a question. already jailed former russian tycoon. waits to find out how many more years he will have to spend behind. the central moscow bringing you all the latest details on the new trial in just a couple of seconds. russia's prime minister. and what he calls an acceptable behavior thousands of stranded passengers in moscow says they were left to fend for themselves. u.s.

military budget grows less money flows to benefits americans are wondering whether they're paying too much to fill the nation's war chest. a very warm welcome to you this is live from moscow well just days before the new year. is still waiting to find out just how many more days he will spend behind bars the former oil tycoon and once russia's richest man still hasn't heard the sentence that he and his partner will serve after being found guilty of investment . in the court with the latest. new charges suggest money laundering and embezzlement persecutors are saying that mikhail about his former

partner blood on livid if stole as much as around thirty billion u.s. dollars worth of oil why are you going to the oil company formally one of the biggest private owned companies in the world in the first trial they were found of tax evasion for which they were standing for eight years behind bars and right now the most accusers are insisting on extending that turned out to fourteen years behind bars and now white boy did it was cool would slangy the scheme through which the money laundering was done as according to the prosecutors the court concluded the medical skin thought only because blundered carried out a complicated scheme of embezzling oil and money through dealings with three smaller subsidiaries of you can see some other news to gus. and you guns can have to go us all oil extracting companies each was forced into a deal that was highly profitable for them but extremely profitable for you because the result said billion dollars worth of oil still going by her that of course can live as if through you can see here's how it worked the oil was bought from the

companies at a nominal price said by you can see it was then sold at the same level to offshore trading companies secretly owned by so that of course skinned neighbors if when it was then resold at market price they pocketed the difference six billion dollars was moved offshore through thomson have to learn that of course the negative were found guilty of embezzling a total of three hundred fifty million tons of oil worth twenty four billion dollars this latest trial was also widely criticised by the worst school when you think you are validation of human rights but the russian foreign ministry has made an official statement statement about this saying that if first such a case were to appear in the united states for example that for such a charges the person to be facing up to a lifetime in jail russian foreign ministry has also said that this is a domestic issue and it's all. all about russia's system and it has to be resolved within the country without the pressure from the international community on the

court. hearing has come to an end and maybe a little is expected that hearing of the verdict will be done before the end of this year and the beginning you heard that there were three hundred pages worth of paperwork in the verdict right now we're hearing that it could be as many as eight hundred of them and not even half of them has been voiced yet so it does look like it might take longer than until the end of this year. reporting right now you are with the live from moscow and coming up time. and time to trim before. the biggest threat we have security is we need to cut spending we're not going to cut the defense budget and. find out why defense spending is the last place congressmen are looking to slice america's. a lot of told everyone in charge of. their power supply that they will be working during the

holidays it follows severe disruptions caused by freezing rain several travel across the capital the perfect storm of snow and freezing rain has also paralyzed moscow's traffic. reports. you would think wildcards would be used to all sorts of extreme weather right now especially when it comes down to winter conditions but this year especially residents of the russian capital have been in for something of a trial when it comes to weather conditions a particularly heavy snowfall has paralyzed traffic all around the city traffic prognosis says that average people today will have to wait to spend about three to four hours stuck in traffic those nights you know i have to leave home by eight in the morning to make it to work in time i don't have any other option i think the weather doesn't have much to do with this traffic it's a daily problem you know what moscow's always full of traffic it is a matter whether it's snowing or not there are just too many cars so i would know

i've been stuck in traffic for five hours you have to also keep in mind the fact that over the past weekend temperatures have risen significantly in the drop literally overnight in the entire city was covered with ice sheets of ice on the roads on the sidewalks and all of that ice is now covered by snow so there are massive traffic disruptions because all of the conditions on the roads there may very many accidents the ice that has engulfed the russian capital over the weekend has paralyzed not just the traffic on the ground it actually also caused massive disruptions as true of most because major airports. thousands of people stranded for days on end without proper food water. someone that you see everyone responsible for this situation has to be in place celebrating the new year only that it was out of power but people continue to arrive at the airport where there

was no information provided eight thousand people were stranded there what did you do to help people nothing well weather forecasters are saying that this kind of sort of weather but actually take a turn for the worst as there is more ice and more ice rain is expected to fall in mosco in the next couple of days so business actually may not be such a merry holiday season for after all. porting there now at fifty five trillion dollars and counting that's the total u.s. debt the highest in the world congressman calling for tougher cuts with social spending already trimmed but as artie's she had her fist reports the military continues to get more and more money. if there is one issue that both sides of the aisle agree on and we need to cut the spending yes we need to cut spending it's cutting spending to reduce the country's budget deficit even top pentagon officials acknowledge it as the country's most potent problem the biggest threat we have to

our national security is our the federal government's debt now stands at thirteen point eight trillion dollars and is projected to hit twenty trillion by the end of the coming decade we're not going to cut the defense budget. country's military budget now seven hundred twenty five billion dollars a price tag of epic and historic proportions the largest since world war two. it includes one hundred fifty nine billion dollars for america's wars in iraq and afghanistan the reality is this is what america does neil cons like robert kagan who urged war with iraq long before nine eleven helps keep this reality alive by equating military might to global leadership and world domination we intervene in grenada nine hundred eighty three panama ninety nine iraq nine hundred ninety one

somalia nine hundred ninety two haiti nine hundred ninety four bosnian one thousand nine hundred five cost of zero nine hundred ninety nine afghanistan two thousand and one in iraq two thousand and three. the united states spends nearly as much on military hardware fixtures and training as all other countries combined we see at a time when there's twenty five to thirty million people who are unemployed or underemployed where forty seven million americans can't go to a doctor when they're sick there's limitless funds limitless resources for the war budget the military budget is hardly ever questioned the town that is dominated by its industrial complex. advertisements lined the metro. commercials showcase the latest hardware and politicians cave into the lobbying campaigns and you can see it by the budget figures that the united states is in fact a warfare state it's addicted to militarism its addicted to war spending and its

addicted to war profits this is where the war profiteers are headquartered tearing over the pentagon this place is known as contractors row and it's from this clear point we see they were evolving door through which employees from the defense contracting enterprise one job to the government and likewise a significant number of officials in the government the pentagon and the cia fly into jobs in the military industrial complex despite this military contractors spend close to thirty five million dollars lobbying congress according to the congressional research service defense contractors also dish out substantial amounts of money for campaign contributions in election years meanwhile a congressional watchdog group found in two thousand and eight over one hundred fifty members of congress had one hundred ninety six million dollars collectively invested in defense contractors and so as lawmakers scream louder too we need to cut spending and federal spending for education health care and social services has

been reduced cutting the military budget which makes up over twenty percent of the federal budget is not on washington's agenda jan hottest r. t. washington d.c. . live from the heart of the russian capital where it's now we're just eleven minutes past the hour now let's get to some other world news in brief suicide bombers in the iraqi city of mosul stormed police headquarters killing a high ranking commander three people with explosive vests approached the complex but one of them was shot before setting off his belt the other insurgents managed to get inside and blew themselves up mosul is considered the last major urban stronghold of al qaeda in iraq the. president of south korea says six party peace talks with the north is the only way to resolve nuclear tensions on the korean peninsula and for the north south silence last month killing four people said the attack was a response to recent military exercises which have been called

a path of military provocation by the north it's considered the worst of intentions on the peninsula since the. severe flooding continues to wreak havoc across northeast australia with water levels are expected to rise even higher in the coming days rain swollen rivers are. destroyed. hundreds of homes and most of thousand people have been evacuated from the worst affected areas and nearly three hundred roads across queensland been. declared in the region as. west african leaders have made a direct appeal to persuade president. to quit they want he faces military action if he does not pass power to. the un recognizes as the winner of last month's elections more than one hundred seventy people were killed and tens of thousands

displaced during violence that followed the disputed ballots west african leaders are due to resume talks next week. well a little bit later we'll tell you how people stay fit whether it's minus twenty or plus twenty. well you can join us on our exploration of siberia obsoleted find out how young cossacks of preserving ancient traditions keeping spirits alive. out of favor out of office and now in trouble with the law moscow's deposed mayor yuri luzhkov could face charges of corruption money laundering and fraud and as r.t.d. said at the inquest over reports russian investigators suspect that alleged murky dealings were a family affair. why call the workers at one of moscow's banks are facing jail for lending too much credit and trust to the city's former mayor your english golf and his wife russia's richest woman today and find themselves at the central

yet another scandal prosecutors suspect them of laundering some thirteen billion rubles almost half a billion dollars in a somewhat primitive that seemingly effective for a lot the bank of moscow owned by a friend of the gulf is accused of approving a whopping great loan to dummy company which then use the money to buy land from the mayor's wife was here membership in the scam was carried out under the control of city who and luzhkov personally in three months this premier estate company appeared and with little more than three hundred bucks in its account managed to get a loan worth five hundred million dollars unbelievable it was clear the company may not pay it back and could evaporate then this premier state company bought land from but sooner and it covered her debts well bankers across the world were

committing suicide the eggs man's wife came out squeaky clean. on closer inspection and to piers the bank of moscow may only have been a middleman in the transaction suspiciously a couple of weeks before the loan city hall gave the bank fifteen billion rubles and it is should new shares prosecutors suspect this was the money given to prime your estate to buy land from the mayor's wife many are now wondering did the mayor really steal the money for the love of his life we'll ask him how good mosque of ice face a vitiated deal was so blatant it looked as if the former mayor took the money from the city budget wrapped it up for christmas christmas for it from his office and presented it to his wife in full view of the bank. the price paid for the land also raises questions seven million dollars perhaps or of land on moscow's

outskirts is astronomic experts say and there is no sign of any construction taking place all of these adds to the bad smell left behind by the former mayors acrimonious x. it. will of the months instead of promoting himself and playing political games the mayor should have worked the city has a huge number of problems corruption is going through the roof this is unheard of it's impossible to get anywhere through fair competition someone who gets all the work contracts and tenders who has always won until recently as the mirror of moscow used to say those who exhibited outstanding business skills and prove their right to work on these projects are the most talented entrepreneurs but we know what kinds of decisions were made. to. know that these allegations are out in the open experts believe those in charge will be forced to pick up the tap. or glasgow got out of the case has received too much publicity this people will have

to pay one should not forget that the man has changed so if they don't pay up they'll be jailed friend those in charge will be easy there's a loan agreement in place. so the consequences of coffs controversial time as mayor are still being felt and it could be that it's small time bank workers that will be paying the price of alleged big time corruption examiner pressure r t moscow. stories and much more just head over to our website. and here's some of what you can find on right now please bring you the story of a russian man who is preparing for the prediction that the apocalypse is coming in two thousand and twelve but he's making his own arrangements in order to avoid. time before. an international christmas festival kicks off in the russian capital with this year's celebrations dedicated to spain that's all waiting for you twenty

four seven just a click away at dot com. the. all right time now for the latest in our close up series exploring russia both on and off the beaten. this week artie's close-up team is in the omsk region which is in southwest siberia in the second part of the series we take a look at how locals live there and learn about their customs and traditions our very own a tour guide in the region tom patton shows us how people survive the cold and also what they do for entertainment. excepting soviet times has always been on the

frontier of russia it required people to come here and build it from scratch and then to defend that frontier both people with the cossacks and it's their strong and self-sufficient local culture but i'm examining in my report. the view from the end of a cossacks spear but not to worry the young cossack on the other end knows what he's doing he's part of a tough rural tradition which has lasted for centuries. let's. see media they start teaching us riding on which in servant to trickle at the age of thirteen depending on chance abilities and as for me i was a very good do i do horse at eleven as well as i can handle a spear and a saber progress that's got to go after him and the others have a demanding daily schedule and horse riding is the glamorous part of the youngsters the village built this gym themselves and now the training in it will have a lot to do to prove themselves as hunters and horsemen the training communally

fosters a team spirit in this cossacks society. a team spirit necessary for the cossacks noblest pursuit hunting on the sharp end the beloved fast russian dog but. bred to perfection over centuries and not for any ordinary prey. but here. they were selected for their speed and anger because they must be able to get the better of a wolf welcome with gauri is master not just of his hounds but of this whole cost village he's called the atom out and he has to show skill in leadership from solving village disputes down to training dogs to catch hares. although he prefers the larger prey will always more restrictive be a likely route in old times to get the chance of becoming an atom and it was considered prestigious to bring home a wolf tied up. with the ring and or walk after the day's outdoor training we

caught up with our ottoman at the evening meal where he tells us about their history the cossacks originally came from lands far to the west of here but they proved a useful militia force conquering and securing siberia for the czars in return for grants of land. the idea was to create villages along the country's border so that people are bound to the land they're living on. the cossacks strong independent traditions were disliked by the communists they were suppressed and marginalized since the end of the soviet union they've been trying to rebuild their self-sufficient way of life especially when it comes to resisting the bad habits of the city. it's no easy matter living in the country of course but on the other hand we're protected from the harm of the city from drugs alcohol smoking. but tonight at least the elders of the village were allowing themselves a few liberties. with me to talk more about life in the siberian villages is alex

dude you've been here for a while now in russia and in arms and you've also told outside the big city so how would you compare life within the cities of russia and outside them. well i'd say the obs is quite a lot more provincial than some piers where four hours before. a vote in the u.k. i've crossed a small town in the not. of england so i'm used to the small town life but i also been to the villages around on the skin in the region people though much more down to earth they're tied to the land a lot of them have a lot months if not farms they keep animals their. fees lot more healthy than what we have in the big cities and supermarkets and so on it's all locally grown except say tea coffee and sugar. and i guess you could say the lifestyle is healthier except boyishly the drinking is the stereotype also people do that is just as they haven't got much else to do. but i say the people there are

a lot closer to each other and they got close to close knit communities because they rely on each other a lot more than say in a bigger city. ok so you've described a more close to lifestyle family values and a kind of great connection to where they're from how would you say that that helps people there to survive the greatest challenge that there is which is the ferocious russian winter and i'd say that something which is current of all console russian culture in general. like the west where we were much more individualized take care take care of themselves so that people here in russia and especially in the russian villages have to have to look out for each other just because you can't rely on number one all the time. and if there's something which which you are lacking. the material in terms of family care like child care and so on are the first people you'll turn to russia will be your family and your friends and neighbors and so on so how to be essential and so that's been

a survival time tactic in russia from the movie for the communist time and during the converse time differently so that song which continues in prevails today. a view there from someone outside russia seeing life in the russian verges and it seems that those close knit ties and strong family values are enough to get people through even the worst of the russian weather. artie's tom barton reporting right there now it's almost twenty five minutes past the hour here in moscow do stay with us charlotte is next with the business news. and i welcome to the business program here on r.t. with me is folly russia's. solves rejected the sale of its taken a nickel back to the company cynical offered to buy or sell twenty five percent stake for twelve billion dollars oversell says he's not satisfied with the price. but the offer was made to end a long lasting battle for control over the mining between its two main shareholders

will sell internals holding. in further news or sell plans to take legal action against the nickel for the sale of eight percent of its shack up with those commodities trader trying to figure states the deal with concluded it was a lack of information regarding the price at which it was late they were selling to dissipate the new rules because share buyback which is aimed at increasing the miners lies ations. russia's president has said more effort is required to improve the country's poor vestment climate correspondent corpus going off explains the el call of madrid is meeting that it has to turning moscow into an international financial center. according to the russian president during the past eleven months only fourteen companies are floated their shares in russia dmitry medvedev says this is nothing to be proud of is that one of the main reasons for this is the current investment climate in russia says that this problem can only be solved

using a systematic approach with everybody taking from the head of state and the prime minister to the lowest levels of civil servants. the country's civil called needs more improvement as well because it's directly connected to russia's economy just to remind me that even if it is pushing to transform moscow into the international financial center at this meeting he also talked about some positive steps which have been taken this year to achieve one of these steps was the passing of a law to regulate the use of insider information another step was the creation of an international consulting which will include foreign international experts so we are seeing some small progress to the head of state himself a lot more is still needed to be done before we can really see the russian capital as a true international financial center. and time down

here in russia. ending the day marginally. perfect. so it's been another sluggish day for the russian market in general i think positive. capital. then journalist slightly positive after the asian markets rebounding. monday and tuesday the markets were falling on the hike over the chinese depository basically in the markets are starting to ignore that news on wednesday the main topic for one zero was obviously a continuation of the conflict resellers basically trading for them day while north says reacting positively because at present there is no deal it's not imminent to buy it from the market seems like the most likely scenario at least in the short term. but you can always buy more stories on our web site r.t. dot com slash business.