to mutual threats and expands common interests. on this landmark. the first one by now president in decades joined us for the details in just a couple of moments. he was once named norwegian of the year but is now facing deportation from the country we report on a case that has no regions accusing the government of double standards. alleged russian arms delivered to boot to make his first court appearance in new york the u.s. may call him the merchant of death he claims he's the victim of an american propaganda war. that we're watching r.t. world news twenty four hours a day welcome to the program the top story now afghanistan is the world's biggest

opium producer and russia is the biggest consumer usually enough to get the heads of state from both countries sitting down for talks karzai is on his first official visit to the russian capital but he's also seeking to boost economic ties. following the meeting force. president karzai are talking about the konami cooperation in talking about boosting trade and it was though this is indeed the first needed by an afghan president to russia in over thirty years nonetheless presidents karzai and the judges did meet three times last year and in two thousand and ten they managed to boost trades to form up to four hundred and thirty million u.s. dollars so it could have a corporation is of course very important a full partnership between the two countries osu russia's investment in the reconstruction of the ad infrastructure was damaged during the war something they're talking about today is there's both the ability to russia and the need for

russia afghanistan to engage with. russia help rebuild itself and develop its. capacity but also by real trade for investment by introduction between business which is very short the two presidents are discussing military corp of course earlier russian the united states have agreed that the u.s. military cargo would be allowed to be transferred through russian territory to ease the process of delivering military aid russia has also sold eighty m. i seventeen helicopters to afghanistan with guns and ammunition the military talks are also on the table two presidents are talking about how russia could increase its involvement in tackling the problem of drug trafficking russia has been trying to do so over the past couple of years by participating in all sorts of

international meetings that sir the involved to know that brought upon this problem of the table so the russia of course is very much interested in being involved in this because thirty thousand. people die from heroin addiction in russia every year and that heroin comes from afghanistan altogether in russia one hundred thousand heroin addicts and again most of that. russia is the number one consumer. those drugs and so this is the number one issue. that today the two presidents are talking how the international community including russia could be involved in helping to destroy those fields the international community because of your view of been destroyed by years of war and destruction and the infrastructure is gone the ability is gone we could. need to is

there the. police force the. military so we have the capability to prevent supplies from. trees of course. we would have not been such a. turning afghanistan for drugs is a slowing but we're hoping to see some progress to be made today and waiting to hear for a joint statement from the. e.u. today. yes stay with r.t. to watch our exclusive interview with the afghan leader later in the day or log on to our website r.t. dot com to see it right now. and for more on the visit of president karzai we now cross live to the editor in chief international a magazine here in moscow a man of an s.c.r. now i think you very much for joining us what does the increasing russian involvement in afghanistan mean for the political situation in the region do you

think. what i think of the one month always was historic very acute and very intensive but nowadays of course it's in full swing in mary many many aspects of cooperation and i think that russia and are going to start both countries are interested in upgrading the stability in every sense of stability that we can employ it's economics it's fighting drug trafficking it's infrastructural support i mean industry and agriculture it is support in terms of military cargo transit so i think the investment of russia into stability in afghanistan can be even enlarged and that may be will be the result of the recent this was it of mr president karzai to moscow does that mean then that

afghanistan has found a positive alternative to that of western countries. well i don't think it is an alternative in in a big sense of this word yes president carter's i mentioned that his country's developing economic relationship with the united states but that the relationship with russia is developing at a larger scale again we should come back to history more than one hundred forty enterprises were built by the soviet union so it is. very natural that. afghanistan is interested in upgrading of its technology equipment. take for example the attitude of military people in afghanistan they get used to the soviet weaponry in the russian weaponry they prefer this weaponry i mean mostly light weapons. from russian produce it's more convenient for them to use it

so i think of it all so they're interested in just ability in terms of supplies of energy of any kind and russia is very near much closer than other countries and it's and your potential is well known so these are all bits and objective reasons why afghanistan is so interested in economic relationship with russia it's not a metal turn it if it's more convenient there of course icac i can see in the future when i'm going to istanbul be become a prosperous country that there can be competition not now of course but you mentioned the illegal drugs trade little bit early and our present because i says the afghan people tend to harvesting open out of desperation with no economic stability inside that you're mentioning what's the way out of this problem is there one. well it's very important for going to

stand to overcome this dependence of. their very existence on the produce of drugs. as you know the position of mr karzai is that it is a very complex problem many people are. finding their burns of meaning for leaving just by. being involved even in the drug. trafficking and attribute the production of drugs and we should think i mean the world community not only russia how to overcome this dependency that those school lose their jobs will not go to the extremism taliban to join their ranks but this is not to protect still avoid the resolution of this very difficult issue after all i think i'm going to maybe under the auspices of the

united nations should work how would turn it if a program of development of agriculture by the way in the history of going to. aid was self-sufficient in terms of food production. some time ago and possibly they need such current of international program of support designed very prudently to avoid this dependence on drugs production and trafficking ok on and on and i see on the editor in chief of international affairs magazine thank you for joining us today here in r.t. thank you. little later we'll go live to news conference between him and karzai and been to a head of so stay with us for that. now she was once named norwegian of the yap and that apparently holes and little sway with the scandinavian authorities that they're about to deport to russian born of maria how many illegal immigrants despite the fact she's lived in the country for almost

a decade now and that reports on a case that even has new we ended up their own government. are you relieved that you can stay no for one more day maria yes this was very good one day's good one more day might be all she gets for russian born maria is due to be deported from norway where she's lived since she was sixteen she speaks fluent norwegian has a degree from a norwegian university and even a norwegian boyfriend the only thing i've wanted and she is well is for her to be with me and all of you it's a case that touched the hearts of ordinary norwegians enough to make them turn out repeatedly to protest for an immigrant girl who's made an effort to become one of them and it's created a grotesque comparison with another failed asylum seeker one molar cracka former leader of a kurdish terror group cracka has been declared a threat to national security and is on the u.s. and un terrorist list although he's now volunteered to go back to iraq norway won't

deport him to a country that carries the death penalty it's a terrible paradox for ordinary people to see. this fantastic everyone loves. this person that is not very popular to say the least constant nuisance to norwegian society is able to stay born my dinner in the logic of cars parents fled north etc when she was only twelve possibly as a result of a business deal gone wrong although well connected in russia closely related to the last defense minister of the savior union. of the family sought asylum in norway when they were refused decided to stay on illegally reportedly learned norwegian in a matter of weeks degree and wrote a book on the plight of illegal immigrants in norway and at the tender age of twenty five was declared norwegian of the year by an old magazine she had. an

extraordinary integration into norwegian society which is also very active. in musical festivals and literature refers to was an extremely active in the which new thing despite process the government standing ironically norway's recently ups the number of deportations in response to public criticism that treatment of illegal immigrants was too lenient in two thousand and ten it deported thirty eight percent more foreigners than the year before and the justice ministry insists the law must apply to everyone everybody who comes here and apply for asylum said. should get thorough examination of the asylum application. that is the case for each and every one applies for asylum. but the point is in this case and other cases if that asylum application is rejected. those who are obstructed have

to return we prefer of course that. they do this voluntarily but if they do not return or they have to be sent to their country of origin by force but lawyer insists she hasn't had a fair hearing in fact he submitted terrorists claim to be authorities and the first he heard of it being rejected was when five police turned up to arrest her after a speaking engagement political party the christian democrats say maria is a prime example of why the rules must be changed we have to remember that. in terms of the way. here in norway. situation. true in this case show me the train. in the way we treat. children but any change in the law is unlikely to help maria really she has to report to a police station every day with

a suitcase in case today's the day she has to leave her home the norwegian government's treatment has. brought its people out onto the streets in anger and yet it would now take a humiliating state u. turn to allow her to stay in the country she grew up in and has come to call home i'm a lawyer hasn't given up but it seems for the norwegian person of the year time left in norway can now be counted in days not weeks nor emmet r.t. . well coming up later in the program standing firm as iran sits down with six world powers for talks over its nuclear program tehran issues a defiant statement to the world for the latest on that. vote in year from public school find out what brought the infamous drugs into the streets of ukraine city. representatives of the european union are boycotting alexander lukashenko as inauguration for his fourth term as the president of the roost according to

a spokesman all twenty seven member states have decided to distance themselves from the ceremony this comes after the european parliament passed a resolution calling for sanctions against the by the russian leadership is a response to the violence that erupted after the same bridge and opposition leaders and activists were attacked on national service saying vote is rid of the sanctions and through the ban on these is of the freeze on e.u. bank accounts belonging to senior government officials he used foreign ministers are set to reach a final decision that's routine into the snow and the shingles on retaliatory measures to be prepared should move against his regime this is the first time that the russian space restrictions but some experts say this round will be more intense . this is a man and a regime which is seeking to suppress human rights creates free expression by civil society political opposition and what we need to do is to be seen to say that

the european union and instructional community is watching that we will our and that whether it's today tomorrow or some guy in the near future there will be consequences on this progression or a shame otherwise we let him down the human rights groups and political prisoners who are suffering today in the power so i was very blunt approach to start an all or nothing you know what we are saying today all right we're in today a small sign chanst financial sanctions are going. himself others in his regime were not at the moment signing with people on the family members were saying that the motive that true track should stay open we want. to be part of the eastern partnership with its neighboring countries and our local the european union but multilateral a through the i.m.f. which we report we cut off but yes there are these further steps that we could make in the future and we are putting personally on notice the international community does not recognize the election results and will not stand idly by as innocent

opposition members are imprisoned or beaten or tortured and civil society suppressed in this country we will not look the other way that the gun run of it to boot is set to make his first u.s. court appearance for pretrial hearings he faces charges of conspiring to kill americans and supplying weapons to terrorists while buthe maintains his innocence the media continues to call him the merchant of death lottie's in a situation of reports. you. are one three. true to form hollywood and most of us love a great villain in the film lord of war nicolas cage please have your was officials celebrate his arrest the so-called merchant of death is now a federal inmate who is this merchant of death and why is he getting all of this attention as. the u.s. over the course of eight years cultivated this image of an evil mastermind

apparently they have no other problems nowadays there is only victor boot there is no osama bin ladin no al qaida no problems in afghanistan no problems in iraq there is only victor boot the evil man is a russian cargo dealing businessman chased by the u.s. for a decade upon the request of america he was arrested in thailand two years ago after thai courts twice found him not guilty of any crimes he was still extradited to the u.s. this november to face one conspiring to kill united states nationals to conspiring to kill united states officers and employees three conspiring to use an acquire anti-aircraft missiles and for conspiring to provide material support to the far already dubbed an international arms trafficker by the u.s. victor boot is being held in a new york prison even though viktor boots trial date has not even been set yet the

man has spent almost two months in this jail in downtown manhattan in solitary confinement his only contact with the outside world consists of meetings with his defense team as well as once a week check ups from the russian consulate having arrived to the u.s. to support their relative the family has already received a far from warm welcome in the states his wife paula was held at the airport for almost three hours with the immigration officer asked me if i knew my husband was a terrorist while accusations are flying case oh. legally remains in thailand social he will place according to boots thai and russian lawyers his case to this moment remains in a thai court meaning there was no official decision of an extradition this has been raising the question of whether the u.s. broke laws in whisking him away onto its soil. has not committed any criminal activity and has not been found guilty neither in the us nor in any other country victor boot has said he's the victim of

a propaganda war launched in america this is the lord of war the merchant of death right and you've got him in your hands right he's in custody it's a great feeling woods' wife believes the case against her husband was fabricated and calls what happened to him a kidnapping the full sky i can accept the possibility that victor boot might have some information that might be of interest to someone but why is it that other countries don't just think to themselves that there is someone who has some interesting information and why don't those governments just drag those people on to their territory technical pretrial hearings for victor boot kickoff in manhattan this week but legal experts say it will be months until the start of the trial if found guilty by the u.s. federal court victor boot could face up to a life sentence behind bars and forty new york. let's go back to our top story now the presidents of russia and afghanistan are holding

a joint news conference right now after that meeting here in moscow where that's listening to that. most of the colleagues ladies and gentlemen of the press. but it really should be to go what if we had our talks we get with the new president of these latin pretty public of afghanistan that question the russian side dish of course this is not the first time we meet we had the war met more than once prior to that both in russia and abroad. but this is the first official visit by mr karzai to our country and this is a very important event to us and i mentioned this at the deer beginning of our talks to mr president i expect that these talks that are not over yet russia will help us bring our relationship to

a whole new level. today we had an exchange of views on our bilateral relations. we discussed the situation in afghanistan and in some other neighboring countries. we also discussed how we can address together some regional problems. we have released a joint statement about another important step is the agreement that we have just signed on the trade in economic cooperation between the two governments. and this agreement in your visitors the creation of a very important mechanism for and. trade relations between our two countries namely an intergovernmental commission that will strengthen copper ration between

russia and afghanistan we can and now a few words about treaty and economic relations. a lot over the past two years to trade turnover it has. seriously increased he grew more than for a fall and it is now half a billion u.s. dollars of course such a trade turnover started from a rather low level. and up and it was you can and it affected by the general situation in afghanistan but still this is a good figure good sign that we would like to continue developing trade and economic relations with our evgenia partners in this way for example we have some joint projects in energy or. russian companies are helping to organize. power plant in the glue and create other.

facilities of energy infrastructure in the remote areas in afghanistan and we are also considering the possibility of building new hydroelectric power plants in other provinces of afghanistan this is just one example of and very good economic cooperation. also we are discussing the possibility of rebuilding a number of important objects seen in ghana stennett what it will it is to have discussed this more than once this is so long tunnel. hole so for its large serious and a power plant in my study shareef some other. you know word we are considering a good number of projects. and in one way or another we want to russia to increase its presence in afghanistan. that it has special because historically the russian

federation or earlier saw the union had a very good economic ties with it ghana stand. we used to train specialists for afghanistan in russia i think this is a positive experience that we should preserve and develop in the future as we strengthen our relations we should also consider the humanitarian aspect developing joint educational projects currently we have a large number of other students attending our university is in the colleges we think this is a very good thing. and we believe that the general. number of scholarships for afghan students should be increased not only for civilian majors but also for military training and with you.

should provide help in training afghan military officers and police and we will increase that help. also we discussed today some problems that have ghana's tena faces today mr president give me a detailed report concerning the current political processes in afghanistan i told mr president that we welcome the parliamentary election and it's going to stand head recently and we expect that the new parliament will become an integral political body with that only that will and want to and help national reconciliation and consolidate all the healthy and responsible patriotic forces in afghanistan on the other hand we. expect the parliament to help mr president in implementing his line on. stablish initiative fill fledged state in

afghanistan i told once again but told mr president once again that russia would like to see again his standing as an independent and wealthy. prosperous state with effective government structures that are able to ensure again his stance development for the taking the head at the same time we realize that if gainey stand is going through a difficult period wake now and presently. you know would it see you conclude by the processes of establishing order of fighting extremism and crime including drug crimes international forces are playing an important role and. russia is also playing its role we held to transit some cargos to have guinea stand and we will continue to on our obligations to support afghanistan.

in this important work. we expect that again a stand like you will become more actively integrated into regional structures i told mr president that we are happy to see again you stand as a guest participating in the work of the shanghai cooperation organization we invite afghanistan to join other regional structures. but to some extent as much as have guinea stand his interests in any way the more intense our contacts are. the better it will be for afghanistan and for the russian federation and to everybody living in our region once again i would like to stress that this is the first officer visit by an afghan president to our country and this will this

opens a new chapter in our relationship by welcome to my colleague mr karzai here in moscow in the kremlin. money team. of vision who made a video of a. ball to chicago for a war on. drugs. but it is that wall of gun will. have to have all this time on those two. is obvious what we're supposed went along. is an english translation and. i think he's transmitting a link i'll say a speak in english find. the spirit of money to him. mr president. i'm very grateful to.