derail his team's hopes of progress. without question both teams will be facing problems of course we have little experience of playing under such conditions but we're ready for this we perfectly realize what we are facing based on this where ability in our tactics and the system of play where ready for tomorrow and we'll do all we can so that the cold weather doesn't affect the quality of our teams play in our technique. we have a champions league game on wednesday sees arsenal travel to the san siro to face syria leaders ac milan the gunners became the first english side to beat the italian team on their home turf at the same stage of the tournament four years ago the score was two nil then and terry henri will be doing his best to score this time around it's the only ones thirty four year olds last game in his second spell at last will before returning to the new york red bulls while manager aston vega is slightly concerned about the play surface. try to play all game and me on the stick which side we are we think we are good. we really go to work talk.

to new readers words which would be an exciting game i'm a bit worried about the quality of the pitch. doesn't look exceptional. hope for you until to morrow it will be better well milan have struggled against initial opposition apart from the defeat to asshole in two thousand and eight they also lost one military to top them on this very day last year all this year and giants have overcome most of their injuries defenders are seldom less than matter yet as are back in training after long spells out while kevin prince boateng and former arsenal would feel that your family could also feature and even have a virtual he's back after a domestic ban. on the molecules a night french joins me or think they won their hard fought win at home to cypriot side up well the defending champions barcelona went a long way to reaching the quarter finals with a three one win at children side violate it is an existential as netting a brace and his manager is very happy with the result. developing this but i think

by a liver couzin did not allow many chances for us in the first half but in the second half we continue pressing and we managed to create a lot of chances and just go to additional goals finally but i am aware of the skills we must use in this year's champions league season in particular against german teams and speaking in general it does not matter how good or bad it looks like on the pitch when it comes to games against german teams one must simply try and find a way to beat them simply up and well meanwhile over in the europa league coach jersey sero wants his luck amount of moscow side to win at least one nil but the portuguese specialist knows it will be a tall order to keep a clean sheet against in-form athletic bilbao in the first leg of their round of thirty two plash in the russian capital the league team have scored in the last ten games while cold weather deprived lock of their home ground advantage the match was moved from their check is check as of us they did to the artificial pitch of the additional cyrena and is wary that a lack of match fitness could swallow

a lot of chances with the russian league currently in its winter break. if you get me and. i cheated chances are fifty fifty local are well prepared physically technically mentally the only thing we lack is rhythm because we haven't played competitively says december well bilbo are in top form. the last answers about elsewhere of a manager government if it leaves his side can still progress in the europa league despite choose they surprise one of the three to ten and beyond calls the first leg of their last their stupid lash was held in moscow but the freezing weather didn't affect the great champions who took the lead after seventy two minutes to david foster vance within minutes rubin had a golden chance to level with n.p.r. cost me about him again he was sent off for a foul but substitute goalkeeper probably watched united croyde carroll say resulting penalty is bad as natural after his body of promise to take the game to the greeks in next week's second leg while on tuesday's other side last year's

final sporting brother lost two nil at home to take this side pressure clash. well in the meantime russia has remained thirteenth in the new fever world rankings while spartak midfielder the reader can bar off has earned his maiden call up for the national side the twenty five year old is set to make you senior debut in a friendly in denmark on february twenty ninth as russia prepare for this summer's european finals andrey goalkeeper of the who's currently alone at tesco moscow is also due to make his international come back into open hagen three more friendly as our shared for russia as part of their euro twenty two hour warm ups including a clash with italy in early june. but meanwhile over in england one of the america's top footballers landon donovan says he's been enjoying his second loan spell as everton the twenty nine year old l.a. galaxy forward is considering joining the toffees on a permanent basis but as a later point in his career. in the future who knows you know i have had. a really good time again i've had time to speak to my family. i've had time to speak to the

manager i've spoken to my my coach and. i have two more years left and we'll see what happens i want to get through this year it's qualifying for our national team it's a big year and then make a decision on what i'm really planning for the future. moving on to athletics and russian pole vaulter united isn't viable as have another confidence boosting win with five months to go before the start of the london games but double olympic champion sets the third best jump of the season at four point eight one metres to clinch third title of the year in the event in france but malke was ten centimeters ahead of cubans yet eastley silva who took the silver third place went to france's vanessa bosch like isn't vive a missed out on the medals at last year's world championships but is looking for a third straight crown in the british capital. and finally with two years to go until the winter olympics the host city of sochi held some test events last weekend including the russia in by aslam anthony still complex going to prove all the fish oils and they can process is

a constant battle accords. with just two years to go before the start of the twenty second winter olympics in sochi more and more winners of being put to the test later as was laid by athlon and ski complex called lower after local mythical hereon and which is one of the most ambitious projects of the games located on that see how to reach me across mumbai and at the height of one thousand five hundred meters above sea level at this height the lack of oxygen makes the competitors breathe harder increasing their efficiency and boosting their results complex lower is supposed to be. one of the best in the world while the trek with its us aronsen slopes is already considered to be one of the toughest in the sport the base is the hardest track in the world with sixty meter a sense and slopes with temperatures varying by as much as four degrees it's absolutely unique this is our country and we have every opportunity to succeed. the

complex includes two stereo each with their own story unfinished zones a shooting area and warm up zones the designers of the venue try to make the competition interesting for athletes and spectators alike the track is a very demanding with numerous turns which make it hard to pause and rest on the slopes and those by athletes taking part in the russian cup became the first competitors to appreciate our is facilities at the summit. the track is very challenging lots of turns lots of slopes if an athlete has some alpine skiing skills to turn on the slopes they can win back some vital seconds just. an average time on the european tracks is around twenty five minutes here it's over thirty the nature of the course is very hard the complex is still under construction and will be finished in june twenty third teen however the weather in the mountains is

unpredictable and while wind is not a problem here for can alter the game plan of any competition. we have a proverb when the weather is getting worse it's time for biafra one and when it's foggy here reminds us of the famous german venue in over half except for the wind the same situation could arise at the olympics but it's good that we've got different weather conditions here russia is one of the leading nations in biathlon and the country skiers and biathletes will be bays the lower to prepare for those olympics in sochi with the hope of increasing their medal chances at their home winter games because they bought up of r t such in. the saving by ther. any match once lived is bound. to burn

for ever more eternal fire his poems think about the possible the futurists. do we old wants to see this on forever. led mission free accreditation free zones for charges free. range minced free risk free studio tied free. download free blog counseling video for your media projects and free media oh god r t dot com you.

iran says it's been considering cutting oil sales to six countries but wouldn't do so quote at the moment because of the cold winter striking europe. syria's president announces a vote on a new constitution that would effectively end nearly fifty years of single party rule in the country amid escalating turmoil. and at rallies marking a year since the pro-democracy uprising in bahrain protesters face it another harsh crackdown with police using tactics and weapons imported from the u.k. .

nine pm in moscow i matter as a good to have you with us here on r t our top story iran has reportedly warned six countries it may stop supplying them with oil in response to a series of sanctions that include an embargo on terra is key export an iranian official added the only reason they're not halting crude sales immediately is europe's extreme cold temperatures are his jacob riis reports from greece one of the country's believed to be the subject of the oil cut by terra. the latest reports here all we hear is the iranian foreign ministry has cooled up these are bastards of these six nations being concerned and told them that cuts will happen but not right away or they will face a ban on exports their nations but they'll be given some leeway in that sowing to what they term humanitarian reasons the cold snap has been sweeping across europe

but will no doubt if implemented preempt somewhat those sanctions imposed by the e.u. back in january and due to be implemented in july six nations in question here well those reported to be in the really thick of it when it comes this economic crisis we have the netherlands of france also portugal italy spain and greece as well there's already been questions raised here because tehran says that he can find other people to buy exports that to the likes of india and china where is is down to being raised as to whether or not the place that good and quite cheap supply of oil to those who have been so stricken in recent times greece in particular is in a sticky situation right now failing to guarantee another bailout plan even though they push through further popular austerity measures just on sunday and this really raises a bit of a concern at the moment that those imposed sanctions on iran back in january by

e.u. member states could shortly come back to bite them. stay with us here on r t for an in-depth discussion of the e.u.'s economic woes m.e.p. nigel farage joins us later this hour. meanwhile tehran has reiterated its readiness to resume nuclear talks with the major powers to discuss the country's controversial nuclear program this while israel has stepped up its stance against iran with prime minister netanyahu saying tehran's aggression must be stopped he repeated the claims that iran was behind the recent bombings allegedly targeting israelis in india georgia and thailand israel says there are links between the incidents despite authorities in india and thailand saying there is no such evidence and iran denying involvement to ron in turn says israel is waging a psychological war that many fear may pave the way for military action political analyst chris bambery explains why he thinks israel is acting as it is. i have to take israel's claim that iran is behind the attacks on its diplomats in georgia and

india with a pinch of salt firstly should be said israel has a long record of using assassination as the tool i think it might be better of originals to turn around and say in response to those that it's going to stop its assassination policy other nations like iran to disapprove kates but i don't think israel is going to do that because used assassination so often i think what it is roos are trying to do is trying to up the ante to the americans will do something they aren't capable of taking out iran's nuclear program they do have the means to do it best they could memorize a hit and run and run a time but i think it actually behind the rhetoric about nuclear weapons the reality is what they are worried about is the increase of the increase of iran's influence in the in the region the rain is of constantly said that they're not going to me nuclear weapons international atomic energy inspectors have just been to iran they can't leave came by and say it was a good visit they are going back to iran they're getting cooperation you wouldn't

know this from reports in the western media so i think there is a rush to the my opinion is the ratcheting up. he's not by the iranians it is by the israelis and by the americans and i think there is a lot of hypocrisy about iran's nuclear program i'm no fun in them you couldn't own indeed nuclear weapons i do one but it was ok for iran to have a nuclear program in the one nine hundred seventy s. when britain france and america would queuing to sell the shah of iran nuclear technology it was ok then because the shah of iran was one of the guys it's not ok for the iran to have nuclear weapons no and islamic republic has more on iran at our web site as washington get to news pressuring to iran over its nuclear program u.s. plans to make the country from a financial group that would hurt its oil sales could in turn have global consequences but on our dot com for the details.

syria's president bashar al assad has ordered a referendum on a new constitution to be held in eleven days according to the country's state run news agency is could put an end to the one party rule of the president's bath party enshrined in the current constitution it hasn't came amid reported violence in the cities of homs and hama some of the fiercest in the months long hot arrest artie's marie if an ocean has more. but they did for the people's referendum on the country's new constitution has been announced on wednesday it is expected to be held on the twenty sixth of february in eleven days the syrian government has been working on the draft for this new constitution for quite a while now and it has sad that the most important thing about this new constitution the most important change is that it implies the end of monopoly of the ruling party here in syria the bath party has been in power in the country for

the last fifty years actually since the beginning of the uprising here in syria last march protestors have been calling for democratic reforms and for amendments to the country's role in the wake of violence that followed initial demonstrations peaceful demonstrations many opposition leaders as well as international community have been only demanding for president bashar al assad to go and meet with not to be satisfied with these reform with this particular month random this news it's how it has come to me numerous reports about violence all across syria we've been hearing reports from the city of hama north of the capital damascus from the opposition activists saying that the tanks of assad's army have been deployed in the city we've also been receiving reports from another troubled area from the city of homes where reportedly there have been explosions at the all

pipeline and heavy smoke and fires in the city throughout the city so it's also kind of care is there and since almost all these reports have come in from no one source from the opposition it's very hard to verify and it's very hard to get the truth about exactly what is going on in syria. remains relentless and putting more pressure on assad president assad to step down confirming news. sanctions against the country are on the way for the very first fact about this i'm joined by british m.p. barry gardiner a member of the opposition labor party so western states including the u.k. openly supporting the syrian opposition at this point demanding president assad step down of course russia and china accuse the countries of taking sides in the internal conflict what would you say to this. well look i think if you look back just a year ago to when the libyan conflict broke out. at that stage

i was against intervention in libya. and i spoke with you on number of occasions on russian t.v. to make that very clear. i think that if we want to have no intervention in syria there must be a much stronger voice coming from russia in support of the democratic reforms that are needed in that country speaking out against the torture and the extermination of civilians that has clearly been going on. and i think that is the way to allow the country to resolve its own problems looking to the arab league and that's one of the things that russia was very strong on in the libyan conflict first broke out to say that this is something the arab league that the immediate neighbors should be concerned about it's not for foreign powers to get involved

it's not for them to weigh in and i think that is a good prescription too for syria the arab league are deeply deeply disturbed by the government and what it's been doing in its own country and i think we should take note of that and we should be offering our support to those who are being downtrodden by their own government in this case now russia warns there is a major risk of foreign military intervention in syria as the case is being built against president assad how likely do you think is some form of intervention. i don't think it's likely but i actually think russia's position makes it more likely because the very obstructive nature of the russian and chinese veto at the u.n. security council when you heard the arab world coming together and saying look this is wrong here is a case of a ruler who is abusing power to oppress his people this is this is not

a russia should be in the international arena it should not be siding with the oppressor ingles it should be speaking out loudly and clearly on the side of those people who've been oppressed this goes against in in my view all the traditions the russia has of speaking for for. the liberty of people. and i find it very strange that russia is adopting the position that it is you know a year ago you and i would make common cause against foreign intervention in libya and yet that intervention becomes more not less likely because of russia's stand here refusing to give the clear atrocities that are going on but we've had several guests here on r.t. and you still of other questions i want to get to but i want to throw one in here several guests on r.t. who have been taking a more sympathetic stance toward president assad and they are saying that the arab league is taking the west side with this being a tool of the west what's your response to that do you think the arab league is

doing the west bidding. you know very well that the arab league is not the tool of anybody. it is it is always been. from the west point of view it's been very very difficult and recalcitrant on occasions i think the clear point is this that it is known that syria and iran are allied there is therefore a distinction between those from the community and those from the sunni community and on the whole the arab league is dominated by by the sunni community and therefore there is a clear distinction here where one would expect of course because of that alliance and the fear that many in the arab league have of iran there is a tendency for them of course not to support. syria but here i think

russia needs to be very careful by backing a dictator persecuting his own people russia is taking a stance in the international community that i think is deeply deeply unwise. it is important to have to some extent the moral high ground here. unfortunately we've we've lost our feed there apologize for that but that was barry gardner british m.p. speaking with us from london well in another middle eastern country in bahrain we report later on how security forces cracked down on pro-democracy protesters with western help or he takes a closer look at why one of britain's former top cops lend his experience in crushing anti-government rallies. but first a greek party leaders have sent a written commitments to brussels saying they will stick to the agreed austerity measures even after general elections in april there are still e.u.

demands athens failed to fulfill which led to the cancellation of a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers greece is still struggling to secure a second ballot from its international creditors without which it's due to default next month and for more on this i'm joined by the leader of the u.k. independence party nigel farage so there are reports that the eurozone may delay the greek bailout until after elections in april how much do you think athens will be able to survive until then without some cash injection. well i mean the big day comes up in march when there is a major repayment i guess the this new stance taken by the user day is they'll make sure there's anough money to fulfill those short term demands but rather than committing to the whole package what the e.u. is now doing it's trying to influence the outcome of the greek general election not satisfied with getting rid of the last democratically elected prime minister and putting in a puppet in the form of us to papademos it now says it's now saying to the greek

people unless you vote for the right parties unless you vote for parties that a happy to be subjugated do you control we will not give you the rest of the money and you will go bankrupt and this is the kind of blackmailing game that we're now seeing from the european union is it any wonder in the face of that that much of athens caught fire on sunday night now greece is already years into recession it's frequently missed its fiscal targets bella's don't seem to be working what makes the e.u. in your opinion so committed to the austerity bailout strategy that they've got going. well remember for five years in a row now the greek economy has contracted and we've just got the fourth quarter figures through from twenty eleven which show that that contraction is now accelerating and has actually reached now seven percent per annum so you know the economy is actually on a downward deflationary death spiral i had a meeting in november with angela merkel and i said to her look surely chancellor wouldn't it be better for greece to leave the euro to devalue and drag it some growth back into the economy wouldn't it be kinder on german taxpayers for them not

to have to sign blank checks in perpetuity why don't we let greece go and her response was very telling she said look we cannot let greece leave the euro because if she does leave they'll be other countries that want to leave too and that will mean the end of the european project so the reality here is that greece the country of greece and its people are to be put to the sold sacrifice if you like of the oil at the european olds are all in the name of preserving the european project and this is a project that these politicians have been working on for over half a century and they don't even know it's failing they don't want to let it go now the rhetoric coming from german politicians shows berlin may be losing patience with greece but the german parliament will also have to approve a second belo do you think they're proposing they're preparing for the public know the public rather for a no vote. i think that if you put it to a referendum in germany i think we don't know what the result would be now i

suspect that despite the dissatisfaction that is felt by many german politicians i think the german parliament just as the greek parliament did last sunday will continue to toe the line and continue to say that buy it out so the answer as far as i'm concerned it's rather like saving the cancer and not saving the patients now greek finance ministers have said some eurozone states one greece out of the monetary union accuse them of playing with fire how unified do you think are politicians in the union at this stage it's cracking it's cracking we saw one of the commissioners e.u. commission any cruz said the other day that if greece left it wouldn't be a man overboard situation so even at the top there is now a crack beginning to appear and very interesting leigh what i've seen today in the european parliament is from the greens and from the left in politics for the first time in years we're hearing real criticism and the the socialist criticism is that these austerity cuts.