just after a six pm here in the russian capital you're watching r t well as we came to air kossovo as prime minister announced that the a breakaway region has introduced customs control on the border with serbia local serbs have been trying to prevent the move blocking roads leading to the two border posts and hundreds of them are staging a protest in the northern city of mr beats up to protest against costs of those plans police and nato led troops have been deployed to the two sites but cervical aims international representatives are only making the situation worse as they are siding with costs of an authority as well for more on the story let's cross to the artist who is in new york the u.n. the security council meeting on cost of what has failed to produce any results what exactly was the a stumbling block there. that's right security council members met behind closed

doors for hours debating and discussing the crisis in northern kosovo but the failure to produce any kind of consensus came from western countries some western countries disagreeing that there is a need to oxer now this emergency security council session was called for by the initiative of russia and called for by serbia in an effort to prevent and the escalating tension and violence in northern kosovo and this is where most of all ethnic albanians have sent its customs and security forces in to take over two crossing borders with serbia as you mentioned kosovo as prime minister said that customs control has been established on that border now of course this was a very pressing issue because it was just back in july we re saw clashes take place there that left one person dead several others wounded the russian ambassador to

the united nations batali churkin urged the council to issue a press statement calling on belgrade of to resolve all issues through dialogue to not act outside of any kind of a dialogue or or you know conversations to keep things safe in a very sensitive area but of course as we saw the council could not agree on a peaceful measure and due to that ambassador churkin said this situation could go from bad to worse. we have serious concerns about what it will this is going and. you did mention the minister get it she made it very clear that the. opposition the european union playing this mediating role in a dialogue between the between pleased and belgrade is that may be put in question so this sudden departure from the best of dialogue at the moment when it was

beginning to show some promise promise in our view is completely unjustified unwarranted and that it injures. now kosovo unilateral unilaterally declared its independence back in two thousand and eight out side of the security council that kosovo did this with the support of the united states unless many western european countries this is something that russia and other security council members warned against saying that this sets an extremely bad precedent to con and if countries act outside the dialogue of the united nations particularly the security council there could be escalating violence for years to cotton now we see this coming to fruition and of course we can imagine this will continue to be discussed and the week to come as the general assembly gathers here in new york for its annual meeting very much for that artie's body to portnoy reporting a from the new york now a for more insight on the story i'm joined by an abortion

well it's a historian who specializes in the balkans now mr mollett so what's behind this unilateral move by the cost of an authorities what exactly are they trying to achieve here. the purposes nor necessarily to establish control of the question should the dish been theories or this is all about revenue i don't think so the two border crossings. checkpoints or d two main routes leading from serbia proper to the sheer inhabited portion of course you know that is not under control of the of thirty should be shooting. and the border crossings have been a vital lifeline for the serbs a living you know is a good province and back in july the government so proclaimed a public tried to block them and seized him and stopped the flow of goods from serbia into d.c. . and failed. to do. trying to again

and trying to subordinate that portion of the province to the authorities in greece you know which is to full support. the joke of the u.s. is not economic or if it's not economic driven what exactly is it driven by. it is it there is an economic component to it is there have been theories. touches government needs all the revenue it can possibly get but there's also a political component to this instead he had framed this as attempts to establish sovereignty as he calls it over to entire province and this is this has been the interpretation it's been backed by four and quit the group of five countries that manages those so-called independents right let's look at what the security council has or has not done a essentially a they had been meeting and they had failed to make any statement on cost of zero and russia's call to appeal for dialogue was rejected why are the members they seem

to be choosing to be passive and such tense times why is that. because essentially approving of prescience actions this was not something that the albanians are doing unilaterally to do say so was a mistake they are doing this with full support of the quinta this has been this disputed cuellar takeover unlike the one in july one in july and tacit approval this one has actually been planned in advance. and with the full systems of q four and the mission a retired u.s. diplomat who. took part in the u.n. authorities of course who for years and has been critical of them since. he put it in the sense that this is of major violation of their mandate and thereby basically acting outside the law right now interpreting the completely in an arbitrary fashion this is a major violation of the u.n. mandate by the u.n. troops and nobody at need in new york seems to be interested in doing anything about it ok let's go to the the peacekeeping mission as

a start is accusing the nato led missions and costs of other siding with the breakaway regions authorities how do you assess the peacekeeping peacekeeping efforts are you also think they're citing actually this is this is not a survey an accusation this is a fact of the i'll be in police that dropped into these checkpoints this morning were transported by k. four helicopters. german commanded forces absolutely enforcing this on on behalf of the course of obedience local government did there's absolutely no doubt about it it's not a question of claims. i think the. call to stop violence and refrain from unilateral actions is extremely cynical coming from the deal lines that is making this possible. and judging by yesterday's statements by nato secretary general saying we are behind course we're one hundred percent and we will not allow twelve years of our efforts to be overturned there's no going back this is what's

going to happen how can they even pretend any sort of status neutrality or impartial. the reason trying to. keep between two clashing sentences you to question giants here there's there's the albanian government trying to impose its route on the service of the province which. twelve years of being in abuses to go by not only that they will not get any sort of law and order justice this is a regime that's accused of being essentially a criminal syndicate trafficking in drugs and sex slaves in the volunteer lead harvested human organs and we're supposed to believe this is a law and order operation and everybody is just supposed to go along with the story this is preposterous rival thanks very much for your thoughts are a developing story there that's a historian and wash thanks again. well you're invited to share your thoughts on the story can log on to our q dot com where the burning question is what should belgrade do about kosovo and so far the majority of our viewers think that the best way out is to simply take it back from the albanians some percentage

s. of recognizing kossovo and joining the e.u. a little less than belgrade of the pattern at all serbs and forget about it and the minority says serbia should just build a concrete wall at the border or what's your take on the story log on to r.t. dot com and have your say. now in libya fierce fighting is underway for the few remaining strongholds of moammar gadhafi loyalists were able forces claim they've launched offensives on sarat and bloody well it backed by tanks and heavy weapons as well as a nato air shield artie's what if and is in libya with more. we're hearing from the national transitional council here in the capital tripoli that its troops have apparently entered the city of sip some five hundred kilometers east of tripoli that off his hometown and one of the colonel's last strongholds the m.t.c. reports that at least four of its fighters eleven and other reports have been killed during the offensive seven others wounded and also there is information that forty could often loyalists have been captured and since there are several reports

that this information chief dr muesli brigade would have been one of them but this information is very hard to verify fighting over another center of gadhafi supporters bani walid some two hundred kilometers south of the capital tripoli continues and while concerns grow over security safety of civilians trapped in the cities and the areas where the clashes between the rebels and gadhafi loyalists opened meanwhile the u.n. is expected to ease sanctions against libya visiting the country on thursday british prime minister david cameron a french president nicolas sarkozy has said that they would introduce a u.n. security council draft resolution which expects to abolish international arms embargo and freeze libyan asses that. had been frozen as part of sanctions against gadhafi also starvation mission u.n. mission here in the country leaders of the two nato countries that played a prominent

a key role in the libyan revolution have also said that nato mission here on the ground will continue for as long as it is necessary to protect civilians here in libya meanwhile some are skeptical about the real aims of this mission as it's more loops right now like back in the rubble and helping them take control over the rest of the country rather than protecting civilians so yes now a little bit far from its initial go and it's a pretty prime minister departs libya after celebrating the end of gadhafi is forty two year rule anger grows. in the u.k. over the arms fair that once hosted the colonel when he was stocking up with new military hardware well critics say it's one of the world's biggest weaponry sales force and that it provided libya's leader with the means to launch his deadly crackdown on the opposition as artie's ivor bennett has been investigating some prominent dictators have been shopping around for arms in london. selling weapons could be a moral minefield but not here this is the world's biggest arms fair and

a massive earner for the british economy the government's putting its conscience aside as international delegates shop for tanks rocket launchers and missiles so long as business is being done here it doesn't seem to matter who's buying this is guess list includes countries like saudi arabia and bahrain both regimes that violently suppressed demonstrations earlier this year bahrain was accused of opening fire on its own armed citizens in february saudi arabia sent its national guard in to help driving armored vehicles made by be a systems the u.k.'s largest defense company its products on display here would be a home in any bond film this tank can alter its temperature to changes infrared appearance but like the british government the company can't change its spots it says there are countries it won't sell to but that doesn't include any here if

a country's been invited by the british government here it's it's probably going to be on your list of countries who are able to sell to. make sense of. these right to sell to say was regimes like bahrain that have repressed democratic process. that will turn because of. these protesters from the stop the arms fair coalition they're angry it's going ahead despite the recent crackdowns in libya in egypt both former customers of britain using their purchases against their own people we're paying the price now in the mediterranean because we sold weapons deny all the countries that it out experience in the arab spring i think is short sighted it's bad for this country it doesn't make money it makes walls. at this year's shoppers include fourteen countries. he's branded all thora tarion by human rights groups and fact the government came clean on just one day before trade began

the five sure they're very a barest because of the one sure did figure e o david cameron was going to egypt walking around terrier square proclaiming his belief in human rights and freedom and democracy and the next stop was to wage and it turned out he was travelling with eight obs properly executives but the whole purpose of the trip this trade one of the big traits or tried to make was weapons straight to the middle east the government says it's tightening restrictions on who can buy weapons that could be used for oppression and he claims an invite here doesn't guarantee an export license but defense is big business for britain it generated twenty two billion pounds for the economy last year and the u.k.'s now the second biggest weapons exporter in the world. with money like that up for grabs turning customers away empty handed may prove difficult after bennett r.t.

london well the sale of arms is also at the heart of the conflict in syria where fears grow that the opposition may have gained control of various weapons shipments peter lavelle talks as guests are be implications of that possibility across arc is coming your way in our style but here's a preview. the syrian government has pointed out that the opposition sudden elements within the opposition have been armed. forces particularly the united states as well as israel they claim that they have a confession from a former general from syria who defected and he's going to be featured on syrian television are very soon i don't know anyone who believes the syrian government not only the syrians not by the syrian government i don't know any nation in the world who takes over the serious war the syrian the syrian government said if they are telling the truth then allow the media to syria allow the media into the squares allow the myriad media to see the troops moving down innocent people like pacifist

people and our role is to soldiers if they don't allow the media because they know they can massacre and torture and brutalize a lot more people if they don't allow the media and nobody believes the syrian government not even in fact the people the syrian government. and. the. european energy giant have signed up to bring the longtime south stream gas pipeline a step closer to reality well the pipeline would run under the black sea and be another means of pumping russian gas directly into europe and it's just like the north network which is almost operational larches dimity medvedev go has more now from saatchi. the fact that gazprom has signed the shareholder agreement with its european partners companies from france italy and germany means that russia is indeed one step closer to realizing the transportation of gas from russia

underneath the black sea to bulgaria and then eventually to austria and italy so directly to european consumers and this one step gives it an extreme advantage over rival project in the bucco pipeline which is outlined to deliver gas from central asia to europe and this has spurred concerns from europe for european or thora to us about the security of energy in europe and we have heard a comment from. the european energy commissioner saying that this makes europe more reliant on russian gas and therefore this is jeopardizing energy security in europe on the other hand actually the fact that russia will be delivering gas starting from zero to twenty fifteen directly to european consumers means that actually energy security will be fortified as energy deliveries will be

secured and russia won't have to deal with transit countries like ukraine which have created problems with deliveries to europe in the past also we have heard an offer of from kiev victory in the college the president has said suggested having the south stream go not underneath the black sea but through ukraine's territory making it cheap by gazprom as said there's no point in doing that because the whole goal of the pipeline is to bypass transit countries. and you can find out more on that story in our business bulletin coming up in about five it's time. now imagine a community where you want for nothing life is easy and work is plenty well one such place did exist in a remote russian but not anymore it's not even a place within a russia's borders. it's actually on a norwegian archipelago called spitsbergen it was a body of the soviet dream a system where everyone's needs were provided for in a series of special reports for r t x on a boycott visited what was meant to be communism's example of

a bright future. it's one of the busiest seagull colonies in the arctic. restlessness denoted in sun the brits called the island in search of food for their young noisy and disorderly like old big families the seagulls are the last reminder of the warm family atmosphere that once permeated this arctic island this apartment block was built specifically to house families and while adults were out working kids were left to their own devices running down hallways and banging doors local residents usually referred to this building as the crazy house across the street was a dormitory for single female workers nicknamed paris even russian women's undying infatuation with everything french further away while the male dormitory also known as london supposedly for the gentle manners of its inhabitants during its best here

is the settlement house more than the thousand people to date it's a ghost town but the spirit of communism lurks in their band and buildings. it was called pyramid because of the cone like mountains surrounding it thirty years ago it had the highest living standards soviet people could dream of salaries two to three times higher than in the mainland free food free around vibrant social life in many ways it was a task for the brighter future that soviet people were trying to build. they weren't snowed in most statue of lenin still piers into the nearby glacier most of the pyramids residents worked at a coal mine that was never very profitable yet montagne for the sake of keeping the soviet presence at the strategically placed archipelago half way between north america and western europe not only an outpost this western most soviet settlement was also an ideological showcase for capitalist rivals and no resources were spared

to cut a dash a concert hall a library a rock band and even these half size olympic pool people here reliving the true salvi a dream you have the best hopes almost overnight when the soviet union fell apart all of a sudden people of parliament realized that that perfect life was just bad political parliament based on faulty economy and shaky ideology if you here is the former arctic paradise turned into an island nightmare people who are used to eating caviar for breakfast have to turn to hunting to put food on the table one of to another family stacked up and left abandoning pyramid in all its grandstanding glory this pillar was erected here with much pomp on the settlements thirtieth of fortieth anniversary only to become with a grave stone decades later when the last batch of coal was extracted from the local mine workers just laughed and here it was their way of raking over the coals

for the life that always seemed too good to be true some of the artsy pyramid spitzbergen archipelago. it's time again for the business update this hour with marina. hello and welcome to business here on r.c. our top story today is of course russia's international investment forum and saw actually where the money is starting to roll in as deals get struck we have representatives from thirty five countries in the black sea resort looking for investment opportunities live near putin has had a speech at the forum and arts is the theme of the outlines the main points for us . what's been interesting about surviving a putin speech is that it was rather upbeat despite the ongoing woes about sovereign debt in both europe and the united states that if

a person says russia's economy is steadily recovering and is to reach pre-crisis levels in twenty twelve that means next year also the inflation this year will be no more than seven per cent has not improved and said also we heard statements from the central bank president. saying that in the years twenty twelve and twenty fourteen inflation will be going down around half a percentage point every year so this is already a record low level of inflation so it's pretty upbeat here too and the budget deficit will also be covered as it is the prime minister expects by the end of the year and next year is expected to be around one and a half percent we're going to see a deficit of no no more than one hundred percent but if the overall external situation for example of oil prices change for the better then russia's budget maybe even balance next year too but also what's interesting in what lead in a person had to say is that russia needs to support the business of all types of

business from small to medium and large enterprises several bodies will be created to support business and to even be to ensure that small and medium businesses cave safe access to external markets and also letting a person had this to say about what kind of investment russia's economy built i mean we must strive not only to grow the economy but to improve economic efficiency through the development of production and innovation we need to change the structure of the economy our common goal is not to be a safe haven for speculative capital russia should create all the conditions for so-called smart investments that are creating and producing high tech. most importantly of course we have see the the shareholder agreement between gazprom and its european partners being side. winter's haul and any but also many deals within the crust the dollar region itself notably actually infrastructure production projects and also this investment so for me are in sochi is

a great platform for companies known companies to promote themselves as developing and expanding and we earlier talked to lukoil and the company's president like you to look that up said that they are. overseas investment by upstream projects in the united states and in asia that also they will be increasing production overseas aggression east europe in the next ten years will concentrate on projects like west to iraq that will significantly change the structure in volume of oil production in twenty fifteen we're implementing a project in the north of the caspian sea which will also increase in production we think that in ten years the company will increase hydrocarbon production by twenty to thirty percent. before it is in full swing we're going to have more guests later on of course more expert opinion and commentary so do join us if you can and offer the bullets and small updates. and let's take

a look at the markets now brant is rise to modestly trading at almost one hundred fourteen dollars on easing concerns about india and that however disappointing jobs data from the us is the limits in the gains. is quoted saying at eighty nine dollars per barrel and that's after recording a decent upturn the day before well over in the u.s. markets are extending weekly gains and that's ahead of a measure of consumer confidence that could show better myself in september than the month before over in europe stocks are higher for a fourth day and that speculation coordinated action by policymakers will be able to ease their interest that crisis bank shares are leading the gains on the front seat and that has advanced even further it's gaining over two percent this hour and here and russia the market. it's our in the red after seeing some gains earlier this morning analysts also saying the vespers in russia has its hands make good moves as the finance minister summit kicks off and poland's the r.t.s.

has slipped below sixteen hundred points news in over one and a half percent this hour let's take a look at some of the index movers on the my sex energy majors are under pressure with gas from just under hot supper sides in the financial stocks are also down would be to be losing points supercenters our lenders that profit plunged eighteen percent and the first eight months and leave here to nine hundred fifty six million dollars and bucking the trend is burbank after reports its prioritise ation is still possible the best see there. and also the business news for now the headlines are next with tessa.

well the back this is our to you and here is a quick recap of our top stories today the un it seems powerless to prevent the threat of violence on surface border with breakaway kossovo some security council members refused to support russia's call for talks possibles prime minister has announced that the self declared republic customs control on the border a local serbs tried to stop them by blocking roads leading to the checkpoint. fierce fighting is underway in libya where former rebels claim that they are advancing on two of the few remaining gadhafi strongholds. the one viewed are backed by tanks and heavy weapons as well as a nato air shield. also the much anticipated southeast.