about an ecological catastrophe these daily winds that blow over contributed to the disaster they carry solid particles of dust and salt from the dry. lush pastures. of that moisture. alexander remembers all too well how it started thirty years ago. but on a sailboat and a master plan of countering desert invasion was put together in a series which when an emergency state was introduced in the republic almost all farmers schoolchildren and students were involved in seed collection and subsequent sowing works in the region brew should the results achieved prove that it was possible not only to stock does it and they should but also to bring life back but there with the community that not that but it'll take fifteen to twenty years for this land to become step again. you know we should remember that it's impossible to revive step in its original form on the open sands. but meanwhile the water goal is

not only to reinforce the sandy soil but also to create quality pastures that will foster the development of cattle breeding in kalmykia where. it's a tough task selecting which plants are fit for life in the desert and those that can help turn the desert back into step terms and bush's was selected by way of trial and error literally panesar was one of the first scientists who proved which plants are most likely to survive here at the court in just going out because this is a collision and route one of the bushes planted to study the sand is a complete. it would be the roots can grow fifteen to twenty metres deep. it's a very convenient plant to use because it grows in the sand and doesn't require watering by the. minute it came in there weren't enough scientists recommend planting cuttings of killing you know the same way grapes are

planted that. we were hesitant at first but it turns out that it grows well after all even on sand and people can't help wondering they tell us what's the use of planting sticks but after three months the sticks start to blossom. today residents of the county village of pecans kate will start a new. other around combating the desert all they have is an old tractor with soviet era of quick mint attached to fight the invading sands the new agricultural technique of planting cuttings with just the working team is composed of three people two technicians who plant the cuttings and an assistant who stamps on the ground around the plants to make it flat one planting machine can cover up to twelve hectares of sand in a single shift it is hard work especially considering temperatures often reach forty five degrees celsius one hundred thirteen fahrenheit in the shade in the first year the young plants will shoot out

a strong and lengthy root system then every bush gradually gains a territory of about thirty square metres all to itself when the sand invasion is stopped the spaces between the bush rows will be filled with grass this is how a form of desert is going to become a pasture. there is a great variety of deserts and some of them instead of being a hindrance can be a natural wonder six thousand kilometers east of moscow in the foothills of the ridge behind lake baikal lies the chara desert it is a unique place siberia. tourists from all over russia visit there even though it's hard to reach the desert is surrounded by rivers and marshes every july it hosts a festival the real enthusiasts stay away from the proper roads the trip to the festival location is an adventure in itself some travel across tigar and rivers and

trucked off road vehicles others head through the marshes on foot one group of thrill seekers full by force has chosen an especially difficult route. dimitri balaban of a shy program from kazakstan is the focus of attention his car is completely unfit for off road. exploits yet he has traveled four thousand kilometers to join the band of adventurous. i mean face time when of course i've never dared to go to such a place on my own horn. but going with a group is a different thing. besides the experience guys took a look at the route beforehand and said we should be able to make a point but probably. dimitri ran into problems as soon as the cars left the highway and the next five hours were very hard however his fellow travelers tell

him it's the only way a rally across tigar is a real test but for the driver and for the vehicle. adrenaline is pumping the car is stuck the wheels are spinning and the terrain is getting more and more difficult now the participants will all experience the fun ships of traveling off road through the siberian tiger the crews will help each other out if not many of these cars will end up abandoned in the swamps forever by the time the convoy rives it is already late but the drivers for go exhaustion and start repairing their vehicles right away are the good with no i probably wouldn't want to come every year. because you need some time off but almost as if it's a very intense kind of experience. early in the morning while the campus is sleep. an experienced hiker well acquainted with the area sets off into the sands his task

is to check how safe the route is before the new arrivals hit the road to explore the charred desert the shortcut to the desert goes through a marshland and a pine forest. each plane landing in char and flies over the desert. for passengers are always but wilderness to actually see sanjay and hear. that legend has it that once there were two brothers younger. and older both were princes and they lived in peace and harmony really never was me until they came upon a treasure trove of gold they proceeded to divide it mostly but they could never come up with their hogs one always ended up shorter than the other and this led to fighting and to war the gods were greatly displeased with it and turned one prince into the kadar ridge and the other into the wood become rich while the gold they were fighting over became a stretch of sand between them and the first groups of tourists are approaching the

charas sands. each person has to improvise a way of walking over the difficult terrain where the tiger ends and the desert starts the walk ahead of them is fascinating yet tiring the key to success here is to ignore the burning sun and insect bites of the taiga. there is no complete explanation as to the deserts origin one theory is that it was produced by centuries of winds eroding the sediment of an ancient lake. the lake dried out about fifteen thousand years ago and its form of bed was walked on by packs of mammoths and woolly rhinoceros tusks keep turning up in the area to this day. charles landscape is a breathtaking combination of north and south brought together as if by magic. there is no other doesn't like it anywhere else in the world these fabulous sights completed by the impressive skyline of the kadar mountain range the chara desert

itself is quite small but just over fifty square kilometers. some members of the talk who post stayed behind in the count there completing preparations for the relay competition on the festival's program it's going to be tough with over fifty experienced hikers after the trophy and we. actually our goal in coming here was not to take some wild rides and off road vehicles or like bonfires balls that are both of the quite the opposite was the we were trying to appreciate the beauty of the desert as it is and we'd like to make sure it stays this way for times to come that other some countries a desert is considered disaster just the char is a place for us to get together and have a good time in a friendly atmosphere. just like today's festival. the relay competition route is set a few kilometers away from the desert the chara desert itself is

a protected nature reserve and visitors only allowed on foot this is no place to host a competition but the protection of the law and the deterrent provided by the sounds themselves make sure that this one of a kind natural treasure remains in its original state. in the evening visitors are treated to one last wonder the sun setting over a quiet lake lights up low clouds and fog on the horizon creating an unforgettable beautiful picture. once the sun has set everyone gathers at a large meadow by the lake it is time for the awards ceremony and singing songs by the fire all just for listening to the music of the night forest by the slumbering siberian desert.

russia and china blocked a western backed u.n. draft resolution on syria with moscow slamming the text for an unbalanced approach and denial of dialogue between the government and the opposition. and other stories that shape the week riots returned to egypt as anger at the authorities failure to prevent a deadly soccer balls goes over into four days of violent clashes that have already seen a dozen killed. russia's bitter subzero temperatures hundreds of thousands joined a record breaking rallies both pro and anti-government the head of the next month's presidential vote.

eight pm in moscow i met a good to have you with us here on r t our top story moscow says it's determined to help bring an end to the syrian crisis by implementing democratic changes it's sending its foreign minister to damascus for talks next week on saturday russia and china blocked the latest u.n. security council resolution on syria saying it could cause even more bloodshed because it took sides in the armed conflict for more on this i'm joined from new york by our teaser marina porton hello marina so the vote at the security council happened almost a day ago but it seems tempers still running high tell us more tempers are still flaring because as you've been reporting at this prize the security council did not reach a consensus on the draft resolution on syria yet western countries still pushed for a vote and russia warned from the very beginning that if the draft was not

a did not address some russia's concerns it would veto and that's exactly what happened. now let's talk about these concerns because moscow said it just requested some simple amendments would be made to the draft text that would have made the resolution a little bit more balanced for example the draft resolution of and the syrian government to withdraw its all of its forces from the cities and towns and cities are all violence but russian officials want to the document the draft resolution to also demand that the armed opposition groups stop participating in violence and retreat back from any cities or towns where it may have occupied their chemical as called the draft text that was presented saturday morning to one side with a list of demands being made on the assad government but no note of armed opposition groups operating in syria now while addressing the security council saturday a russian envoy to the u.n. for tali churkin said the security council was not created for the sake of taking

sides or interfering in a civil war of sovereign countries he also accused some kind some countries of sponsoring a campaign of regime change in syria those who are pushing for this resolution to be adopted take a listen. don't you put them still you could put some influential members of the international community including those sitting around this table have from the very beginning of the syrian crisis been undermining opportunities for political settlement by calling for regime change stirring up the opposition against the authorities and not hesitating to encourage and freedom of methods of struggle the draft resolution put to the vote does not adequately reflect the real situation in syria and sends unbalanced signals to the syrian sides it doesn't take into account proposals that as well as withdrawing syrian old forces from the cities there should be an end to attorneys by armed groups and state institutions and neighborhoods with a little news balance you know when they tell you i'm still a geisha it could not help but showing its frustration and anger when our

participating in the meeting saturday morning u.s. ambassador to the. the u.n. susan rice clearly displayed her or her frustration in some choice words that she decided to use during her speech. the united states is disgusted that a couple members of this council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose here addressing an ever deepening crisis in syria and a growing threat to regional peace and security. back in october when russia and china vetoed the first resolution on syria the u.s. delegation led by susan rice got up and walked out of the security council meeting as the syrian ambassador was speaking to my knowledge that has never happened before and this is an extremely professional setting on international stage and usually delegations particularly the american one would never be seen getting up

and storming out of a meeting that is what happened in october and then saturday we heard. you some language that's normally not heard in these diplomatic settings like disgusted in shame and. that's what some some correspondents that were you know witness to it were saying after listening to her now the arab league for their part came out to the stakeout and said that. great regret and disappointment at russia and china's veto but said that they would still try to continue working with the security council to try to get some type of resolution passed in the meantime as you mentioned the foreign minister russian foreign minister sergei lavrov is heading to damascus on tuesday to meet with syrian president bashar al assad russia has been very vocal in trying to get hopes sides participating in the conflict in syria to come to the table and start speaking to one another and. using some type of

dialogue instead of violence to come to a peaceful approach so of course we will stay on the story and see how it evolves and works out all right are two very important ally for us from new york thanks for that. or a crow's off from the group stop nato says that although russia and china not to allow u.n. sanction for an intervention in syria there's still a chance the country could be barred from outside. what i fear is we may be see a replication of what happened in one thousand nine hundred ninety when the united states and its nato allies launched a seventy eight day bombing campaign against yugoslavia having failed to enlist chinese and russian support for un resolution against not in a few of those laws i'm hoping of course that the resolute stand taken the principled stand taking the taken by russia and china against a resolution that we have to remember was sponsored by morocco and co-sponsored by a very interesting group of people they include the nato quality of the world the united states britain france and germany along with portugal to include all six

members of the gulf cooperation council that is the monarchies and camera some of the persian gulf this is not a representative group of nations of course in the united nations or the world it's a very select one this is largely the same group that a comparable resolution one thousand seven hundred three against libya last year the no armed uprising of the sort of burn in syria could have occurred if it was in livio earlier or kossovo yugoslavia thirteen years ago without the understanding by those engaging with armed uprising that they would be supported by forces outside the country. and gyptian police have again fired rubber bullets and tear gas to drive a crowd of rock throwing protesters away from the interior ministry building in cairo clashes between security forces and demonstrators in egypt have been arranging for four days now left at a dozen people dead and thousands injured activists have been venting their anger over the military rulers alleged failure to prevent a deadly outbreak of violence at a football match wednesday our teams were if an ocean has more from cairo. things

have been extremely devastating and terribly killed so you can be saved in the last few days and also very tragic that points a huge and mexico only one state when seventy four people died in this temple heat that's one of the city's football stadiums has become bites how the deadliest incident since mubarak ousted last february but it's also trying to get a new wave of clashes between the police the army. device reaches that have actually become something common seen here in the capital cairo and everywhere throughout egypt the fact is people have been very quick to use bolivian port site incident to use local forces especially the interior ministry of doing nothing of the allowing this to happen allowing these deaths and efficiency and actually also over instigating these trials in order to preserve the situation of instability in the country in order to fit into existing following somehow i think also tearing

through all the generals from the supreme council of the armed forces they took power from the barak last february and since then demonstrations actually have never stole shortly after this happened on wednesday the whole school football fans have come to the booths nothing to minister here in the central cairo just walks away from here seeking for justice and calling for amy did transition of power from the ministry to civil to situations until early presidential elections and since then twelve people have been killed in the last four days and twenty five hundred dollars have been injured who think that it's a terrible dissolve so i have to say i hope you can see the pictures right now as you can imagine. while masood street is a narrow street is one of the streets they didn't towards the built in ofo the interior ministry here in hollywood the queen many many people there chanting and to miter slogans from time to time police has been firing tear gas at the times

doesn't even show it so we've been able to speak to several people there let's listen to what they have to say about who's going to go and when it's going to stop people not just protesting addition to teaching the comes to the students are unbelievable in fact even people might die and that they were thinking each day to turn everything to their chinese that. that's a good life. and. that the chinese the seventy seven year old china it's over here and you take more than enough what they're doing to that but that doesn't mean they're doing it to the interests of the country and the children must be. well as you can see situation is very volatile he could run actually in several of the cities throughout egypt but we can also can talk you know about several months sometimes well before we could see incidents he feed. people from the administration told this to have been detained and they are in custody right now is

that while the investigation to go you know say. this to months just recently the supreme council of the armed forces it. has also called for early presidential elections in the country. stay with us here on r.t. still change your tune no one spoke critic of russia's prime minister is now telling a different tale. the news there if you feel he sees many who be feasible. he wants to be a putin for his son's death alexander litvinenko but now the former f.s.b. officers father's changed his mind it offers his own theory to explain what happened. plus the latest incident versus u.s. anti-corporate protest face a heavy handed police response we asked how the occupy movement will cope with eviction from the park they've occupied since early october. but first

saturday was a day of demonstrations in russia more than two hundred thousand people across the country voiced their political views ahead of next month's presidential vote two of the largest rallies happened in moscow with supporters and opponents of the current leadership braving bitter cold to have their say it was the third and largest opposition gathering after the parliamentary vote two months ago which protesters claim was rigged now their main demand is. for a fair presidential vote in march for more on the russian rallies i'm joined in the studio by political analyst to be tree babbage so thank you very much for joining us here so we've seen record numbers of people out on the streets of moscow and there hasn't been this level of civil activity in the capital or anywhere in russia really for many many years even in the run up to previous elections why do you think this is all happening right now but just because it's an election nearing and because in december when the first protest actions took police it was such

a surprise after so many years of relative quiet. i would see the other side of the political spectrum mobilized itself so now we saw which in support us coming in huge numbers so every action produces a calm direction what we saw yesterday was basically direction. that the opposition rallied in separate groups including liberals and nationalists do you think there could be a single viable leader behind whom these disparate groups could unite certainly not right now there are three distinctly different groups in the position of there are liberals there are leftists in general and there are nationalists and certainly they cannot agree on a single leader the group that can profit most from what is going on other liberals because they have the more so the realistic demands and they want government jobs and they want to forms that would see with their gender and already there are signals that some of them may return to the government some of them wearing the

garment in the ninety s. certainly there are some there are some good signs for i don't see could be in the former finance minister who also took part in the raid yesterday so profitable for me but i don't think nationalist and the would be brutal too had the. now this is the first time use as you mention that we've seen a significant number of people coming out voicing their support for of the for the leadership while at the same time there is this large group of the opposition do you think this signals a significant split within russian society. well frankly i don't think so it's mostly just emotions fueled by the media some people obviously irritated seen the same two faces on television maybe too much in the last few months especially some people were terrified when they saw that position and it's small the winds and when they felt the handle of the west behind it so it's mostly media

driven there is no real cost struggle behind it there are people and reach people in both radius. there are people of all kinds of ethnic groups in both race so right now i think it's been mostly a positive effect because it sort of wakes up the government to the needs of the people so until now the consequences my remorse the positive i hope it will continue in that way if there is a real split in society of course it's not going to be good for the country now of a fair election has been the opposition's main demand there been a number of reforms proposed in instituted including these are lecture or reforms and opening up on the political system and the prime minister saying he's going to have webcams at every polling station do you think if that will alleviate the concerns of the opposition in terms of fair elections well of course we're going to hear a lot of criticism anyway and a lot of people will not be convinced even if you have web cams at every inch

of the voting booths and the problem is that their position can only unite on one thing you know fair elections in the balance as i told you they have three distinct groups with absolutely different ages. different by just you know will contribute to each other so this is the only issue that they can unite on and i think the government would be wise to for these demands and to have a fair election to make it as fair as possible because it's in the government's interests i think putin can win on the streets that way why should he be you know resisting demands for fair elections. how do you see the situation developing well i hope we will have a normal election. in march i hope the government will learn the lesson and putin will fall on his promises that he made in his three newspaper articles

assuming that he is all active presence you mean that he's elected president. basically i mean i think they just. events had a very positive effect on the politics in russia because. it is sore that there is some give it to you and you have to take people's opinions and demands into account so who will have a better country and will have engendered in you putin in march two thousand and twelve. not because he is he will decide it himself but just because a simply he has to fall with a trance and he has to take a previous into account all right dimitri better thanks for your insight. well there is more about moscow's rival rallies online in r t dot com as thousands gathered for a day of protest in r.t.e. photographer caught the highlights on camera you can check out the big jurors are based.