after an hour's trip by end dimitri and his son kirill walk about the northern sector of the caucuses reserve in the company of ranges the jugo weather station is now scores of kilometers away. people and animals share the only path there is in this area let's go listen to the bison let humans approach them but most of the people traveling around the reserve granges in horseback must short while ago patrol duty in a different area of focus for the short distance from here they can see month show there came across nine bison. the lettuce come quite close to them. were only fifteen metres away. bison moving in the

caucuses reserve have no enemies sometimes humans can come very close to them provided they are on horseback buses a range of dismount the bison instantly make it clear they're poised for attack. the. horses are the most reliable and indispensable companions when people go on long trips in the mountains only horses with good training eligible for the job. this one is cultured nish. is my favorite. but we became first friends. riding him is no problem he does what he is told to do. but this one is still young stallion. so that it will let anybody touch him.

is scared of everybody. joel never a chair has one of the remotest areas of eastern sector of the caucuses reserve several reserve stock and their families live here on a permanent basis. even if the weather is warm it's only possible to reach this place with an off road vehicle schoolchildren from a nearby village of sit by often visit reserve ranges they have organized an eco

movement called the little bison. hello hello glad to see you. near our guests. that's thorough. that doesn't touch the machine we are. churning malaysia is the starting point of a circular route for high just only visitors with a permit and a map are allowed to enter the reserve they gear is inspected and ranges teach them the elementary rules for surviving in the mountains children from the little bison zero is welcome here they already have experience walking cross country with the children from the little mice and often cross the river in that way but it's risky in winter time so today we're going to take a detour we'll cross the bridge and forest warden will take care of all stuff.

pikas can choose between several popular routes in different areas of the coax is reserved. close to the trail stands an oval table used by ranges it's meant for hikers passing by wanting to rest for a moment children from the little bison club gather here on the bank of the stream to discuss major ecological actions suggestion as we all know that on the eve of new year's celebrations many local people pick up axis and go to the forest to cut down our green beauties it's a bird save the green beauty is the name of a movement organized by the children so they make leaflets bearing the image of a foot tree. that they write text on the leaflets and display them prominently

in the village of. the children hope their peaceful actions will help prevent fur trees from being cut down illegally. preserve ranges however take more radical measures against lawbreakers their main task is finding and detaining poachers. one of the most challenging jobs takes rangers to mount yet. each time they go under a veil of secrecy regardless of day or night the conditions there painstaking job requires special knowledge and staying power they need to be skilled horseman as well as able to discern telltale signs showing the presence of trespassers and have no difficulty finding their bearings. and you will always be tempted to answer the reserve because beasts are easy prey here your reporters up there are not as much

afraid of humans as they are elsewhere because they're under constant protection. cultures see them as enticing tidbits because hunting for them is so easy. as the path reaches higher altitudes one climatic zone in the mountains gives way to another here the fog that envelop the forests in the foothills is now a distant memory there is snow on the slopes and it is much colder the caucasian mountains gradually come into view. the feet.

after several attempts to find the best point for filming the landscape dimitri suddenly comes face to face with a brown bear one of the rarest and largest animals of the caucuses reserve. ranges did find fresh tracks they were close to the heart where the rangers put up for the night they reported the find over walkie talkie that he would use there all threats here at the store all he got from a wolf yes. keep still the workers let me see them what initially go with the trucks no just those holding.

bases here they are. two three three four thirty eight calling one zero four eight calling one of four everything's ok no poacher tracks you know it's only some left by animals the latest tracks are those of wolves three of them over and out. different people visiting the coaxes nature is a raft of different things some seek shelter from the hustle and bustle of big cities all this or all to thrills only a few are able to blend in with this wonderful place and become possibly. just invested by old and yet i feel i'm an integral part of this world yet i do

what i know crazy romantic. i'm nearly drowned almost frozen to death and full of cliffes already. nature is wiser than we are human if our ingenuity is all pervasive. she is the creator that gave birth to us about enough but i do but i may bring us to ruin unless we come to our senses. and atlanta i think does what people should devote their lives to. let's go get them i don't know if i can cope with the task but i'm going to try.

seriously it was an arab league when to solve the country's crisis requiring president assad to step down calling it an interference in its internal affairs plus. the e.u. formally adopt an oil embargo against iran as part of president is sanctions against the country but there are fears that the sanctions may backfire joy be for the details in a few moments. and gratiot votes in favor of joining the debts a tricky e.u. but a low turnout for the national referendum and some violent protests exposed to visions within the country.

ten pm in moscow i met good to have you with us here on r.t. our top story syria has rejected an arab league proposal to resolve the country's crisis requiring president assad to give up power damascus slammed the plan as an interference in its internal affairs an attack on its sovereignty or he's sorry for of has more from the syrian capital. the arab league called president bashar al assad to step down and to hand power his deputy they also called for the formation of a national unity government and that would be a previous early parliamentary and presidential elections now those calls have been vehemently rejected by the syrian government here so could a flagrant 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 qatar now seeing that the sense that they're reaching democracy to syria when of course they themselves don't have democracy. russia's stance is once again that this should be seeking resolution with alice for an intervention now i've actually spoken to the national coordinator council which is the opposition within the country they welcome the maven again reiterated their felt that as long as there is no move towards foreign military intervention they're very very pleased with the response from the arab league mission because you still got observers on the ground it's expected that the mission is actually now going to continue possibly for another month and possibly with the extension 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 route there remains

a teacher 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 but it's not for civilization it's for. going. to homes the conflict has moved ever closer to the country's capital and though many damascus suburbs are also embroiled 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 close around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see the devastating consequences that this conflict has hurt the picking up the pieces prove 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 is in control what do the people here. think the syrian army having control not or. not. a lot of numbers of number of secrecy is in charge and so. quickly the issue of the coordination the diversion up with the stuff arab league observers look set to remain in the country for another month trying to build the basis for multi-party elections even seen by the international community or that you're sort of to where you are indeed a position you have to put in your mind that you have to work with the other side working with the other side these don't look. good with thousands killed bringing the different factions to the negotiating table is going to be

a major task sara for. damascus syria the new has imposed fresh travel bans and asset freezes on the syrian regime as punishment for the ongoing violence there are based political analyst omar nashar bases the responsibility for the bloodshed should be shared between the syrian opposition and 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 and the armored. rockets and some you know some weapons that cannot usually be used in civilian areas and against civilians there is president said also enjoys. popular support and said you know 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 opposed it down for you or did a movement of president assad it's time for dialogue as i said has 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 should face because it is the interests of no one of no one's interests that need to steps in there would be destruction and they would be chaos as was the case in libya. egypt is one of the countries where people are now seeing the consequences of the democracy they fought to achieve as a new adventure is the elected parliament hold its first post revolution session and many egyptians say they've been betrayed by the muslim brotherhood in its march to a majority. but before we get to that e.u.

nations have formally adopted an unprecedented set of sanctions against iran including a block wide embargo on iranian oil the move targets iran's controversial nuclear program that the islamic republican says is purely for peaceful purposes russia says it regrets the sanctions adding that they undermine diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis archy's tests are so has more for brussels. it's essential 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 the 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 run denies this now the e.u. embargo follow strict new way 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 be desired of potential effects 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 rain 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 greece in particular heavily dependent on the rain with up to one third of its total imports from iran also it's relying on terror for easier credit terms so they will definitely have to find alternatives for these countries these are what the 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. a senior iranian official has said if the imposed in bargo affects to iran's world oil trade it will go ahead with its threat to walk off the

strait of hormuz oil transit route but james corbet editor of the news website the corporate reports as the threat is unlikely to be carried out anytime soon. i think there's no doubt there is some provocation and some testing of the waters quite literally and figuratively going on right now and certainly with the rands recent threats to to block the strait of hormuz now we see the americans sending ships through there to sort of test the defenses so to speak so so i think there is definitely some cat and mouse going on right now and i think at this point it is saber rattling and testing both sides testing to see how far the other is going to go candy and as i say at this point i would be extremely shocked to see iran actually pulling out the the option of of mining or otherwise blockading the strait of hormuz because that seems to me that that's that's pretty much the last part of their sleeves so i don't think they want to put it on the you know on the table too early oddly enough i think the further that iran is pushed into a corner here than were there their position will strengthen over time as they as

they develop alternative routes out for their for their oil exports if they for example increase their trading partnership with china or russia and india as we've seen in recent days they've been scrambling to establish exchanges in other currencies including their local currencies including even asking india to trade in japanese yen so we could see really a fundamental shift in the in the entire dynamic of this that is energy export economy that that's taking place right now and it could actually serve to to benefit iran in the long run from getting them off of their dependence on the petro dollar. well stay with us here on r.t. still to come in the program the twists and turns of russian politics as electoral campaign intensifies presidential hopeful blood in your putin wants to get tough on immigration. but first in the e.u. entry ticket has been approved by the people of croatia the u.s. wasn't as solid as expected more than half of the croats simply ignored voting in the national referendum the country will become the nation's twenty eight states by

july of next year if it gets the approval of the other member states curry show was split on the issue with those in opposition saying there is nothing to gain from a bloc that's currently experiencing its worst ever crisis was artie's tom barton reports the divisions are here to stay even after the yes vote. violent scenes in the croatian capital it's the country's be the referendum that setting. let me run. the risk of being made to mind me the police going to the protest as always they take and protest his way six ways to many seats in the creation capital and financing has been telling believe the pyramids will now. live through. these anti protesters say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting voices they are joining with surrender the way she is independence to brussels.

but in another street nearby the foreign minister is trying to convince people that accession is vital for the current economy you need to leave the stability the scale can lead it into the creative trading of creation. that is translated into membership of the. creases budgets would be in serious trouble everywhere you turn in croatia the e.u. is being discussed the whereas most of the political class no longer. question the europhiles stands for public views differ widely in this it doesn't tell you as we come into or see and touch all our fish and that's our biggest problem you know if you go there after you though they told us we have to bathe the e.u. is regulations those that don't want to they must stop trading here in memphis even if we have two sons higher unemployment and maybe because of that i would be fine

if the reed timmer there be some was good you know there are legitimate worries about solvency 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 will be better than with it we're now going with our heads high up we're going in our knees because our economy our non-existing our exporting is pretty bad our b d p is very low so we don't really have anything to offer if you back out on the streets the arguments quality will not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum dissolve the nation's division of the european membership tom box of. i and there still tension in one of the newest member states romania the country's foreign minister has been sacked for criticizing the protesters angry at the government for more

than a week now people have been demanding the president and minister step down this against a backdrop of wage cuts and tax hikes in a new second for the state which is struggling to meet demands of international credit and see tom barton's report who was in the middle of the recent violence in progress on our website or two dot com. where thrushes presidential race is just around the corner candidates are ramping up their campaigns prime minister and hopeful candidate glad i'm here putin is proposing stricter immigration rules and his second major newspaper article in the run up to the vote party's peter all for has more. but talking on multiculturalism a migration vladimir putin praised what he sees is russia's long history as a multicultural nation in history he says goes back to the days of the russian empire and it's said that there 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 i'm right next to the kremlin in the heart of the russian capital he hits out at those that seem nationalism right he hit out at those who have slogans such as stop feeding him stop funding the caucuses saying well 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 that had to be he's a very different manner although 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 into turkey 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 those wanting to come and settled 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 you to put him. place to talk about the issue of migration and multiculturalism in russia. as the march vote approaches r t is keeping a close eye on the campaign trail of course you can find out more 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 because of violations during the registration process you can find out all this and more on our web site r t dot com. the u.s.

is also counting down to its presidential election with republican primaries underway to pick their candidate huge amounts of cash are already been spent by backing the contenders coming up in the next hour debate on the so-called super pacs which allow unlimited campaign spending but are opposed by many americans the stupid law says that they can't coordinate with the super pac and they are criticizing them for a hearing to the stupid law that you're insisting upon but they are coordinating that's our only ours coordination rules our coordination rules are going to be and really is going to be you're stupid. do you believe for one second to not coordinating former staffers for a candidate and i don't probably want them coordinating but there you go said the problem coordinating i don't have a problem with them coordinating this is free speech. if you really elected parliament in egypt has started its first session most of the seats occupied by the muslim.