the more the status the less the blame russians demand equal justice as the spotlight falls on cases of influential figures using their connections to evade prosecution. doomed for another crisis as the u.k. prepares to reveal massive public service cuts economists warn the country is on the verge of plunging into an even deeper recession. criminals in the us heroes at the kremlin awards russian secret service agents at the center of the biggest spy swap since the cold war. around the clock around the world this is. in moscow the daughter of an influential siberian official is to face retrial over a horrific car crash that left one woman dead and another paralyzed

a public outcry was sparked when initially it was revealed that she was not going to be charged over the incident which took place a year ago c.c.t.v. footage showed a toyota very want to the pavement and then the car's driver only checking for damage ignoring the critically injured pedestrians. pregnant at the time of the crash got a three year suspended sentence and was given time to raise her child it was alleged her high profile mother a regional electoral committee official could have tipped the case in her favor. first now reports it's not the first time a kid with connections in russia has been accused of escaping justice. when valarie was made down by. it was the beginning of a long and very difficult road to recovery it was this bus stop that valerie was not there and seriously injured but that was five years ago and since then he's been our neighbor to pain but investigated he suffered horrific injuries and the

memories of that day are still very clear in his mind. i remember exactly how it all happened moment by moment my friend oh yeah and myself we're standing here as we parted he left across the street on the green light i remember the green light vividly i had turned and began walking in that direction when i heard a sound and saw something flying towards me the driver of the car was eighteen year old. daughter of a former high ranking f.s.b. officer for larry's case or they being denied a criminal trial did make it to the civil courts. we asked for one hundred thousand dollars in compensation but at the time of the trial she claimed she was just a poor student with twenty dollars monthly allowance so she was ordered to pay three thousand dollars to me and she did in installments but even before the trial she was actually a major shareholder at a commercial bank in moscow. larry made eight attempts to have criminal proceedings

launched but was refused every time. if an ordinary person had been in her place they would have faced criminal punishment long ago the incident is too serious to refuse to open a criminal case there seems to be a category of the population in russia which is immune from criminal prosecution for larry's repeated attempts to get the case tried in the criminal cause has led to accusations against him with the abuse of the family claiming he jumped in front of the car and was trying to extort money from known in response to larry made an online play to president dmitri medvedev. i'm hoping for your objective help mr president. an investigation into the legitimacy of the refuses to launch criminal proceedings has now been ordered. no heard from the news but i made my

online statement not because i want compensation for my health but because i have been falsely accused and because of all the corruption i want justice. with a full investigation yet to be conducted abuse of her remains in the driving seat whilst the larry left to slowly rebuild his life with the help of friends and family serf airth r.t. cheney events we gen. well fred ware from the christian science monitor says media coverage helps bring privileged offenders to justice. you know this is not an unfamiliar scenario in a lot of places it is perfectly common in almost every country that the rich get a better ride in legal systems if only because they can hire better lawyers and and find their way navigate through the system better and the thing you notice is that the intensive press coverage on that forces the authorities to make a show of treating them equally the more publicity the more light that shone on

this the better the better it will be. and that was the moscow correspondent for the christian science monitor. coming up. a storm is looming on the british horizon. the difficulty is that when you've drunk three bottles of vodka then you may well think that you're capable of putting the world to right but at the same point in time you know you're going to wake up in the morning with a hangover. as the u.k. fights to recover from the credit crunch some say nothing's been learned and the worst is yet to come. but first the leaders of france and germany say their countries are facing the same security threats as russia and efforts to tackle them should help in building a new partnership with moscow because of course he and going to merkel were meeting ahead of a summit with the between inventive in the small french resort town of de ville kettering as has more. they're going to be some very serious issues of course on

the table as the three leaders tackle various issues relevant not only to the european community but also to the international agenda issues such as stability and the middle east the ongoing situation in afghanistan and iran is nuclear agenda those are all going to be discussed by the means of a defined his colleagues from france and germany but it's also issues of course that are relevant to europe specifically and they are expected to dominate the talks here and specifically the issue of global european security proposed by the russian president a little earlier russia's cooperation with the north atlantic treaty organization is also going to be discussed of course and that will be dove tailing into the new proposal for a global european security plan and various other aspects of european corporation of course the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the various effects that it has had on bilateral trade on european trade on russia's relations with those members of the e.u.

the negotiations to have a visa free regime for russian citizens wishing to travel to europe right now of course we know that russian citizens are obliged to get a visa in order to enter the european union that's according to the shang agreement that is currently in force and for a number of years of officials have been talking all over the possibility of removing the visa regime and making travel for russians into europe visa free and that is yet another issue that if the certain to raise with nicolas sarkozy and angola merkel and of course many russians are keeping their fingers crossed that something definitive will come out of those talks until this clown from the european council on foreign relations told aunt see that improving ties between moscow and walsall could pave the way to a new era in russia relations. there have been indeed great of evidence within the e.u. about how to manage the relationship with russia what we've seen over the last few weeks and months is a narrowing of these divisions and in particular the the very important fact of the

polish russian rapprochement has really engineered a whole new dynamic and i think the u. today is much less divided than it was two or three years ago and this is the background against which this meeting has taken place and i would almost argue that it couldn't take place without the background being what it is now i think that's an absolutely crucial fact there was a big split between berlin and also especially about how to manage the relationship with moscow that was a source of strain in the produce term relationship that is now gone and we are seeing a much more positive dynamic overall. in germany experts are divided over chancellor angela merkel's comments that immigrants there need to do more to integrate she said attempts to create a multicultural society have utterly failed but critics have dumped her speech as a way to score cheap political points a survey found a third of people in germany believe foreigners are taking over again the founder of the image you and tony foundation which works to combat racism in germany told

me earlier that immigration policy has to be addressed across europe. we have specially east germany a lot of neo nazi groups this is these are hard core new nazis who killed a lot of people and we have also a big the rise of anti immigrant feelings in the population of west germany so now with this discussion we have in this moment things are rising and i fear that there will be more victims of rape violence immigration is the future you cannot work and live in a globalized world in the middle of the world in europe without immigration and moving populations so you have to really make a good policy of immigration all over europe and we see this there the history of do europe with this long history of nationalism and small countries is

now. is now getting into a crisis so neat we need a long time to to make it better but you have to in front of us you have to really change the policy of of immigration inside europe this is very important you have to make adapt the educational system and adapt all the. all the self understanding of the states they are not anymore only white or only swedish or only portuguese or only german they out. multicultural places in the world. and that was the founder of amadou and tony foundation on the way. invasion. of returning troops in afghanistan has been for wrecking a series of secret operations. story first

the u.k. is bracing itself to hear about public spending cuts worth tens of billions of pounds the coalition government will reveal the comprehensive spending review on wednesday to dramatically cut the budget deficit and put the country on the road to recovery but some economists say the worst is yet to come as it's now reports. the start of a new working week in the city of london in the eye of an economic storm life goes on as normal but those who work here know that the financial crisis is far from over. a lot worse to come i think the worst still to come. there's more to come how much. they're talking about the financial crisis we've already had but according to some economists we ain't seen nothing yet certain respected finance years is saying rather than solving the issues that caused the last financial crisis governments and central banks like the bank of england behind me actually

leading us towards an even bigger meltdown and they can't see even seem to agree on what to do in europe the powers that be are stopping the money printing machines over in the u.s. the federal reserve has just announced another round of quantitative easing but who's right nobody is right i mean that's really the problem the difficulty is that when you've drunk three bottles of vodka then you may well think that you're capable of putting the world to right but at the same point in time you know you're going to wake up in the morning with a hangover this is the point where we're working up in the morning with. terrible hangover in a new book the gathering storm a group of finance he has got together to say that governments have learnt nothing from this crisis policymakers are applying old models in their economic projections and that could lead to inflation hitting ordinary people hard debt will have to be repaid and restructuring will have to begin but in the city there's

a fear that people are in denial for sense of security i think yeah i think it's very convenient from the political perspective and overall feel good. to feel better you know people want to feel better you know but it's the fundamentals are not great people are still in denial i. mean from the tax man starts chasing people who can't even there be a problem that idea may come home to roost is early is this week when the government announces extensive cuts to public services we shouldn't assume that the period of extreme global weakness which followed the lehman brothers collapse is the worst episode in this long drawn out depression there could be much worse episode still to come. and here in the city of london that would really put the cat among the pigeons nor am it r.t. london. now let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world at this stage of the

day students are blockaded entrances to schools and set vehicles on fire and parents amassing they join nationwide protests against increasing the retirement age from sixty to sixty two years and cuts in spending nearly a quarter of gas stations across france are run out of petrol and truck drivers throw their weight behind the strikes also fears that the gaulle airport in paris could be left without fuel workers say they won't stop protesting until the pension been as abandoned is to hold a deciding vote on wednesday in a trial in turkey has started in the case of more than one hundred fifty people charged with links to a separate. kurdish guerrilla groups over ten elected mayors are among suspects who have been held in prison for eighteen months and the case is being closely watched by human rights activists it comes at a time when the turkish government is trying to reconcile with the kurdish minority who have been fighting for autonomy since one nine hundred eighty four. thousands of fleeing their homes after a super typhoon hit the northern coast of the philippines which are on a just

a wall the typhoon is capable of causing catastrophic damage one man is already drawn to the state of emergency has been declared it's been four years since another storm of similar strength triggered mudslides and left dozens of people dead. in. an indian high court has begun hearing an appeal by the only surviving gunman of the mumbai terror attacks to music a pakistani national. is expected to contest the death sentence handed to him in may he's accused of mass murder committing a terrorist act and waging war on india in his accomplice were convicted for the bloodiest part of the attacks killing more than fifty people due to last several months. russian secret service agents sent back from the u.s. this summer in a high profile spy scandal have received state awards from the president dmitri medvedev on it employees of the russian intelligence services in a ceremony at the kremlin palace. has more. this story was probably the biggest spy scandal between moscow and washington since the cold war in iraq in

june american offloads announced that they've arrested a group of ten people who are suspected of being secret russian agents were working for me years in the united states under cover we've all been detained had gone and undergone trial were found guilty of being on registered illegal russian agents had their property and belongings were taken away by american authorities that were also banned from ever coming back to america unless a big green light is given by the white house itself they're also all bridgette from ever publishing any information on their activities while we're working undercover for russia in the united states and then they were deported from america in exchange for four people who are serving time here in russia after having been found guilty of being poor and spies this whole ceremony was held in the relatively secret atmosphere we don't exactly know how many people received the state awards

we don't know exactly what state awards they were decorated with according to the president's press secretary not only to mark over the people who are in the center of the last summer's spy scandal between moscow and washington who are also reportedly awarded state awards and now out of those ten people deported from the united states probably the most popular figure was and is on a chop and who is a young very successful business woman she used to have a british husband she used to have british citizenship which was actually taken away after this scandal last summer and this she's got the type of character we usually see on cinema screens in james bond movies and not in in news reports that's why probably the most attention from the media was aimed at her as this story was broadcasted across the world and there are reports in some russian media including the echo mosque we radio station that on

a job one was also there and was also given a state award but this is still unconfirmed information and more of speculation be unofficial at the moment. by the way you can get the latest on everything we're covering here on the screen on our t.v. on our website. dot com let's have a quick look and see what's online right now what is the russian capital calls for some of the city's catwalks are really heating up now as designers from all over the world display their spring summer collections for russian fashion week. also on the website just who are the russian mafia take turns to see if your knowledge of these wiseguys is good enough to get you into their close circle speeches and plenty of other features and articles available on our website online dot com. if. it is join the u.s.

led surge in afghanistan which will bring the number of attorney in troops in the country to four thousand by the end of the year but a leaked report suggests that role is not following the rules of engagement it's alleged italian troops carried out secret operations involving raids on afghan villages resulting in civilian deaths journalists for. the italian presence there is more to do with politics than the fight against terrorism. the government is now talking about it because basically we is part in a war in denial in afghanistan what's happening is that we are there are fish fully on. peace keeping rebuilding our reconstruction mission because that was the way the government sought to detail in public opinion our engagement in afghanistan which is an engagement which is not well seen but probably public opinion being very costly in terms not of money of course but also in terms of risks and lives of our soldiers in

a place which is seen by the public opinion as very remote and not really only to the to the national security because the. obsession with terrorism which is something that some countries namely for example the united states or britain feel particularly strong it's something which is felt less strongly if one in italy the problem is that we are not there because our government or our establishment in general is concerned about the situation in afghanistan so we're not really there for strategic calculation if one or we are there because it's a way to harner to clearly and to friendship that we have with the united states it's more a political engagement and why this is something which is very crude and it's something that of course is not subject of public statements of course but that's basically the substance of our stand in afghanistan and this means that we have really no strategic thinking about our staying there we are there because nato is there. and that was telling journalists for brits you well i'll be back with

a recap of our main stories in about eleven minutes from now but first our team meets the political analysts who believes that russia's priorities lie in both the east and the west that's in our special interview coming up very shortly here in r.t. stay with us here in moscow. you

. think. it is love the kind of thank you very much for your time and my pleasure now one of your recent article says that russian democracy stale making baby steps there is also something that we've been hearing for the past twenty years what is coming in its way to becoming full fledged the most important thing is history heritage. all the western countries started democratic development. in the eighteenth century they had the legal basis for democratic development russia hasn't been illegal state. and when you start to create democratic institutions with no established legal

system. that causes corruption. causes only potence all those and polar. causes wars about you know the wealth it causes. war. or is about property and property in the road so they want well established so i think that is the major problem for russia no. before making great steps leaps in democratic development the government has to establish the legal system here their democracy will develop naturally and so also. called russia pacific country. itself is one i think russia should consider itself as you are a pacific power. russia is still looking for its identity some people say russia is

a european country and it is because our culture is european and world trade relationship mostly with the european union more than sixty percent of foreign trade on the other hand russia is bigger than europe. your asian country because most of its territory is in asia and there is also quite an important side of the russian life but in my mind for russia the most promising geopolitical reintegration is europe pacific like one more country in the world which is here a pacific and that is the united states you pretty much answered my question but if we were as of now to say where do russia's priorities lie can it face to the east and the west equally our priority is our east and west russia is european or. asian some people say russia is just an independent central power some say that

russia should be part of the western community some say that russia should look eastward or southern southward. my feeling is russia can build on its relationship with the worst but it is quite unrealistic to assume that . it can become part of the west because integrating into the western community here in the e.u. means membership in the un nato which is quite problematic russia in my mind is too big and too russian both for a rippin union and for nato. they're not eager to see russia inside well goals are. pursuing by opposing common european security strategy russia's goal is to make russia part of the european security the irony of the situation that russia which is an important country in europe. a important

state is not poor it or european security system as of today the european security system is nato where they are part of it so the proposal of means video to build common security space is to bring russia and some other countries which are still like ukraine into the common european. security decision making are you one of those politicians who believes that nato is an outdated ok zation every organization which exists is not all data it exists. of course some missions organizations are somewhat old dated and some of the thinking inside nato . though data the nato bureaucracy is sometimes old data nato was created. as you may remember to keep america in germany and russia.

well america in the real purpose of nato but you know keeping germany down and russia dated missions but sometimes it looks like the missions are still there you know barack obama's new federal securities tragedy. no one country even the strongest one can. actually faced world challenges alone is this one politician speaking or can we really see a change in the water order well i think there is a change in the united states which is consider long term. of course a bamma started this change taking. several things the problems americans have in different crisis there is like in iraq and afghanistan where americans first move.