Of all the topics we have been talking about. Now, the conversation, followed by an analysis of his visit to the United States. Charlie are people in russia fearful of you . Pres. Putin i think not. I proceeded from the fact that most people trust me if they vote for me at the election. This is the most important thing. It places enormous responsibility on me, colossal. Im grateful to people for this trust. At the same time, i feel this huge burden of responsibility for doing what i do and the results of my work. Charlie youre much talked about in america. Theres much conversation. More so than any pres. Putin maybe they have nothing else to do in america but to talk about me. Charlie no, no, or maybe theyre curious people. Or maybe youre an interesting character. Maybe thats what it is. They see a strong leader who presents himself in a strong way. They know of a former kgb agent who came back and got into politics in st. Petersburg and became deputy mayor and then came to moscow. And the interesting thing is they see these images of you barechested on a horse. And they say, there is a man who carefully cultivates his image of strength. Im asking pres. Putin you know, im convinced that a person who occupies my post must provide a positive example to people. And those areas where he can do this, he must do this. In our country, we had a very severe situation with the Social Security system was destroyed a , lot of problems emerged that we still cannot effectively resolve fully. In the sphere of health care, a Healthy Lifestyle is extremely important. It is the foundation of the resolution of many crucial problems, including the health of the nation. It is impossible to solve the Health Care Problem with millions of people only by using pills. People need to have the habits or the passion, their ease and has to be there even has to be a fashion of our lifestyle. I believe this is the right thing, when not only i, but other colleagues, asked today, for example, they participate in the marathon races. When they attempt soccer matches, when they participate in sports competitions themselves, so this is where the love of millions of people of sports comes from. I think it is extremely important. Charlie i hear you. That is important. May i suggest also that you do like the image that you present, barechested on horseback, as a strong leader. That is who you want to be seen as. For your people and for the world. Pres. Putin i want everybody to know that russia and the leadership of russia are something effective and properly functioning. That altogether, russia, healthy people, confident people, ready to cooperate with our partners, wherever they are. Weather in the field of sports, politics, or cooperation against a threat. I think there is only positive in this. Charlie it is appropriate to alieve that you believe and strong leader, because you believe in a strong Central Government and you have suggested what happens when you dont have that. Are you curious about america . More than simply another nation that you have to deal with . Because they are curious about you. Are you watching the republican political debates . Pres. Putin i would not say i watch them daily, no. Of course, we are curious about what is going on in the u. S. It is a major world power, and economic and military leader, so of course america exerts great influence on the situation in the world in general and we are interested in what is going on. And we keep a close watch, but i do not watch the internal political saga on an everyday basis. More likely, no. Charlie donald trump says you know who he is. He said he would like to meet you because he thinks the two of you would get along. Donald trump. Pres. Putin i heard that. I heard that. We will be glad to have any contact with the next president of the United States. Any person who gains the trust of the American People can count on the fact that we will work with them. Charlie marco rubio is running for the republican nomination and he said some terrible things about you. This is political debate, and the political campaign, understand. He said you were a gangster. He was attacking you because pres. Putin how can i be a gangster if i worked for the kgb . That has no basis in reality. Charlie what do you admire most about america . Pres. Putin i like the creativity. Charlie creativity . Pres. Putin creativity when it comes to your tackling problems. Their openness, it allows them to unleash the inner potential of their people. Thanks to that, america has attained such Great Results in developing their country. Charlie russia had sputnik. You were there before the United States. Russia has extraordinary astrophysicists and leaders in medicine and science and physics. Do you hope that what you can do is restore that leadership and create the same kind of innovation that you just admired america for . And how will you do that . Pres. Putin we should not lose what was created in the previous decades. We should create the very conditions for showing the potential of our people because we are a very talented people. We have a very good basis. You said that you love russian culture. I think that is a great basis for internal development. You have just mentioned are achievements in science and many other areas. We must support that. We must create conditions for people to develop freely, for them to feel confident they are able to realize their potential. I am confident that we will have an effect on the Consistent Development of science, hightech technologies, and the economy in the country overall. Charlie in america, the Supreme Court there has been some controversy here about gay rights. In america the Supreme Court , declared it a constitutional right for samesex marriage. Do you applaud america . For doing that . Do you think that it is a good idea to make it a constitutional right for samesex marriage . Pres. Putin you know, i think that is not a Homogeneous Group of people. Some representatives of the nontraditional Sexual Orientation speak out against the adoption of children by such couples. They themselves are against it. Lesse these People Democratic than other this gayatives of community that supports child adoption by gay couples . Most likely not. The problem of sexual minorities in russia has been deliberately exaggerated by the outside for political reasons. I believe without any good reason. We dont have any such problems. Charlie help us understand. Pres. Putin i will explain it. It is well known that in four states in america, homoSexual Orientation is a crime, whether that is good or bad is not the issue. We know there is a ruling of the Supreme Court, but this problem has not disappeared. It is not completely removed from american legislation. We do not have that. Charlie so you would condemn that . Pres. Putin yes, i condemn that. I believe that there should not be any criminal prosecution or any other prosecution or infringement on peoples rights on the basis of religion, race ethnicity, or sexual , orientation. That should be excluded in the modern world. We do not have that. If my memory does not fail me, we had article 120 of the criminal code which had prosecutions on the basis of homosexuality. We have abolished all of that. We have no persecution at all. People of nontraditional Sexual Orientation live in peace, they work, they get promoted. They get state of words for their achievements in science and the arts and other areas. They receive medals. I personally have awarded them medals. But this is what the question was a ban on propaganda on , homosexuality among minors. I do not see anything undemocratic in this legal act. I only proceed from the fact that we should leave children in peace, give them a chance to grow and to decide for themselves, who is this person . What does he consider himself to be, a man or woman . Do they want to live in a normal, natural marriage or a nontraditional one . That is all. I simply dont observe here in the rightsement on of people of nontraditional Sexual Orientation. I believe this has been a deliberate exaggeration with the purpose of making the group of people from russia for the purpose of making an enemy of russia for political consideration. I believe this is one of the lines of attack against russia. Charlie from where . Pres. Putin from the side of those who do that. Look and see who does this. Charlie as far as you are concerned, there is as much of a recognition of gay rights and gay marriage as there is in the United States . That is your position. Pres. Putin we do not only recognize, but we ensure their rights. In russia equal rights are , guaranteed for everyone. Including for people of nontraditional Sexual Orientation. Charlie ukraine, you and i have talked about ukraine before. Many believe that as a result of what happened in ukraine and crimea, the United States imposed sanctions and those sanctions have hurt russia and that you believe by reemerging and trying to be a positive force around the world and in syria, that it might somehow lessen the focus on ukraine. Pres. Putin do you mean that will help distract the attention from the ukrainian crisis . Charlie yes. Our actions in syria are meant in distracting . Is that what you mean . No, ukraine is a separate issue force. Syria is a different issue. I told you why. We do not want the disintegration of syria. Ofdo not want the return terrorists and those who engage in warfare coming back to russia. There is a whole complexity of problems. When it comes to ukraine, that is a separate issue. It is our closest neighbor. We have always said it is our brother country. Slavs,t only the our languages are very similar. We have common history, common culture, common religion. We have many things in common. What i believe is absolutely inadmissible is the resolution of internal political issues in the former ussr republic through color revolutions, through coup detat, through unconstitutional removal of power. That is totally unacceptable. Our partners in the United States have supported those who ousted yanukovich. Charlie you believe the United States had something to do with the ousting of yanukovich . He had to flee to russia. I know that for sure. I know those people who live in ukraine. We have thousands of contacts with them. We know where, win, and who met with someone, and who worked ith those two outs him oust kim. Him. We know everything and our American Partners do not try to conceal that. They said, yes, we did train them and we spent that much money and it now amounts to 5 , billion. There is no secret about it. Charlie you are suggesting pres. Putin nobody is even arguing against that. Charlie do you respect the sovereignty of ukraine . Sure, but we want other countries to respect the sovereignty of other countries. Ukraine in particular. Respect for sovereignty means to not allow unconstitutional actions and coup detat, the removal of legitimate power. That is something that should not be charlie how will the renewal of legitimate power take place, in your judgment . How will that come about and what role will russia play . Pres. Putin russia is not going to take part in any action removing the legitimate government. What im saying is that if somebody does that, it is very difficult to deal with. In libya, we have seen the disintegration of the state. In iraq, the territory has been filled with terrorists. In syria, the situation is unfolding the same way. In afghanistan, you very well know what the situation looks like. What happened in ukraine . The coup detat led to a civil war. Many citizens of the country did not have trust in you college, but they should have have trust in yanukovych, but they should have gone to the elections. Have elected a new leader. As for the coup detat, somebody supported that. But somebody did not. Charlie i repeat, what are you prepared to do . Let me tell you. If your question is about that, i believe russia and other international actors, those who are more actively engaged in the resolution of the ukrainian crisis, germany and france, with the active engagement of the United States, and in that direction, we have intensified our dialogue. We all should strive for full and unconditional implementation of the minsk agreement. The minsk agreements must be fulfilled. Charlie that is exactly what john kerry said yesterday coming out of a meeting with the british prime minister. He mentioned after syria, ukraine. He said that we have to have a full implementation of the minsk agreements. You and john kerry are just like this, you agree. Implement the minsk agreements. In full. Could you please have enough patience and not interrupt me for two minutes . I ask you, please present this without cuts. Can you do this . Do you have enough power to do this . To present it without cuts. Charlie yes. Pres. Putin the implementation of the agreements means there are several articles. I will speak about the main points so the situation in ukraine changes fundamentally. There should be political reform, that is first. There should be constitutional changes. That is what is set forth in the minsk agreements. Then most important, the minsk agreements state they should be done in coordination. And that is a matter of principle. In ukraine, there are reforms introduced in the constitution, but there has been no coordination with donetsk at all. And no one intends to coordinate anything with them. Is. 1. 2, it is stated in the minsk agreements that there should be the implementation of the law. The law was already past in passed in ukraine of the special selfgovernance status of those territories. They have adopted this law, its implementation has been postponed. That means that the minsk agreements are not fulfilled on this point. Third, there should have been amnesty law. How can one engage in a dialogue with people from these regions if they are all being prosecuted . They are all being brought legal charges against them. That is why the minsk agreements say that a law on amnesty must be adopted, but it has not been adopted. There are other points as well. For example, conducting local elections. It has been written to adopt a law on local elections upon coordination. Ukraine has adopted the law on local elections. The representatives sent to their proposals on this law three times, but nobody will even talk to them. Therefore, the minsk agreements say with coordination. That is why i respect and love mr. Kerry. He is an extremely experienced diplomat. Was againsthat he star wars back in the past and , it was the right thing to do because maybe if he was the one abmo adopted decisions on we probably would not have any , conflicts over abm right now. If one side says, we have complied with the minsk agreements, it is not true. All of these points must be implemented in coordination. There has been no coordination so far. As for the implementation of the already adopted law on the special selfgovernance of these territories, within 30 days, nothing has been done. It has postponed. The entering into force into of this law has been postponed. That is why we advocate full and unconditional implementation of the minsk agreements. Not as interpreted by one of the sides. As written down in the minsk agreements. Charlie you really believe that . Pres. Putin there is nothing to believe actually. It is written on paper. You just need to read it. It is written in coordination with the regions. Read the document for yourself. I am telling you there has been no coordination at all. It was written to adopt the law on the special status within 30 days, but the law has not been enforced. Who is not implementing the minsk agreements . Charlie the secretary of state also said it is important to not only implement the minsk agreement, but also for separatists to give up the idea of independent elections. John kerry said that yesterday. Pres. Putin yes, i know the position of our u. S. Friend. Heres what i want to say in this regard. I just mentioned this. I see that i am forced to repeat it. The minsk agreements say a law on local elections must be passed in coordination with the two regions. So what happened in reality . Key of authorities kiev authorities did adopt the law on their own without any negotiations there was no dialogue at all. There was no dialogue at all. They have adopted this on their own without any consultation in these territories, there will not be elections at all. How are we to understand this . In fact, they themselves have provoked the representatives of the regions to schedule their own elections. That is all there is to it. Are ready together with mr. Kerry to discuss all of this, but we need to prod both sides to implement rather than to pass off as something good what they have done on their own initiative. Charlie i hear you, but i wanted to repeat that. Secretary kerry emphasized separatist elections. I did hear you. Pres. Putin he is being cunning. As secretary of state and a diplomat, he is being cunning. It is quite normal for his profession and for his work. All diplomats are quite cunning. So is he. Charlie you would never do that, would you . Pres. Putin no, i would never do that. I am not a diplomat. Charlie what are you . How do you see yourself . Pres. Putin i am a human being, a citizen of the russian federation. I am a russian. Charlie you also have said that the worst thing that happened in the last century was the collapse of the soviet empire. There are those who look at ukraine, especially ukraine and georgia, and they believe you do not want to recreate the soviet empire, but you do want to recreate a sphere of influence, which you think russia deserves because of the relationship that has existed. Why are you smiling . Pres. Putin you are making me happy because we are always suspected of some ambition and they always try to distort something or hint at something. I indeed said that i believe the collapse of the ussr was a huge tragedy of the 20th century. You know why . First of all, in a single instant, 25 million russian people found themselves beyond the borders of the russian federation. Here they had been living within the borders of the unified traditionallyays the soviet union had been called russia, soviet russia. Well this was greater russia. ,then all of a sudden, the ussr collapsed, overnight, in fact, right . It has turned out that in forme