so i said r t the un appears powerless to prevent the threat of violence because the border with breakaway kosovo as the selfish federal public said some customs controls despite local serbs protesting against the move we've got the very latest for you coming up this hour but. also in the wake of the british and french leaders visit libya in a show support for the new authority we look at how the u.k. still invites repressive regimes on a shopping spree for military hardware. plus the much anticipated south street gas pipeline moves a step closer to reality as russia signs landmark agreements with top european energy giants. and russia's ghost town on norwegian soil artie's close of t.v.

series takes you to what used to be the westernmost soviet settlement of the embodiment of the communist dream on the spitzbergen archipelago of cameras and reporters there a bit later for you to. welcome you watching r.t. is eight pm now here in moscow this friday evening my name is kevin and first cos of us probably mr announces that the breakaway region has introduced customs control on its border with serbia let's move strongly opposed by belgrade local serbs have been trying to prevent it by blocking roads leading to the two border posts our correspondent sara first visit one of the. well we're at one of the border crossings that you're ready and the very leading up to it remain bloke's by the protesters now we actually can't get much closer when you go up to the front of

that crossing you stop by the pub one we can see some of the capable forces on the ground there listening in a bit i'm not sure how much but you can see you can also see of course the snake in the background now we could have places we could and it does look like there's some sort of fire happening on the other side but we couldn't get any information from the cable forces that with earlier today we saw helicopters coming across and i still did you like helicopters dropping off some of the police forces to these crossings so young clear as yet whether any of the people being dropped off there are actually the ethnic albanian caused by police forces we haven't been able to confirm. this of course all going ahead with the battle of the clashes that we saw in july when the cost of a government had taken troll with the pace all the way prime minister has been in touch. and on imports from serbia now that resulted in the death of the policeman and also very concerned not to see a repeat of that violence that we heard the u.n.

security council calling an emergency meeting yesterday at the quest to serbia and russia and to take a few of these control points going ahead despite the warnings from belgrade i'm from russia that this could really lead to further agitation. to further full support of their risk of more in sort of the story get the opinion and thoughts of political analyst alexander provigil using the one from belgrade himself very grieved province. these customs post what are the implications for serbs on both sides of the border now that. well the implications are very bad they're horrible the fact since one thousand nine hundred nine when nato has come in on a peacekeeping mandate so-called we've had over two hundred fifty thousand serbs absolutely. swept out of course of all clans and the rest of the serbs that remain know that if they're inside an albanian controlled territory they will probably be

driven out as well so that's why they're doing what they're doing because this is a fight for their lives in fact and their existence and their future so is it so your thought this it this situation's going to ramp up a lot in the next couple of days that. well you know this this situation isn't going away this issue ation has been going on for several months really since july late july as far as borders are concerned and obviously it's not going away because nato has decided to help the albanians actually make the legal state real and so the serbs know that the only choice they really have is to resist otherwise they really have no future so i don't see anything other than a stalemate to could only grow in a negative direction there's some question as to maybe about the the neutrality of k. for the nato led mission for signals u.n. mandate it is meant to mean you feel but then we in the course of an prime minister thanking peacekeepers for their help with the unilateral takeover of these border

controls what can you read into that. absolutely kay for meeting nato has absolutely overstepped their mandate their u.n. mandate is clear they're supposed to be neutral down there they're supposed to be keeping the peace they're not supposed to be taking anyone's side they are clearly taking the albanian side these the session is the government can preach tonight to the capital of course of all and so this is bound to stir up trouble and they openly sided with them together with the western countries and western powers that are sitting in the security council so. she has a lot to thank for as far as they're concerned and they obviously chosen sides completely overstepped their mandate and only russia in fact in china are are supporting serbia but they cannot overrule them in the in the security council so this is we just don't see a clear way to a better situation but only worse situation you were all surprised about the fact

that the u.n. seems to be so passive about this developing situation i say developing it has been ramping up much more lately yeah well the u.n. really. the you one again we have the security council we're we have five states each with veto power we have three western states and two non western states on the security council with veto power so really if the west decides to support any unilateral action. you can't stop it and you can't give a mandate to the u.n. to do anything about it because even the united states great britain and france will put a veto people to it and that's been clear from the start so it's not surprising they've been sponsoring corso independence for years now and they're actually thinking that they're entering the endgame now and they're actually doing a hard push for it right now what you think efficient reaction to these latest developments is going to pay for said the money because there's still so keen to

join the e.u. . well that's the problem with the government in belgrade that's practically pretty much a puppet government of the west but they always thought that the west would spare them these kinds of crises and really now they're put in a corner they have weakened their own army completely tired their fates of the west and so called e.u. integration and now they have no alternative they really worsen their ties to both russia and china and really they only have the west to lean on and the rest is leaning on them instead so really they don't have many options they can be verbal lead and verbal to express their regret their protests etc but so far nobody sees what practically they're going to do and nobody really expects them to do much in a practical sense except encourage the serbs in kosovo to nonviolent resistance alexander what do you think at this time the main objectives of the mission in kosovo there was no did you legs. well obviously view mission has also overstepped

its mandate it's supposed to be a civil mission status neutral now obviously be completely put themselves on the size of your being there helping them put a real border between cost of war and the growth of serbia so their goal is clear now we're actually helping to round out of course the independents as best they can now the only last obstacle to four of course the independence of security council once again russia both russia and china especially russia has said that they will never ever vote to expel also. except for possible independence unless serbia itself does and serbia is never going to accept it even with a proper program or i think your thoughts of the program pittel on as a result of coverage joining us on the line tonight from belgrade you very much. well as ever we will know what you think about all the big stories of the day this

is one of them log on to our team dot com but the burning question today is what should belgrade do about kosovo what you think let us know this what you've been saying so far. is panning out the majority of you think the best way out is to simply take it back from the albanian still ten percent this hour no change there from last hour at least suggesting recognize in kosovo and joining the e.u. a little less severe there think belgrade should repacked trade all serbs and just forget about it and the minority there saying so you should just build a concrete wall of the border as ever thank you for your thoughts what is your take on this story you can make that graph change all the reports again on it next you can have your thoughts about dot com. in libya fierce fighting is underway for the few remaining strongholds of one the gadhafi loyalists rebel forces claim they've launched offensives on certain bani walid backed by tanks and heavy weapons as well as nato air shields or if an option is in libya for us with the latest for you. we're hearing from the national transitional council here in the capital tripoli

that its troops have apparently entered the city of sirte some five hundred kilometers east of tripoli cut off his hometown and one of the colonel's last strongholds the n.c.c. report bad at least four of its fighters eleven and other reports have been killed during these offensive seven others wounded and also there is information that forty could have been loyalists have been captured and since we are receiving reports that this information chief. would have been one of them but this information is very hard to verify fighting over a nervous until gadhafi supported by anybody some two hundred kilometers south of the capital tripoli continues while concerns rose over security safety of civilians trapped in the cities and the areas where the clashes between the rebels and gadhafi is lord still continuing meanwhile the u.n. is expected to ease sanctions against libya visiting the country on thursday british prime minister david cameron and french president nicolas

a posy have 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 stubley mission u.n. mission here in the country elizabeth to native countries. played a prominent a key role in the libyan revolution that also saw the native 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 end of this mission as it's more loops right now like backing the rebels and helping them take control over the rest of the country rather than protecting civilians so it's now a little bit far from its initial go. well as for the british prime minister as he departs libya off to celebrate the end of gadhafi is forty two. rool anger is growing in the u.k.

over the arms fair that once hosted the colonel when he was stocking up with new military hardware could accept one of the world's biggest weapon resells falls indeed and it provided libya's ousted leader with a means to launch his deadly crackdown on the opposition recently was artie's i've a bennett reports next 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 fire and a massive earner for the british economy they government's putting its conscience aside as international delegates stop the tanks rocket launchers and the missiles so long as business is being done here it doesn't seem to matter who's buying this is b.s. 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 this play here would be at home in any bond film this tank can alter its temperature changes infrared appearance but like the british government become pany can't change its spots it says there are countries that we're still too but that doesn't include any here if a country has been invited by the british government here it's it's probably going to be on a list of countries where it's still to. make sense of. these right cells as a result regimes like bahrain have rigorous democratic process. that will turn because. these protesters from the stop the arms 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 there in the mediterranean because we sell weapons dinny all the countries that out spiriting the arab spring i think is short sighted it's bad for this country it doesn't make money it makes wars like. this year's shoppers include fourteen countries branded all thora tarion by human rights groups by fact the government came clean on just one day before trade began i'm sure they're very a barrister because of the one target victory. david cameron was going to be walking around terriers where prickly when his belief in human rights and freedom and democracy and the next stop was kuwait i get turned out he was travelling with eight hours company executives but the whole purpose of the trip was trade one of the big traits or trying to make was weapons straits 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 the fence 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 either bennett artsy london. syria's regular demonstrations after friday prayers and turned into violent clashes with police according to various news reports around twenty protesters have been killed a bunch it hasn't stopped thousands of pouring on the streets across the country taking the uprising against president assad's rulers its seventh month the real story behind the syrian uprising is that the poor people of val's the paid show crosstalk that's on in just a few hours is a quick taste of for you. the syrian government has pointed out the opposition so you elements within the opposition have been armed by outside forces particularly

the united states as well as israel they claim that they have a confession from a former general syria who defected. he's going to be featured on syrian television are very soon i don't know anyone who believes the syrian government now is the syrians not only the syrian government i don't know any nation in the world who takes over serious word to syria the syrian government said if they are telling the truth they're allowed the media to syria allow the media into the square is a lot of myriad media to see the troops moving down innocent people like pacifist people and our role is the 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 in nobody believes the syrian government not even in fact the people the syrian government. the.

european energy giants have signed up to bring the long planned sunstreak gas pipeline a step closer to reality the pipeline would run under the black sea and be another means of pumping russian gas directly into europe just like the north stream network that was opened earlier on this month i think dmitri medvedev has the latest from such. the fact that the gas problem has signed the shareholder agreement with its european partners companies from france italy and germany means that russia isn't the one step closer to realizing the transportation of gas from russia underneath the black sea so it will garry and then eventually to austria and italy so directly to european consumers and this one step gives it an extreme advantage over a rival of 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 dorothy's about the security of energy in europe and we have heard

a comment from. the year 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 they're 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 the liveries to europe in the past also we have heard a lot of kiev victory in the college the president has said that suggested having the south stream go not underneath the black sea but through ukraine's territory making it cheap but gazprom and said there's no point in doing that because the whole goal of the pipeline is to bypass transit countries our business

correspondent. much more about the other big story business bulletin in about five minutes time as well. next so imagine a community where you want for nothing life is easy and work is plenty well one such place did once exist in a remote russian outpost. but not anymore it's not even a place of big within russia's borders anymore it's actually on a norwegian archipelago called spitsbergen he wants a body the soviet dream a sister were ever words needs were provided for in a series of special reports for you obs on a boy visited what was the green problem is of the example of a bright future. it's one of the disease seagull colonies in the arctic. restlessness the northern sun the birds scour the island in search of food for their young noisy and disorderly like all big families the sequels are the last reminder of the war in family atmosphere that once permeated this arctic island

this apartment block was built specifically to house families and while adults were out working here 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 between paris given russian women's undying infatuation with everything french and it for their way was a male dormitory also known as london supposedly for the gentle manners of its inhabitants during its best years peace settlement housed in more than a thousand people today it's a ghost town but it's a period of communism lurks in their band and buildings this settlement was called pyramid because of the cone like mountains surrounding new fifty years ago it had the highest living stand there is soviet people who 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 a model for the broader future that soviet people were trying to build. difference in the in will statue of lenin still peers into the near breakaway sure most of the pyramids residents were critical mind it was never really profitable you have maintained for the sake of keeping the soviet presence at the strategic interest archipelago halfway between north america and western europe. only an outpost this western most soviet settlement was also an ideological showcase for capitalist rivals and new resources for spirit to cut a dash a concert hall a library a rock band and even this hostiles olympic paul people here reliving the true salvi a dream he had the best hopes tank almost overnight when the soviet union fell apart all of a sudden people of pyramids realized that their perfect life was just bad too

political pyramid based on faulty economy and shaky ideology in a few years the former arctic paradise turned into an island nightmare people who were used to eating caviar for breakfast had to turn to hunting to put food on the table one of the families packed up and left the band and encouragement in all its grandstanding glory this pillar was erected here with march palm on the settlements thirty of her fortieth anniversary only to become a grave stone decades later when the last batch of coal was extracted from the local mine worker just laughed to hear it was their way of raking over the coals for the life that always seemed. to be true and said i'm going to r.f.c. pyramid gergen archipelago and floods the war from where we continue our special coverage from spitzbergen tomorrow saturday and all three provides

a means of survival today also more by the suitors one of our team doc on our website. ok let's see live some other top stories tonight making the headlines palestinian president mahmoud abbas says he'll ask the u.n. security council for full membership next week but despite washington's earlier promise to use its veto power to block the creation of a palestinian state we were palestinians and international activists have held a protest rally in the west bank scuffles have also broken out there were two people being injured the fighting between israelis and palestinians took place near a village where vandals set fire to a mosque earlier this month a. lot of the bombings in the south of thailand have left at least three dead and dozens wounded three near simultaneous blasts targeted a hotel a police station the cultural center and the country's border with malaysia was the majority provinces in that part of thailand have witnessed seven years of rebellion that have claimed almost five thousand lives but this attack is one of the biggest since the country's new government came to power back in august. then mark selected

first female prime minister helena falling schmidt's victory ends the decade long leadership of the staunchly anti immigrant popular party her campaign focused on the country struggling economy still in public anger at the previous government it was a close run election though and she now faces the tough task of probably an effective government with a very slim majority. just after eight twenty four here in moscow thanks for being with us just twenty five minutes away with the latest fad in a sport with kate but is business next. rock concert here on our top story today is of course russia's international investor forum and saudi where the money is starting to roll in as the eels get struck we have representatives from thirty five countries in the black sea resort looking for in opportunities like me a person made a speech at the forum and i seized. our prize winning points for us. and well

indeed the highlight of the day at the sochi international investment forum was of adding a person's view on the macroeconomic situation and what's interesting is that despite the ongoing turmoil on the markets and sovereign debt woes in europe and the united states this year was a pretty upbeat that infuses says that so russia's economy will come back to pre-crisis state in twenty twelve that is next year that russia will see inflation of no more than seven percent this year according to the central bank inflation will actually gradually decrease by around half a percentage point over the next three years and that russia will see a gross domestic product increasing four percent on average in the next with three years when it comes to investments coming into russia but in the future specified that there's a certain type of investment that russia needs this is what is a saying in the here. and we must strive not only to grow the economy but to improve economic efficiency to 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 because you should create all the conditions for so-called smart investments that are creating and producing hijacks. and surprisingly enough political person also said that russia will most likely need to budget to have a balanced budget by the end of the year so we have a zero budget and next year the deficit might be one and a half percent but if the macroeconomic situation changes for example. well prices broke we might see a balanced budget next year to welcome the most important deal and that is of course the widely discussed shareholder agreements we gasp roman its european partners italy's any bronzes e.t.f. and germany's which has all it's also been a wide range of deals are connected with the cross in the region where salty is located and what's widely discussed is an agreement between french back because they didn't deploy course e.s.u.

on all c.d.'s which has signed it is basically about to sign a deal with the results of northern caucuses that's a state owned tourism for. providing it with ten billion euros to build why ski resorts in the northern caucasus region but also the sochi investment forum is a perfect platform for companies to present themselves as developing and expanding and earlier business r.t. talked to the head of lukoil regularly head of you said that lukoil is planning to expand its operations purchasing upstream businesses in the united states and in asia and will also increase production overseas. musician east europe in the next ten years will concentrate on projects like west could not true in iraq that will significantly change the structure and volume of our 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 our company will increase hydrocarbon production by twenty

to thirty percent. so indeed the investment form has a once again proven to be a perfect platform to talk about the macroeconomic situation in russia but also sign major deals and make new contacts and share ideas. by listening to look at the markets now will start with the oil brands of rising not a slave trading at one hundred twelve dollars an easing concerns about bigger debts however this is a point in jobs they have from the u.s. as then it's in the game. and they. markets are extending weekly gains and that's ahead of a measure of consumer confidence that could show better results in september than the month before european stocks closed higher for fourth am it speculation that gordon that action by policymakers will be able to ease the region's that crisis banking shares let the games on the front see. and hear russia the markets and the trading session in the red this is why gains in the morning i don't know say investors or russia were hesitant to make the moves as the finance minister summit

kicked off in poland let's take a look at some of the index movers on the my sax energy majors were under pressure with gas from just on the one percent in the right financial stocks were also down would be to be losing point six percent and got the fund was burbank after reports its prior ties ation is still possible this year. that's all business looks the sour buy for now.