government and that would be a pretty leaves early parliamentary and presidential elections now those calls have been vehemently rejected by the syrian government here so you could have played interference with the internal affairs really the sense here from damascus is that the government here are working on their own reforms they want the arab league mission to focus on their job of course the problem is you've got countries in the arab league like saudi arabia like. he now seems that the standard here that they're preaching democracy to syria when of course they themselves they have to be . russia's stance is once again that this should be seeking resolution with our foreign intervention i've actually spoken to the national coordinator council which is the opposition within the country they welcome the maven again reiterated best felt that as long as there is no move towards foreign military intervention that they're very pleased with the response from the arab league mission because

you still got observers on the ground it's expected that to mission is actually now going to continue possibly for another month and possibly the end of their powers and their numbers as well of course what you don't want to see happen now is that the arab league mission which is really the only very remains a penalty for seeing dialogue in the country to now have blocks put in its way so the question really is how to make the mission the observer mission more effective because as we've been witnessing in the past couple of weeks really at the moment in the country what you want to be thing is the sightedness and not further division. for civilization that's for. gov. to homes the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital now many damascus suburbs are also in brawls in the conflicts between government forces and the armed opposition. well this is all that's left of many of the houses now inside

just absolutely gutted it's broken glass you've got bullet holes lining the walls you've got clothes strewn around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see here the devastating consequences that this conflict has heard that picking up the pieces way pre easy amongst the opposition themselves there are a worrying divisions and as the conflicts become increasingly violent there are now areas of the country where it's unclear exactly he's in control what do the people here i think the syrian army having control not or it's. not. a lot of number of number of six weeks ago is in charge and so. quickly the issue of the coordination the diversion of the stuff arab league observers except to remain in the country for another month trying to build the basis for multi-party

elections even seen by the international community although you are your sort of or you are into your position you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side's working with the other side uses their own look instead of fighting with thousands kills bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be a major task sara for us he damascus syria. now the e.u. has imposed pressure sanctions against syrian official son private companies as part of the effort to punish the government for ongoing violence they read various political analyst or doctor or modern the shopping so is the syrian opposition itself should share responsibility for recent bloodshed in the country and that ultimately it's time to engage in dialogue. the opposition or what the so-called syrian free army or the desert there is from the syrian army have been also using heavy gunfire against civilians they have been using explosives apparently they

have been using the armored. rockets and you know some weapons that cannot usually be used in civilian areas and against civilians there is president said also enjoys. popular support. one cannot deny this not even the institute in qatar denied this when they did the research last month and they found that fifty five percent of the city and population oppose the downfall and or did in the form of president assad it's time for dialogue as i said has tried some somebody form some democratic reforms there is a constitutional council now in syria trying to rewrite the constitution there will be elections in the coming months there are some of the forums i think that the opposition shows face because it is of the interest of no one of no one's interests

that need to or steps in there would be destruction and they would be chaos as was the case in libya. while the libyans display their i go with the national transitional council in one of the most turbulent weekends in the country since the fall of moammar gadhafi coming your way in just a few minutes here on out to you we talked to the president of the arab lawyers association to get his thoughts on the future of libya amid the continued unrest. nations are formally adopted person to set of sanctions against iran which include a block wide bargo on iranian oil the move targets are all its nuclear program which the islamic republic insists is purely for peaceful purposes. tales from. its sensually a total oil embargo it will have immediate effect on new contracts but that existing contract will be allowed to run for another six months they've also agreed

on a ban on a gold and gold trade and other precious metals with iranian central bank all of these of course aiming to financially and economically cripple iran over its controversial nuclear program with western leaders still insisting iran is trying to build nuclear weapons while terror ron denies this now the e.u. embargo follow strict new a u.s. sanctions that were passed into law by president obama in january so as far as the e.u. is concerned by july it will be a full and total implementation of these new sanctions this is unprecedented in terms of the scope and the desired a potential effect on iran but it is also one president in terms of its potential economic impact on the european union itself let's not forget the e.u. imports up to twenty percent of the ring in all its second biggest buyer and one of the twenty seven the biggest buyers within that are elite spain and greece the very same countries that are now struggling to deal with that sovereign debt crisis in greece in particular heavily dependent on the radio oil with up to one third of its total imports from iran also its relying on terror for easier credit terms so they

will definitely have to find alternatives for these countries these are what their leaders will have to talk about how to cushion the potential economic impacts on the several member states and of course because of all the uncertainty oil markets have already reacted pushing oil prices up and higher oil prices will just mean higher prices of goods. it was live from moscow as a member to mention a few moments ago the e.u. has imposed against syrian officials on private companies all as part of the effort to punish the government for ongoing violence it's a get more on the growing international pressure on syria let's not talk to apollo to phone a head of the political think tank the city foundation thank you for coming on r t today the new e.u. sanctions against syria aimed at punishing the government just how fair do you think these measures are considering that syrian authorities insist they really are fighting against armed extremists.

sanctions is part of a scheme which is master in the by washington and the use just following for this. should be inserted in what is happening in the entire region especially with the stepping in of china in the gulf region very recently you know that there was the visit of the chinese president so everything is changing in terms of geopolitical agreements and these sanctions are a signal that assad has to go probably with the consent of china i wonder if there is also a kind of concern from russia to the way ahead this is something that probably will be similar to what has happened in yemen so both china and i believe russia would like to see an orderly ousting of the current government moving towards a more legitimate type of national union government the sanctions are a way to pressure the group to move out and to negotiate.

this is his idea it now is interesting you bring in the issue of yemen here of course we discussed the past two thousand and eleven the arab spring some already drawing comparisons to libya as the e.u. insists that the syrian crisis should be stopped with a u.n. security council intervention russia says that nato is apparently considering a no fly zone over syria do you think a foreign military intervention is possibly on the cards. it is not excluded but once again i do not believe that this may happen on the sort of libya style intervention there are not the conditions and the longer for that so most probably dismay happen but there should be a negotiated settlement with the major powers in the area and as i mentioned russia and china are acting in that area plus turkey plus the gulf cooperation council so. everything is on the table we have to see how the negotiations will develop in

the coming hours of days now if there is a deep sectarian division in syria for the meantime if the current regime does go as you say as you are saying a lot of politics are getting involved here from various parts of the world if the current regime does go with that result do you think of their desired stability for the country. if it is in a disorderly way for sure it would be a major blast for the population living in syria but it would become also a serious freights to the neighbors so it is not the interest of anybody to have a desire or disorder of the current government. negotiations are under way on the other hand they remember last time i spoke about this the arab league mission was meant to create the conditions for negotiations and this has happened that the arab league has now finally joined the western led chorus calling for president assad to

remove all to stop the bloodshed why do you think it's taken so long why is the league finally now come out against the regime. well because the. political environment has changed as i mentioned the visit of the chinese president in saudi arabia and qatar have. changed the balance of power in the region so there is a shift the declaration that wen jiabao himself made about syria were quite clear he said that there should be new government that includes also the opposition he was against the possibility of a foreign intervention into the current government and. the change of the arab league reflects just the new mood saudi arabia. had a political thing tank of a city foundation i'm sorry that's all the time we have for here on r.t.

thank you for joining us. and still to come your way later in the program the twists and turns of russian politics as the electoral campaign intensifies the presidential hopeful of latimeria putin proposes that he wants to get tough on immigration. and e.u. entry ticket has been approved by the people of croatia the u.s. was not expected to be quite so solid there with more than half of croats simply ignoring the national referendum the country will become the union's twenty eight state by july next year but only after all the other members ratify the move croatia was split on the issue with those in opposition saying there's nothing to gain from a bloc currently experiencing its worst ever crisis and as artists on barton reports the divisions are here to stay even after the yes quite. violent scenes in the croatian but it's the country's e.u.

referendum that's sitting. behind me to this. and of course the protest as always they take and see protest as a way for the situation in many states instead of in the creation capital and fighting has taken as being time believing that it is well now the right for. only you hear. these anti protesters say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices they are and joining would surrender croatia's independence to brussels. that helpful in another street nearby the foreign minister is trying to convince people that accession is vital for the current economy actually it's the stability that scout kuwait it into the credit rating of gracious. that is translated into membership of the european union critias budget would be in serious

trouble everywhere you turn in croatia the e.u. is being discussed whereas most of the political class no longer question europhile stands for public views differ widely in chicago tell you as we come into or see and touch all our fish and that's our biggest creditor you know if you. carefully though you told us we have to bay the e.u. has regulations for those that don't want to they must stop trading here in memphis even if we had two sons turn employed and maimed because of that i would be prying a secret dimmers that december's worked over all the worries about sovereignty local industry and economic well being a former state and there are still some voices in parliament that think the benefits of what joining it would be the coasters if we were not going with our heads high up or going on our knees because our economy. non-existing our

exporting is pretty bad rb the peak is very little so we don't really have anything to offer i think he was. back out on the streets the argument quality will not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum dissolve the nation's division of the european emissions part of the part of the. party is coming here live from moscow with russia's presidential elections just around the corner candidates are ramping up their campaigns prime minister and presidential hopeful vladimir putin is proposing stricter immigration rules in his second major newspaper article in the run up to the vote artie's peter all of our reports. but talking on multiculturalism a migration vladimir putin praised what he sees is russia's long history as a multicultural nation a history he says goes back to the days of the russian empire have been some very

serious problems though when it comes to migration and integration of migrants in russia that these problems over the last twenty years since the collapse of the soviet union were very serious indeed in our problems that russia is still struggling to to deal with today speaking about what the results can be of migration going wrong he warned of the rise of nationalism the rise of xenophobia these type of issues that we saw acted out in real life eight in moscow in two thousand and ten with ethnic clashes taking place. right next to the kremlin in the heart of the russian capital a hit so to. see nationalism rising hit out at those who have a slogan such as stop feeding and stop funding the caucuses saying where the caucuses are a part of russia talking of multiculturalism he said that russia had a very unique system of multiculturalism something very different to say what happens in europe where he said basically multiculturalism had failed and that russia system was something. very different over to me and said that there's no way

that you can completely get rid of all illegal immigration into russia but if he's elected president in the elections in march that he hopes to be able to to make significant cuts to the amount of people that are arriving in russia illegally now he wants to do this by toughening the laws to try and deter people from entering the country illegally he also wants to see a system put in place not just to monitor foreign immigrants coming into russia but also to monitor internal migrants also by twenty thirty he wants to see an exam put in place to become unsettled and live and work in russia but they have to be able to pass the russian language exam also an exam on russian culture russian history so those are the things that he wants to put. to tackle the issue of migration and multiculturalism in russia. it's pretty all about reporting well as the march vote approaches we here at r.t. you're keeping a close eye on the campaign trail and of course you can find more of that on our

website r.t. dot com pre-election scandal flares up around a veteran liberal candidate he may be pushed out of the race you don't violations in the registration process or those details are standing by for you at r.t. dot com. the leader of libya's national transitional council says the country could be heading towards a civil war it follows protests in the city of benghazi that resulted in the resignation of his deputy this past weekend enraged that libyans took to the streets of the city which was the center of the opposition in the uprising against colonel gadhafi demonstrators are now accusing the n.c.c. of corruption a lack of reform and favoring former government loyalists more in the future of libya when i was joined by the president of the arab lawyers association thank you for joining us today the head of the transitional council has now warned of a civil war is that where it's headed yes i think there is the risk for two reasons

the reason number one is that the arms are still in the hands of the various militias various areas that the differences between the tribal bases and what have you are not the same. as the political view of the people in conflict you have some people who want rights to have more than ten percent seats in the parliament while at the same time you have others who saying you shouldn't percentages women should have equal rights no special favors for them you have a situation where people who want islam to be part of the constitution well you have the liberals who don't want to do that so you have a conflict on policies as well as the availability of arms so as you say there is a mix the group making up the m.t.c. certainly some infighting going on the sea does have the support of western powers do you think if the un rest it should continue and push the country further into conflict any chance the west could interfere again. i think quite frankly the

interference of the west by itself is a reason the minister one of the ministers has just signed an agreement with the italians to protect the oil industry there are rumors that the americans are sending sending some military men there are pressures from outside countries particularly western countries britain france and what have you and the usa certainly trying to secure the interest so they have to rely on their contacts on the people many of the nationals of these countries libyans but they can be passports french and italian and what have you and this is again it is one of the conflicts for instance the new presumed law they're drafting at the moment it tries to ban people who do not have. libyan nationality or those who have dual nationalities from standing while those people don't on this one and the same

equally at the same time there is another problem within the council itself the m.t.c. the n d c many of them actually from the old regime including the leader of the m.d.c. he was the minister of justice under. and there are many other people like his deputy many others who where men of that fee and of the same time now they're saying we will not have we will we will not allow those benefited from of africa's regime to stand for election so there are quite a lot of conflicting views many of them i think aside from the national within the nation the differences the outside world is contributing dramatically including. as you mentioned just a moment ago there are still many elements of the khadafi regime but of taking up positions on post inside the new transitional government council but we have seen as you mentioned ago the first m.t.c. official leave his post after the latest protest is a possible we could see others giving up their post as demanded by the people. well

one would have thought that this would be possible but when we hear of the president of the council must a five digit lead he said he would not leave his post because he said that if he does this is going to lead to a civil war so if you have a few more solid politicians who are adopting the same line we are heading for a conflict but i would have thought that certainly some of the people and it has to begin with the head of the council itself and the c. president. must have had the jedi he was the minister of justice for all of them but a few years of their feet and under his leadership as a minister of justice there are quite a lot of injustices so for him now to say he will produce and or that he will not allow those people who benefited from that he stand to stand for election on the same time he is heading the m.d.c. it doesn't bode very well so i think there is a problem there not just with some antics but with actual honesty in the situation

down trying to apply double standards in certain instances they want something when they can't deliver it on the other hand you have the conflicts as i said earlier between the islamists the those who are aligned with the west and they think islam should have absolutely no place in libya so there are these conflicting views the president of the arab lawyers association of life in london thank you. the newly elected parliament in egypt has now started its first session most of the seats occupied by the muslim brotherhood and other islamist parties who won an overwhelming majority in the first post mubarak home r.t. correspondent. is attracting the latest developments as you can see here we'll hear from her next hour here on our team but this right here is her twitter feed you can see the latest from her from her personal twitter feed get the latest on egypt's first parliamentary session as well as the growing frustration in the region those

updates for you online twenty four seven. time now for the business with marie. hello and welcome to business and here on now as we've been reporting the european union has formally adopted and oil embargo against iran over its nuclear program and this involves an immediate ban on all new oil contracts with everyone but all existing contracts will be honored until the first of july and as you strategists gasless davis from b.m.p. party believes that any year led sanctions against some middle eastern country will only lead to a minor fluctuations in the oil price. e.u. sanctions on the oh no i don't think that's significant around exports right about two point two million barrels a day of oil. goes to europe it's only represents run about one quarter over

two. so we don't expect. the impact of the e.u. sanctions. the u.s. sanctions that might take effect. this year. removing all sports two point two million barrels a day and i'm going to i think we'll have greater price impacts. let's take a look at what's happening with the oil prices right now in light sweet is trading at ninety nine dollars a barrel all the prime plane is at around one hundred eleven dollars per barrel in crude prices are heading higher after the oil embargo against iran of course now let's check out what's happening in europe shares there are in the black this hour the u.k. spanish might start in that interest higher boosted by gains for banks and or oil stocks but investors are still awaiting news from kiev that talks in greece. here in russia the picture as simone markets are higher the arts yes is that in one of

the half percent the south wall that my sex is getting almost half a percent that's like a look at the top movers on the my sites russia's largest oil company rolls that has recovered from earlier losses and is now gaining almost half a percent sperm bank on the other hand has narrowed earlier gains and is now dropping a third of a percent the lender has completed its acquisition of the troika dialog investment bank and mobile operator empty as has been negative territory and is gaining once again. but known to ukraine now which has dropped its plans to cut imports of russian gas at least for this year gas from psionics a miller says the country has promised to follow the terms of the existence apply contracts now like here for earlier. about it with the hof purchases starting from two thousand and twelve as the poised to so high but must also that's against the terms of our contract which obliges ukraine to buy

a fixed amount of gas every year the i know volume can only be changed if the part inside a special agreement no later than six months before the year of supplies. that's a business looks the sour for more stories do had to our website r.t. dot com slash business by for now.

if you're just joining us a very warm welcome to you this is our life for a basket of your headlines seriously an arab league plan to solve the country's crisis the required president assad to step down damascus has said the initiative was an interference in its entirety and a quote attack on serious. the e.u. adopt unprecedented sanctions against iran which include a complete go on its own the measure is europe's latest response to tehran's

nuclear program which the islamic republic insists it's purely peaceful. and croatia votes in favor of joining the e.u. national referendum but imo turnout and protests proceeding the vote show there are still deep divisions within the country. stay with us if you can here and now it can only be reached by helicopter but the stunning scenery of the caucuses nature reserve in southern russia definitely worth seeing with your own eyes but if you can go there now probably not the best time of year either have a look at it with your own eyes here on our special report on art see. some of the russia.