question time already jailed former russian tycoon. find out how many more years he will have to spend behind bars. in the. court in central moscow we'll be bringing you all the latest details on the new article in just a couple of seconds. russia's prime minister. and airline personnel for what he calls an acceptable behavior thousands of stranded passengers in moscow said they were left to fend for themselves. plus the u.s. military budget grows less money flows to welfare benefits americans are wondering whether they are paying too much to fill the nation's war chest.

around the world around the clock this is r.t. live from moscow just days before the new year. is still waiting to find out just how many more days or years he will spend behind bars the former oil tycoon and once russia's richest man still hasn't heard the sentence he and his partner. will serve after being found guilty of investment. reports from outside the courthouse. but new charges suggest more new laundering and embezzlement persecutors are saying that necros about its former partner but don't live it if so as much as around thirty billion us dollars worth of oil why are you going to the world 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 sentenced for eight years behind

bars and right now that prosecutors are insisting on extending that turned out to fourteen years behind bars and now my colleague judge it was cool explained to you the scheme for which the money laundering was done as according to the prosecutors the court concluded that about of course skin pop only but if 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 all oil extracting companies each was forced into a deal that was highly profitable for them but it streamlined profitable for you because the result set a billion dollars worth of oil still going by that of course can live as if through you can see here is 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 called skin labels 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 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 calling it if you were violations 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 charges a person could be facing up to a life time in jail russian foreign ministry has also said that this is a domestic issue and it's all. all about russia's dishes system and it has to be resolved within the country without the pressure from the international community on the court well the third day of the hearing has come to an end the navy lou is expected that hearing of the verdict would be done before the end of this year and the beginning we've heard that there were three hundred pages worth of paperwork in

divergent 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. over reporting well soon to come here on ars he long unload it's time to trim the fat. the biggest threat we have to our national security is are we need to got to spending we're not going to cut the budget and. find out why defense spending is the last place congressmen are looking to slice america's spiraling debt. prime minister putin has told everyone in charge of moscow's airports and their power supply that they will be working during the holidays it follows a severe disruptions caused by freezing rain several travel hubs across the capital and that perfect storm of snow and freezing rain has also paralyzed the city's traffic one estimate has the length of queues at over three thousand kilometers

that's more than the distance between moscow and barcelona. 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 lights 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're going to moscow is always full of traffic it is a matter whether it's snowing or not there are just too many cars so i wouldn't 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 two of most cars major airports domodedovo ensured thousands of people stranded for days on end without proper food water. or someone that you see everyone responsible for this situation has to be in place celebrating the new year there was out of power but people continue to arrive at the airport there was no information provided eight thousand people were stranded there what did you do to

help people nothing but 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 i see rain is expected to fall and mosco in the next couple of days so this actually may not be such a merry holiday season for most guys after all. these are nicholas carr reporting now fifty five trillion dollars and counting that's the total u.s. debt the highest in the world congressman are calling for tougher cuts with social spending already trimmed but it's all to use if you don't have this reports the military still gets more and more money. if there's 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 as are 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 in half. the 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 neil collins 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 intervened in grenada nineteen eighty three panama nine hundred eighty 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 questions their town that is dominated by its industrial complex. advertisements lined the metro. commercial 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 there were evolving doors there were 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 moscow this is our get to some other world news in brief this hour. a suspected islamic militants been arrested for allegedly planning a gun attack in denmark police say the target was the copenhagen offices of the danish newspaper printed the controversial prophet mohammed cartoons five years ago officials described it as the most serious terror plot ever attempted in the country the publication of the cartoons one of which depict the prophet mohammed with a bomb shaped turban caused a mass protests among muslims across the world. president of south korea says resuming six party talks with the only way to resolve nuclear tensions on the korean peninsula the north shelling one of the south's islands last month killing four people said the attack was

a response to souls of recent military exercises which had been called a part of military provocation by the north considered the worst spike in tensions on the peninsula since the war started and it was sixty years ago. severe flooding continues to wreak havoc across northeast australia with water levels expected to rise even higher in the coming days rain swollen rivers have burst their banks destroying crops and bridges and hundreds of homes over a thousand people have been evacuated from the worst affected areas and nearly three hundred roads across queensland have been closed authorities have declared several towns in the region as disaster zones. well a little bit later we'll tell you how people in rural russia whether it's minus twenty or twenty. can join in our exploration of siberia. you can find out how young preserving ancient traditions keeping team spirit alive.

out of favor out of office and now in trouble with the law. could face charges of corruption money laundering and fraud. reports russian investigators suspect alleged murky dealings may have been a family affair. why i 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 in the find themselves of the central yet another scandal prosecutors suspect them of laundering some thirteen billion rubles almost half a billion dollars in a somewhat primitive but simming really effective for aught the bank of moscow owned by a friend of which golf is accused of approving a whopping great loan to dummy company which then use the money to buy land from

the mayor's wife who is here memberships the scam was carried out under the control of city hall and luzhkov personally in three months this premier estate company appeared and with little more than three hundred bucks in his account 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 issued 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 angry at moscow vice 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 presumed it to his wife in full view of the young. 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 was villagers in 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. now that these allegations are out in the open experts believe those in charge will be forced to pick up the tap at the work 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 to friend those in charge will be easy there's a loan agreement in place. so the consequences of laskowski 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 xander

pressure r t moscow. well for in our stories and much more just head to our web site that's r.t. dot com and here are some of what you can find there waiting for you online right now to bring you the story of a russian man who is preparing for ancient prediction of the two thousand and twelve apocalypse but he's making his own arrangements to avoid it. and the time before atheist and international christmas. twenty four. is coming to you live from the russian capital it's good to have you with us this

evening now time for the latest and. exploring both. this week. which is in southwest siberia in the second part of the series we take a look at how locals there are living their customs and traditions. to the region. people survive in the cold and 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 the front 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 and to trick ride at the age of thirteen depending on chance abilities and as for me i was very good at do i do horse at eleven as well as i can handle a spear and a saber that's got three or are tom and the others have a demanding daily schedule and horse riding is the glamorous part the youngsters in 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 fulfilled in this cossacks society. a team spirit necessary for the cossacks noblest pursuit hunting on the sharp end the beloved fast russian dog that bred to perfection over centuries and not for any

ordinary prey. they were selected for their speed and anger because they must be able to get the better of a wolf. 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 likely to root 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 all 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 lamb's 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 are 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 our self-sufficient way of life especially when it comes to resisting the bad habits of 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 are 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. before. the vote in the u.k.

i'm from. it's a small town in the north of england so i'm used to the small town life but i've also been to the villages around almost been in the region people though much more down to earth their ties to the land all of them have a lot most if not farm to keep animals their. food lot more healthy than what we have in the big cities and supermarkets and so on it's all locally grown except as a tea coffee and sugar. and i guess you could say the lifestyle is healthier except noisily the drinking is the stereotype of russian people do they just as they haven't got much else to do. but when i say the people there are a lot closer to each other and they got close to that 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 i'd say that song which is current of all console russian culture in general. like the west where who are much more individualized take care take care of themselves by 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 where the road be 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 tactic in russia from the move for the communist time and during the congress time definitely so that song which continues in prevails today with 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. you are with r t it's good if you to join us today if you would stay with us shawn will be here in just a moment with the business news. great for the feel we've got. the biggest issues get cuban voice face to face with the news makers. would be so much brighter if you knew the song from stupid. stunts on t.v. dot com. when

i walked into the business program here on our. folly russia's early morning jot resolves rejected the sale of its taken a nickel back to the company nickel offered to buy twenty five percent stake for twelve billion dollars oversell says he's not satisfied with the price situation but he also was made to. feel control over the line between its two main shareholders. holding. in further news or to take legal action against the nickel for this out of eight percent of its shack up with. a deal with concluded it was lack of information regarding the price at which it was made. soliciting in new rules with the sat buyback which is increasing the. russia's president has said more effort is required to improve the country's poor

vestment climate correspondent corpus going off explains the alcohol of mcveigh it is meeting that it has to turning into an international financial center. according to the russian president during the past eleven months only fourteen companies floated their shares in russia dmitry medvedev says this is nothing to be proud of 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 this goal one of the steps was the

law to regulate the. information. was the creation of an international. which will include foreign international experts so we are seeing some small progress to the head of state a lot more is still needed to be done before we can really see the as a true international. down here in russia. ending the day marginally. positive.