the first time since the unrest began as the arab league to continue its observer mission there despite one monitor deciding to quit. or no stories in fifteen thirty minutes from now here in r.t. in the meantime it's our special report for you where we look at how the war in kosovo ended but left both sides feeling like they lost the pieces ethnic conflict between kosovo albanians and serbs continues this is r.t. in moscow. this young serbian came here a couple of weeks ago. it's a well known bridging course of. it divides the city into two parts serbian and albanian. he thinks he was going to fight to defend

serbia but for now his only weapon is an axe and keeping his tender near the barricades is his only combat mission. he's only seen his potential adversary kosovar albanians from a distance there on the other bank of the river. because . this is certainly land. the other side of the bridge. or the choppers coming here every day make a lot of noise. they keep children away. can do their jobs properly this unnerves the people.

every hour helicopters make life uncomfortable for us not to georgevitch along with several thousand others living in the village of the pulse of age. however the cause of us themselves apology to blame for this situation in the summer of two thousand and eleven they blocked roads in the regions north to hold up traffic carrying international troops and officials from priest and. as a result the only way albanian border guards and customs officials can now reach the base near the border with central serbia is by. this barricade in the boss of insurance bill four months ago. that's when all may new special forces. try to enter this territory. to set up their

policemen on custom of officials on the border with serbia. music that came through the village activists left their homes in a bid to stop them water though i must say in all fairness that the situation in the north of course a lot resembles the battle of stalingrad. you know unarmed serbian people opposing nato forces armed to the teeth. units from the kosovo force known as an international organization established by nato attempted to dismantle the barricades. in the biggest standoff since kosovo's declaration of independence in two thousand and eight. zero. zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero. zero zero zero. zero zero. oh that's the way.

it was there oh yeah. we. call it. yvonne is you gone drive through the barricades without a hitch if there's a popular serbian actress and singer who comes to northern kosovo almost every month. i have a plan to meet people there you need to help people because they fight for the liberty they're they build to the barricades it's called knowledge and they're standing for their city and they're all alone so we people of art have to help as

much as we can bring it you know. on her way to the divided city of course of scum attributes are. always visits mount capo nick serbia's highest point. northern kosovo is in full view from an altitude of nearly two kilometers. this was already from here you can see almost all of serbia far in the wind and kosovo is over there. but in the words of a point this is more than just mountains plains and the graves of our ancestors who lost their lives fighting to be europe's free don't want to have or poor. it wasn't us knows i'm not from kos about but i feel the need to be here together with people demonstrate my support these people have lived in

a state of siege for twelve years in the past six months they have been struggling for control of this bridge and i hope they will continue their struggle in achieving their goal their method people like me or a few and far between here and our politicians come here for only two or three days and all they do is make promises. boy and has kept a diary since the first day of his vigil and spends his free time collecting his thoughts in it horseman list in december the eight each day's like all the others i'm down in the dumps in this tent but i hope to get used to it with time because i hear the cost will force to remove the barricades sinjar it so several times what our guys put them up unusable.

was. this this bridge is the main bridge and route three thought is connected to two parts of me to return all the completely. divided no off of the war and ninety nine. i was in the situation before the war was up like. this man. strolls along an invisible border it unlike boy and he's kept an eye on the standoff between kosovar albanians and serbs for more than a decade his memories of bitter clashes on this bridge a still fresh. oh member. of one minute i'm here on this bridge the. both of them were told. on both.

green. the former yugoslav leader you'll see a bronze tito laid the foundation for the current conflict by granting autonomous status to kosovo in one thousand nine hundred sixty three the population of mostly ethnic albanians demanded independence off to yugoslavia broke up but open clashes between the kosovo liberation army and serbian troops broke out. in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine to intervene on the side of the course of months of bombardment by allied aircraft compelled then serbian latest slobodan milosevic to pull troops out of kosovo as a result of the nato operation around five hundred civilians died. the region declared independence in two thousand and eight but has never been recognized by

belgrade around one hundred fifty thousand serbs still live in kosovo. you're going to love him this is the house i used to live in. my father built it all the necessary papers were in his name what i can say that this is my house because all i'm his. dread of a way of age a sad visit what's left of his former house in a suburb of southern the tributes are in albanian territory only during the day it's safer that way. each visit saddens him both years of emptiness and the albanians living nearby have contributed to the gradual decay of the house built by his father. and i'm going to see what i would like to return here but we need the basic life conditions if we don't get them back we won't be able to come back with.

me you know that is even more upset by the condition of the local cemetery where serbs are buried. there well we're going to we're going to you can see how many tombstones have been destroyed. water before you put one hundred. of these of both being destroyed to and. from. back. of the weekend the

marketplace near the bridge in northern mitrovica turns into a public forum the latest talking point is the situation with the barricades but another subject cropped up in december twenty. fifth of. this polo oh are you good and you thank you i'm fine i'm representing the russo serbian society we're now collecting signatures under applications for russian passports can i ask you to give your signature. of course with all my heart here put down your first name and last name but isn't ok there we go. thank you. it. began collecting signatures from kosovo serbs requesting russian citizenship in november twentieth. he gathered fifty thousand in just a few weeks. of each was among them people living north of the river

a pinning their hopes on help from moscow. or from we've decided to seek a russian citizenship mainly because we want to get protection from the russian state. as you know we in the course of us have been under pressure immense pressure from the west for the past two years in the west wants us to leave this territory it wants to expel serbs from serbian land it's ethnic cleansing and if we're now witnessing its final phase. simberg eleventh i have heard reports of people going closest to me. signing a petition to request a russian citizenship. board georgie which collected forty seven thousand signatures if all of them were sent to russia with them but that was like a bolt from the blue i know the crusher received the citizenship requests but it

said no in the end we'll be on it and yet. is not giving up he's confident the russians have not said their final word the serb activist continues collecting the signatures of his compatriots seeking russian citizenship and says he'll wait for as long as it takes fellow campaign a boy and contributes in his own way he's determined to stay in his tent until the threat of an albanian invasion disappears. this is our time. to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many we are one that won't we agree that we hope. to me the american dream is to live in peace and prosperity and freedom and

a government under socialism is not a government a free. man. you have very motivated people out cross the country who are activists who are willing to fight for what they think is right for themselves but in fact this forty four bridge. i. mean. we are counting. property drowning and i think it's threatening our lives it's cutting off our. it's making real democracy . all but impossible. if they shoot something inappropriate for the public they can easily be. explained

as she is a war ok. i wish she would have never happened but it has happened. in a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary what destroys their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave. and it's clear what happens with such witnesses i got it on my site. many texts feed. her shoes shooting on our. if only as you go on is two hours late but the people manning the barricades near the main bridge of serbian mithra hold no grudge against her for that the singing star has a large following among admiring locals an impromptu show gets under way as an

early december dusk descends on the trivia of the. floor and for those who are listen closely to see it was see. the heroes the you leave me. leave. that even me alone. they are very decent people so do you want to give up the roots and history. the backbone of all land. of course i'm in no position to give them some advise. but you know each days like all the others we're here the old beans are on the other side of the bridge but today

something interesting happened our singer yvonne as she gone came here nobody but politicians had visited does before you go on and give a speech at first we are saying my favorite song about casa. after yvonne is performance boy and heads back to his tent for a late supper. this time he will eat a serbian pike. as he slices it the young serb discusses the fate of his long suffering homeland. well one of the plan to think of this by the yugoslavia twenty years ago as. the world in. this flies here is the republic of slovenia it was the first to fall away you were. so this is slowing both of.

them of the republic of croatia followed suit. but i. would worry a slice of macedonia would come back it was the third republic to secede. before three publicly. and herzegovina broke away in the wake of a hard fought war we. had a poor record of the same fate. the only remaining state here is serbia together with castle foreigners would dearly like to take it away to where is this slice it's a tiny but inseparable part of serbia. the next morning a convoy of twenty trucks carrying supplies of russian humanitarian aid retrace the journey to northern kosovo the supplies include basic necessities from clothes and

medicine to an electric generator. not done in miami and so far the forward trucks have been duly processed they have crossed the administrative line. and are now in the regions territory of the might expect the other trucks to be allowed through checkpoint has come through in the book with glory in that case we will arrive in course of skies. in a few hours. however any hope that the convoy would reach maturity to any time soon was dashed. the convoy of russian humanitarian aid became hostage to a long running territorial dispute the checkpoint that halted the trucks is the only pristina controlled place in the region the serbs don't recognize it they use alternative roads to bypass the checkpoint. like the albanians living in the southern sector of often come to the bridge as they look across the evil river they

hope that sooner or later all of kosovo will be united under pristina. if you would . solve for three. and i mean ten years ago seven years to go when the same with same no but that's what they saw. the opportunity. of being accommodated into the cost of the sidehill then they accept what they know i mean percentage of participation to be cause for elections among. them even both of them but something of the albanians. spankie was in charge of a television channel in southern the traits he created the small t.v. and radio station immediately after the declaration of course of those independence . this is the first to go through i mean here we are for children program here for news. here for debate

i think this is the smallest. haven't seen in the world so the studios rather sterile appearance is broken only by the empty set caricature that confront guests as soon as they enter. this is the most rich. time thing. just hiding. destroying the bridge on a mystery. of discipline to full body. x. think of them in the palace will be like him. when you go. there is a lot of people. i mean someone who really did notice you would be doing. kosovo's declaration of independence in february two thousand and eight was symbolized by the structure built in pristina bearing the

word newborn in giant block letters the problems of the regions north broke the back of course of our minds at the time it didn't occur to them that the local serbs would never agreed to be ruled by kosovo's or forties. kosovo's deputy premier ira dean coochie is one of the so-called new born politicians in pristina he takes an optimistic view of what's happening in northern kosovo his unshakable belief is that several years from now the serbs will realize that they need to look to pristina in the south rather than belgrade in the north main problem is that people in northern part of their incentives to get out of the are forced by both their new took a previous and your understanding of them because they cannot cooperate with us if so be as creative you losers know that one day they will come back this is the part of serbia or something like that they need to be much more realistic not to create illusions any more they did for one part of crash here they did allude to

a search for all part of the post you know they are doing the same and personally this is a long story and this story was unsuccessful for sylvia. only very van of it is coup g.'s opposite number he's deputy to the serbian minister for kosovo affairs he comes to this region quite often this time his motorcade has traveled a long distance inside the region he decided to see what life is like in the small serbian enclave of iraq about surrounded by albanian settlements. so very difficult to expect you know and that is a good thing also in the united nations the return of the mine as long as there. is a business are not part of the international business like un they are. his in the by the north. you know and we will not accept the gospel in the policy later that i think that we have to find a solution the solution could be you know very very special status that means no

albanian flag no i've been in court not been in police officer not been in cost them. three days of intensive talks finally resulted in the russian humanitarian aid being allowed into northern cos of. thousands of serbs from the northern sector of kosofsky welcome the arrival of the trucks loaded with medicines food and equipment. boy and was in the crowd but only for half an hour it was all the time he could afford before resuming his vigil near the barricade. i can see my mission here is spinning class i've been around here for two weeks now and more useful things here then if i'd stayed at home. here i chop firewood and fire it is still there i feel it is my duty to stay here. another day of chilly confrontation and a tribute to has drawn to a close

a far away mood seem is calling muslims to evening prayer as french soldiers from k. four relieved the german counterparts on judy. meanwhile boy and makes another entry in his diary after heating up the stove to keep him warm through the night. you know the score so as are the people here in cos well want exactly what people in the rest of serbia tune up with and within us they want casilla to be theirs not all being you people will stay on in the stance regardless of where there are barricades will be torn down or the other can only look into let people will come here and look at the bridge but it will be god willing i'll come here again and again to stand together with my friends ship the.

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machine. which brightened. the ballots from files to impression.

starts on t.v. dot com. a storm brews over iran as the west accuses it of provocation amid suspicion is developing nuclear weapons well to ramp claims the u.s. and israel for the assassination of a fourth scientist in two years. another scandal erupts in afghanistan centering around a video appearing to show u.s. marines urinating on the corpses of militant fighters sparking uproar among afghans a lot of reaction to that story shortly here on r.t. . and violence in syria claims the life of a foreign journalist for the first time since the unrest began as the arab league vows to continue its observer mission there despite one monitor deciding to quit.