the helicopter passes by noun fish to the highest point of the western ridge. it's so i am. 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 schools of commerce is a way. people and animals share the only path there is in this area. do the bison let humans approach them but most of the people traveling around the reserve granges in horseback last short while ago patrol duty in a different area of focus for the short distance from here they can seem on his show there came across the line bys and. the lettuce come quite close to them.

were only fifteen metres away. bison leaving the coaxes 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 cold churton ish. he's my favorite. though we became first friends. riding him is no problem. he does what he's told to do. but this one is still

a young stallion. so that it will let anybody touch him. the bloke. is scared of everybody. shall never chair his 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. dear our guests. that you know. that doesn't just go mushy we are. chosen 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 the children from the little mice in. 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 work and we'll take care of our 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 leaf let's bear in the image of

a foot tree. that got their i taxed 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 they're 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 precipices 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 are there not as much afraid of humans as they are elsewhere because they're under constant protection. such you 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. of. 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 caucasus reserve. ranges did find fresh tracks they were close to the huts where the rangers put up for the night they reported the find over walkie talkie that he would use there are all threats here that the store all got from

a wolf yes. keep still the workers let me see them what initially go in the trucks no just those old in. base here they are. two three three four eight calling one zero four eight calling one of four everything's ok tracks only some left by animals the latest tracks are those of wolves three of them over and out. different people visiting the coaxes nature reserve 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 possible.

just invested by old and yet i feel i'm an integral part of this world yet i do you well know crazy romantic. i'm nearly drowned almost frozen to death and full of cliffes already. nature is wiser than we are given if her ingenuity is all pervasive. she is the creator that gave birth to us about enough but i do but it 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 the ball i don't know if i can cope with the task but i'm going to try.

syria slams an arab league when it solve the country's crisis requiring president assad to step down calling it an interference in its internal affairs plus. the e.u. formally adopted oil embargo against iran as part of president the sanctions against the country but there are fears that the sanctions may backfire join me for the details in a few moments. and courageous votes in favor of joining the debt stricken he you've got a low turnout for the national referendum and violent protests exposed to visions within the country.

it's one am in moscow i might try as a good to have you with us here on r.t. our top story syria rejects an arab league proposal to resolve the country's crisis that requires president assad to give up power damascus led the plan is interference in its internal affairs an attack on its sovereignty arky sarah for more. likud president bashar al assad to step down and to hand power of 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 it could play go into 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 the sense that they're preaching democracy to syria when of course they themselves don't have the votes of the. brushes and stances 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 welcomed the maven again reiterated their felt that as long as there is no move towards foreign military intervention they're very pleased with the response from the arab league mission because he's still got observers on the ground it's expected that the mission is actually now going to continue possibly for another month and pulled usually. 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 as

you can see the seeing dialogue in the country to now have blocks could 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. or civilization. or. two 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 stain around the house where people have left them behind fleeing very quickly you can really see here the devastating consequences that this conflict has hurt the picking up the pieces easy amongst the opposition themselves

there are 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 a number of six weeks ago is in charge. of the division the diversion of the stuff and 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 although you are. where you are into your 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. has imposed fresh travel bans and asset freezes on the syrian regime as a punishment for any ongoing violence sara mara circle political analyst from syracuse university says the opposition may also be partly to blame for the bloodshed and that pressure should be put on both sides to start talks. of course there are certain parts of the opposition that should share in the responsibility for the there are a good amount of syrians who are dedicated to peaceful demonstrations who have been showing up on the streets and have been you know resisting calls to violence but then there are also many dangerous segments of the opposition who have long used violence we see this as nation more and more especially over the last several months with a lot of weapons coming in through foreign borders to the opposition that's becoming increasingly militarized and carrying out some very devastating attacks on

syrian infrastructure syrian government institutions the police and also innocent civilians are getting killed in syria and so really the violence now is a two way street and it's really a failure of the syrian mission the observers if they're not going to the pressure on both sides it's unrealistic to force one side to make all the changes when there is violence coming from both sides what's going to happen to the silent majority of syrians who are not protesting are they going to be attacked by the more militant forms of protesters are they going to be injured in some sort of process that is not going to facilitate dialogue that's going to facilitate chaos. in egypt is one of the countries where people are now seeing the consequences of the democracy they fought for of the newly elected parliament holders who are supposed to have a session in egypt and say they've been betrayed by the muslim brotherhood and its march to the jordan. but first nations are formally adopted an unprecedented set

of sanctions against iran including a block wide embargo on iranian oil the move targets iran's nuclear program which the islamic republic insists is purely for peaceful purposes russia says it regrets the sanctions adding that they undermine diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis. has more from brussels. it's 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 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 on 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 the desire to 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 above the twenty seven the biggest fires 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 radio oil 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 you impose don't bargo affects tehran's world oil trade it will go ahead with its threat to block the

vital strait of hormuz oil transit route but james corbet editor of the independent report thinks the threat is unlikely to be carried out anytime soon. i think there is 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 canned 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. and 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 but if you're in the wanted to get tough on immigration. but first an entry ticket has been approved by the people of croatia the us wasn't as solid as expected with more than half of croats failing to vote in the national referendum the country will become unions twenty eight states by july of next year if the

other member states ratify the move croatia was split on the issue with those in opposition saying there is nothing to be gained from a country joining a bloc that's experiencing its worst ever crisis as artie's tom barton reports from zagreb the divisions may be there to stay even after the yes vote. violent scenes in the croatian capital it's the country's referendum but setting. limits to be made behind me the police come to the protest as only they take protest is late six ways. in the creation capital and financing has been telling. these anti protests to say the government is trying to suppress the dissenting

voices they are joining with surrender the way she is independence to brussels. in another street near the foreign minister is trying to convince people that accession is vital for the current economy to leave the stability that scoundrelly into the credit rating of creation. that is translated into membership of the. gracious budgets would be in serious trouble everywhere you turn in croatia the e.u. is being. but whereas most of the political class no longer question the europhile it stands for public views differ widely in the suit they're going to tell you as we come into our seat and cut all our fish and that's our biggest threat of it if you go there after you told us you have to pay the e.u. is regulations those that don't want to they must stop trading here in memphis even if we have two sons who are an employee and maybe because of that i would be prior

to most of the sim was going to you know all those worries about solvency local industry and economic well being a form of extremism there are still some voices in parliament that think the benefits of what joining. us if we were not 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 go back out on the streets the arguments quality will not continue with ferocity with such strong emotions it seems unlikely this referendum result in the nation's division of the european membership box of rocks. and there are still tension in one of the newest e.u. member states for a mania 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 minister step down this against a backdrop of wage cuts and tax hikes in the second poorest country which is struggling to meet the demands of its international creditors and to watch reports sent in by our teams tom barton who was in the middle of the recent violence in bucharest it's all online at our website r t v dot com. with russia's presidential election just around the corner candidates are stepping up their campaigns prime minister and now presidential hopeful wide amir putin is proposing stricter immigration rules in his second major newspaper article in the run up to the vote peter all four 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 it 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 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 that had to be he's a very different manner 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 malls 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 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 put him. place to talk to 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 always find the latest on our web site r.t. dot com a click away right now pre-election scandal flares up around a veteran liberal candidate he may be pushed out of the race because of violations

in the registration process you can find out about all that. and staying with the elections topic newly elected parliament in egypt started its first session of most of the seats now filled by muslim brotherhood and other islamic party members who won an overwhelming majority in the first post mubarak poll but as artie's marie if an ocean reports many feel the brotherhood may have lied its way into power. is a growing option here in egypt already that these. changes will actually not be as dramatic as people in the revolution demonstrators taxes have expected them to be the muslim brotherhood's freedom and justice policy has indeed won the first stone age of two mostly because he had promised people all aid to. such a transitional transition from ministry to civil.