this is d.w. news live from berlin and as the tit for tat ratchets alberta the u.s. and russia inch towards a new nuclear arms race had a problem meaning with his security minister as russian president vladimir putin says his country will follow washington fully in suspending a landmark nuclear arms control tactic.

thanks for joining us i'm mary and i haven't seen. russia has suspended a key nuclear arms control treaty one day after the u.s. did the same in a statement released by the kremlin president vladimir putin said quote our american partners have announced they are suspending their participation in the deal and we are also suspending our participation we will wait until our partners have mature enough to conduct an equal meaningful dialogue with us on this important topic. putin also ordered his ministers not to initiate disarmament talks with washington and said russia would start work on new missiles the tit for tat moves come after america secretary of state and now that the u.s. was suspending the accord. it's the end of months of speculation and tension secretary of state mike pump aoe has officially signaled that the arms control

treaty which has helped keep europeans safe could soon and if russia does not return to full verifiable compliance with the treaty within the six month period by verifiably destroying its eye and f. violating missiles their launchers and associated equipment the treaty will terminate this is the weapon that the u.s. is talking about the russian built as a c. eight a missile system washington and many experts believe has a range of more than five hundred kilometers which would mean it's a violation of the i.n.f. treaty. but the kremlin says it never intended to violate the agreement a russian foreign ministry spokesperson says the u.s. ultimatum is part of a strategy to dodge its international legal obligations for many european countries the end of the i.n.f. treaty brings back memories of the cold war and it stokes fears of a new arms race the german chancellor angela merkel called on both sides to continue talks still insist cloth us friends it's clear that russia has violated

the treaty and that's why we must talk to russia on behalf of germany foreign minister hai columbus and myself will do everything to make talks possible again in the next six months. the agreements between the us and the former soviet union banned all land based nuclear missiles with a range between five hundred and five and a half thousand kilometers that marked an end to decades of nuclear instability during the cold war. experts now fear the end of the i.n.f. treaty could not only further damage the transatlantic relationship but also threaten the future of other arms control agreements. all right let's get some analysis on all this and for that i'm joined by ruff iowa song for the german institute for international security affairs the s w p rafael thanks for being with us so russian president vladimir putin now following suit after the u.s.

and pulling out of this very important treaty is this an escalation well it was an escalation that has been coming for a long time so don't trump already announced a step in october so it doesn't come as a shock. but of course it's a next step in the ladder and we will see how the next moves of the russian military will look like so in general both russia and the u.s. are in the process of modernizing their nuclear arsenals and that's a long long process and i think now we'll see how that takes shape so are we talking about the start of a new arms race well not exactly in the sense of necessarily a lot of new nuclear weapons but new kinds of weapons smaller weapons and different kind of missiles of the fear is that these weapons are developed to make them more usable so that's the fear that we have maybe less weapons but more operations the relevant weapons and that russia could divide the european countries on not bases well putin reportedly also said that russia would begin building more of these

types of medium range missiles as he put it similar to projects underway in the united states now we know these weapons do have the capacity to reach european cities so what do these developments mean for european security well that's the big speculation i mean most of the time nuclear weapons are political bargaining chips i mean of course russia can reach europe any time already now the question is though if the knowledge of this threat potential with the various partners in europe are responding different you know for example is the europeans being worried maybe more siding with the u.s. and then western european countries maybe trying to more deescalate and trying to mediate and i think that's also potentially one of the aims of russia in this game to do. five euro further well the u.s. says its decision is because of russia's allege of violations russia accuses the us of violating the treaty but is it just about russia and the us or is there more to all of this well it's primarily both those two and it's been the view several years

of mutual accusation which russia started with the kind of complaints about the u.s. missile defense but there was more to it yes i mean russia also concerns itself with china as a rising military are nuclear power asked does the u.s. and the u.s. have the majors document and last year the nuclear posture review in which they report refer again to your more multi-polar nuclear world which they have to respond to so it's really also one of the powers all right rafael this song from the german institute for international and security affairs many thanks indeed. well turning now to venezuela where rival protests are planned today between supporters of the opposition and supporters of president nicolas maduro now the country's political crisis intensified last week when congress leader one white dove declared himself interim president is gaining international support but the military remains on the doro side scores have fled venezuela as the country

continues to grapple with food shortages and hyperinflation. a rallying cry from venezuela self-proclaimed interim president one white oh is determined to overthrow nicolas maduro and hold new elections you know what happened on saturday venezuelan brothers we invite you to protest points in every city around the world we need to send an important message and thank those countries that have already recognized does and to ask them to help us with humanitarian aid as you know the u.s. and several latin american nations have recognized why do as the country's leader and six e.u. states including spain and germany say they will follow suit unless president maduro calls snap elections by sunday. may be gaining international support but duro is backed by venezuela's powerful military. and

on the streets loyalty to the socialist regime is still alive. and motors we have a former leader chavez to thank for the oil boom and that is why we are coming to defend the revolution here the legacy of commodity chevys and we will continue to come as many times as c'mon to nicolas maduro once. your people are here to defend the sovereignty of it as well. millions of rival protesters are expected in the capital because on saturday and with the recent clashes turning deadly many venezuelans are bracing for a tense standoff. for more on this story we're joined now by the devil is company she covers latin america for us hello to you cover you know so we've said already the protests are announced today but not just in venezuela there's also going to be protests in a number of cities elsewhere in the world these protests in the past have been

violent what are we expecting today well that is a big question the armed forces are the ones who have the weapons so the big question is how are they going to react we are already half this massive protests in the year two thousand and fourteen and back then the leader of the opposition was there by locusts and there were two deaths and many injured persons back then and he was blamed for that that is why after this port is t. was arrested in two thousand and fourteen the question is is the government are the armed forces going to react the same way this time i don't think so because the whole war looking right now in venezuela and that is what i'm protesting is there on the world so that is a big difference why don't has now the support of many countries the united states support them some countries in the european union the european union want. to seen elections that is the big difference between white and form are leaders of the opposition right so has the support of western countries and yet duro has his own

international backers he's still holding on to power so is he likely to bow to pressure from let's say the west and from other latin american countries and you know go ahead and announce new elections as why do is demanding. i don't think he's going to announce new elections he has the support of china russia and he's an expert in surviving this kind of christ because this is not the first one i would say that is the biggest one of them to the one the only one that has this international dimension. is there they're happening lots of things during the last hours and days i have for example read that airplanes are coming from moscow to go back as are landing and i guess and going back the official statement is that they are empty but why should an airplane from there get i got to go back and experts are starting to to to to make speculations about it and they think that the goal to

reserves from the central bank guys are going to to moscow and that is getting cash for it because he that's a big problem he doesn't have money he doesn't have cash because of the sanctions of the united states so everything is quite complex and complicated and he is an expert in surviving the big question is if he is going to to reach his now or if he's kicking the can down the road and he will have to resign it at one point. carlina cim or our correspondent who covers let america thank you so much for all of your insights thank you maria. all right let's get you up to speed now on some of the other stories making news around the world floods in queensland australia have entered with authorities are calling unprecedented territory records have been recorded in the city of townsville which has seen over a year's rain in a matter of days australia has also been experiencing record heat waves this summer scientists are warning that manmade climate change is creating more extreme weather

events. newly released footage shows the wall of mud to that swept through a brazilian mining operation in nearby residential areas last week the mining ways to came from a retention pond at the mine one hundred fifteen people have now been confirmed dead in the disaster another two hundred forty eight are listed as missing in the united states the governor of virginia ralph northam has apologized for appearing in a race this photo in his nineteen eighty-four medical school yearbook a website published the image on friday african american politicians have called the image disgusting it has prompted calls for northam to resign. park rangers are offering tourists a closer look at a colony of elephant seals that took over a popular beach near san francisco california the roughly sixty adult seals sees drakes beach during the u.s.

government shutdown last month and proceeded to give birth to about thirty five pups. all right some sports news now and bundesliga soccer hanover's new coach started with high hopes but his first match and in disappointment thomas dahl and his team suffered a three no loss at home to our beloved sick life the captain for the orbán scored twice for the bowls after their fourth loss in a row hanover stay at the very end of the table. well this weekend's bundesliga actions whose title candidates byron and dortmund face tricky away games table toppers dortmund a trip to high flying frankfurt awaits wildfire and make the journey to a later close inside rejuvenated by a new net in charge the results could be crucial and this season's tight title race . they've accused the need to make up for a poor first half of the season that's why they brought in pace of bush's coach

during the winter break he faces a tough early challenge in the form of byan. this isn't a very good team but so way much of it will be an interesting game and i think quite intense as well. play because you have taken forty four shots in just two games under bush and with their high quality attacking players the team could yet play a decisive role in the title race. next into could a more than of course we could help dortmund but above all we want to help the people of later kazan live of course as i have. doormen themselves face frankfurt's who have ambitions of their own when it comes to champions league qualification and they're certainly not lacking in confidence ahead of the clash. if you want to be at the top i think you have to beat one of the top teams to talk to. frankfurt are currently in fifth place just outside the champions league slots there are a potential stumbling block for the league leaders. and brings us to the end of

this edition of news coming up after a short break w.'s reporter takes a look at a school for young russian offenders there in evanston from all of us in the newsroom thanks for watching. which are british. i'm going to play the link to screw africa the world or link to exceptional stories and discussion someone uses easy to our website dedicated comes much like join us on facebook g.w. or. hey listen i.