racism discrimination it's also. after football announced its plans last week other sports in the country including cricket rugby and tennis joined in as well football's european and world governing bodies are also backing the boycott players want social media companies to do more to stop discriminatory abuse being sent or even viewed by many of those involved have posted this message english football is coming together with other organizations on sports to boycott social media and demand change we are asking for a significant action to bring to an end the vile discriminatory abuse players and many others have to endure. hello the headlines on al-jazeera the u.s. has become the latest country to impose restrictions on most travelers from india due to the spiraling number of cases there starting on tuesday only u.s.

citizens on permanent residents will be allowed in india is battling a 2nd wave and continues to register the world's highest single day infections these also has more on the u.s. restrictions on travel from india the white house says that they gave very close consideration to this very important decision they say that they consulted with c.d.c. with other health officials and with national security officials as well but ultimately made the decision to ban all indian citizens from entering the united states we don't know how long this band will be in place but it does go into effect next tuesday on may 4th now white house officials were quick to point out this that this does not affect any u.s. citizens at all. in just a few hours all adults will be eligible to get. seen but there is concern over shortages would some states saying they've run out of. the fire has swept through

a covert 1000 ward in the indian city of barroom 12 people are dead figure expected to rise emergency services are battling the fire which has already damaged large parts of the patel welfare hospital patients are being moved to another hospital at least 21 people have been killed in a truck bomb attack in afghanistan that happened then put the city the capital of logar province where a crowd had gathered to break their ramadan fast the government has blamed the taleban for the explosion which is one of the deadliest in recent months funerals have been held for some of the $45.00 people killed in a stampede at an ultra orthodox jewish festival in israel on thursday calls are growing for a public inquiry into the disaster which unfolded at the country's largest gathering since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more news at the top of the hour for you right here on al-jazeera coming up next is inside story.

alexina only faces court in moscow again the kremlin critic loses his latest appeal and his political organizations could soon be the cleared extremist so what's next for russia's opposition movement and those who had pinned their hopes on a volley this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. russian opposition leader a dissident kremlin critic alexina only is known by many titles in the west some

see him as one of the few people who can unite opponents against president vladimir putin but nowadays he's limited to speaking his mind in court or in jail on thursday he lost an appeal against his latest conviction and russia's financial watchdog has added his campaign offices to a list of so-called extremist organizations ahead of a court decision to outlaw them his allies are disbanding but say they're determined to fight on bernard smith reports from moscow. on a poor quality video link from a prison hospital alexei navalny looks he's lost 20 kilos since his return from germany in january telling his wife and the rest of the court he's eating a few spoonfuls of porridge after ending a 3 week hunger strike this hearing was an appeal against his conviction for defamation but vladimir putin's most prominent critic had other things to talk about too. this 20 years of incompetent government have led to the fall and the result there is a crown slippin from his years there elias on t.v.

we have spent $3.00 and our country continues to slide into poverty as opportunities to have his voice heard a rapidly shrinking simle taney sleep in another moscow court prosecutors opened a case to declare and to corruption group the f b k and his regional offices as extremist making them equivalent to al qaeda. as a regional campaign offices do not exist anymore but there are dozens of cool and mighty regional politicians there are thousands of their their powerful independent political organizations that will be doing investigations and money during elections bubbly complains and really. the case was adjourned but the court has already imposed an interim order stopping group from operating the number 2 was they'd rather powerful opponent is standing against us it is the whole state machine of a nuclear superpower state it can behave brutally as we could see ourselves during the events which are also related to the current case we are defending the truth we

believe that our client b.k. is a fair organization which does not violate any law you rarely hear his name mentioned on russian television any attempt to remind people who he is is quickly erased this mural incent petersburg was painted over hours after appearing overnight alexei navalny supporters carry on with their activities but without the charismatic personality they might find it much harder to have an impact. but it's with al-jazeera moscow. all right let's bring in our guests in moscow alexander slow view of board member of open russia an opposition group in vancouver island michael buster cue global affairs analyst and former spokesman for the organization for security and cooperation in europe or o s c e and back in moscow maria lipman senior associate at the institute for european russian and eurasian studies at george washington university

a warm welcome to you all maria let me start with you today this move to ban all of all these political organizations to declare them extremist i mean not only supporters see this as an inevitability at this point right i mean that's why offices are in the process of being disbanded correct yes this is correct and i think the government is out to destroy. his organizations formal and informal and actually it is on a broad campaign to destroy anything and anyone who would dare is express open and vocal disloyalty to the regime it is not limited to the not only himself and his organizations it goes much broader to some media outlets to lawyers to our non-governmental organizations and it seems that the campaign will continue and the government is very serious about it it is determined to put any end to open

disloyalty alexander picking up on the point that maria was making there let me ask you how dangerous will this extremist label make things for in of all these supporters for staff members at his organization and does this does this extremist designation mean that staff and supporters are going to be potentially facing prison time. well despite the fact that we've already had a totally clearly political article 'd on this our bill or going to zation for more than 6 years this is a totally mute level of oppression because if you are going or you post an a or just some number of people which is also allowed to coal a number of people extremist organization without even having a legal entity if you are being called this extremist. label or issue being given this label that means that and if thing that concerns you even then the past yes that's that's still possible in russia even in the past when it was legal

may be used as. as the tool to say that see you are also an extremist even if you have being given legally you have been donating money to them even if you share their post even if you like their post this is an unprecedented level of pressure but i think that still doesn't mean that. their net is going to be destroyed 100 percent i think even if they continue making the videos on untie corruption videos which sometimes get something like more than $100000000.00 views it's already it's already going to be great michael there are a lot of analysts in the past who had suggested that president putin would not publicly go after election a volley in too harsh of a way suggesting perhaps that putin was worried of how much of

a threat the volley could be but it seems now that president putin is really no longer tolerating the volley right. absolutely he's now through these actions what they are to look at such a scribe he's really expressed his kind of what a big threat to not only as an i i just say that you know one thing we've looked at whether we've seen from come in 1000 is that a lot of strong men and there are 10 regimes have used the pandemic to let it bluntly put it this way to level the playing field in their favor so that's exactly what's happening right now i would describe the actions as chilling as scary that there is no limit to it there they've gone after political opponents but they haven't finished they're also going after media you know see liberal media outlets close down you'll also see artists are writing under scrutiny and will be intimidated and then the thing that worries me too is a list of countries including canada where i am right now will be determined it will be labeled as unfriendly cunt countries and what that means on

a practical ground is that. russian staff of various western embassies will be not allowed to be working there one more quick thing if i can is that another big difference between now and say the cold war which was a very chilling atmosphere is that the regime or the put in that menstruation has technology on their side so it's much more easier for them in a sense to go after their critics looking at their digital footprints that sort of thing to to persecute them it's a very very scary atmosphere right now i would say maria if i could zoom back a bit with you for a moment and talk about you know tactics in the past versus tactics now i'm in the past what we would typically see in russia prosecutors going after opposition figures like the lexically the volley or others in a more indirect way say utilizing laws that weren't necessarily related to their political activities or banning them from holding gathering saying that they didn't have the correct permits or mass just one example but now i mean attempting to

declare the vollies organization as extremist how much of a break is this from the tactics of the past. i see this as a radical break and if we look at alex in the valley person the way i feel quite a little while for many years actually the government obviously of preferred to have him at large then in sale. the government of course always kept him on the pressure was on the house arrest on their administrative arrest he was in jail for a while but they haven't for too long he was harassed us persecuted prosecuted constantly on the pressure however in general here remain at large apparently the government thoughts during that whole period that it would be more dangerous if he is jail that that would produce public outrage and people in the streets and the government voids that the breaking point the turning point was this past

summer when. he was poisoned whether this was an attempt to assist an a.t.m. or to scare him away from his activity is is impossible to say however that was certainly a turning point followed by of course his rehabilitation germany his return despite many warnings from the russian government that he would be arrested and he was indeed a rest in now he isn't jail and actually the government has. a fool full capacity to keep union scale as long as it pleases alexander we mentioned earlier in the show that russia's financial monitoring agency has now added new volleys volleys network of regional campaign offices to a list of organizations involved in what they call terrorism and extremism does that essentially make it impossible for election of only organization his supporters to raise money going forward. well for those legal entities.

in listed in that list of course that makes it impossible to donate the money. it puts under a big threat those who donate money even ordinary citizen who donated like a couple of bucks. absolutely legally may be put into jail up to 6 years if i'm not mistaken so the ordinary donation may end up in 6 years in prison if you are or the protests of the i mean this process of taking accepting donations for these organizations you may end up for. 8 to 10 years in prison so the terms are pretty much serious and that. threat everyone who has been donating money in the past but i think they they've already closed all the bank accounts and they have already made everything on their account i mean they have on this stuff.

everything on their account which was necessary to well to make it more or less safe for their support of us so i don't think. the government will prosecute everyone that has been donating at least some amount of money but i think that might be used against the political activists who are for instance trying to run for their elections michael how formidable was this nationwide political infrastructure that nevaeh and his supporters had built up across the country and is it from your point of view is it effectively destroyed now. yeah well the strength that they had and i think the strength that they had over the regime was technological the social media probably us i mean they've used for example that were garnered by that video of putin's dogs. was incredible and i think that's the

regime probably felt that it was playing catch up with nirvana's movement that they couldn't match that type of technology promise and you know we see those happening around the world including in china where these regimes are putting pressure on social media companies facebook twitter and else and others to crack down on their opponent so in the case of the money in russia they contact is a big up platform there and you know be we won't see the same kind of game being played out as we've seen in china where they go after western social media companies that go after their own companies and they have a lot of leverage there so it's a very big setback for them if they don't of course they don't have the ability to communicate with the common man through mass media so they use social media that they're cut off from that that's a huge huge setback for an apology and his movement maria from your perspective do members of the international community who support alexina vali really know who he

is i ask this because a lot of the way that he is represented especially in the media in the west and in other countries highlights the fact that he's a dissident that he's an activist a lawyer an opposition leader but a lot of the time it leaves out his history of ties to nationalist groups right. well he indeed during some nationalist groups in the past i think he did that mostly. out of so that they're easy with them because they were also persecuted and harassed by the authorities and he also is a as if politician his story potential they are there was a time which is actually over and now when nestle sentiments are in their high and nationalist groups also have their rail is in moscow in elsewhere but especially in moscow. so is a politician sort of potential for support so if this is a constituency a sizable constituency if he cannot ignore it. also sympathy

his i think. those contacts have long been in the past and i think. in general people in the west have a reasonably fair view of the jaime is a fearless indomitable unbending fighter a like nobody else in russia totally. capable to. raise his it where in this which was quite a few in russia he was totally ignored by a large audience media and yet he was able to create an awareness of way over half of russia. he also demonstrated of his unafraid. continued he is crusade against corruption for years on end he also has this amazing tale and telling explaining very complicated corruption schemes in an easy

in funny way which is also to his credit so i think his contacts incipit this for nationalism is a tiny. elements in the his long long road to public awareness in russia alexander what do you think i mean are there. supporters of election of only in russia that are troubled by his history of ties to nationalism. should be honest with you even me for instance i should be ever ever a lot of people think that i should be offended by his post because i come from a mixed family but i'm not because he has never expressed haiti as. having shaming people like me or something like that because i will not marry it describe it quite well because that was. a long time ago and that while he never actually had any kind of nationalist movement and you should also bear in mind that the nationalists most men death 20 years ago in russia that was not actually

necessarily been. in the nowadays understanding because that was a bit different movement which sometimes included people who were like almost nazis but from the other hand the majority of them were absolutely like. normal people who were just so. not. happy with the situation with the. immigrants and who were not against the immigrants but if you were just like threatened by the by the fact that's the situation is not it looked like the situation was not controlled by the authorities and we have like chaos in that sphere but. well i do not think this is good i mean this this part of his past but i also don't think that this must be something that like you know puts the cross on his future and in politics michael election of ali is no doubt

a darling in many countries in the west you know the media really presents him in a in a very heroic way. world leaders talk about him very admiringly. in some sense we've seen this kind of thing happen with other opposition figures we've seen this kind of thing play out with one guy dough in venezuela with awesome she in me and maher is is this the same in some ways a similar narrative playing out here with what we're seeing with alexina volley. yeah absolutely and also their opposition leader and by the way i think that's one reason why nevada came back he knew the threat that was being he was being faced with that he was afraid he would end up in the political wilderness and perhaps being given brand by russian people or the regime as a foreign agent but yeah you know the sad thing right now you mention for example i'm sense who chewed that diplomatic tool box is very empty right now for the west

there aren't beyond sanctions what else can they do so i think you know if i were a western policymaker i would be confused at the moment and what the next move is and you know when it comes to me or when it comes to the brutal regime and men maher and other places i think. rhetoric statements of concern don't work anymore you have to go through the hard core stuff and what i mean by that in russia is case is removing them from the international financial system the nuclear option but i think it's the only way where the that is the only option where russia at the kremlin is very terrified of happening to them so one more thing if i may i think i hate to say it we're still in early days with the biden regime but i think in a way we're seeing a obama 2.0 where a lot of tough rhetoric don't do this don't do that when it comes to russia look what just happened on the ukrainian border. but there's

a red line that they will not cross and i think that's put in a sense that he's tested the new administration and i think they can get away with quite a bit now maria the fact that the volley is still making headlines even from behind bars the fact that there are videos if the him now from his last court appearance in which he is criticizing a lot of mir putin is this damaging in russia to putin right now. well the damage is limited and i should say. that by his support in russia we have to admit that is also limited his support is usually estimated by pollsters at about 20 percent we should not underestimate the way the broad public in russia is responsive to. the kremlin line and the west is there to do harm to russia in every possible way and the west is using opponents to their is g.m.'s they are instruments that those who oppose there is are either sponsored or funded

or inspired who are the why otherwise abetted by the west it's not that everyone believes that but there is a constituency that doesn't there is a constituency that remains indifferent. and his allies his supporters. and there are also those who believe the troublemakers such as of course the file is unique but there are other troublemakers in russia that they have to make things worse not better there is a very strong clinging to a status quo in russia and the government of course is taking advantage of that alexander what's next for the opposition movement in russia right now i mean is there a viable opposition leader a viable opposition to putin at the moment. well. there are a lot of opposition leaders within russia but on the fortune they there are not famous

. abroad but. at the same time i should admit that the fact that this new era of political pressure are probably means that we will have less and less legal of the changes to say in russia and to name ourselves up as a shin because it looks like sooner or later or very soon we will not be able to say that in an open way that we are opposition because that would lead me to the lead to 2 term in prison. because if the words are already being used as the as the 2 to put people into prison and more of a right now the photos from the cameras are on the cd are being used it's to say that you see you've been in the center of the city at april 21 when there was illegal really supporting alec saying of ali that means that you should be fine but

as long as you have 3 fines you go to prison again so this is being used right now even the gets me until i don't pose any threats to the regime that the regime of. i think that. that are just on the eve of a of a new era quite harsh and quite tough i don't have a clear and easy answer to your question what's going to happen next i think that 1st of all a lot of politicking political leaders opposition leaders will have to. well will have to abandon russia. michael we don't have a whole lot of time left on ask you to please keep your answer brief or just have about a minute but essentially at the end of the day here president putin remains firmly in control is that right. absolutely and you know he doesn't only have the state operators that is disposal but the one thing i'm really worried about do are

so-called freelance elements of the security service or military died might act within russia to go after his opponents or feel like they have license to go after their opponents overseas as well that is a very worrisome and chilling element here and i think it's one that the west has to be cognizant of and keep surveillance over those elements a light to put and that may go after put in opponents totally in russia but overseas as well all right we've run out of times we're going to have to leave the conversation there thank you so much to all of our guests alexander salafi of michael buster q. and maria lipman and thank you too for watching you can see this and all of our previous programs again any time by visiting our website al jazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story from a management room and a whole team here by phone and. i

. that seems a promising paul thought of the pandemic but implementing the greatest inoculation in history is testing the global community around the world already a clear gap as the match between rich nations and poor ones when it comes to vaccinating their populations from the geopolitics to the pure economics the misinformation and the latest developments what's going on here is very different for a start labatt's incomes in the form of the nasal spray special coverage of the corona virus pandemic are not just. young women with

a passion for space i used to dream about working and if they are school company like nasa and a small staff a science a giant leap for womankind in kindest on me but don't place it inside and at the scheduled time the satellite would be sent into space women make science cuddliest on space school on al-jazeera. from inside the walls of a west african prison. a chance to create to express emotion and take the 1st steps towards rehabilitation. a renowned choreographer shares his passion for darts inspiring prisoners to perform and to reach beyond the ill deeds of the past and the confines of their present to the dance of the eye witness documentary on al-jazeera teaching you can watch out just the way english

streamline the nike channel. plus thousands of our programs will be documentaries. subscribe to you cheap food so much al-jazeera english. this is al-jazeera i'm dead you know with a check on your world headlines the u.s. has become the latest country to impose restrictions on most travelers from india due to the spiraling number of cases there starting on tuesday only u.s. citizens on permanent residents will be allowed in india is battling a 2nd wave and continues to register the world's highest single day in factions. there has more from washington d.c. the white house says that they gave very close consideration to this very.