and turning up the heat a wave of credit rating downgrade pound here are depriving france in austria of their top notch grades. failing to control its debt. next we have an in-depth look for you at the prospects for a solution to the longstanding tensions between kosovo ethnic albanian and sir populations that's in our special report next on r.t. . 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 thought he was going to fight to defend

serbia but for now his only weapon is an axe and keeping his tent 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 serbian land both here in the other side of the breach. 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 the slot georgevitch along with several thousand others living in the village of the pulse of age. however the cost of aussie themselves apology to blame for this situation in the summer of two thousand and eleven they blocked roads in the region's 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 an impossibility to us build four months ago. that's when all main and special forces were up there to try to enter this territory. to set up their policemen on customers officials on the border with serbia. music that came through

a village activist 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 an armed 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. it sparked 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 zero zero l. a global audience. oh that's the way.

we. call it. yvonne as you go on drives through the serb barricades without a hitch ivana who'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 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 line to 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 dont will be of little push. people said i'm not from cos of us but i feel the need to be here together with the people demonstrate my support and 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 are few and far between here our politicians come here for only two or three days and all they do is make promises. buoyant 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 is 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 and remove the barricade sinjar it so several times what are you guys put them up unusable. was.

was. this bridge is the main bridge in route three theories connect to two parts of them to return or completely. divided no off of the war in ninety nine. when the situation before the war was up 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 still. on but ok for.

the former yugoslav leader you'll see 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 this is the house i used to live in. my father built all the necessary papers were in his name all of which are what i can say that this is my house because all in his. driveway of h. assume visits 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.

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. the water according to. these of both being destroyed to and. from. back. at 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 seventh. with the follow up with you know how are you good and you and thank you i'm fine i'm representing russo serbian society to be in the window but 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. 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 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. close enough by the symbol of the eleventh i have heard reports of people in cos of scrimmage. signing a petition to request a russian citizenship. day ses lady board georgie which collected forty seven thousand signatures with all of them were sent to russia with a letter through it that was like a bolt from the blue the lift and i know the crusher received the citizenship requests but it said no in the end will be on it and yet.

is not giving up he's confident the russians have not said their final word the sub 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. if they shoot something inappropriate from the public they can easily be shot by accident casualties or war ok. i wish he 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 around. and it's clear what

happens with such witnesses i got on my flight camera one of many checks out. a. shooting mercer's shooting on our t.v. . there are those who desperately need it to survive i am misspoken has a ton of money too on the lookout. for gold in the fish. and the suppresses the prize the rights of the fruits of first new clothes of. those who don't get their share of the traits. good by downloading god's. place and you know don't last but not the one not us that people need to know about it that may not look anything from the company from. those who suck it out to

prosper. the seeds of sand. coming up from. it's a. nice life as. no one can live without it's in one of the largest blood banks in the world. blood of nigeria . on our team. to lose. just.

to. 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 tributes of the. two for those who are listen listen. to the it was see. the here is the you leave me.

leave. that even me alone. at the. very decent people say do you want to give up the roots and history. of the backbone of all land. of course i'm in no position to give them some advise. talking about his speech days like all the others we hear 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 cost of.

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 server discusses the fate of his long suffering homeland. though one of the plan to think of this by the yugoslavia twenty years ago actually we're live in the world in a. slice here is the republic of slovenia it was the first to fall away you were. so this is looking at both of. them the republic of croatia followed suit. but i. would worry a slice of macedonia would come back it was the third republic to secede to. the fourth republic. and herzegovina broke away in the wake of

a hard fought war we. had a brick at the same feet. the only remaining state here is serbia together with castle foreigners would dearly like to take it away to. use 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 retraced the journey to northern kosovo the supplies include basic necessities from clothes and medicine to an electric generator. 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. 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 river they hope that sooner or later all of kosovo will be united under pristina. if you would. solve for three. i mean ten years ago or seven years to go when the same with same no but that's what they saw. the opportunity. of

being accommodated into the course of the side. they know i mean percentage of participation in the course for elections among the. 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 independents . this is the first to view the new 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 studio is rather sterile appearance is broken only by the empty set caricature that confront guests as soon as they enter. this is

a most rich. time doing. just hiding. destroying the bridge on a mystery. disappointed because you think of them in the columns will be like him. when you go. there is a lot of people. coming on to someone who really did notice you will 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 pharisees. kosovo's deputy premier i redeem 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 to cooperate with us and your understanding of them because they cannot cooperate with us if serbia is create an illusion 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 and 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 was unsuccessful for serbia. only for event of it she's 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 al thani and settlements. so very difficult to expect you know that is security council in the united nations or attend the mine as long as they are and also as a business are not part of the international that this is like un there are no tells us his in the banners the north. you know and we will not accept the gospel in the policy there 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 now all being 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 kosovska mitrovica welcome the arrival of the trucks loaded with

medicines food and equipment. was in the crowd but only for half an hour it was all the time he could afford before resuming his vigil me at the barricade. i can see my mission here aspiring close i've been around here for two weeks now and i felt on 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 in the tribute has drawn to a close a far away mood scene is calling muslims to evening prayer as french soldiers from k. four relieve their 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 this course i was in that people here in cos will want exactly what people in the rest of serbia do you know with a with an arson they want casilla to be theirs not all being there you people will stay on in the stance regardless of where there are barricades will be torn down and that can only happen in the levy people will come here in venice and look at the bridge with a rope and god willing i'll come here again and again to stand together with my friends and us ship them.

wealthy british style.

market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports on. the week's main news stories on all teachers no let up print media ran us to scream to some sanctions for. america it is. a growing lot of intervention supporters the made a car is the first out of the opening call for fall of military action in syria while former ally turkey keeps its forces on standby along the border. turning up the heat a wave of credit rating downgrade how would you describe in france and austria a bit grades on mounting concern blocks failing to control its.