is a well known village and. the road that ran right through the village used to be called the shackle road it was a route where convicts clacton islands were taken on to siberia as a result it was also named the siberian root. of this road formed a link between russia's capital and its siberian part. it connected the country's western and eastern region it's. russian poet alexander pushkin once travelled along it it was used by stage coaches. has been at the head of the governing bodies district for several years during this time he's been able to restore a dozen historical landmarks. we marry from the western bank of the volga are not great in number there are only fifty or sixty thousand of us in the world is this that is why we seek to stick together in order to safeguard our language

culture and of course the land where we live in the same is to be missed especially when. the burial site is the only one of its kind in the region cattle breeders of an endo iranian tribe were buried here in the second millennium b.c. the time when the egyptian pyramids were built when excavation work was over scientists restored the burial place to its original appearance. there is a hole in the world with twenty eight men between the ages of eighteen and twenty five are buried here there was also a woman and a man who was forty five to fifty years old when he was buried we think he was a blacksmith those men had died in battle arrow heads have been found and some of the skeletons in the skulls of other men were fractured with an axe in.

the romas convoy suddenly stops at the edge of a swamp it's too dangerous to drive any further the traveler spend a good deal of time walking around the frozen silt when they manage to measure the swamps depth everybody realizes that attempting to cross the swamp is out of the question. we can't go any further here we'll have to look for another routes the ice of a year off to reverse to thin and there is one and a half metres of water underneath it. however another road makes up for their misfortune it leads to what for centuries has been known locally as the fortress mountain. the maori people who lived here a long time ago used it as a hideout against intruders legend has it that the maori people were terrified of

being caught by the of new forest creatures covered with hair who had chosen to settle in the mountains caves. were black haired women with enormous breasts. if they felt their breaths were a hinderance when they were on the move they slung them over their shoulders. like you were they had little contact with people. everybody was afraid of them. these happened and long time ago. there were lunch forests with tall trees. legends about to go in a muddy screeching that been handed down over the centuries by one mouth to mouth

of a trophy knows a great many ancient stories relating to the maori people. one of them tells the story of an old oak tree several generations of mari people of post and it changed for the rest. of the good it will go with the local people regard this tree as sacred it is around one thousand years old the old healers living in this village say the oak tree used to help make women fertile and restore the mill a bit o. . there's giant of a tree is seven meters thick and more than thirty meters tall some scientists believe the amount e.-l. oak is russia's oldest. and medieval mary city is found several kilometers away from the ancient oak in the middle ages the maori sought protection

from invaders by building their settlements in out of the way places one of them is high on the bank of a river in the garden district. natural obstacles provided protection for the inhabitants of these fortifications. in eight hundred thirteen maori people came to this grove from all over the region to pray for a russian victory over napoleon people in the surrounding villages still tell the story of the maori who sacrificed twenty six horses to the gods. but. now it's time for you have guinea and vera to join other worshipers at the all maria prayer in appealing to the gods they do so to the singing of an exodus touched sacrificial animals. this is followed with a meal shared by all those taking part in the ritual giving out food from enormous pots to bring the people together according to their beliefs all these people get

closer to the gods by eating in this way. people from all over have come here even those living in moscow and st petersburg. everywhere in russia try to be here for these press ervice. before nightfall the romans finally find what they set out for at the start of the expedition the depression. seeing them norma's pit in the very center of a field they hold their vehicles at a safe distance from it is the people living in this village used to plough these fields and grow crops on it. but. they were awakened by loud noises. when they came here they were surprised to see a large crater in the middle of a field with some water at the bottom. scientists have found

a subterranean stream beneath the depression when it erodes the top layer of the soil the ground sinks. this slope is very slippery and very steep i get scared at times i might be buried by sliding rocks a prospect i don't particularly relish ok i'm almost there now what's there is no water here local people prefer not to descend into the depression because this kind of cataclysm might happen at any time. some good at that there is much to be learned from such expeditions people think that such things are only found in faraway lands but they are much closer to home. thank.

you have gainey come in chicago was pleasantly surprised just as he and his wife vera went about to head home after the service. you get any good to come here for a moment. the priest's white cap was ceremonially placed upon his head as a token of great respect. for. those of you know i'm not able to keep a low profile far more stand on the sidelines i will have to be directly involved in the prayers of just ordinary people cherish hope they will look to me with hope and be my words is i express their sentiments in front of the sacred tree of ovation for always she gets health and happiness. the committee of couple has taken a plunge into the ancient faith of the people. by coming here they have truly

experienced the joy of communion. but hope it will stay with them for the whole. until the next president that will once again bring the maori people together.

the latest news in the week's top stories here on r.t. the syrian government feels the squeeze internationally and then as it struggles to crush what it calls a foreign funded insurgency while promising to usher in a radical reform. fuelling and iran rhetoric is really hughes's these long state of targeting its diplomats and vomit tax across the globe and demands more sanctions against iran over its nuclear program. if he's in the e.u. greek m.p.'s past news teri hatcher's caused more protests in athens from angry workers worried about further cuts to wages and pensions. and

candidates courts the cameras and controversy to wool voters just two weeks before russia goes to the polls to elect a new president for. the russian capital you're watching. the majority of the un general assembly adopted a resolution this week calling on syria's president and the opposition crack down and give up power russia and china are against the move and what the rebels to also lay down weapons and join talks it's a year since the uprising started and damascus is vowing to reform even as the killing continues. in syria for our two. this is racially and sciri manes volatile with tensions between security forces and the armed opposition groups continue in claiming lives of both mildred and civilians almost every day on thursday we

attended the funerals of a young boy who was gunned down early here in damascus during the n.t. government protest and the procession itself eventually turned into a hostile to a stray in the clashes that followed and that continued the next day five people were killed and many others injured one violence one day causes even more violence next and so on and so on we also can see political murders as well this week shake of gaza most of damascus was a sin nature apparently because of his pronouncements the shaikh came out with strong condemnation of the terror groups of the armed groups he blamed for the bloodshed calling for to stop the violence to stop the bloodshed but we're also hearing about the searches in other parts of the country reports from the opposition activists that in the city of homs many people die as. they have been several close in the all pipeline limits this violence these tensions all across

syria the rhetoric. on during this week the date for the national referendum on the country's new constitution was announced the vote is expected to take place next sunday as far as the ministry of internal affairs of syria has said around fifteen million people in syria today have the right to vote this constitution was to constitution was drafted. and the monopoly of the ruling party the vast party here in syria had been in power for good last fifty years so it looks like. it may be moved across to motorists tyrant but people on the ground are actually fearing that this referendum and this new constitution. until late this week the chinese delegation visited syria both russia and china are calling for the dialogue to be restored between the syrian opposition and the authorities. saying that this

is the only way they surprised. many financial reporting there from syria and the american intelligence chief said this week that it's likely al qaida is operating in syria to bring down the regime falls a leader of the terror group calling on militants across the region to target president asad and with washington backing the rebellion to syrian activists believes the u.s. is starting to realize that siding with terrorists. i never thought that the americans would want to publicly admit. is actually operating in syria what we know for sure is that. your involvement had started with a videotape by amazon right here in the head of al qaeda back in july calling for jihad in syria and nobody actually took notice that when the first suicide bombings in damascus took place there were less than twenty four hours before that huge explosions made by iraq because of the same fingerprint now the american position

is very interesting it just says that her hang on a minute this is a an enemy that we want to fight and suddenly they're operating in the same theater that we're trying to overthrow this government and perhaps it may signify that the americans are trying to understand what the syrian president had said previously that there might be tens of a lot of stars in the and the region if they keep pressuring the syrian government i would say let the syrians sort this thing ourselves and do not interfere with us the more you interfere with us the longer this takes on and the more bloodshed we will be seeing. on the way here on our embracing the bogeyman. that if. the chinese are going to get. it take to. get it. find out why the white house is

comfortably in bed with the spy a rising wave of china phobia across the u.s. . and it was deja vu for protesters in bahrain as the anniversary of the country's uprising was met with a brutal crackdown by police. that's coming to you later in the program before that iran is stepping up its nuclear program at an underground side near the city of qom by installing sounds of new generation centrifuges according to reports and israel is stepping up its and iran battery and urging. the international community to increase sanctions against iran israel accuses iran of being behind bomb attacks targeting its diplomats in india georgia and thailand earlier this week. where he under enormous international pressure over its nuclear program denies any involvement in the islamic state and says its nuclear work is peaceful and accuses israel of waging a psychological war at some three years paving the way for military action political analyst chris bambery explains what he thinks israel is up to. i think

what they really are trying to do is trying to up the ante and so the americans will do something they aren't capable of taking out around nuclear program they don't have the means to do it best they could memorize a hit and run and run attack i think actually behind the rhetoric about nuclear weapons the reality is what they are worried about is being increased of the increase of iran's influence in the in the region the rain is of constantly said they're not going to me nuclear weapons international atomic energy inspectors have just been to iran they can't leave came back seems a good visit they're going back to iran they're getting cooperation you would know this from reports in the western media so i think there is a ratcheting up of my opinion is the ratcheting up is 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. well we are closely following the situation in iran so log on to our website r.t. dot com for the latest developments to iranian warships have sailed through the

suez canal into the mediterranean well you can learn where the year had it on our web site also party talks to people in tehran for their perspective on the country's controversial nuclear program and it gets an insight from iranian students who volunteered to carry out nuclear research. activists in bahrain were targeted was tear gas as they marked the first anniversary of a shia led uprising on tuesday despite promises of police reform last year just as before officers responded with force although this time many of the tactics and weapons came not from bahrain but from the u.k. ivory bennett reports. tear gas and stun grenades supposedly the work of

a reformed police force but one year on since the first anti-government protests were crushed in bahrain it seems not much has changed the only difference now the crackdown has been planned by one of britain's former top cops john the eights used to be assistant commissioner of london's metropolitan police he now works for bahrain. which says he's there to see police reform the police have borrowed a behavior despicably the trick is to throw cancer tear gas into the homes of people they don't like shut the doors and people have died choking to death to just so use out of doors and i think for the british police officer all over stuart's is retired to be associated in any way with his it's his role yet resign from scotland yard last year in early fix him of the phone hacking scandal he popped up in bahrain in december as paul. the regime's p.r. campaign to clean up its image a campaign pushed hard it seems by yeats himself he recently told the daily

telegraph his new charges had a well rehearsed plan for the anniversary of the uprising adding the concept of reasonable reaction to provocation has been reinforced as for the uprising itself said this isn't organized protests it's just vandalism rioting on the streets claims hotly disputed by london's bahraini community i mean you get thousands and thousands of people protestant demanding their rights and all that vandalism if you seem to forget that there are sixty five or sixty five people actually died in france from police brutality activists in bahrain insists their protest was peaceful their aim to reach the iconic pole roundabout in the capital manama they say they were met by tanks toxic gas and rubber bullets what we witnessed on the ground as not. the front or from. previously but it's been extended

through the toxic gases and use of poisoning of. mr john as contributing we should see a positive things on the ground what we are seeing today as nothing acceptable it may not just be british tactics bahrain's easing but weapons to government figures show the u.k. sold over one million pounds worth of rifles and artillery equipment to bahrain from july to september last year long after blood was spilled despite insisting all the licenses had been revoked as for yates his contract runs until april by which time he hopes to put in place concrete reforms on this evidence that seems a long way off either bennett r.t. london and so i have for this hour here on r.t. cutbacks and chaos down trodden brinks find. new spending cuts which they say will only make their dad last longer into the future. now the chinese

vice president's been touring america this week and hailing ties between the two countries the us media isn't quietus positive often vilifying the communist country which holds more than a trillion dollars of american debt and its coffers bought for the white house business comes before public opinion as art has got an edge to count reports from washington. what a better way to celebrate valentine's day than with a partner who lends you money nonstop provides you with cheap labor and host thousands of your factory to the remarkable development of china u.s. relations america's love for china would be boundless if not for the growing fear of it these guys around for us and the end of it and looking for ways to have. to work to harm us i want to beat china i want to go to war with china and make america the most attractive place in the world to do business menacing and vilifying china are typical for political campaigns in america these days like

these gents add them until they get warm and go ask their dad to our form to do it and that is how our great empire grows again. it's not too late to stop this nightmare it's on r.g.p. even children still made in china in short manage anything. no sweetie the chinese aren't going to get. there's still billion of them in the economy is getting there with it this is it take now to do they're going to be get in there and make it. with china being the biggest foreign creditor for the us the economic interdependency between the two is raising red flags in the minds of many americans china can very easily just bankrupt america we're not only going to do is just don't go ours and trade threes switch to euros radio the cards that's here never america except experts agree china would never do that because beijing is just as

interested in preserving the value of their u.s. treasury holdings as well as the rich market for their manufactured goods but this economy interdependency becomes a headache for washington when china demonstrates policies independent from america's will and the white house has to stifle this content be. mind for one smiles china blocking the u.s. backed resolution on syria is one example russia came under fire from washington for opposing forceful regime change in syria while the u.s. criticism for china was far more muted for taking the same position but the reality is that china the west have to treat with much more with kid gloves because of the integral relationship in terms of the way that the chinese economy now is so totally woven in with the western one neither country is capable of dominating the other and neither country is going to win a cold war type situation as china's influence grows president obama has pledged to

strengthen u.s. positions in the pacific going as far as the ploy in extra troops to the region this is made some wonder whether the u.s. can reconcile with the situation when it's not dominating. announced disappeared at the pentagon by the way the pivot seems from the middle east to asia this means more u.s. interference is cellcept in the sauce china sea military station the starting in norse in australia but maybe in contacts with surely p.m.'s singapore and thailand specially very close allies of us here in southeast asia so the chinese they look at this in a big circle washington's treatment of this or that country depends on its interests there is nothing surprising about that but it seems with the arena american may find itself hostage to those interests in a situation where you cannot simply dictate its policies in the meantime beijing's economic clout is growing feeling americans fear i'm going to check our reporting

the loss of our enemy be a fireworks replace gunshots on friday when the country marked a year since the start of the uprising that toppled market often but post-revolutionary instability is still making life very difficult hundreds of armed militias are roaming the country and the ruling national transitional council appears and able to control. and there's also evidence of the torture and abuse of the remaining khadafi supporters even as leaders say they are willing to integrate the militias into the security services but jim brann from stop the war coalition believes for now those are just empty words. the chair of the national transitional council that was the body that was particularly by night during some months of homing when he said in benghazi almost as a message. he said that to your face the prospect of either violent suppression of the militias or as he said civil war and break up to

put. the new sign that you know that i have heard that voice comes across nothing has happened then you supposed to integrate militias into the supposed national supposed national police force and just piling very limited newspaper reports why you see that very very few people have joined it you have this creation of a federation of the western militias a few days ago of a hundred militias in the western libya and that really does seem to be a step on the road to the breakup of libya into at least two parts west and east if not more and greece approved a new bill on sunday in return now for a second bailout the concert were designed to prevent the country from defaulting on its debt although angry greeks worried about their pensions and jobs responded with more protests on the streets of athens jacob greece reports. the system on the sea.