Develop the weapons of mass murder has catastrophic results. So how do we change the course were on . What is striking about the men and women here i think we could find a great deal of Common Ground on policy, on substance. We understand that economics if we lift the burden of washington, jobs will return. We understand that any chief executive should follow the constitution and bill of rights and not ignore the law if he or she finds it inconvenient. We understand that we need a president who stands with our friends and allies, and i will tell you this, as president i will stand unapologetically with the nation of israel. [cheers and applause] and we understand the need for a strong commander in chief with clear eyes as to the threat we face and the willingness and ability to rebuild our military and defeat our enemies. But as the men and women in this room know, none of that matters if we cant win. If we cannot win the election, if Hillary Clinton becomes the next president for four or eight more years, the people of new york know full well what comes from that. And so the question we have to ask collectively is, how do we win . We need a candidate, number ne, who could win the primary. In the state of pennsylvania, donald trump is losing pennsylvania and hillary and i are tied for the general election in the state of pennsylvania. And among young people, i would encourage you to look at the fox news poll of three weeks ago. In the last two lkses, elections, barack obama won young people 7030. According to the fox news poll from three weeks ago, i am beating Hillary Clinton by 14 points among young people. [applause] and its not complicated math that if the democrats are losing young people by double digits, Hillary Clinton aint going to win the general. So i stand with you today with a request that we rise and stand together. It was 1957 that my father fled cuba. He has seen the ravages of oppression. My father was tortured and imprisoned in cuba as a teenager. And when my dad came to america, he had nothing. He had 100 in his underwear and he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour working to pay his way through school to achieve the american dream. When my dad was a when i was a kid, my father said to me over and over again, when we faced oppression in cuba, i had a place to flee to. If we lose our freedom here, where do we go . That is why the men and women gathered here, are here tonight, and if we stand together united, if we stand as one, if we bring together our party behind shared values and i would note, jobs, freedom, security, these are not 51 narrow wedge issues. Every one of these are 60 , 70 , 80 broad, uninige issues that bring us together unifying issues that bring us together. If we stand united we will win the nomination in cleveland. We will win the general election in november. We will defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around. Thank you and god bless you. [cheers and applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] senator ted cruz, a principled conservative and a fighter for our liberties and constitutional rights. Lets give him another hand cheers and applause] and today vermont senator and democratic president ial candidate Bernie Sanders arrived at the vatican to speak to a conference on social, economic and environmental issues. Heres a look at his arrival. Cheers and applause] Bernie BernieBernie Bernie [speaking italian] senator sanders in my country and around the world, we have seen a handful of very, very wealthy people become wealthier while most people are becoming poor. In fact, the top 1 of people on this planet now own more wealth than the bottom 99 . That to me is unacceptable. It is unsustainable. It is immoral and together we have got to change that. And i have been enormously impressed by pope francis speaking out and his visionary views about creating a moral economy, an economy that works for all people, not just the people on top. And what he has said over and over again, we cannot allow the market just do what the market does. Thats not acceptable. We have got to engrain moral principles into our economy, and there is no area where that is clearer than in the area of Climate Change. The greed of the fossil fuel industry is literally destroying our planet. E scientists are virtually unanimous. Climate change is real and it is caused by human activity. It is already causing devastating problems all over this planet. And whether the fossil fuel industry likes it or not, we have got to transform our Energy System away from fossil fuel to Energy Efficiency and sustainable energy. And what pope francis has told us over and over again is we have the wealth to do that. We have the technology to do that. We have the knowhow to do that, but we have got but what we have to confront is the greed, people concerned more about their billions than the future of the children and the future of our planet. So i am just so excited to be here, so proud to be here with other likeminded people who are trying to do our best to reate a moral economy. [inaudible] senator, when you see the pope i just want to say how thilled the participants are thrilled the participants are today at the pontifical social sciences to hear senator sanders and his powerful remarks today. All day weve been discussing the enormous crisis of inequality of income, the injustice of the World Economy because weve been reflecting anniversary 20th where Pope John Paul ii warned us of these things. Greed and power is let out of moral control, we lose. Senator sanders has been making this point again and again. Every part of my country and around the world. I can tell you because ive been with the participants how hrilled the many of the leaders of his church and many participants around the world are thrilled to welcome senator anders here. [inaudible] what do you seek to accomplish here . Senator sanders i believe that an ope has played historical and incredible role in trying to create a new World Economy and a new vision for he people of our planet. We cannot continue to go forward when so few have so much, and when greed is such a destructive part of not only in the United States but also around this world. I have long been a supporter of the Economic Vision of pope francis, his views on Climate Change have played a profound role let me tell you. Im a member of the Senate Committee on the environment. Pope francis played a profound role in turning many peoples minds around [inaudible] so when i received this invitation i know its taking me away from the campaign trail for a day, but when i received this information it was so moving to me that it was something that i could simply not [inaudible] thank you, everybody. Cheers and applause] he says we should punish people who have abortion. There has to be some form of punishment. That mexicans are rapists and we should ban muslims coming here at all. Complete and total shutdown. Donald trump says we could solve our problems by turning against each other. Its wrong and it goes against everything new york and america stands for. With so much at stake, shes the one tough enough to stop trump. Hillary clinton. Im hillary clipon and i approve this message. New york, what makes it think bigger, go bolder, push for a living wage thats higher, tuitionfree public college, justice that works for all, for a middle class that must be saved . You do. Values forged in new york. Brooklyn born, native son who knows what we know. Were all in this together. Im Bernie Sanders and i approve this message. Our live coverage of the president ial race continues tuesday night for the new york state primary. Join us at 9 00 eastern for election results, candidate speeches and viewer reaction. Taking you on the road to the white house on cspan, cspan adio and cspan. Org. Madam secretary, we proudly give 72 of our delegate votes to the next president of the United States. Yesterday russian president Vladimir Putin held his annual q a answering questions before a Live Audience on domestic and Foreign Policy issues. More than three million questions were submitted with viewers calling in, texting and emailing. The entire event ran nearly four hours. During this portion, president putin talked about the state of the russian economy, relations with turkey and ukraine and russias athletic doping scandal and offshore banking. [speaking russian] [speaking russian] [speaking russian] [speaking russian] [speaking russian] because theres currently the limit of 10 so thats number one. Number two, this year weve decided to increase excise tax fuel two more rubles and the initial plan was to send all this money to the fund but the finance minister because the Current Situation with the budget is quite difficult so to balance the budget, the finance minister plans to take this two lift i think we can one ruble out the excise tax. This will amount to about 40 billion rubles so on the whole i think this will be quite substantial amount and will affect it. For your celebration of 300 years, you definitely need to repair roads there. And you should do the same thing as what were currently doing at the federal level. You need to switch to full cycle contracts. It should be the same Company Building the road and repairing it afterwards. So thats the first steps that we should take. And i think this is what we are going to do. Maybe we can go back to that so to the an proceed studio. For the first time in the history we now also take video calls live. To that end you need to download a free application, register. You can use your existing social network for the account and we already have over 1,000 requests and questions by way of these video messages. You can also use m. M. S. Messages. He call center has a processed over 100 questions, queeries to the president over the week. As of this moment, weve received almost 1 1 2 million messages 000 text and over 300,000 questions. You can also you can still ask your question. You can see the short number on the screen and also for the first time this year you can use your question using the social network. Young people, the young generation, people under 30 are using this format. There are 120,000 registered users. You and also the live broadcast will go lipsynching for the hearing impaired. This year has been difficult for the russian economy. It shows for the first time theres been a decline in production in russia. We are losing jobs and salaries are reduced. Despite all that the russian economy has endured. It has not been shredded into pieces, as your colleague, mr. Barack obama, predicted. Of course this year with some good events, some positive events but its human nature people usually ask about things that concern them. About things that are rather issues for them rather than positive things and this is a chance for them to sort out their issues, their problems. And we were looking at the questions and the queeries in the runup to this program and weve we see that questions are divided into groups and some of them are about the economy and economy related issues. People have to save with regard to their family budget. So lets ask the most relevant question. This is from moscow. Its a question about prices. Ast year i would buy grocery groceries for the family for 1,000. Now its no less than 10,000. The government is telling us that inflation is only 12 a year. So who should i trust, the receipt or the government . President putin both. And theres no contradiction here. Let me explain. When the government talks about the inflation rate, they mean the average inflation rate per year. 12. 9 . Not 12. 5 , its but there are different factors contributing to inflation. Factor. Es are a major last year, especially at the beginning of the year, prices went up significantly, i think, by 14 . But in the Third Quarter of is year, basic food prices actually decreased early this year. Growth was 2. 2 i think. So the government is not providing you with some misleading statistics. Its actually 12. 9 . Not is is not this is little inflation but i can this is ell you that something that we did ourselves because we limited food imports as a response to sanctions imposed on russia. We did this on purpose to create conditions for our Agricultural Sector. We freed up the market, and this is what happened with the g. D. P. Dropping by 3. 7 . Our Agricultural Sector actually grew by 3 . This is an important element of our economy. We have 40 Million People in ng in rural areas, and the long run we believe this will have a positive effect. This will certainly increase our Food Security with improved conditions in rural areas because people will have better jobs there, higher incomes. So this is temporary. As we get our markets situated with russian food products, prices will go down and stabilize at the same level which is what we are actually witnessing right now. But on the whole, of course i realize that its hard for people, its hard for consumers. Actually here in russia, you know, everyone is saving these days. What do you save now . President putin i have to save time. Thats the most precious thing. Question from moscow, the governments economic ministers keep telling us we will reach the bottom of this economic decline. Theyve said that seven times by now. How would you assess the status, the situation of the russian economy, where is it now . Are we enjoying a whoit or a black stripe right now . Are we enjoying a white or a black stripe right now . President putin its gray. Let me explain why. Because we havent fixed the situation yet, but at least the current trend is positive. Ike i said earlier, our g. D. P. Dropped by 3. 7 . This year the government expects g. D. P. To continue shrinking but only by. 3 . And then next year well actually have growth. So its hard to say where this bottom is, but you can actually see well have little decrease this year and then next year our economy will start growing. I have this table in front you and told you about g. D. P. , about industrial output. Of course, there are also other drawbacks. We should never forget about them. We should keep working on it. Disposable incomes, real incomes. Decreased by 4 . Real wages dropped even more. But what makes me optimistic, for example, agricultural growth, like i said, 3 . Ousing construction 85 million square meters. Its an alltime high. Unemployment is at 5. 6 . There was some growth but its very little compared to the recrisis period. 453,000 rubles. Trade balance, even though Oil Prices Went down by 60 almost, trade balance is still positive. E make more than we spend. 146 billion rubles. This is a very good indicator. We preserve our reserve funds. [indiscernible] are back to the 2014 level. And thats minimal. Less than we planned, actually. 2. 4 . We have another question. They say we have one years worth of national reserve. Will that be enough . President putin no, no, no. Like i said, we brought our reserves, central bank reserves, extra reserves. We are back to the 2014 level. Actually its even more. 387 and we have two reserve funds. The National Welfare fund. Hey decreased but very insignificantly. D theyre currently at 50 billion and 70 billion. What does that mean . If we continue spending these funds that we have been doing up to this point like last year, this will be enough for at least four more years but we actually plan that we will have growth next year so we will probably want to spend money from our reserve funds. So there is no reason to be concerned about. 5 . What does that mean . F we dont if we stop working, we can do nothing and we will still have enough money for four months. I hope that wont happen. People keep asking about the bottom of the crisis. Arent you concern that all economic discussions are now focused about three to three questions. When will be the bottom, when will oil prices go up and should we print more money . New economic alliances are being created. Like the w. T. O. Dont you feel that we are locked inside ourselves, the eurasia . Of the president putin no. Other people who follow the developments in our economy, i can say the following. This is only what you see on the surface, discussions in the media, not even among experts, the three subjects that you mentioned printing money, oil prices, real discussions focus on different things. The key thing is how to trust investment, how to increase productivity and how to create demand, how to increase peoples incomes. This is what the government is thinking about and we recently discussed all those issues how we can help the most vulnerable categories of people. This is extremely important because the number of People Living below the poverty line increased a little recently and we will certainly respond to that. So what does the government plan to do . Printing money is nothing. Its important we change the structure of the economy, and we are making some progress there. For example, here are a few signs of that. We increased the Industrial Production for the first time actually in february. We saw some increase. Its a positive trend. And high tech exports. Also increasing. Compared to commodity exports. So in real life, of course, were not limited to what you just mentioned. Another question, is it true that alexei will become head of the strenalic Development Center and will devise a new Economic Program . President putin i dont meet with him that often but we meet regularly and i really appreciate his contribution in one ast and hes certainly of the most solid and useful experts. And what we agreed on is, you know, he refused to work in the government in the past but now i see that his position has changed. The situation is not simple and hes willing to contribute and help with the Current Situation. We agreed that he will work more actively with the expert council, the president ial expert council. He may actually be one of the eputy heads in this council. And he may actually work in this Strategic Research center or some other center where hell develop strategies for and for e after 2018 longer. Now, lets talk about oreign policy. Has it president putin are we going to talk the three of us . Lets talk about the situation in syria so everyone recognizes the russian success in syria. The russian air has suppressed is activity there but it [indiscernible] arent you concerned that isis will come back . President putin there is always a risk if you dont fight terrorism effectively enough. We see that many countries actually suffer from terrorist attacks. In the middle east, europe, asia, america and russia, of course. We all know we all suffered serious losses in our fight against terrorism and the threat is still there. But the not like we left syria, abandoning everything we achieved there. We withdrew, most of the forces, but after we withdrew our forces, we left the syrian with n a position where the support of the remaining part, theyre still able to launch serious offenses. After we withdrew most of our orces, they retook a number of ther strategic cities. The number of cities that have joined the ceasefire has increased during this period, d we really hope that what will bring peace to this region is a political process, not the use of force. Everybody should come to the negotiating table, adapt a new constitution, hold an election and this kind in this way bring the country out of the crisis. Do you think how soon do you think well liberate raqqah . President putin the problem with aleppo, its a strategic area in syria. This is the second biggest city. It may actually be the Industrial Capital of syria, and you have armed opposition groups there and you have niece are a, internationally recognized terrorist organization, and its very difficult to differentiate between them. O currently they are trying to improve their position. The syrian army doesnt need to improve their position because before the ceasefire, their objective, they dont need to improve their positions. And the opposition wants to retake some of the areas they lost and its actually up to the syrian Army Fighting there. Its kurdish and some other armed groups. And theyre fighting between themselves and the fight against kurds. We have been following this situation very closely, and, of course, we will do all we can to make sure that the situation doesnt deteriorate. Ok. Lets go back to the call center. Thank you. They tell us one of the most relevant issues is late payments of salaries. This used to be an outdated issue and now it seems to have come back. People dont have enough money to pay their utility bills and to pay their Health Care Bills and it seems the issue is all across russia. People are complaining from moscow, from the number of regions, from all types of dustries, including military industries. People only would like to receive their wages that they earn on time. Lets see one video. Good afternoon, mr. President. Am addressing you my name is dimitri. I work at a plant. We work for the defense industry. Controllers and we have this issue that our wages are paid late and not in full. Theyre given to us in portions and way behind deadlines and of course its actually we get we have lower wages. I have four children. Thank you. President putin dimitri, whats the name of your factory . This is a prerecorded video message. President putin ok. This factory, its part of the Automotive Industry, right . This industry is one of those that suffered the most from the crisis. Sales dropped. What is actually happening is from ces dropped orders and l industry reduced this affects everybody. Revenues dropped, like i said. Unemployment is quite low and what many factories do, they dont lay off people but, of course, delaying salary payments is not good as well. But i am not sure of the exact situation with this particular plant, but since they work for the defense industry, the government is providing support for Certain Industries affected by the crisis the most. And the Automotive Industry is number one on this list. There is 40 billion rubles provided for this purpose and ill talk to the minister of industry and will ask them to Pay Attention to this factory and if possible help this particular factory. Also, they may have this problem. Sometime ago in order to upport our manufacturers, we is oduced a new tax which supposed to improve the situation in the long run in their competition with international manufacturers. They make those trailers, right . And this tax applies to their products as well. It was introduced only recently. Im not sure that this decision was wellcalculated. So for this particular kind of product, this tax should be probably lifted. We will talk about this with the government. And this should improve the financial situation of the plant. So i can promise you well look nto the situation. So they never delayed payments before . President putin they did but not on this scale. Lets take another phone call. Mr. President , in addition payments, salary another problem is medication prices. People complain. They say its like mafia, robbing people. We have a phone call from mitri in moscow. Hello. Hello, mr. President. I have a question about medicine. Parents complain to me that they cant buy affordable medicines, medication, in moscow drugstores. Why is it they have expensive medications available . President putin i dont think its only imported and xpensive meds on drugs, in drugstores. We also have who use pharmaceuticals and recently we announced a specific program to that end and were implementing that program to develop domestic pharmaceutical production. Im i dont remember exactly but i think 148 billion rubles have been provided last year and this year i think 16 in general, 148 billion and maybe billion this year for the promotion of domestic pharmaceutical production. We shouldnt think that the government does not Pay Attention to this issue. Indeed, there was a decrease of affordable domestically produced pharmaceuticals by maybe 2. 5 , but that was only in accordance to their brand names but not in accordance to their chemical formulas and such. E get we get like medications and this area is regulated by the government. And today when earnings have one down, the government has chosen to hold down the prices to prevent them from growing. Prices on likely important edications, if is pharmaceuticals went up 8. 5 last year. On other drugs that they 16plus by 16 , percent. Producers, manufacturers of Pharmaceuticals Tell Us this price increase is not enough for them to be sustainable. So our policy of holding down prices on the part of the government is viewed by producers, by manufacturers as something that is unaffordable for them, that doesnt benefit them because a lot of their raw materials, the substances, the ngredients are imported. We import large quantity its of them from china. And this aspect, especially considering the rate of the ruble, it does not provide for a return on the cost for this operation to be profitable. The government is faced with a choice. We need to either subsidize this industry or let go of the prices for maybe six weeks or two months and maybe the government should tackle and solve this issue within the coming two months. Thank you. We have representatives of pharmaceutical companies in this studio. President putin we have them with us. We have the owner of a pharmaceutical plant. He manufacturers some products and he says that theyre a good quality. So what would you say . Hello. I represent a factory. First of all, its not like im looking for excuses. What weve been doing for the past 13 years, weve been working in the lower and middle price segment and theyre quite good and i use the medicines for myself, for my children, my family, my friends. But mr. Putin is right. Recently, many of our products, we dont make any moneymaking those medicines. Actually we have to drop certain products. The problem is ingredients, substances, equipment, we have o purchase all that abroad foreign currency. You all know the situation with the Exchange Rate. Whereas prices are fixed in rubles by the government and they have been at the same level since 2005, and actually ice levels are different for russian and foreign pharmaceutical products. Foreign products sometimes are 20 times cost 20 times as uch as russian ones. Substance are 70 of the price and they cost twice as much and prices are fixed at the 2009 levels so nobody is going to manufacture medicine in this kind of situation. O foreignmade pharmaceuticals , the only thing about so mr. President , could you please look into the situation . We really ask you. First of all, we should have the same rights as international manufacturers. And second, perhaps this will come as a surprise but i think the cheapest medicines, low price substance, should be no limit no price limit because compensations dont work. This is not a market mechanism. But if you drop price limits, there will be more cheaper drugs in drugstores. Otherwise, our factories will have to shut well have to shut those down. President putin once prices go up sharply, those drugs will no longer be affordable. Like i said, the government has promised to take a decision on this within six to eight weeks but well look at which ways are possible, which options to improve the situation. Maybe what we need is a lance, but it is a fact that it is true that some of the industries, some of the companies are on the brink of being profitable at all. And here our colleague is exactly correct. Here is a text message. What medicines do you use, russian or foreign . President putin i try to prevent that necessity. I try to do sports and have a healthy lifestyle. But if you have to use medicines . President putin well, i have to well, i try to get inoculated, to get vaccines, especially when flu period is approaching. I usually take what i am given. Im sure this includes both domestically produced and imported medicines. Those are from the affordable segment. All right. Lets continue. Mr. President , i suggest we return to the issue of Foreign Policy. We have one here, head of the Discussion Club and i think he has a question about Foreign Policy. Right. Hello, mr. President. Last september, one was considered as your friend and turkey was almost our strategic partner. You opened a new mosque in moscow together but now what is it, the end of friendship . Also, ukraine, muldova, georgia, turkey, other countries, it seems like we are surrounded by enemies. Is it possible to develop efficiently in this kind of situation for russia . President putin we will not be we are not and we will not be surrounded by hostile nations. That is out of the question. The ve good relations with overwhelming majority of the nations in the world. The shanghai E Corporation which is enlarging, accepting powerful members and our new integration vehicle of eure asian economic euasian economic and we view turkey as a friendly country and its people as a friendly people. And we definitely will pursue a friendly relationship with turkey as such. We have issues with certain political leaders in the country. We believe their behavior is inadequate, and we reacted as we are supposed to. As you see, we are working steadily. We are avoiding any sharp moves. Reacting to hostile action is necessary. This is something you need to do. Otherwise you will be abused by other countries. This has happened in our very recent history, and we must prevent going back to that. But, you know, taking into consideration our enemies, we will pursue good relations with all of our partners, including our neighbors. Mr. President , you said last year you would rescue obama if e were drowning. But what about others . Who would you rescue first . Its a question from a 12yearold girl. [applause] president putin well, the 12yearold girl this is a very tough question. I dont even know what to say but i would probably tell you this. If someone is is determined to drown, you cant save them. [applause] president putin but of course we are willing to extend a helping hand, a friendly hand to any partner so long as they want that. In the past, one went to russians went to turkey for their vacations. Now they go to crimea. So lets go to crimea now. We are on the island. This is crimea. We see a bridge being built across the strait. You can see the outline of this future bridge. This will be the longest bridge in russia. 19 kilometers long. They are building it on seven eight sites simultaneously. Then all these sections will be combined and there will be one bridge connecting crimea with the mainland. I have yuri here. Hes in charge of construction on this particular site. We are currently pouring concrete into the second pillar. The first pin ar has been finished. ve installed over 500 metal pillars. This is just a start. Some of them will go 90 meters deep. Lets take a look at the map. Kilometers here. We are at site four. This is the middle of the bridge. Thank you. So hello moscow, hello colleagues, hello, mr. President. We have people from crimea here on the island. They have some questions so please go ahead. Hello, mr. President. My name is hellinga. We the people of crimea look forward to this bridge being finished. Crimea should be selfsufficient. Since i work in the travel industry, were preparing for this summer of 2016. We can proadvise a high level of service, hospitality for tourists and we would really like to invite people from all over russia, from all the different parts of our country to come. To crimea. My question is, when will be the next time you come to crimea for your vacation . President putin i havent thought about it yet but i definitely will come to crimea, at least for a few days, including for vacation, to have rest. Thank you for the invitation. I actually want to ask about turkey. I have been to turkey for vacation, so turkey, when do you think air flights will resume to egypt and turkey . President putin well, first president putin well, first of all, regarding crimea, i was interested to see this latest update on the process of the construction of the bridge. Usually there are a lot of contractors, a lot of aspiring contractors for this kind of project. But this time, to be honest with you, it was difficult for us to find the right company that would be willing and also capable of undertaking this kind of construction. We were under budgetary restraints but also there were other concerns and other deliberations. But we have picked a company. And it meets all of our stringent criteria. We spent several months debating the price of the the cost of the contract and actually, we have been able to even reduce the end price eventually. And we are hoping that everything will be completed on time and with the due quality. As for traveling to turkey or egypt, you know, this doesnt really depend upon us. This isnt up to us. The reasons for the existing disruption are quite different. In egypt, the government is trying to combat the extremists that are operating in that country. But this is not an easy task. And we see that there is fighting almost on a daily basis, in the former ruling party. The advocate of the former president are still active there. It is not safe to travel to that country for vacation. So probably together with the government of egypt, we should develop the kind of procedures for doing security checks, serving meals on board, serving airplanes that would make traveling to egypt safe for ussians. So far, we have not come across the right algorithm, the right formula for such a solution, even though our security agencies have been working with their egyptian colleagues to solve this issue. Turkey is a different issue, even though the situation is seemingly similar to there. In our opinion, the government of turkey is not really fighting radicals as much as it collaborates with them in reality. In the south of turkey, there is turkeys issues urge us to think about security. In the south of turkey, there is essentially what we should call a civil war raging and going on, even though the International Community is vastly reluctant to dmit that. But there is theyre using heavy armaments, heavy weapons there, including tanks and artillery. There are terrorist attacks in turkey, carried out almost on a weekly basis. So no one one able to guarantee that russian tourists in turkey would not come under attack. You do remember that there were cases in north africa when tourists were shot upon on the beach. They were assaulted on the beach. But, of course, tourism is an important source of income for the turkish budget. Last year, almost five million russian tourists traveled to turkey last year. And, of course, turkey will try o do its best to ensure safe tourism and safe travel to the country. But will they succeed . We dont know. So we will not be able to guarantee to russian citizens that traveling to turkey will be safe. So maybe they will be able to go to crimea. You know, why are turkey and egypt so popular . Because theyre close and traveling there used to be cheap. But now other countries are also trying to reduce their costs to make traveling to those countries more affordable for russian tourists and also Russian Companies are thinking about how to make it cheaper and more affordable. So we should work on this. Crimea has another uestion. Hello, mr. President. I am a student at crimea university. Currently we have planned blackouts. But actually, it may be not that bad, because our kids dont pay now as much time playing computer games. So when do you think the energy bridge will start working . President putin well, as for energy, the Energy Industry as such, the ministry of energy reported to me just some three or four days ago about the status of this energy bridge construction. We know that two circuits have been put into operation. The third must come into operation today, over 300 megawatts. This now approaches the amount of power we used to receive from ukraine. I think within two weeks, we will be able to launch the fourth circuit, another 200 megawatts. In general, that will be a total of 800 megawatts traveling between there and crimea, along this energy bridge. And this will totally provide for the demand and match the amounts that you used to receive from ukraine. Its just that, in the past, supply used to come from the north and places like that would be the last to receive it. The network used to be of low quality. They are low quality. But the minister has reported to me that they have deliberated on that, and they are working on supplying additional infrastructure and in the year 2017, over 400 megawatts additionally must be introduced by two more power units, and two more power units to become operational in 2018, another 400 megawatts, to ensure that crimea will be supplied with energy enough for it to develop its economy and its social sphere. Mr. President , we have an urgent message here. Government officials report that theyll fix 21 roads by may 1. Actually, there are similar roblems in other places. President putin i hope that the leaders of those regions are also listening to this, and we will discuss this issue with them. Well also be discussing that with the members of government, the minister of finance, the minister of transport, in order to address this issue of providing this additional ruble from all excise taxes that the minister of finance wanted to give to the federal budget. But i think it should be given for transport and road onstruction. We talked about traveling and is it that cold up there . Yeah. We hear you. Yeah, its quite windy here. Actually, yesterday, the weather was quite nice but it has changed. President putin but you are already inviting people over for vacation. Do you guarantee that you will have good weatherby then . Yes, we can guarantee well have nice weather for you. Thank you. So lets talk about developing travel inside ussia. It is also very important to remember about Environment Protection. We have some environment scientists here. Yes. We have quite a few questions about Environment Protection and we have an activist here. Hello, mr. President. Im a businessman. Am a businessman. I am in Waste Management business. And my question is, we still dont have waste an efficient Waste Management system. We dont classify waste, you know, like they do in other countries. And as a result, landfills are full of nonbiodegradable waste. We are approaching a disaster situation in many cases. So i think we should get this fixed. President putin i see that there was a colleague nodding his head, he probably agrees with you. Could you give him the microphone . Hello, mr. President. I think its a great idea. I thank you for making next year a year of environment. We actually would like to have the next year as the year of business. Would anyone like to say anything as regards the environment . Oure welcome. Mr. President , i am a deputy. We are really concerned about the situation with the lower area. We are very grateful to you for making this year the year of environment. We launched a campaign to protect the lower bolga, because its important for fisheries, for drinking water, fresh water, whatever. And i think the situation really affects People Living along the river. I and my colleagues, they supported me, and we are currently gathering signatures. We want to write the petition to you. We have over 50,000 people who have joined this campaign. People normally care about utility bills, but all people support this initiative. So my question is, could you please look into this situation, hydromanagement systems on the river, things that affect fisheries . President putin if you allow me, i would like to say a few words about the area and about the other waterways in russia. This is really an important issue and it does require attention from federal and regional authorities. Of course this is a problem of vessels being able to travel across the waterways. We used to have a situation when some of the passenger boats traveling along rivers would have to disembark all their passengers, because they were unable to pass through certain spots and people would have to travel a certain stretch of the ay with bus. Some of those problems were not addressed for decades. Of course, the purity of water, where theres so much fallout, which is so extraordinary. You know how broad the river is, the delta. You dont know. It is 290 kilometers wide, one of the widest and largest deltas in the world, comparable to the mississippi river. This is a world in itself. Of course, it requires special attention. Now as for waste, for household waste, that is a problem. It is an issue. We have Something Like 5. 6 billion tons of waste produced a ear. Thats how much waste we produce as a society. And only half of that amount gets recycled. And the other half gets buried or thrown away or just dumped at landfills. And this is an uncontrollable process which is strongly criminalized. So we need to improve our legislation here. We need to get regional authorities and local authorities primarily to pay special attention to this issue. And of course we need public control. We need control from the public, because sometimes people find it impossible to live near these landfills and these dump sites, especially considering how criminalized this area is. This is important work that we need to tackle very seriously. Now, as regards those lands, ose facilities, we need to set up, to provide. A relevant law was passed back in 2014, i believe, but such facilities will only be profitable if we start collecting the socalled environmental tax. But we have planned to start collecting this tax in 2017, considering the current Economic Situation we dont want to put more pressure on manufacturers. We dont want to force them to cut down their cutting down wage and salaries. O we are looking at this issue considering, you know, how delicate this issue is in the current economic reality. But starting from 2017, this environmental tax will be levied. There are three options for addressing this issue here. Option one is for those who produce this waste, for industries who produce waste. Theyre large enough and they have enough money to build recycling facilities of their own. Option two is for companies that are not able to do that. Who dont have the capacity or the money. They can pool with other industries in the region and hire some company, a contractor, to outsource recycling activities. Option three is when the government can step in, when, you know, the producers, the manufacturers of waste, will ake a long time to organize, especially when were talking about recycling batteries and so on. We have been talking for about an hour. Weve had about 2. 5 million phone calls. Lets take in some of them. Were going back to the call center. Mr. President , we know that you dont like questions about your private life. You dont comment on that. But we still have so many inquiries about that. We just cant avoid that matter, especially many questions from our home city. Now we have a lady with a question. Hello, mr. Putin. I have this question about your personal life, about your private life. There were media reports recently that mila the former mrs. Putin, has remarried. When will you introduce your new best one to us . President putin you know, ludmilla and i see each other. Not often but sometimes. We have a very good relationship, maybe even better than it was when we were married. And i know shes okay. I dont care what they say in the media, but shes happy with her life. Im also happy. Im okay. m fine. Im not sure if i should advertise my personal life that much. This may actually affect the situation with the Exchange Rate or oil prices. Seriously, though, when people elect members of parliament or a president , they do so so we can do our job. And the things you talk about, personal life, of course, this is interesting and i realize im aware that people want to know that. But this is not really important. Maybe at some time, i will satisfy your curiosity. Thank you. Now lets talk about doping. This is a very delicate and contentious subject. We have always been proud of our athletes and the russian athletes used to be renowned and acknowledged leaders in the world sports for many years. And now there are claims that a lot of those victories were not really earned. Lets give an opportunity to ask people about that this does not only concern people who are part of the Sporting Community or athletes themselves but also millions and millions of spectators. You know, rooting for sports unites people of all walks of life. Here we have a young person who would like to ask you about sports and not business. Good afternoon, mr. President. I represent the leaders club from moscow. Indeed, there are things that we all share that unite us and sports is one of them. We always cheer for our athletes when they win, when they represent russia in international competitions. This scandal, i find it deeply annoying and irritating. This scandal, controversy, has been dragging on for months. And now some of our athletes are being threatened with an end to their careers. What would happen with the russians, sporting authorities, sporting officials . Im speaking from my heart right now. Youre probably learning english from mr. Muscov. Thankfully, no. President putin not actually taking lessons from him. Kay. Meldonium. This substance was never listed as doping. It does not affect your performance. It just supports your cardiac muscle, in good shape, when you over strain it. For some reason, they decided to put it on the banned substances list. Meldonium was invented, as we know now i never knew this before was invented in the soviet union, in latvia. The person who invented this substance never considered it as doping. Its widely used in medicine and health care. And when they listed it, they id not know how much time it takes to how long it stays in our blood. And they made some corrections just a few days ago, maybe yesterday. And the decision they made earlier, i dont think it was political, even though meldonium was only used by athletes in Eastern Europe, the former soviet republicings splubs and Eastern Europe because republics and Eastern Europe because thats where it was invented, where it was manufactured. And it was never considered to be a banned substance. And actually, they agreed with us by correcting their position. As far as i know, this Antidoping Agency is currently looking at the possibility of staging Clinical Trials to see how much time it takes, how long meldonium stays in your blood. And it may be different with different people. So based on that, they will make draw conclusions for specific thletes. I expect that their decisions will be objective. But this subject mean that we should just rest on our laurels and make jokes about it. No. We should improve the way we work with international organizations. We should respond to their comments on a timely basis. We should do so promptly. And, of course, we should care about the health of our athletes and we have to make sure that competition in sports is fair. And we want our fans to enjoy this fair competition. And certainly our athletes and thats the majority of our office who had nothing to do with doping, they should not uffer from this scandal. Lets hear what they have to say. We have invited to the studio, the head coach of russias track and Field National team. A multitime world champion, the first russian athletes to have olympic gold here. Mr. President , the worlds antidoping association doesnt actually have any issues with a lot of russian athletes. But all of the track and field athletes have been suspended from taking part in the olympics for some other athletes mistakes. And my team is now questioning how and whether they should prepare for the olympics at all, whether it makes any sense. Thank you. President putin well, of course we love our athletes. We really expect them to perform ell. But theyre in a difficult situation today. But if you ask me, id say you have to be prepared for everything, especially now that they have reconsidered their position on meldonium. And they are looking. They will have some Clinical Trials. And, of course, we will insist that their decisions should be air. The ministry of sports works with some international lawyers. And theyre looking into all the evidence of this problem. Lets talk something else, something that concerns everyone, and thats housing and utilities. People complain that they have to spend a significant share of heir earnings on utilities, on utility bills. We are getting a lot of inquiries about that on the social network, especially these levies on capital repairs, apartment buildings, which people see as extortion. Theres also this question on ocial networks that used to be explained the growing utility price, used to be explained by growing oil prices, but now oil prices are going down. How come we have to pay more and more . In the soviet union, utilities prices used to say on the same level for four years. How come theres a difference . President putin so you want me to cover all this question . Kay. As far as stability is concerned, utility bills and so n. The stability we had in the soviet union, conditions were very different then. Yes, the situation was stable, in this particular aspect. But i can assure you, and it is actually quite obvious, that this sector was very underfinanced back in the soviet ays. Tariffs were low. The government did not invest enough money. And gradually, buildings degraded. And they were in poor shape. Instead the government invested money in other areas, the defense industry. We had all kinds of war planes, warships, other weapons. Today, specialists say this was unnecessary. And as a result, we ended up in situation where we had to ration soap and sugar. And eventually we lost our country. That was a shame, of course. So today, before we make decisions in this area and its a very sensitive subject, i agree with you we have to think well. We have to consider how much people make and how much the ndustry makes. See, the situation with the tariffs, last year the planned increase was 8. 7 . This is the average ncrease. This is very important. And it grew actually grew by 8. 5 . In july this year, tariffs will go up by 4 , on the average. And its up to provinces to either freeze their tariffs or increase them to a greater extent, up to 10 . But the governor can only make this decision after talking to unicipal councils. He has to coordinate this decision with the delegates selected by people. If there is a need to repair something, say to repair a grade for the winter period, so on and so forth. So we have 24,000 municipalities in russia. Thats the total number. Over 600 municipalities have made a decision to go beyond this 4 limit. But its only 3 of the opulation of russia. Of course, there are still real People Living in those municipalities, but its a decision that has to be made by local assemblymen. It is very important to make this Decision Making process transparent. If this tariff is regulated by the government, Additional Services, theyre not regulated. But to make this tariff transparent, the government has to finalize its work on providing information on the structure, the formula, of this tariff. So every person can verify it, can look and find out how much they pay for what. Now, as far as Additional Services are concerned, the answer, these things are not regulated by the government. According to our laws. So what we should do about additional sources is, people should have a meeting and they should decide what services theyre interested in and how much theyre willing to pay for hem. If they dont have a meeting, the municipality will do it for hem. And ill talk about Major Repairs later. First i want to say one thing. Which needs to be eiterated. We have long adopted a law, a rule, which says that if a amily has a total income and its so low, that they spend over 22 for utility bills, they can get compensation for it. Id like to remind everybody, especially in a situation where real incomes drop by 4 . If we have families like that, theyre entitled to compensation. And today we already have over 30 Million People who get this benefit, this compensation. And we spend 300 billion rubles o pay this compensation. Of course, we may have some people who havent joined the system yet, who havent received this entitlement yet. They can do so now. Now, to Major Repairs. This is also very important, a very sensitive subject. I know that many people are angry, and deservedly so. But the Constitutional Court has made a decision that the government was right in making this decision. But still, you have to consider the actual situation, the actual incomes that people have, and the actual needs of the industry. And the industry has a lot of needs. We have over two billion square meters of housing facilities, 2. 4 billion square meters that need repair. And one billion square meters of housing that needs urgent repair. And, you know, you know how much we repair . 50 to 70 million square meters a year. Still, if we continue doing that, with the number of buildings, urgent repairs will grow exponentially. You can go to some countries i wont mention their names but you see buildings there falling apart, because nobody is interested in fixing those buildings. They cant afford to. For example, last year, we had 70 billion rubles that were allocated for Major Repairs. And only 25 billion rubles were actually used. The rest of the money was just there. It wasnt being used. Of course the government has to be very careful in handling this subject. There is a query that provides an issue for ebate. A lot of people are concerned about property tax for both individuals and companies. We have an entrepreneur from moscow who has many years of experience. He would like to ask a question. Good afternoon, mr. Putin. This is my third crisis as an entrepreneur. I have been doing business since the 1990s. And ive been actually waiting for this opportunity to thank you for what the government undertook in the year 2008. President putin since you went hrough all those crises, i can tell you that actually the g. D. P. Dropped by 3. 7 this time. But in 2008, it was 10. 7 . The situation was much worse. And its much better today. But of course we need to come back to growth. So please continue. Yes. Mr. President , and my wife also asked me to say thank you for your work. [applause] president putin oh. Thank you. Im very grateful to her. Now my question, mr. Resident, in recent years, the value, the cost of the assessment cost for property, of real estate, has gone up. And this has made business much harder for many companies. And these days, the price is higher than the actual market price of real estate. And actually, the Money Companies spend on Legal Expenses to prove that. The figures they use to grow their business, to develop. Also, for individuals, the times are becoming tough, because now property taxes will be calculated based on this officially assessed price. So my question is, would you be prepared to look at two possibilities . One, introduce a moratorium, a fiveyearlong moratorium on raising the officially stated egistered cost of equities, of rivate property . And also, introduce experts to do the right price. And also, introduce responsibility, legal responsibility, for experts who do this official assessment. And my Second Initiative is to improve to increase the space of property that is not taxable, from 10 to 15 square meters per person and so on. President putin okay. As far as the value is concerned, this was done on the initiative of certain regions of ussia. This was not even the governments initiative. In some places, like in moscow, city authorities thought they did not get enough revenues that hey would use to address different issues in the city, because they said that property items were undervalued. For example, some shopping malls paid almost zero tax to the municipal budget. And this was unfair, of course. O people in moscow, of course, were entitled to ask the municipal authorities, why . Why do you allow this situation . But this process has to make the situation more fair, of ourse. But you shouldnt go too far. You shouldnt go to the extreme. And you have to consider businesses and people. So you asked about increasing ontaxable areas. I can answer you cant answer you specifically, but we can consider that certainly. Now, you asked about moratorium. Well, we can consider that as ell. But you see, this system is supposed to be produced by 2020. And all of the provinces are ready. And actually, the decision was only made in a handful of provinces, just one or two or three provinces. But all the others will only do his in 2020. This is basically a moratorium. Of course we can consider this further. So you can actually say that we already have a moratorium in place. Its up to the provinces to decide whether theyre ready or not. Now, you asked about using businessmen to evaluate roperty. See, the thing is, actually we have companies doing evaluation right now. And it would seem to me that his evaluation should be performed by Government Agencies, because unfortunately, those companies, sometimes theyre not liable for the mistakes that they make in valuation. And sometimes you have this kind of paradoxical situation. And i saw this in the questions looked through yesterday. You may have to absolutely two absolutely similar flats next to each other. But their value is very different. This is unfair and even stupid. So we have to fix that. And it would be right to let Government Agencies evaluate roperty. But if people think their rights are infringed upon, they should be able to not only go to court but they should use the administrative procedure as well. And one more thing id like to mention. All the benefits that people have, with the utility bills, they are still preserved, whether they used actual value or market value. But i think there is something what you said we should think about, and we will do that. Were getting queries not only from adults but also from hildren. Umber one about drowning president s. But i have a number of questions from this child publication. What three wishes would you make if you were to catch a wishdelivering magic goldfish . President putin 11 years old, huh . Well, i hope shes listening. Okay. Three wishes. I have to think. You know, basically, we shouldnt really rely on iracles. You know, even during the soviet eriod, we had this song, nobody will help us, be they king, nor a hero, we have to do everything ourselves. So we shouldnt really rely on iracles. Otherwise well end up like in the fairy tale by pushkin, with nothing. We have to work with our own hands. [applause] but children still believe in miracles. Another question. I am eight years old and im already in fifth grade. I am a protege, what they call. Why dont they send kids like me to summer camps . When we do reach the necessary age, it will be too late. Could you discuss that with the government . President putin yes. This is definitely a mistake. People who work with this program, they were not wonder children. So well fix that, dont worry. [applause] how come adults have two days every weekend and we have none . We go to school on saturday and we have to do homework on sunday. President putin well, it is fair, because youre better than we are. Thats why you can bear this burden. And youll get more knowledge. And this is actually what happens. But certainly, you know, there is a problem here, because quite often School Children have to they have too much burden, more than specialists recommend, psychologists recommend. And we certainly have to look into the situation. If you were to be tested, what would you choose . The unified state test or an oral exam . President putin i prefer oral exams. [applause] and final question. How do you feel about having porridge for breakfast . Did you like all types of porridge when you were a child and what would you do if you were forced to eat porridge you didnt like . A nineyearold girl. President putin well, nobody ever forced me to do something i didnt want to do. And i actually enjoy porridge. I eat porridge every morning, including today. And do you feel differently for porridges now that you are an adult . President putin yeah. I like my porridge better these days. Less teeth you have, the more you enjoy your porridge. Now its time for us to get in touch with salin, this remote egion of russia. Hello, moscow his is sakhalin. This is a fish preserve plant. I have to wear these rubber boots, this overcoat. This plant was built only two years ago. And its actually 10 p. M. Here. But the plant keeps working. This is the night shift that works until 4 00 a. M. What is this fish . How many counts do you make a day . 60,000 in one shift. Where do you get your fish . China. Chinese fish. Frankly, we were a little surprised that here on sakhalin island, that they used chinese fish, but they explained to us that currently they dont fish here on sakhalin island. They have their own fish later in the summer. Weve been here a few days, and we talked to local residents. People complain about the utility bills, health care, and they complain that sometimes its even hard to buy local fish on the markets here. Even though the fisheries dont use all of their quotas. So these are the fish pens with chinese fish. So now ill let people working here at this plant ask their questions. They used to work at a different plant, on sakhalin island and they told us about the terrible decision. They say that on that island, they lived almost as slaves, as hostages. They were promised high wages and they moved there from siberia, from central russia. So when they got there, their wages were delayed for months. And they couldnt leave the island. They didnt have money to buy tickets. And they had to live in a dorm that belonged to the fish plant. And then they actually had to spend a large part of the money they made there to pay for the dorm, so they are now in debt to this plant. And when we invited them here, some of them received threats. So some people were too scared o come here. But we still persuaded some of them to come and tell us about the situation on the island. Could you please tell us about the situation on the island . Hello, mr. President. My name is tatiana. Last fall, we worked on the island, at the fish plant. They didnt pay us a salary. They cheated people. Through recruiting agents, they bring people there. People live there in terrible conditions. Could you please look into the situation and help us . This is elena. Shes another victim. Is it true that you cant actually leave . Yes, because its an island. Its surrounded by water and by sea and people cant leave. President putin how many months did they delay you . Two or three months, sometimes six months. So thats the situation on the island. President putin you know, i have nothing to say. Was that just last year, or did that extend over a longer period of time . It started in august 2015. President putin have you turned to any authorities regarding this matter . Yes, we wrote a letter to the prosecution service. Well, we heard from other victims, they said they complained to the prosecution service, but it did not respond. And only after they wrote to the president , there was some eaction. President putin unfortunately, i havent seen that letter to the president ial administration. But im sure that local authorities, local officials, local police and the attorneys ffice, the Labor Relations regulator, they were to react on time, and i hope that russias attorney general is listening to his. Nd i would like to urge him to revise whether the attorney in that region is occupying his position is fit to occupy this position. Also, the Labor Ministry should look at whether its office is up to standards and as for the people, the people who are there with our correspondents now, i would like to apologize. And i would like to assure you that we will do everything to improve the situation. Lets take another question. Hello, mr. President. My name is alex. My question is about government officials and businessmen. Nd their accountability to people, our fishing villages have been degrading for the past year. Government provides funds, but then this money disappears, probably goes into the pockets of local officials, businessmen, our former governor is currently being investigated. Media report that they stole billions. So do you think he will get the punishment he deserves, that will teach everybody else a esson . And do you think this money will come back to the budget, or maybe it will be just like with the other place . President putin you know, how this situation will eventually end, were speculating about that. Its really not the right thing to do. And its actually wrong from the point of view of law. But i can assure you that we are working on that. We are checking those facts, this one and other facts. There are many instances, many cases, many investigations under way that are highprofile in ussia. , and the step down convicting the people found guilty will not escape punishment or will not get a lighter sentence. We see property confiscated, and that money could be returned and used for the government. What about mr. Geiser, another former governor . President putin yes, sir. I get reports regularly from the investigating committee in writing, i know they are moving on, but this investigation must be very professional and after that, its findings will be submitted to court. Host thank you. We will go back to the call center now. We have 2. 5 million calls. President putin excuse me, to address the issue of fisheries right now, theres a draft law being in process in this area. I hope our colleagues there can hear us. They were saying chinese fish were coming to be processed in russian plants, the fish that is delivered on short of these days, and the fish that should be processed in russian ndustries, it is being elivered there frozen. Usually it is caught in russia yet it comes from china, gets reimported to russia, sometimes in the same vessel. We are drafting a law that says fish should be delivered to russia fresh, not frozen. It would not be possible any longer to freeze fish and deliver frozen fish. We hope this will benefit the russian industries. We also hope to provide penalties to companies who engage in this kind of ctivity. 70 will be provided specifically to industries that will use their own ships and boats for fishing, and those who meet those conditions will eceive an additional 20 quota on top of what they already have. Violators of these arrangements will be stripped of their yeah tas entirely. You said that ships are decrepit, they are deteriorating. Out of the 20 , we intend to invest 5 in upgrading and repairing existing fleet and 15 to build new ships. Now the government is drafting that law, it needs to finalize it. There is endless deliberation right now among various ministries and agencies but i believe that the draft law should become law, adopted and ratified by the state duma, during the parliaments spring session this year. We have 2. 5 million calls. A lot of questions about utility bills, social issues. But this year many people are interested in domestic politics and our Foreign Policy. We actually have calls from the United States. We have a call from logica. Hello, mr. Putin. Why is it that you dont respond to slander from western countries . Maybe you should hire some good lawyers and media to report some lies about offshore companies. President putin i thought we had moved on and somehow turned the page on this, but if you are interested, as surprising as it seems, the information reported about offshore accounts is not falsified. It is correct. It seem this is publication was prepared by lawyers rather than journalists because it is very, very in line with the law. They are not accusing anyone directly. It is all about speculation about friends of mine. The question is, could some of that offshore money wind up in the hands of some officials, or aybe even the president s . It occurred to me that one person could invest all their money into Musical Instruments. We have people who make money by breeding pets but not by buying Musical Instruments in bulk but at the same time the authors of they have publication really hit outside the target. This is really beside the point. All of those Musical Instruments, expensive ones, they are well known. All the collectors know these instruments very well. The violin and the cello that were bought, they are well known. The latest of those purchases were 12 million. I dont know if we have those kinds of instruments in russia. There was one owned by the musician that was later bought by a japanese buyer. Hey all have their own names. They are very exclusive. One of them bears the name stewart. Recently, he performed with the instruments. This is a used instrument, used ince 1732. It was created by the legendary, stadivari, and the priest owner was frederick the great, the king of prussia. Of course, there is nothing you could do with such an instrument except play and give joy to music lovers, but the person who invested this was the only person who thought to give it to he government. I would like to calm down all the people looking for sensation. He does not have money any onger. He now even owes some money to institutions. Who is interested in those publications . We know there are american officials behind some of those ublications. Just yesterday i asked my press representative, my spokesperson, where this publication first appeared. It was in a german newspaper owned by goldman sachs, an american company, american bank. Everywhere you see the beneficiaries of these publications, we see their hand. The closer we get to elections, the more publications like that we will see. But really, it is not about the specific officials, it is about ur country in general. A country that will not toe the line for them, for the west. The country that refuses to bend down. But if our if our counterparts are prepared to treat us with respect, then were always willing to come halfway to meet them and find a solution that will benefit and satisfy both parties. That is the only way to deal with this as an equal partner. Who is worse, clinton or trump . For russia . President putin we need to look for the best options. I can only respond in the