welcome you're watching r.t. from moscow it's nine pm here now this friday evening my name is kevin owen and first kosovo's prime minister's announced that the break we're region has introduced customs control on its border with serbia a 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 firth one of them. well we're at one of the border crossings you renny and the roads leading up to it remain bloke's by the protesters now we actually can't get too much play so when you go up to the front of that cross thing you're stopped by the ball boy and we can see some of the k. full forces on the ground there in a bit i'm not sure how much but you can see you can also see of course the smoke in the background now we go to places we could and it does look like there's some sort

of fire happening on the other side of that but we couldn't get any information from the cable forces that with earlier today we saw helicopters coming across and . you like helicopters dropping off some of the police forces to these crossings but it's very unclear as yet whether any of the people being dropped off it all right surely the ethnic albanian cause of a police forces we haven't been able to confirm that this of course all going ahead with the backdrop of the clashes that we saw in july when the course of a government tried to take control of the place following prime minister. she's done 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 so we had the u.n. security council calling an emergency meeting yesterday at the request of serbia and russia and the 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. first film i spoke to political analysts and xander published last hour he told me the nato led mission in kosovo assisting kosovo in the move is violating the un mandate. ok for meeting nato have absolutely overstepped their mandate their un 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 i mean one side they're clearly taking the albanian side the secessionist government increased to the capital of kosovo and so this is bound to stir trouble and they've openly sided with them together with the western countries the western powers that are sitting in the security council so caution toci has a lot to thank for as far as they're concerned we have the security council 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 either the united states great britain and france will put a veto veto to it and that's been clear from the start so it's not surprising they've been sponsoring kosovo 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. and you're invited to share your thoughts on this developing story tonight log on to our tito call where the question is what should belgrade do about kosovo what you think about that this is what you're telling us so far thanks if you have taken so far the majority of you still saying the best way out is to simply take it back from the albanians if you on the graph there again around ten percent of you still suggesting recognizing kosovo and joining the

e.u. a little less of you again thinking belgrade should repatched raid all serbs and just forget about it and the minorities say said we should just go to co-create all the border it was good to hear your thoughts you can let us know what r.t. dot com. in libya fierce fighting is underway for the few remaining strongholds of moammar gadhafi loyalists rebel forces claim they've launched offensive on certain bani walid backed by tanks and heavy weapons as well as a nato air shield that is more if an option is in libya with the latest. 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 duffy's hometown and one of the colonel's last strongholds the m.t.c. report that 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 often loyalist have been captured and since we are receiving reports that cut off his information chief muesli brigade would have been one of them but

this information is very hard to verify fighting over another center of gadhafi support bani walid some two hundred kilometers south of the capital tripoli continues meanwhile 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 stylish 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 that also say that nature 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 backing the rabble 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. rif and a correspondent there and as the british prime minister departs libya after celebrating the end the gadhafi is forty two year old anger is growing in the u.k. over the arms fair that once hosted the colonel when it was stocking up with new military hardware critics say is one of the world's biggest weapon resales flaws and that it provided libya's ousted leader with a means to launch his deadly crackdown on the opposition and its artie's over bell it's 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 arment vehicles made by be a systems the u.k.'s largest defense company its products on display here would be at home in any bond film this tank can alter its temperature to change its infrared appearance but like the british government the company can't change its spots it says there are countries it will 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 sells is a risk regimes like bahrain that have a press democratic process. that will target forward so that. these protesters from the stop the arms fair coalition they are. it's going ahead despite the recent crackdowns in libya and egypt both former customers of britain using their purchases against their own people we're paying the price there in the mediterranean because we sold weapons deny all the countries that out experience in the arab spring i think is short sighted it's bad for this country it doesn't make money it makes wars right here at this year's shoppers include fourteen countries branded all thora tarion by human rights groups a fact the government came clean on just one day before trade began i'm sure

they're very a barest because of the one china did figuring. david cameron was going to egypt walking around terrier square claiming his belief in human rights and freedom and democracy and the next stop was kuwait and it turned out he was traveling with eight arms 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 it 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 case 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. syria's regular demonstrations after friday prayers have turned into

violent clashes with the police local activists say that around twenty protestors have been killed the bloodshed has to stop thousands from pouring onto the streets across the country though taking the uprising against president rule into its seventh month the real story about the syrian regime is the subject of a debate show cross talk it's only a couple of this is a taste of what you can see. the syrian government has pointed out that the opposition suddenly 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 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 serious word to syria 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 knowing down innocent people like pacifists people and our role is to soldiers if they don't allow the media in 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. and. european energy johns have signed up to bring the long planned south stream gas pipeline a step closer to reality the pipeline would run into the black sea and be another means of pumping russian gas to directly into europe just like the nord stream network which was opened earlier this month to be the latest on this story from sochi. 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 a 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 and of dorothy's 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 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 a said there's no point in doing that because the whole goal of the pipeline is to bypass transit countries. and you could find more about this story in our business bulletin it's coming up in about five minutes tonight here on r.t. . next imagine a community where you want for nothing life is easy and work is a plenty well one such place did exist at least in a remote russian post. although not anymore it's not even a place of the russian borders is actually is being served a norwegian archipelago called spitsbergen it wants somebody the soviet dream in

a system where everyone's needs were provided for well in a series of special reports for or to examine visited what was meant to be communism as example of a bright future. it's one of the busiest seagull colonies in the arctic. restless as the northern sun the birds called the island in search of food for their young noisy and disorderly like old because families this eagles 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 then banging doors local residents usually referred to this building as the crazy house across the street was a dormitory for single female workers nickname paris given russian women's undying infatuation with everything french a bit further away it was

a male dormitory also known as london supposedly for the gentle manners of its inhabitants during its best here is the settlement house more than a thousand people today it's a ghost town with a spirit of communism lurks in the band and buildings. this settlement 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. your brand snowden most statue of lenin still peers into the nearby glacier most of the pyramids residents worked at a coal mine it was never really profitable he had maintained for the sake of keeping the soviet presence at the strategic with 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 this half size olympic pool people here are reliving the true salvi a dream you have that best hopes tanked almost overnight when the soviet union fell apart all of a sudden people of pyramids realized that their perfect life was just that a jew political pyramid based on faulty color me 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 family spect up and left abandoning pyramid in all its grandstanding glory this pillar was erected here with much palm on the settlements

thirtieth or 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. senator we are at sea pyramid spitzbergen archipelago and just to let you know we continue our special coverage from spitzbergen tomorrow saturday when we discover how an old soviet dream provided a means of survival today also more about the whole series of course online on our website r.t. dot com. america's missile defense plans in europe accelerated over the last few days on thursday was sort of washington announced parts of the shield will be deployed on polish saw twenty eighteen earlier this week the u.s. agreed to deal with romania and which land based interceptor missiles and over one hundred military personnel will be based in the country this was followed by another deal with turkey on the deployment of the american radar station in the

country's east of the said resigned and possible attacks moran north korea to discuss these developments let's note. from the polish stop the war initiative philip very good evening to you thanks for being on r.t. international. now the czech republic pulled their this whole project some time ago why is it that your country is still so keen on having elements of the shield on its soil i mean is it really just to defend europe from an unsubstantiated to rein in the north korean threat or is there more to it do you think. in fact toward the whole program of missile defense it's about it's about keeping american global power using military technology to do its military technology that is still mainly in the. hands of united states and the united states is by far the leading power in the world so it has. stopped the war movement in poland has nothing to do

with peace in europe or in the world just the opposite is the geopolitical game that united states place so of course we completely oppose deployment of united states basis connected to a missile defense program in poland and in other countries as well. i guess is one of the proponents of it say about how they try to sell it it's must be difficult for them to argue against the cost of it it's hugely costly given the economic troubles in both europe and the us how justified is it spending that much money how they're selling it. it's very difficult you know the position of united states is quite difficult in this times. you know meet of economic crisis really. because jinnah money of united states around the world through the economic terms is the client in very rapidly especially during the current crisis so obama administration

never once of course to cut costs because it desperately needs money and it's money for economic problems but on the other hand it cannot just cut all the military programs because you know the united states doesn't want to retreat completely because it doesn't it would mean. losing all. the capabilities that is even in this situation is very weak but fill it so that's why mr missile defense program is of course it's cut comparing to the bush administration but still exists and seal the obama administration's administration's wants to show that is that something actually something you know showing that we are still you know again this well i want to pick up on the mean when barack obama took office he shelled bush's missile defense plans in europe now we see this turn around ok not all of the biggest scale maybe as before but it is a turnaround isn't it. yeah it is of course it is on the small scale but i think

the. key point. administration how to cut costs without losing called you know imperial splendor and it's very contradictory situation and of course it's still a situation that few geopolitical conflicts between united states and russia that is that has its own. dreams and so on so. this situation is very unstable i don't know how serious it is really the deployment of base you know manya because it would be only a few years and four years two thousand and fifteen and published these plans to be connected to. defensive plans to be two thousand and eighteen so it's really quite a lot of time and when we see the economy situation a lot can be can be done and. just we don't know if it is really serious or if it is not that serious or if it is only on the game. to game the game for

game of the it's but of course with shoots definitely pulls the plants at the polls the whole games that are potentially at least potentially dangerous for for people living. in other countries as well just standing back from this trying to understand the person's point of view on this if you if you could buy twenty eighteen when the shield elements are deployed in poland other countries do you see any argument at all in the argument that they will make the world a safer place. i don't see them really is just one waste of money for totally unjustified military spending which money which is really desperately needed for other needs and. we don't want part of the game between the united states and smaller power like russia and most of the polish population is definitely against when we saw the. past problems of polish

governments to polish publicity. united states when it was plans under the bush administration now it's more silent about this because we have like seven years to build it so it's not a big question now because i would poland but they definitely definitely most of the polish people asian is very very you know. this stance from the projects of being kind of united states place to have its own and its base feel it will be good for its own geopolitical reasons we're following this story closely afraid we're out of time we could talk a lot more about it for the polish top of the program appreciate it thank you very much it's a british time report the fraud which led to the financial crisis of two thousand and eight that said head now those business live from moscow with. hello and welcome to business here on our top story today is of course russia's

international investment forum and saw see where the money starting to roll in as deals get struck representatives from thirty five countries are in the black sea resort looking for investment opportunities ludmer putin made a speech at the forum and r.t. is the medium of agenda has the main points for us. well indeed the highlight of the day at the sochi international investment forum was of a team of putin'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 evolution says that russia's economy will come back to pre-crisis state in the 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 increase by four percent on average in the next three

years when it comes to investment coming into russia vladimir putin specified that there's a certain type of investment that russia needs let's listen to what he had to say. that he 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 into creating and producing high tech. and surprisingly enough political person also said that russia will most likely meet its 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 world prices grow we might see a balanced budget next year too well apart from the most important deal and that is of course the widely discussed shareholder group of three gas chrominance european

partners italy's any france's e.d.f. and germany's winters hole has also been a wide range of deals connected with the cross and our region where sochi is located and so was widely discussed as an agreement between french back they could they didn't depend on us young which has. it is basically about to sign a deal with the results of northern caucuses that's a state owned tourism. providing it with ten billion euros to build five 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 at an earlier business ought to talk to the head of lukoil that you believe you said that coral is planning to expand its operations purchasing upstream businesses in the united states and in asia and will also increase production overseas. in the

next ten years we will concentrate on projects like west to iraq that will significantly change the structure and volume of our production in twenty fifteen we are 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 such investment poor has so 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. and here's a look at the markets european stocks closed higher for a fourth day of that speculation coordinated action by policymakers who would be able to ease the region's that crisis banking shares let the games on the foot see that's for russia the markets ended the trading session in the red analysts say investors were hesitant to make big moves as the finance minister summit in poland and let's take a look at some of the in the movers on the my sax energy majors were under pressure

with gas from just under one percent in the red financial stocks were also down with bits of news in point six percent and bucking the trend was burbank after reports this privatization is still possible this year. and that's how business looks the sour buy for now.

this is our. top stories tonight. a check. of.