journalist already said that while there might be some political changes on the way a change in power is not foreseeable so the skeptics already saying that the chances that the opposition have had this time around and they have had a few free on air time by a very limited amount of time sanction anti-government rallies all of that has been made available to the opposition for the first time in sixteen years thousand dollars became independent but of course skeptics are already saying that that is all a farce and simply a ploy to make the west specifically countries which dollars is interested in financial partnership with during the times of global financial crisis all that is a ploy to make sure that those countries believe and democratic changes here in dollars bill position is of course very much in line with those statements saying that the elections have been falsified and that they will be planning to bring out people onto the streets of the capital as soon as polling stations are closed that

will be eight pm local time they're coming to this very square square in the heart of the capital everyone of course wondering whether there will be a repeat of last elections events when people took to the streets of the capital with violent clashes with riot police here in man's way police crackdown on protesters after a presidential election also of course won by incumbent president alex on the question of this time it does seem to be the opposition is intent on keeping the protest peaceful it is uncertain whether they will be able to actually get people to come out onto the streets we've also heard the question could give a press conference which many have already said sounded a lot like of the glorious press conference you spoke of future relations with russia the usa. for the last dictator of europe as many in the west have called them does seem to be. certain his fourth consecutive victory rally will continue

his six years of uninterrupted power in office are more on the elections and we're now joined by kerry alcock tissues our political analyst from russia's state university of international relations thank you for joining me today so some operating already a landslide victory for the christian khatami is there really so much support in the country for him because we've seen we've seen some fairly impressive demonstrations with thousands of people congregating with their placards and yes the reason at least he has support at least of the coffers of society as a problem is that the opposition produce no program ultimately for how to deal with economic programs how to deal with the current economic crisis actually see a program of see candidates holes in position can be explained like i will be able to do what the question is doing but it doesn't look because it's not becoming simple so the opposition doesn't mean doing effective campaign events what you're saying. is if we're not able to find

a solution to problems so the only proposals that we will continue keeping the score was it's not in let's talk about the opposition because they're saying that this vote is rigged they're saying that because it's going to take to the streets with their supporters and cause some protests but the government is saying we won't allow for the protests could we see an upset in the making could we see a repeat of two thousand and six when such similar things happened. years it'll be much more. cement reason. european union and russia are going to recognize elections that means that british that we're not able would be able to appeal to your union or to russia so that means that protests would accuse of course they would be stronger because there will be no outcome now you mentioned europe and russia in your statement unless as we have been saying that the campaigning freedom been given to the opposition party during the run up to the election here is really just for show is trying to entice funds from europe. ability is

correct. currently before which is very kind i wasn't sure it was needs mommy it's expert or indeed economy and of old economy it continues to decline so that means that look it would be. to a lease in for the democratization advices from the european union from russia. if he needs money which would have to fall of souls he says not. come until some signal is possible so belarus would like some economic incentives from his counterparts in europe but tell me this though what does bother us have to offer europe well the roots or all fritzie access to russia it gets access all its history its projects this souls is a geopolitical role of bureaus will see only one poet took up the decisions blair was sold to where you were up and sold to russia for the last sixty years so it will continue to do says well let's bring a focus about russia. there is some to say that russia's relations with belarus have been deteriorating for quite some time now what are the prospects at this

point to say really it had been good to read but if we could go off to an expected meeting with president and we had to look at seams he agreed to about every single reason we don't know what was bargaining and what was trade but we can see that both sides at least might do it if agreed to recognize the borussia elections and economy cup aeration was promised so probably needed relation of the russian relations would be just a he story or a political analyst from russia's state university of international relations thank you thank you. leaders are working to reduce the gap between its stronger and weaker economies at a summit in brussels countries agreed to set up a permanent fund to bail out euro zone members which are on the brink of collapse a wave of protests against tough austerity cuts have swept through debt ridden europe this week another general strike in greece disrupted puppy. travel and

closed schools banks and courts trade unions also station marches in france of luxembourg belgium and the czech republic meantime people in spain which could be next in line for a survival package protested against the government plans to raise the retirement age director of an anti e.u. think tank robert oulds says the rescue mechanism the e.u. has agreed upon won't be able to change and. it's a short term measure to for the markets but it will not solve the underlying problems that are causing these massive debts within these countries which is the euro they hope that so we attempting to solve the greek debt crisis would stave off contagion that still spread to arlon and it's now spreading to portugal and spain and will also spread to italy their debts are just too great the eurozone bailout package isn't big enough and it doesn't address the underlying problems in part partly that the euro zone's policy of forcing austerity on the nations that have

been these days you have these massive debt crisis isn't helping because it's creating these massive austerity it's destroying their economies for generations what they need is economic growth to get their way out of the depressions we can call them that depressions that they have in stimulate recovery and then they can pay off the debts at the moment they can't because their economies are just too badly damaged because they're in the euro. and still ahead for you this hour here on r.t. a bombshell for some but cries for the council of europe backs of further probe to of follow its draft report linking cause of our prime minister to a drug and all that trafficking crime right. security is tight in moscow following the recent unrest involving russian nationalist groups and ethnic caucuses gangs more than two thousand people have been detained across the capital in the past three days to prevent ethnic clashes on wednesday hundreds of riot police turned out in force near

a central railway station where st most russian youths and migrants from the north caucuses had been gathering for a rumored confrontation police reported isolated clashes in various parts of the city but no large scale violence or serious injuries officers confiscated dozens of knives and other weapons the tension flared up last week after a russian football fan was killed in moscow allegedly in a brawl with a group of men from the caucasus president dmitry medvedev police are not to hesitate in using force to quell hate rights. but get all that out clashes fighting in vandalism and not just administrative violations but crimes and those who commit these crimes should be locked up rather than just told off the police should be using their legal authority to prevent extremism and incitement to the ethnic hatred of what happened in moscow and in some other russian cities has shown that although requires very efficient management i'd like to draw attention to the

fact that inciting ethnic violence in our country is a heinous crime. a moscow court has delayed its vote it in the second trial of former oil tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky the decision to be announced on wednesday was postponed by the court until the end of the month the former c.e.o. is so being an eighty year prison term for tax evasion and money laundering in the second trial he faces he'll be facing charges over the theft of millions of tons of oil prosecutors are demanding of prison terms of fourteen years for that but if the court clears out of the latest charges he could walk free next year the forty seven year old made his fortune during the turbulent ninety's through the privatization of state assets which made him russia's richest man a thief belongs in prison that's how a lot of mir putin responded to a question about how dark of ski it was one of more than a million questions sent in for the prime ministers and you will cure in

a session with the russian public artie's natalia follow the nationwide event. not quite truth are there in his annual q. and a session the russian prime minister wasn't given a choice and some of the questions were rather daring like the one about former oil tycoon mikhail who that core ski who is currently serving an eight year term in prison for fraud and tax evasion it was a question that got put in going it was just like a character in a famous russian movie i'm sure that the thief place is in prison because he's accused of stealing tax evasion and fraud with the new charges he faces is about stealing hundreds of billions for his company security chief is in prison for murder they didn't like the manner of nifty uganda so they killed him then there was another woman in moscow who refused to sell her little stool to them and they killed her when they didn't like the hitman they hired he's dead as well. another

sore spot was the issue of recent ethnic clashes between russian vaticanus and people from the north caucasus that the government failed to prevent the prime minister said nationalism is a common disease. radicalism is like a virus if society weakens and we mean system goes down diseases start to spread but if societies mature in these bugs of radicalism and extremism simply lie dormant and can't cause any damage but living in the. russian's domestic worries you can everything from social security and police reform to real estate prices and if you foreign policy issues were touched upon as well such as the recent spying many that has spread across the atlantic over set a bit and then yes i was i don't know we don't need to use special squads to punish traitors i can assure you all of them will fall off the perch themselves they can take their thirty pieces of silver but it will stick in their throats the video conference was held in the other charities and

a big marriage in the form it was introduced by britain when he was still president back in two thousand and one and then become a prime minister he's continued the tradition of the annual informal discussion with the public and as ever he likes a good joke politics mixed with a little ironic humor. in the country when you and president medvedev are sleeping . do you worry everything is under control. now that explains why is a city that never sleeps after an exhausting. four and a half hours russian prime minister vladimir putin can now go in dressed as russians now know they will still have their backs covered now that you are. just now turning quarter past the hour here in the russian capital you all with r.t. coming your way in just a few moments find out how police files can bring new challenges for wiki leaks founder julian assange. just one big happy family one big happy country

isn't really what you want to people in new york really think of the christmas spirit to talk to them a little bit later here on r.t. . the nuclear disarmament deal between russia and the united states has overcome his first stop to cool on the way to ratification the senate voted against an amendment that would see the treaty go back to the drawing board in his t.v. address us president barack obama ratification of the start treaty a matter of national priority democrats have faced a challenge pushing the deal from a number of republicans who want to postpone the debate until january when they will hold the majority in congress the key treaty was signed by the u.s. and russian presidents in april that was hailed as a major achievement in relations between both countries democratic strategist robert told us here at r.t. that not ratifying the deal would be a huge mistake. it would be stupid for the republicans to continue to block it but

then again they want to block everything in the past republicans used to work with democrats now since new game they've been wanting to kill everything publicans have learned that sound bites can win elections instead of good governing something has to change we have to get past two year old election cycles and think in terms of the good of the country something has to happen to help us to good governance but good governance in the world not just the united states includes passage of the start treaty i think perhaps by embarrassing the republicans from trust stopping them from playing politics which is dangerous it's devastating it could cause terrorism to succeed they will come around and pass this treaty the council of europe has unanimously backed of the probe to follow its draft report linking cause of his prime minister to a drug and organ trafficking crime ring but in the region say the revelations are old but western governments knew what was going on but failed to act on those who would reports. this ellen has never spoken to the media before he's been too

angry his brother went missing in the summer of one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and no one has helped to find him while he went to work as usual with his friends to the barrage of it's mine and that was it i never saw him again we went to the police and everyone else we can think of after the war i thought there'd be an exchange of prisoners and hundreds of albanians were freed there's so many serbs are still missing now after twelve years i've lost all the international officials who didn't do anything when they easily could have his brother is one of the two thousand four hundred people who went missing both during and after the late ninety's kosovo war and is still unaccounted for and allegations leveled against senior members of the class of a liberation army including the prime minister has to be touchy and the council of europe will not help to ease the minds of men like this that the report claims must

attach these links to organized crime dates back to when has been it's a group became the dominant factor within the k.l.a. and the alleged decision of western powers to largely ignore its activities in the hope of the stablish ing some form of short term stability in the region allow tetchy and his followers to assume positions of political peril over the kosovo and he is following the model for everybody including western countries knew all about these allegations for years but he wanted to keep them hidden the only. other was in charge here. the e.u. is rule of law mission in kosovo says it will now launch its own probe into the allegations and general unix takes a league ations on war crimes and obviously with crimes very seriously and should be sufficient evidence and should we be responsible for dealing with them we will certainly look into the issue. mr hashem times she has dismissed the reports is

baseless and defamatory and is threaten to say it's another shocking twist in the history of this already troubled region naysay randi you peacekeeping in police cars stun god twenty four hours a day each side of this bridge that divides the serbian and albanian parts of the town of me three said ten years after the end of the concert the newer negative deficiency is still run very deep bass with the release of this report people are now saying that they feel abandoned and let down by the international community has supposedly charged with protecting them all these years alice a bit. of a. the founder of whistle blowing web site wiki leaks julian of songs faces new challenges in his legal battle over sexual assault allegations this time it's the leak of a conference confidential swedish police report that gives new details of the case

a songe is currently in britain under house arrest after he was released on bail by a british court earlier this week the case was dropped in august but later reopened in a move widely seen as politically motivated this comes a few weeks after we can publish secret cables exposing american diplomats and some experts believe as future looks rather dim as washington now holds a grudge against him. regarding the swedish problem that he's got he's just going to have to wite until such time as the extradition process proceeds so that that could take any time between a few months in the year i would think however he's also got a problem with one of the americans going to catch up with him and whether they're going to catch up with him in the u.k. or sweden the fact is the americans are very very angry about this and they are out for revenge and they all going through every statute book they can to find something they can charge you quick because really you know why he's position is

more like that's of a journalist he's being given documents which he is then were released he didn't actually still the documents he didn't go behind you know he didn't go into the computer itself but they're so angry they're so embarrassed by the whole thing that somebody has to pay for it and at the moment it does look rather of they going to go off the judean assange without. now you can always find more stories and analysis on our website that's r.t. dot com and here's a small taste of what's online for you right now a change of name and ownership but will blackwater be in the clear find out what the controversial security companies are sailed means and whether it's just for kicks or getting hitched we'll take you through the ins and outs of finding love here in russia. moscow says it's concerned that tensions on the korean peninsula are going to escalate even further the u.n. security council will discuss the situation at an emergency meeting which was set up at russia's request chang yang has warned it will attack south korea again if it

goes ahead with its planned military exercises near the disputed border russia and china have both urged seoul not to go ahead with the war games which south korea insists are purely defensive tensions on the peninsula escalated after north korea shelled one of the south's islands killing four people this week russia's foreign minister discussed with his north korean counterpart how to bring stability to the reaching out of say moscow's role as a mediator is crucial in solving the crisis russia is the only country that does have a box nor specific interest. which actually is a difference between russia and the european union so russia can actually be a trustworthy and reliable mediator a neutral broker the one you trust the russians those concerning cruise stability whenever there is a situation emerging market for growth and move toward that will inevitably not

only import growth careers but also china us will have a negative effect on the ability in the region and on russia and hands russia's major preoccupation is actually maintaining peace. you are watching our live from the russian capital it's good to have you with us today now let's get to some other world news this hour and attack the security forces in northern afghanistan has left at least thirteen dead armed men stormed an army recruitment center killing five soldiers and three policemen also three of the insurgents died during fighting government forces in the center which reportedly lasted for several hours in a separate incident a suicide bomber was shot dead as he targeted a bus afghan troops with one soldier did die in the attack. silvio snowy weather conditions continue to cause disruption in the u.k. and across europe many tourists are stranded as hundreds of flights were cancelled due to the freezing temperatures and large amounts of snow france italy and the

netherlands are also reporting problems some drivers say they spent about fifteen hours in freezing weather and in germany two people were killed in traffic accidents forecasters say more arctic temperatures are predicted to last beyond christmas. the u.n. secretary general ban ki moon has rejected orders by ivory coast's president un peacekeepers to leave the country. and opposition leader. both claimed victory in elections last month fears of a civil war after scores died in clashes among their supporters the us france and the african union consider ouattara the winner but fuses to step down peacekeepers have been in the country to supervise elections and maintain stability after a civil war that ended seven years ago. well a one hundred year old christmas tree has been delivered to a prime spot here in central moscow. beauty will be the focus of the kremlin's

cathedral square for the next three weeks to mark the new year celebrations the thirty meter high tree got a delivery by frost himself thanks to a cordon of traffic police it will be decorated with thousands of russian trying colored lights and ornaments a two metre tall forest which came from the moscow region and was felled in a special. with christmas trees lighting up around the world the festive season is now upon us while many are getting into it others view christmas as a purely commercial event so what exactly is the christmas spirit our talk show host laura also known as the resident asks people in new york what the season means to them.

just christmas had anything to do with this any more this week let's talk about that christmas pagan celebration. eating do you think that's a good thing or. not do they care very much the sad isn't it is that the company's fault for marketing all these products to us or is that our fault for forgetting what it's about the companies they want to make money so. how do we fix that how do we remember what it's about. keep bringing it to the public's attention . but we are now yes the parents responsibility to bring it to the home it really is and if you believe that's fine if you don't that's fine too you know but it does lose a lot and you have to keep it at home and if you pass it on to your kids the kids will pass it on you know do you think this whole war and christmas thing people are trying to make sure that we're celebrating all faiths and not just christmas takes

away from the christmas spirit or does that everybody should do what they should do upon their release so if you want to put up a christmas tree should be able to put up a christmas tree that i believe in i think to get angry about it i'm not sure that's helpful and i'm not sure that's in the spirit of the season either maybe to educate and evangelize in a more friendly way maybe that's what we should be doing so that people who are screaming about us forgetting christmas are kind of adding to the noise than and forgetting about jesus too well you know if what you want to try then ok we can get that i mean everyone should have their time you know i mean you know when the muslims have their time you do get something and you know. black americans have. and jewish people have their day and you know christians should be the same way but i but i think the religious aspect is becoming more and more

foreign to the holiday itself for all from different backgrounds so we have to honor the muslim faith and all the other faiths that are out there and just be one big happy family one big happy country is not really what it should be about the same be that's really what's christmas should be about it should be about loving by neighbor whatever they neighbor want to celebrate peace happiness joy and i like to wish you a happy holiday and all of you out there have probably seen some whether or not you think society has forgotten about jesus that christmas time the bottom line is if you're a christian the best place to find jesus at any time is in your heart. shortly we'll be looking into allegations against the colombian army and its links to the deaths of civilians and i'll be back in just a moment. wealthy

british. margetts. find out what's really happening to the global economy in the reports.

coming to you live from moscow your headlines now people in. incumbent leader. in office for the first time the opposition has been. given free air time and the country known as europe's last dictatorship. and in other news this week thousands of europeans are rage against tough austerity cuts across the continent politicians struggle to slash debt at a summit in brussels leaders agreed to set up a permanent fund to rescue failing eurozone economies. security forces are on high

alert here in moscow after ethnic involving russian nationalist groups and gangs from the caucasus more than two thousand people were detained in the past three days. and nationalism is a common disease he belongs in prison so says russia's prime minister these are just some of the issues brought up by the public that is at me and you will q. and a session. next week report on how the colombian army is being scrutinized and blamed for killing innocent people that's right here on r.t. do stay with us. really. going to be. free you're going to. die.