities, their weak spots and trump is the perfect victim. the perfect recruit, as it were. you have somebody who had financial problems, has interesting taste in women, has an ego that's easily played to, that craves praise. putin undoubtedly has been able to work him just brilliantly. if you're in the intelligence world or the espionage game, the best victim is somebody who wants to be a victim. >> best victim is somebody who wants to be a victim. does that explain -- >> somebody who is just susceptible and trump's praise. trump won't listen to the facts. won't is the wrong word. the correct word is can't. once trump has settled on an idea, a concept or whatever you want to call it, once he's committed himself to something he has no reverse gear. it's impossible for him to admit he's wrong about anything. it's a question of can't. trump has to been the smartest person in the room. in washington where he's dealing with genuine subject matt

putin with various dogs. putin feeding a young deer with milk. putin stroking a baby bird in the palm of his hand. putin hugging a koala. and of course putin cuddling a leopard. the intended message is i think pretty clear. this is still a strongman president despite being in power for more than 20 years. no longer isolated despite continuing international sanctions against russia. but with his softer side, his apparent connection with nature still very much intact. matthew chance, cnn, moscow. >>> irving ber ji, the singer and songwriter who penned the classic tune "deo" has died at the age of 95. he passed away on friday in his native home, brooklyn, new york. he wrote most of the songs for harry belafonte's 1956 album, calypso, the first to sell over a million copies in the united states. the hit song "deo," also known as the banana boat song, transcended the '50s. it was even used in the 1988 film "beetlejuice." ♪ work all night and i drink rum ♪ ♪ daylight come and me want to go home ♪ ♪ >> brilliant. and the song was so popular th

this is classic vladimir putin. he says the georgian man who was killed here in berlin was himself a killer and he got what he deserved. how does the german government view comments like this? melinda: as we heard in the report, there was widespread condemnation of those remarks from pretty much all the german political parties with members of the parties governing together in the grand coalition saying that the words were tantamount to a threat or an admission of russian involvement . however, the chancellor took a rather more restrained tone at the press conference, choosing to cooperate instead on the more cooperative remarks that putin had made. we heard them also in the report, namely his statement that the russians should help their german colleagues and participate in the investigation. the chancellor, as we heard, said she would find that to be a very good step, but she also emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and absolutely left open if the german response might change over time as more is known. b

there he is having just met one-on-one with putin. they just had a conversation continually dropping a word which would come to be associated with this utterly debunked ukraine conspiracy theory, the server. >> you have groups that are wondering why the fbi never took the server. why haven't they taken the server? i want to know where is the server and what is the server saying. i really believe that this will probably go on for a while, but i don't think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. where are those servers? they're missing. where are they? >> none of that's true, by the way. they're not missing. for more on this by joined by michael mcfaul. what went through your head when you read "the washington post" article and you read those quotes from senior officials saying the president said putin told me. >> this is a pattern. this is not news, and thank you, chris, for going back to helsinki. and thank you, chris, for unpacking that phrase 2016, but when you dig into it you realize just how incredibly crazy

we no longer see bare chest of putin. putin is 67 now. maybe the era of his physical strength as being something you show off is also coming to an end. >> reporter: on the same day we saw putin's new pics president trump tweeted a superimposed image of his head on rocky balboa's body. putin decidedally more conservative. the shirtless photos replaced with scenes of him with other world leaders like the saudi crown prince, french president macron and german chancellor merkel and this picture of putin walking ahead of the much taller donald trump with putin appearing deceptively tall. analysts say the new images are crafted to project putin as a statesman and play on russians' new sensibilities. >> this bare chested nationalism which is represented by literally a bare chested putin is no longer really capturing the people's imagination. the russian economy is in decline. standards of living are slipping. you feel that. russian people feel that. >> reporter: while vladimir putin doesn't flex as much physically he still pops his military musc

because, quote, putin told me. that's according to a former senior white house official quoted in "the washington post." joining me now to discuss, julia ioffe and michael isikoff. good evening to both of you. michael, you first. according to the post, trump seemed to latch onto this theory after a private meeting with putin at the 2017 g20 summit in hamburg, germany. what do you make of that? >> well, first of all, it's worth remembering that that meeting in hamburg included this private conversation between president trump and putin where no u.s. officials were present. so exactly what was said between the two of them, we don't know. but it's pretty striking to see these words from a former senior official that the president came to believe that ukraine interfered in the u.s. election because putin told me. somewhere, wherever the retirement home is for old kgb officers, you can almost hear them saying, well played, agent putin. he managed to inject this conspiracy theory into the american political dialogue thro

put took place at moscow's world trade center it's found well over 4 hours this time of earlier putin fielding questions on both domestic and international issues with the latest doping scandal and the impeachment proceedings against donald trump but the topics raised so explain the whole his arteries are bitter ago. quite a surprise to hear about potential amendments to the russian constitution that something president putin doesn't talk about quite often well this time he did and he even said that it could be a good idea to make changes to the russian constitution to make sure that it allows only 2 presidential terms well why is that a big deal this was a long a reason for public debate in russia actually since the year 2012 when vladimir putin was reelected for his 3rd term after a break when the president of russia was dmitri medvedev and here's what mr putin said about that in particular. deal which could be done is to cancel the 2 in a room and didn't we have 2 terms in a row ules truly civil 2 terms then resigned and had the constitutional right to return to the presidency beca

. >> 20 years ago today, vladimir putin took over as acting president of russia. we have a look back at his two-decade tenure marked by early missteps and confrontation with the west. hey you dang woodchucks, quit chucking my wood! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. >>> vladimir putin has held onto power in russia through three u.s. presidencies so far and is accused of helping put president trump in the white house. putin marks two decades in power today, and as cnn senior correspondent fred pleitgen explains, the small man politics that helped putin's popularity in the beginning may be hurting him now. >> reporter: after 20 years in power, vladimir putin continues to polarize, praising russia's advances and hypersonic missile technology which moscow just announced it has deployed for the first time, and standing by president trump as america's leader faces impeachment. putin's reign began as the predecessor boris yeltsin announced his resignation in 1989. vladimir putin immediately laid out his ambitious plans. >> tra

if indeed the evil plot from being president putin's choice of words was inappropriate you know we will just i'm appalled that he was trying to justify a murder by implying the victim was a terrorist the reason. for the courts to decide what will thailand it was in so far it's a very cynical what the russian president has said and for us germans it's intolerable that what was apparently a contract killing took place on german soil. putin has complained that expelling the 2 diplomats was unjustly he said german diplomats would be expelled in retaliation for the the german chancellor appealed to russia to cooperate if he did also. get off on a lie think the russian side will share information with us in any event that would be a good thing and. the circumstances of his death are still being determined federal prosecutors have taken over the investigation zelin khan congo she really had long been afraid of being attacked and had already reported his fears to german authorities and 2017. are for more this is bring in our chief political correspondent melinda crean she's here in berlin can e

talks focusing on ending the war there have been held and this is the 1st meeting between vladimir putin of a lot of resilience people french president emmanuel mccall and german chancellor angela merkel are brokering this meeting a conflict started back in 2014 and has killed more than 13000 people. and displaced more than 1000000 the worst fighting has been in the donbass region our correspondent nick calio traveled there and filed this report. close enough to see what the other side having for lunch that's how these ukrainian troops have spent the last few years just 300 meters from the russian backed separatists facing them the whole night without a single shot i don't remember day like maybe on the 1st night of the cease fire it's a strange when there's no finite or you get all nervous we're used to the shooting and. the conflict may have fallen out of the headlines but the shooting and the death continues less than a 10 minute drive away a young woman out walking with a child was to be really wounded by a stray bullet just last week our guide through the trenches on xander was in h

given the timing of the attack the speech by president putin today both his conversation with journalists and in the kremlin as well given tomorrow of course russia celebrating security services day until that is officially confirmed that's all we can bring our viewers and this is a fragment of the speech by putin given a little earlier today. we need to be more active in countering extremism. on compromising lisa bloom. provocation. that seems to drool people is officially you into the social radical activity that is good but i mean we've covered tragically so many stories in the suit on the ground the bicycle and attack the meat attack london bridge to attacks etc this is an event which is becoming more frequent lone wolf attacks are hard to prevent whatever tactics they use whether that's suicide bombers left. as knives robbing attacks shooting may always cause designed to cause mass panic fear and of course ultimately a debate which takes place after such attacks about the balance of the say between protecting the rights liberties and privacy of people and public safety it is a debate

a lot of our putin was even asked who he believes could become his successor and a few years well we didn't get any answer to that although mr putin did hint that he believes that a woman could become the president of russia at some point most of the reporters in that massive hall war from russia's regions which explains why a lot of questions were on domestic issues from pension reform in russia to issues with medicine and so on and so forth but let me move on to something that's probably more interesting for an international audience that is the impeachment proceedings in the u.s. well a lot of our pope did say that he believes attempts to knock down donald trump won't succeed and also went on to say that he believes that the reasons for all these impeachment proceedings. is work actually inventive when it's just a continuation of political infighting one party that lost the election of the democratic party is working for exult through other methods accusing trump of collusion with russia then it's discovered that there was no collusion that can't be the basis for impeachment and n

putin: three billion. fine. ok. the minsk accords and dismantling the administrations -- disbanding the administrations in the self-declared republics, the non-recognized republics, let's go back to minsk, where the minsk accords were produced. the former president, para -- former president, pereshenko, insisted on having signatures by the heads of those two unrecognized republics. they put a knife to my neck, metaphorically. and the heads of those republics said we don't want to do it. so that's a sneak peek behind our talks in minsk, but we convinced them to put their signatures. and ukraine recognized these authorities in the donbas. and second, they had the election. they had people who went and voted, and this was in a classic -- this is a democratic way to vote people in power. and the minsk accords have a direct reference on what is the right of those republics, to land, to language, local police, everything is part of the minsk accords. now, going to some of the frictions, there is nothing to hide. i will be

russian president vladimir putin is about to have his brains picked on just about every topic imaginable as he holds his traditional end of year q. and a with journalists from both home and abroad a record number of whom will be hoping to put their questions to him this she will be crossing live to the mega presser in just a minute. oh well can you watching r.t. international we do expect the russian president to start his annual media conference any moment now and when he does of course across life to the how you spend you moscow's world trade center and i will with local and international journalists has become a sort of and if you tradition in russia and if previous sessions are anything to go by the president could be fielding questions for a few hours to frank we've got a few 10 minutes in the lights going out but we can cross live now i think sorry look at a package. of tax relief stress is just around the corner so probably stocking up with gifts is the challenge that is on everyone's mind right now well unless you are a journalist with a badge that gives you access to a very spec

get skin healthy™ >>> because putin told me. that is the defense coming from the lips of the president when asked why he believed ukraine was the real culprit behind the 2016 election interference. this is according to a former senior white house official. in a new piece in the "washington post," former officials detail how the president quickly seized on this theory that ukraine tried to thwart his democratic victory. thank you very much for coming on. >> thank you, brianna. it's great to be with you. >> it's great to have you, and i wonder how concerned you are that putin was able to influence not just through sort of russian meddling and trying to persuade voters or americans, but actually to influence the president in a way that has him picking what putin is saying over his own intel community. >> i think after the 2016 elections, the gloves were really off when it came to vladimir putin's influence with president trump and the gop. because let's not forget, the gop continues to parrot not only on the floor but also going on

and putin's call. the white house confirms mr. trump had a friendly chat with the kremlin leader hours after they released details. they did not want to share. wolf blitzer is off today. you're in the "situation room." >>> authorities say the attempted murder of jews at a celebration in new york was an act

putin. russianh the first channel. .y question is as follows seven years ago -- almost seven your article was published. russia, theed " national question." in this seven years, has anything changed? what do you think of international relations? what about the relationship with the ethnic groups in russia, in the region? up theago, when wrapping press conference or probably right after it, you stopped to support the first russian national channel, and we would -- we have you again done a lot, and the government has been helping us a lot, our haveors, our supporters done a great job. now we want to go to other regions. we want to expand to grow, and we think the regional authorities can help us with that. maybe you could help us with that. well, you just: said we have been helping you. is it not enough? relations between different ethnic groups belong to a group of issues which are priority. whatber, we talked about happens when the soviet union collapsed. we had civil war, actually, in our c