Guests
RT Guests
May 31, 2007, 9:45 Viktor Danilov-Danilyan
Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the Director of the Institute of Water Problems, spoke to Russia Today about climate changes and the problems which could follow them.
May 31, 2007, 9:43 Viktor Kremenyuk
Viktor Kremenyuk, Deputy Director of the U.S. and Canada Institute in Moscow, commented for Russia Today on the U.S. Congressmen visit to Russia and on Russian-American relations.
May 31, 2007, 9:41 Martin Schulz
Martin Schulz, Chairman of the Socialist group of the European Parliament, described the results of his recent visit to Moscow, during which a 10-strong European delegation held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other high-ranking officials.
May 30, 2007, 5:44 Frank Althaus
Frank Althaus, the head of the Russian Language Centre in London, joined Russia Today to comment on the situation with the Russian language in Britain.
May 30, 2007, 5:39 Frank Maguire
Frank Maguire, business guru and the Head of Corporate Culture at the U.S. courier company Federal Express has spoken to Russia Today about his vision of effective management.
Maguire shaped the corporate culture at Federal Express. During an international forum in Sochi he shared his secrets on how the companies can manage their staff more effectively.
Frank Maguire: The economic system here in Russia has dramatically changed in the past 20 years. But the turnover is the major problem and let us have something done about it or there will be no improvement. But you have to be really careful that you treat your people with respect, with dignity. The most important thing is to let your employees know that they are the company. That does not come easy, not in Russia, because they are not the company I am the boss, I am the company. That is not going to work anymore.
May 29, 2007, 10:21 Harry Helenius
Harry Helenius, Finnish Ambassador to Russia, spoke to RT’s Business Today about the state of trade relations between the two countries, ahead of Russian Prime Minister Fradkov's official visit to Finland on Tuesday.
May 29, 2007, 6:08 Christian Mungiu
In an interview with Russia Today, the Palme d'Or winner, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, shared his impressions of the festival and talked about his plans for the future.
May 29, 2007, 6:08 Vitaly Tretyakov
Vitaly Tretyakov, the editor-in-chief of the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper shared with Russia Today his view about practicing journalism, and freedom of speech  in Russia.
May 29, 2007, 6:07 Andrey Zolotov
Andrey Zolotov, the Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Profile magazine, commented for Russia Today on the issues around the profession of journalist in connection with the 26th Congress of International Federation of Journalists hosted in Moscow.
May 29, 2007, 6:06 Vladimir Novitsky
Vladimir Novitsky, legal director at the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, commented to Russia Today on the problem of xenophobia in Russia and worldwide.
May 29, 2007, 6:05 Mikhail Chernov
Mikhail Chernov, the Head of the International Department of Russian Business Consulting journal, joined Russia Today to comment on the recent political events in Ukraine and the final settlement of the early parliamentary elections date.
May 28, 2007, 4:59 Leonid Gusev
Leonid Gusev, a political analyst from Moscow State University of Foreign Relations shared with Russia Today his opinion about further developments in Ukraine after the political crisis and Kiev's relations with Russia.
May 27, 2007, 13:25 Evgeny Korniychuk
Evgeny Korniychuk, a member of the Ukraine’s Yulia Timoshenko Bloc, joined Russia Today to discuss the attempts of the Ukrainian leaders to break the political deadlock.
May 26, 2007, 10:37 Evgeny Gavrilenkov
Evgeny Gavrilenkov, the Chief Economist of the Troika Dialog investment company, shared with Russia Today his views concerning the debates in the Russian State Duma on the three-year budget.
May 26, 2007, 5:51 Vitaly Yermakov
Vitaly Yermakov, Research Director for Russian and Caspian energy at Cambridge Energy Research Associates,  joined Russia Today to discuss the specifics of the coal/gas ratio in Russia's energy balance, in connection with the deadly accident in the coal mine in Western Siberia. 
May 26, 2007, 5:48 Taras Berezovets
Taras Berezovets, Ukrainian political expert of the UK-Ukraine Partnership Network, joined Russia Today in Kiev to comment on the present political situation in Ukraine.
May 26, 2007, 5:45 Vladimir Yakunin
Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, gave RT an interview, outlining the company's developement plans and his suggestion to the government to allow independent directors the freedom to manage state-owned companies.
May 25, 2007, 12:43 Vladimir Sazhin
Vladimir Sazhin from the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow joined Russia Today to give his view on the situation over the Iranian nuclear programme.
May 25, 2007, 3:30 Aleksandr Sergeev
Aleksandr Sergeev, the Head of the Independent Miners Trade Union, joined Russia Today to comment on the blast in the mine in Western Siberia and the overall situation in coal mining.
May 25, 2007, 3:27 Semyon Bagdasarov
Semyon Bagdasarov, the Director of the Institute of Research of Islam, talked to Russia Today on the new deadline set by the Security Council on Iran to stop uranium enrichment.
May 24, 2007, 3:28 Viktoria Panova
Victoria Panova, a political analyst from the Moscow State University of International Relations, gave Russia Today her view on the purpose of President Putin's visit to Austria.
May 24, 2007, 3:23 Tony Halpin
Tony Halpin, the Moscow Bureau Chief of Britain's Times newspaper, joined Russia Today to share his views on recent developments in the Litvinenko case.
May 23, 2007, 4:45 Andrey Kortunov
Andrey Kortunov, a political analyst and the President of the New Eurasia Foundation, shared with Russia Today his view of the Litvinenko case, in light of Britain's push to extradite Andrey Lugovoy.
May 23, 2007, 4:43 Odd Enoksen
Odd Enoksen, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum of Norway spoke to Russia Today about Norway–Russia energy co-operation.
May 22, 2007, 12:48 Kirill Koktysh
Kirill Koktysh, an analyst from Moscow State University of International Relations, spoke to Russia Today about the situation around the visit of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Belarus.
May 21, 2007, 11:20 Hans Blix
Hans Blix, chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, former head of the IAEA and former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, commented on ways towards global disarmament, the controversy over the U.S. missile defence shield, and the distinction between peaceful and military nuclear capabilities.
From 1981 to 1997 Dr Hans Blix was the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency - the UN nuclear watchdog. But it's his role as UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq that brought him back from retirement and into the limelight. During his research, Dr Blix was both critical of Saddam Hussein and the British and U.S. governments for dramatising the casus belli for Iraq war. Now Dr Blix is touring the globe in his capacity as the chairman of the Stockholm-based Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, and promoting his final WMD report - a guideline for world disarmament.
May 21, 2007, 5:46 Nikolay Baranov
Colonel Nikolay Baranov, a former Su-27 pilot, joined Russia Today to discuss the contemporary role of the Su-27 fighter.
May 21, 2007, 5:44 Natalya Katsap
Natalya Katsap, Director of the Russian Media Partnership to Combat HIV/AIDS, joined Russia Today on AIDS Memorial Day to speak about the measures to prevent and fight the disease.
May 20, 2007, 8:17 Sergey Chapnin
Sergey Chapnin, the executive editor of the religious newspaper Tserkovny Vestnik, joined Russia Today to comment on the recent re-unification of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
May 20, 2007, 8:16 Olga Potyomkina
Olga Potyomkina, an analyst from the Institute of Europe, shared with Russia Today her thoughts on the recently held Russia-EU summit.
May 19, 2007, 6:20 Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Dugin, a political analyst and the head of the Eurasia Movement, gave his view on the relationship between Russia and the EU.
May 19, 2007, 6:18 Aleksandr Lebedeff
The Rector of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Los Angeles, archpriest Aleksandr Lebedeff, shared with RT his thoughts on the re-unification of the Russian Orthodox Church.
May 19, 2007, 6:16 Vyacheslav Nikonov
Vyacheslav Nikonov, the President of Moscow-based "Politika" Foundation, commented for Russia Today on the atmosphere in which the current Russia-EU summit takes place and generally on the prospects of Russian-European relations.
May 19, 2007, 6:13 Andreus Romanos
Andreus Romanos, Chief Executive of the Association of European Businesses, joined Russia Today to comment on the business side of Russia-EU relations.
May 19, 2007, 6:10 Sergey Karaganov
Sergey Karaganov, from the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, commented for Russia Today on the "natural crisis of growth" which as he says Europe and Russia are facing.
"The dialogue between Europe and Russia is happening through difficult times.  As everybody says this is a natural crisis of growth. We had almost no dialogue seven or eight years ago. After Putin came we started a very intense dialogue. We actually made huge progress during these years. But in the meantime we have opened up new horizons and new problems," he said.
According to Sergey Karaganov, Europe has got itself into a middle-age crisis and it is getting weaker.
"It is getting weaker and doesn't know what to do with Russia now after everything we have reached. Russia has got stronger, but also doesn't know what it wants from the EU. So, we started to argue about very small issues. Some of them are constructive, like the visa problem - more and more Russians could travel much freer. We have so many problems. But unfortunately there are unsolved problems which are now on the table and they are dominating on the agenda, just because the strategic problems have been pushed away. We are not speaking about our common interests and we are talking about small differences. And bureaucrats are dominating our agenda instead of politicians," Mr Karaganov explained.
Sergey Karaganov also commented on the reasons for the crisis. "There are minor problems and minor reasons for this crisis; one of them is of course the fact that Europe has increased numbers and the expense of the so-called EU Europeans, some of whom are driven not by relational interest, but by historic idiosyncrasy. Some of them are listening not to Brussels, Rome or Paris, but to Washington. And Washington is not very much interested in close co-operation between Russia and the EU for quite understandable and rational reasons. And now also Washington, as we all know, is not interested in  further development of the European integration process, especially in the field of foreign policy and security because Europe is simply becoming too strong a competitor," the expert noted.
"We are probably having too many meetings at the top level. As far as I know and many specialists know, both sides are looking for a possibility to have only one summit a year, but real summit, two summits is too much. Both sides are uneasy how to decrease the number of the meetings without creating an impression that we are in a deep crisis. Maybe the meeting in Samara will push us towards much more constructive "one-a-year" format," Mr Karaganov said.

Earlier Sergey Karaganov joined Russia Today to speak about Russia’s stance on Iran’s nuclear programme.
May 18, 2007, 6:42 Andrey Zagorsky
Andrey Zagorsky, professor at the Moscow State University of International Relations, commented for Russia Today on the Russia–EU summit in Samara.
May 18, 2007, 6:41 Vsevolod Chaplin
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate of Russian Orthodox Church, spoke to Russia Today on the importance of the re-unification of the Church.
May 18, 2007, 6:39 Boris Falikov
Boris Falikov, an analyst from the Centre for Comparative Research of Religion at the Russian State University of Humanities, shared with RT his views on re-unification of the Russian Orthodox Church.
May 17, 2007, 14:05 Sergey Govorun
Father Sergey Govorun, theology and Orthodox Christianity expert, commented on the signing of the Act of the Canonical Communion, which formalised the re-unification of the Russian Orthodox Church at home and abroad.
May 17, 2007, 7:16 Anatoly Kucherena
As the Russia’s Public Chamber was meeting on Wednesday to discuss the role of public organisations in national priority projects, Anatoly Kucherena, a senior member of the Public Chamber, gave RT his view on the body’s work. 
May 17, 2007, 7:15 Hugh Barnes
Hugh Barnes, former Agence France-Presse journalist commented for Russia Today on France's political reshuffle.
May 17, 2007, 7:14 Alexis Delaroff
Alexis Delaroff, the President of the French expatriate community in Moscow, shared with Russia Today his expectations about the new French President Nikolas Sarkozy and possible changes in French domestic and foreign policy, and Russian-French relations.
May 17, 2007, 7:12 Nikolay Petrov
Nikolay Petrov, a political analyst from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Russia Today about the formation and the role of the Public Chamber in the structure of civil society in Russia.
May 14, 2007, 17:08 Jean-Paul Costa
Jean-Paul Costa, the newly elected President of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in an exclusive interview with Russia Today outlined the results of his visit to Moscow.
May 14, 2007, 12:53 Vladislav Tretyak

Vladislav Tretyak, Russian Ice Hockey Federation President and Hall of Fame goaltender, told RT about the ongoing dispute between NHL and RIHF over the player transfer agreement, which Russia refuses to sign.

May 14, 2007, 10:01 Armen Badalov
Armen Badalov, analyst from PACE Global Energy Services, spoke to Russia Today on the new gas pipeline around the Caspian Sea and its significance for the gas market.
May 13, 2007, 16:05 Anatoly Romanovsky
Anatoly Romanovsky, analyst from Hermitage Capital Management, comments for Russia Today on Russia’s pipeline agreement with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
May 13, 2007, 5:44 Sergey Pravosudov
Sergey Pravosudov, Director of the National Energy Institute shared his view on regional energy policy in Central Asia in light of the signing of the Caspian gas pipeline agreement between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia.
May 13, 2007, 5:43 Igor Tomberg
Igor Tomberg, Senior Fellow of the Energy Studies Centre, joined Russia Today to comment on the energy summit between Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia and the expected sighing of a new pipeline agreement.
May 12, 2007, 6:01 William Ramsay
William Ramsay, Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, joined Russia Today to share his view on the prospects for energy co-operation with Turkmenistan.
May 12, 2007, 6:01 Ron Smith
Ron Smith, analyst from Alfa-Bank in Moscow, commented for Russia Today on the situation around the projects of gas deliveries from Turkmenistan.
May 12, 2007, 6:00 Dmitry Butrin
Dmitry Butrin, the Head of the Economic Policy section at Kommersant Daily newspaper, commented for Russia Today on the situation on the global energy market in context of the summits in Poland and Turkmenistan.
May 11, 2007, 16:07 Elena Guskova
On Friday, the European Union and the United States launched a draft UN Security Council resolution, providing for the effective independence of Kosovo.

This comes despite Russia's strong opposition to the plan.

The resolution, drawn up by U.N. Envoy Martti Ahtisaari, provides the province with independence from Serbia under the supervision of the European Union.

To give us more on the subject, we are now joined by Elena Guskova from the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies.
May 11, 2007, 14:24 Maria Sharapova
The famous Russian tennis player, Maria Sharapova, who has been named the Ambassador for the Russian 2014 Winter Olympics Bid Committee, told Russia Today about her efforts to help the Russian city of Sochi to win the bid, and to make life of the people affected by the Chernobyl disaster easier.
May 11, 2007, 5:50 Aleksey Gromyko
Aleksey Gromyko, Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe and also the Head of the Centre for British Studies, gave his view on the British political future following PM Tony Blair’s resignation.
May 10, 2007, 16:26 Aleksandr Pikaev
Aleksandr Pikaev, political analyst from the Moscow Carnegie Centre, commented to Russia Today on the first results of the Russian President's visit to Central Asia.
May 10, 2007, 12:38 Gleb Plaksin
Gleb Plaksin, a World War II veteran, joined Russia Today to remember the war days.
Gleb Plaksin, a son of a Russian army officer who left the country after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, was born in France. He joined the French Resistance movement in 1943 and the American army after the Normandy landings of 1944. He has lived in Russia since 1955.
May 10, 2007, 5:48 Aron Zusman
Aron Zusman, the Chairman of the Roof Movement of the Holocaust victims, who was held prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp as a child, shared with RT his memories.
May 9, 2007, 13:45 Mikhail Myagkov
Mikhail Myagkov, a historian from the Center of the History of War and Geopolitics at the Russian Academy of Science, spoke to Russia Today on the price of WWII victory for the Soviet Union.
May 9, 2007, 6:04 Dmitry Vydrin
Dmitry Vydrin, a political analyst and member of the Ukrainian parliament from the Yulia Timoshenko bloc, gave RT his view on the political situation in Ukraine.
May 9, 2007, 6:03 Mikhail Krutikhin
Mikhail Krutikhin, the Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Energy Weekly magazine, spoke to Russia Today about Russian and Bulgarian energy co-operation, as the Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev is visiting Moscow.
May 9, 2007, 6:00 Pavel Kruglyakovsky
Pavel Kruglyakovsky, a political analyst from the Party of Regions which supports the Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, joined Russia Today to comment on the country's political situation and on the possible results from a working group, set up to settle the current crisis.
May 8, 2007, 13:09 Kira Zueva
Kira Zueva, senior researcher at the European Studies Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, spoke to Russia Today about Russia-France relations in the wake of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential win in France.
May 8, 2007, 2:48 Aleksandr Kirilin
Aleksandr Kirilin, a Major General from the Military Memorial Center of the Russian Defence Ministry, spoke to Russia Today about Soviet military memorials abroad.
May 8, 2007, 2:47 Tatyana Zvereva
Tatyana Zvereva, a senior researcher on France from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shared with Russia Today  her view on the result of presidential elections in France.
May 7, 2007, 12:55 Marina Arzakanyan
Marina Arzakanyan, an analyst from the World History Institute, spoke to Russia Today about the French Presidential election and the likely top issues of Mr Sarkozy's Presidency.
May 7, 2007, 6:13 Olivier Ravanello
Moscow bureau chief of TF1 France, Olivier Ravanello, joined Russia Today to give his view on the presidential elections in France.
May 7, 2007, 6:10 Andrew Kuchins
Andrew Kuchins, the Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, in his interview with Russia Today, explained why Russia and Estonia fail to agree over their shared history.
May 6, 2007, 16:44 Aleksandr Pikaev
Aleksandr Pikaev gave RT his comments on the presidential voting in France.
May 5, 2007, 5:13 Yury Nikiforov
Yury Nikiforov, a political analyst from the Institute of World History at the Russian Academy of Sciences, shared with Russia Today his opinion on the dispute around the dismantling of the Soviet war memorial in Tallinn.
May 5, 2007, 5:10 Qassim Jassim
Qassim Jassim, political analyst from Rusiya Al-Yaum TV channel, spoke to Russia Today about the ongoing summit on Iraq in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
May 4, 2007, 12:37 Vasily Mikheev
Vasily Mikheev, the Director of the China and Japan Studies Centre, commented for Russia Today on the visit of Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso to Russia and the general state of Russian-Japanese relations.
May 4, 2007, 6:11 Elena Suponina
Elena Suponina, the Head of International Department of Vremya Novostey newspaper, joined Russia Today to comment on the Iraqi summit to take place in Egypt to write off Iraq debts to other countries.
May 4, 2007, 6:10 Vladimir Simindei
Vladimir Simindei, historian, political expert and the Head of the CIS and Eastern Europe Department of the "Rossiyskie Vesti" newspaper, spoke to Russia Today about the turmoil surrounding the removal of a Soviet war memorial in Estonia.
May 3, 2007, 16:18 Elena Guskova
Elena Guskovajoined Russia Today to speak on the failure of the talks between top Serbian and ethnic Albanian leaders on the future of Kosovo.
May 2, 2007, 13:34 Oleg Rozhnov

Oleg Rozhnov, Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation commented for Russia Today on the latest Freedom House report on the freedom of expression.