this is news coming to you live from berlin russia brittanie its foreign minister sergei lavrov says moscow is expelling british diplomats and tit for tat response to london's decision to kick twenty three russian embassy staff out of the country this comes as western allies rally around britain in responding to a poison attack on a former russian double h. . and on the trail of the peace diamond in sierra leone it was supposed to bring prosperity to the villagers who founded instead its bread discontent we have an

exclusive report. well i'm terry martin good to have you with us russia's foreign minister has said today that moscow will expel u.k. diplomats after western allies accused of attempting to murder a former russian spy in britain in a joint declaration yesterday the u.s. joined france germany and britain indirectly blaming moscow for last week's attack using a nerve agent it comes as washington separately announced sanctions against russia for allegedly meddling in its elections. british prime minister to reason may is one of the few visitors to salzburg these days traders in the cathedral town say tourists and shoppers are staying away in the wake of the poisoning of former russian double agent stg a script and his daughter yulia may visit at the restaurant where the chemical attack took place and put the blame squarely on moscow. it is right that the u.k.

government reacts in a robust way to what has happened here insoles break that is exactly what we've done i've announced that we will explain it be expecting twenty three russian diplomats who are undeclared intelligence officers will have an impact on the intelligence network the way all the measures will be taking britain's allies are showing their support france germany and the united states have signed a statement repudiating russia and president all trump says he thinks moscow probably carried out the attack. nature's top military commander sees this as part of a wider passon of russian misbehavior at sea on land in the year russia's increasingly modernized military is operating at levels not seen since the cold war at the same time russia is using indirect activities to advance its strategic objectives throughout europe along its periphery in the middle east and beyond russia has

demonstrated a willingness and capability to use political provocation spread different decision from asian and undermine democratic institutions but russia is firing back accusing britain of dishonesty foreign minister sergei lavrov says it would be absurd to launch an attack against another state ahead of a presidential election and the fee for world cup. i can't tell you the motives of our british colleagues but i don't think there are honest with them would be if they were written would answer the questions we've been asking and would follow the procedures of the chemical weapons convention. britain says it is ready to share the evidence it has collected foreign minister boris johnson says that will make the results of the tests and souls very available to a team of international observers to dispel any doubts. more now let's bring in our moscow correspondent emily sure when emily we just heard there. has announced

moscow will deport u.k. diplomats what more do we know well not much at this point love off was actually responding to a question by a journalist at a meeting about syria an author not in kazakhstan he was asked directly about the expulsion of diplomats and whether russia would be expelling u.k. diplomats and he said of course we will so we don't at the moment know how many people will be expelled and we'll have to wait and see until now it seems as though russia is kind of waiting to see what the full response from the u.k. and its allies will be this morning the deputy foreign minister city of course said that moscow expect expects new joint measures from the u.s. the u.k. and its allies and the kremlin had said before that putin will actually be taking

the final decision on what measures to level in response to what the u.k. has has leveled at russia so we'll kind of have to wait and see to find out more details. so we're looking at a number of options here but in terms of measures so far britain has expelled russian diplomats and announced a royal boycott of the soccer world cup which takes place in russia later this year but there is talk of other retaliatory possibilities including a cyber attack here's what a british expert has had to say about this. as a number of tools at its disposal in the sphere of cyber warfare the u.k. house offensive cyber capabilities on war much expense expected these have put t's against russia in the eventuality that it's needed the obvious option or an obvious option would be to target a launch cyber attacks against and has no organizations within russia that are responsible full information warfare disseminating fake news creating fake profiles

and social media and so on and so forth but i'm only russia insists it didn't carry out the attack but still it's reacting to britain deporting diplomats and whatnot we've seen we've seen russia announce that it's going to now deport british diplomats what else could it do. well it does look like it's going to be a tit for tat response at the moment but of course we don't know and it's hard to say what else could happen at the moment there were some suggestions initially from the head of the committee for international affairs and the federation council that's the upper house of russian parliament he said that russia might even expel more u.k. diplomats than the u.k. had expelled from britain but that was before this joint statement came out from the u.s. the u.k. germany and france condemning russia's actions that was before everyone kind of

rallied behind the u.k. when russia seemed to kind of want to show that actually britain isn't really that important a partner to it especially after breck's it so we'll have to wait and see what the response will be now that everyone has kind of rallied behind the u.k. and how much russia has perhaps been been spooked for that but i think we have to wait and see to find out what other measures could be on the table only this is a huge story here in not just in germany and britain but you're around the world how is the west's condemnation of the kremlin over the attack being seen in russia itself. well i think in general it's being seen as kind of part of an and t. russian campaign that's been going on that's been the kind of narrative we've seen in russia for quite some time now especially in the run up to the elections and

that anti western campaign you know people who have included the allegations of hacking and that the allegations of state sponsored doping all of which russia has denied and of course the timing of the u.s. sanctions for meddling against russia that coincide with all these measures against russia for the allegedly poisoning against the screen pie that kind of almost confirms what russia has been saying all along that this is some kind of an overall plot and that everyone is against russia and we've heard all kinds of officials and politicians calling all these measures russophobia and i think that is good is going to continue that sort of defiant rhetoric is going to continue here the only sure one there in moscow d.w. correspondent elise thank you so much earlier i also spoke to clinton peel on the story of clinton's an associate fellow with the euro program chatham house

in london i asked him if it was likely that this call conflict could escalate further. i think it does and if you're of a peculiar reason if you like that surely it suits those two reason may and fled to mere putin to have a big bust up at the moment that he may putin's got these elections coming up that's we should call them elections but there is a vote to crown him again as for another term in office and the reason may is really quite weak back in britain because the brics it negotiations and not going well and she looks weak so both of them if you like have real interest in saying we're going to have quite a conflict and i think that's what's worrying because the reality of this conflict seems to be getting dissed distanced from the politics clinton peel there a fellow at chatham house in london talking to me a little earlier now let's check up on some other stories making headlines around

the world today thousands have marched in brazil to demand justice after the assassination of a popular rio de janeiro councilwoman mario franco and her driver were gunned down in their car on wednesday runkle was an outspoken critic of police violence and she was known for her activism in rio's slums. north korea's foreign minister re on ho is in sweden is it is a is prompting speculation that he may be laying down the groundwork for a summit between u.s. president donald trump and north korea's leader kim jong un sweden has been mentioned as a possible then you for the meeting between the two leaders. and rescue crews in miami florida have been working through the night to clear wreckage from cars crushed when a new pedestrian bridge collapsed at least four people were killed nine hundred fifty ton bridge was erected on saturday and scheduled to open next year.

now our next story follows the money trail linked to one of the biggest uncut diamonds in the world nearly a year ago miners in sierra leone dug up what came to be known as the peace diamond the pop the government promised to pour some of the profits back into development projects but the villagers who found the president say that hasn't happened w.'s adrian creech as this exclusive report. feet had traveled for an hour through the jungle of sierra leone and the movie wanted to show us the mine that is known the world over the head of the nearby village one year ago diggers found a huge diamant the so-called peace diamant and the more himself held it in his own head. still put it i was so happy we all wear the diamond was so big and the people here were happy because they thought now we'll see some money. seven hundred and nine carats no one had ever seen

a diamond that large five diggers walking for past or whether once to find it first the past or brought the diamonds to the district chief then together they personally delivered the diamonds to the president of sierra leone this was rare usually diamants us smuggled out of the region in december there was an auction in new york that raised six point five million dollars forty percent should go to the past or sixty percent to the government the government promised to spend part of the money to support the village and the district. the diamond was quickly labeled peacetime and because it was supposed to be a game changer changing the way things work here instead of a few people who get the profits from the diamond the whole community was supposed to benefits but things turned out the other way. back in the village there is no electricity no hospital not even paved street one of the three teachers in the

village show us the school where two hundred children are taught this is just it is not it is not a school this is just a part of the young not even a school building look at it it's supposed to be a school as long as we are living in conditions like this diamond shouldn't leave the country they'll have a great time in america with a diamond but what about. a lot god should punish you all. hundred more the village head shows us where the new school was supposed to be built but there's nothing to see no construction no development but the pastor and the chief the traditional leader here in the region promised progress they told us to find a piece of land and clear it in the name of the government but we haven't heard from them since we did that. in the provincial capital we were able to interview the chief he is on the government payroll he assures us though that he has not

received any money from the diamond but he is certain the government will invest one million dollars in the region patients is required. reason to give all hope right now. that shows like this for example the body in the office. and so on and so forth but i do the reason to believe that. in sierra leone's capital freetown we tried to interview government officials but no one would speak to us we were unable to get in touch with the pastor as well apparently he has built for a hospice in the meantime. in korea do they are still waiting waiting for school for electricity for a medical clinic they are waiting for justice and hoping

a new diamond will surface sometime soon for a report a green creech you are watching news coming to you from berlin soon we will be with you at the top of the next hour with another full bulletin and you can get all our stories online at b.w. dot com thanks for watching. the whole g.w. on one of. four in focus global insights the news out for local heroes. d.w. made for mines.