sasa nation plot targeting russia's prime minister vladimir putin has been foiled by russian and ukrainian special forces according to russia's main state t.v. channel. syria waits to discover whether democratic reforms will come into effect as people votes on a new constitution are counted meanwhile the european council piles more pressure on the regime agreeing on new sanctions. staring to drive grips the eurozone as spain's impoverish students lash out at more cuts saying they've been abandoned by their government.

two pm in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story russian and ukrainian special forces have allegedly foiled an assassination plot targeting russia's prime minister vladimir putin suspects reportedly admitted planning to make their move in moscow right after sunday's presidential ballot are going off reports. according to russia's channel one the two suspects were arrested in the ukrainian city of i.d.s. early in february both as the channel says russian citizens and one was on the international wanted list reportedly both admitted plotting an assassination attempt on the life of prime minister vladimir putin in moscow right after the upcoming presidential vote on march the fourth press secretary told r.t. that the events did take place however he refrained from commenting at the moment

meanwhile channel one has shown the video of the two suspects describing how they prepared for this assassination one of them said that it was actually ordered by washes number one terrorist no cool one off but this information is still has to be confirmed since the investigation is still ongoing we also said that there were originally three people in this group three men. they studied at the route of putin's motorcade the amount of bodyguards there and were hiding from the voice switching flights and. they were putting together an explosive device which went off right in that apartment killing one of these men and the other two admitted plotting this assassination attempt shortly after they were arrested by the authorities the prime minister is quite heavily guarded by dozens of security officers both a muni form and undercover the motorcade itself isn't that the large really it

usually consists of up to it was seven cars discord by around four traffic police vehicles but the entire route of the motorcade is also guarded by security officers this isn't the first time that was even put in became a target of an assassination plot but then never came to actual attempts on his life neither is the first senior politician in russia to become. a victim of assassination attempts for example back in one thousand nine hundred three president yeltsin almost became a victim of a bomb plot said to be prepared by a member of the public disappointed and angered by the collapse of the soviet union before that president mikhail gorbachev. became the target of a gunman who reportedly even had time to shoot but it was stopped in time by security officers before that soviet leader. motorcade came under fire with the

gunman sending sixteen bullets into the car but the leader was not in that motorcade and actually the core which was targeted it was full of cosmonauts about thankfully nobody got hurt in that incident but probably. tops the list with some historians saying that he managed to survive up to ten assassination attempts . che's news is of course against the backdrop of the presidential election that's going to take place sunday let's focus on the campaign itself putin has been writing the series of articles and leading newspapers outlining his plans one recent is on foreign policy putin in a row that imposing democracy by force only brings the opposite result allowing extremists to come to power threatening national development he believes the u.s. is striving for the status of invincibility adding nato and washington's foreign security plans to make other countries vulnerable he also stressed interference in the affairs of other countries could push some governments to pursue nuclear

weapons to defend their interests political analyst dimitri babich weighed in on putin's statements. think the whole article is not anti western. would you know obviously one of the ration was western horse he's just on hate people with certain actions need to and other western countries which as he proves in that article actually run counter to the west interest itself. he wants the program to be sold by syrians themselves without outside involvement and i think that's a very good difficult path forward but it's the only possible one because we have some experience with civil wars in russia a civil war which is one by one side or another it's never a solution because the victor of all this you would you venture on the vanquished. he speaks about cold in the vulnerability of the united states seem in the it's a good concept you know why shouldn't some state be told lean vulnerable to

security threats but he writes in his article that the stole doing vulnerability for the united states means total vulnerability for many of us maybe for all of the us because then the united states would not only be the biggest in the world with the biggest amount of firepower but also it will be able to strike anyone it wants to strike. and as we've heard russia is against intervention in syria and pushing for reforms in the country damascus awaits the results of sunday's referendum on a new draft constitution with the government already handling it as a success the vote which went ahead amid reports of ongoing violence is said to have seen a high turnout despite being boycotted by the opposition parties maria has more. the interior minister has said that it will take hours before their preliminary results come out with the main results so far is the fact that this referendum actually happened they've been fears that those against the ballots could try to

wreck the referendum they've been attempts to intimidate people reports have been circulated in local media about possible terror attacks at the polling stations the syrian opposition both the one base the bread has not only boycotted the vote but also has been repeatedly calling all people to go on strike to take to the streets to protest against this referendum and against president bashar assad this referendum in this constitution has been considered part of a package of democracy changes democratic reforms promised by assad's government we've seen demonstrations both prayer and to government here in damascus which is has been pressure from the international community has also been quite high the main concern was that the value chain comes amid the balance to continue on in the country especially in the besieged city of homs north of the capital damascus indeed we are receiving reports about people being killed in the clashes between the opposition authorities literally every day but the fact is that it hasn't

stopped people from casting their ballots we have been able to speak to a number of voters and the feeling we've gods is that people are simply tired of instability and a nest in that country and they say that if the results like chavez that this referendum and this constitution i wave will to bring peace to the country it's worth to try these chants. the european union has adopted sanctions against the syrian central bank it's the latest effort by the e.u. states to put pressure on damascus for some perspective on this we're joined by middle east politics professor jeremy salt from bill kent university in on current turkey so these latest measures are aimed at isolating the syrian regime but even further but what's the danger that they could hurt the people more than the government. definitely will be hurting the people i think the most important event that's taking place in the last few days is the conference that was held in tunisia by the so-called friends of syria and this was devised as an alternative to the un

security council where of course russia and china issued a veto that the purpose of that conference was to come up with a framework for intervention in syria most probably through the setting up of a humanitarian corridor but the conference actually filed because all the fifty or sixty countries were represented there they would not agree on armed intervention in syria even though saudi arabia in particular was calling for a very very strongly and modest terminated its participation in the conference very abruptly because it couldn't get what it wanted saudi arabia are supported by qatar and other states other states were much much more hesitant there was a big failure the other failure of course was that they nominated the syrian national council as a representative of the syrian people with no evidence no the evidence the syrian national council does represent the syrian people in the way. that was called most on the line by the fact that the main syrian opposition party chemical strongly against the conference and against syrian national council so the cover said they

very badly for the people who promoted it but nothing other than a restatement of what they've been asking for all along which is for bashar al assad to said step down now the european union has come in with even harsher sanctions but the problem here is where this policy is leading is in fact a policy that to me it's strikes a little bit of indigenous. based on the hope with the expectation or the wish that sooner or later the publishing of economic sanctions and continued fighting inside the country will bring the government down but as we've seen and as you will correspond mentioned the syrian people simply intrigue us and there's no doubt told the overwhelming majority of whatever their reservations about the government all the reservations about the constitution say what is not happening is the only possible way out of this but some fortunately it's not it's quickly show. by countries that still hoping to bring the syrian government and of course taking the lead here is saudi arabia and this is very interesting in a sense in the way that saudi arabia in the last couple of weeks has moved out of

the shadows to take the lead in this business from qatar and the saudis seem to be at determined to bring the government not interested at all completely. stand by the. position taken by people we see now a referendum on a new draft constitution has promised major reforms such as the end of single party bath party rule in syria but do you think even though what's being held by the regime is a success do you think it will bring the changes that they promised i think most people would be. would be critical of the constitution many aspects of the constitution means is that. a perfect document very few confusions and this one is no exception but what it does do is that the the country on the path towards multi-party elections removes the bath party and is the kind of the leading agent in society in syria so while you can criticize this doctrine or many many grounds the fact is i think for the syrian people and that kind of thinking on what these

they want they see as the only way out of this mess. now hillary clinton has predicted a military coup that will rise up and overthrow the regime saying that it's time for his supporters to change their size how far do you think the u.s. is prepared to go. on the path toward that. well the barack obama we can so it goes talk about militarization of the conflict as if that were not already happening i mean this is been the middle was conflict almost since the beginning huge amounts of alms have been flowing from what source is hateful about whom we don't know what they are really talking about is an escalation of the conflict and promote open intervention the problem here is that what i said before is that they have the support that the saudis wanted other countries are very very hesitant they don't want to get involved now it seems to me the u.s. is drawing back so what we hear a lot of rhetoric from hillary clinton she has so few showing signs of being more

aware of the complexities inside syria she gave an interview the other day and she was talking about the complex practices used melissa saying well we want to do something but we don't know what to do and she was talking about the fact that mall the problem areas in syria there are large areas of the country unaffected so you can see as a kind of certain kind of discourse here which indicates be very concerned not certain what's the take that doesn't really giving up at this juncture particularly following on the failure of the conference in tunisia you pointed out what you want to do you know russia's foreign minister says the international friends of syria group was one sided and failed to offer any real solution do you think it was assessment is fair. i do very much think it's fair and although this group called the some of the friends of syria i don't think they've got it's going to be above the bulk of syrians and soon people i mean they have an agenda which they tried to push through and the simple fact is they couldn't they couldn't get in the one thing that they have not contemplated doing all of these months. inside syria is

negotiated settlement and they haven't pushed made any attempt to push the a provisional race towards negotiations and into dialogue with the syrian government and i think the main point here is the western mainstream minority is fundamentally false it's based on a moral ground being held by one side and i think anyone look at the situation and see there's no high moral ground on the side and in that situation it would seem to me the most constructive way forward would be to push both sides to towards talking to each other but once was not willing to do this all right middle east politics professor jeremy solve speaking with us from iraq thanks for your time thank you very much well stay with us here on r t still ahead this hour he engaged in fist fights with fellow politicians and was detained for a drunken brawl at an airport now a former ukrainian minister set to learn his fate or even more serious charges the details coming up. but first euro zone leaders hard at work boosting the

union's financial fire wall to prevent economic trouble from spreading between member states spain's so-called lost generation though of unemployed youth already feeling the pinch of deep cuts pushed through to shore up national fire its students have been taking their school their grievances to the streets disillusion with a promise of euro prosperity as artie's sarah for four pts. he recently was riding high off to spain during the year is saying back in two thousand and two that a decade on in years of us started to put us all back to work with an economic crash be a against. government policy and we were we were in town was no question of quality but for all the latest round of cuts reforms but nationwide protest in spain led via and it was the students leading the way as they took their complaints out of the classroom and onto the spanish streets and we're spending millions like we're rich but actually we're seeing that we're not rich at

all i mean we have high schools without without heating you know there's no money there are cutting where they shouldn't they're cutting the low income people and. and they just don't see anything that's they think it's right in the plan to bring not the basic reason of nations that have been that way should. think but it's become the latest country in the grip of the year and the rise in the thousands upon thousands in the book take this is a look right now and again here and i see magic you see that it was up on the population was spain's protests by and large been peaceful it will bring a familiar scenes last week a spanish but police clashed with protesters worry about the same thing happening here is it happening going. to be we do i mean we think we're just a little be determined resolve the political helping is more or less the same yeah

yeah because there's no money spain is not there yet while being a very different country with very different problems it's now facing a scarily similar scenario to that agrees with the press population being squeezed even tighter we are about two years should be going to greece in terms of pro. but you see. the troika. and the international more you found the european central bank and you have been a union are imposing on but if a country's. spain portugal it's economics one hundred one is very simple to understand that i mean if these countries. with problems and you force the. public spending you. push them deep into recession like greece spain billions in debt by germany and france it's

money which wouldn't be paid back less painfully. schools without heating teachers without jobs and unemployment on the rise makes for a bleak naysay and as the country tips into a second recession and with more protests planned for later in the week themes like these could be set to become much more common on the streets this day so. it's a. more on the euro zone's debt worries on our website r.t. dot com and while you're very you can check out all the other stories lined up for you today in circling moscow thousands hold hands to surround the city's garden to ring in a call for fair elections just a week before russia chooses its next president. and smartphone spyware find out how some arabs could send your personal data stream to internet companies all the details on r.t. dot com. south korea and the u.s.

have started joint military naval drills despite the north threats of possible retaliation john yang has threatened to launch a powerful retaliatory strike against seoul of provoke the south states the military games are purely defensive ruediger frock an expert on north korea and east asia at the university of vienna believes the conflict could conceivably become a full scale standoff. north korea has issued since they such statements in the past and look at these versus the statements but you never know you can play with fire safely for a while and until you create some kind of big blast and that's what you don't want i'm really concerned because we have a new leader in north korea kim jong il with whom we have no experience whatsoever with whom we have a chance to actually open some new avenues for cooperation and for resolving all those pressing issues that we have on the table you have about two hundred thousand south korean troops involved in two thousand american troops in this one exercise

alone on the most korean side you have over one million soldiers it's a state that is on the constant state of emergency on high alert is a state that is in possession of nuclear weapons although we don't know exactly how many and in walked in which quality they are there but this is definitely a very a hard area and it's so wrong to buy a countries like south korea japan and china so if david come involved in some kind of military confrontation the whole thing can easily get out of hand so i do believe that we are facing a potentially dangerous situation. a senior member of ukraine's former orange revolution government will learn monday if he faces the next few years in prison a key of court is expected to live or it's a verdict on a former interior minister yuriy let sankoh who is charged with abuse of office and corruption are reports. noted that his speeches once ignited thousands of hearts you were in the two thousand and four orange revolution where you really

center was one of the driving forces now and no less inflammatory rhetoric from ukraine's former interior minister is heard from behind bars before we still come under the. present yannick gang fight against corruption that's if they are corrupt through and through that's why they orchestrated this case. against me which has nothing to do with criminal law only with their desire to get rid of political rivals. you know from unlawful distribution of high place jobs in the interior ministry to using state money to buy f. lot for his personal driver the charges against could land him in prison for up to four and a half years his trial has lost it for more than a year during which will stand to went on a hunger strike several times it is drawing clear parallels with that of ukraine's former prime minister yulia tymoshenko currently serving seven years in prison for abuse of power and both trials loud protests of support were ever present and say

experts such strong public outcry has seriously changed the country's political landscape but it was. the ruling party's reading drop below if you were to mission calls party the public doesn't approve of persecution that's what imma show because reading is two to three times higher now even higher than that of president you know coverage the ruling elite unwillingly made all senko enter mission coats symbols of a struggle against themselves and any political force can now use these symbols to gain votes. just like his caseload sanctus korea had also been filled with controversy from his fights with keef's mayor was to being detained in frankfurt airport for a drunken brawl that that will that along with doubtful decisions during his ministerial work makes the ruling party believe he is guilty then while you do us we're doing them a year if you didn't have enough education law for this job that's why he made many mistakes for instance he wants bragged of issuing a speeding fine to the president's son that you had no right to do that was only

traffic police could and it was a violation if a person is in the wrong place and makes mistakes and one needs to pay for his mistakes. goes defense said weeks ago that whatever the verdict they would file a lawsuit with the european court of human rights is expected to review his case on april seventeenth combined with a continues. criticism of the tymoshenko this could put even more strain on t.v. ruling elite the opposition has been picketing central kiev ever since june last year and tymoshenko says that the protests will not die down even when the euro twenty well football championship comes to ukraine so that will definitely add more spice to what is expected to be a rather turbulent year for the ukrainian politics let's see reporting from kiev in ukraine. turn now to some other stories making headlines across the globe a suicide car bomber has his about airport in eastern afghanistan with telling nine people in a huge blast the explosion went off near the entrance gates destroying several cars

parked in the area the taliban has claimed responsibility saying the attack was revenge for burning copies of the koran at a military u.s. military base last week tensions have been running high following the incident with more than thirty people killed in violent protests. a train carrying some seventy five people directed in canada three railroad employees were killed and dozens of passengers injured carriages that were traveling from niagara falls to toronto came off the tracks close to the railway station emergency crews were working to free those who remain trapped in the wreckage of the cause of the rail men under investigation. and black and white silent movie the artist has won best picture best director best actor at the oscars ceremony in hollywood the movie was the favorite to collect the prestigious awards best actress went to meryl streep for her portrayal of former british prime minister margaret thatcher in the film the iron lady martin scorsese's parisian

adventure hugo took home academy awards. and his latest newspaper campaign article ahead of the election presidential hopeful vladimir putin also addressed russia's economic cooperation with the european union let's go now to natasha at the business desk for more. that's right in this article in. daily on monday one week ahead of the presidential elections prime minister vladimir putin offered his view on how to solve europe's economic issues essentially he suggests for me free economic zones a common economic zones with the european union and perhaps even offering direct financial help to europe but in return he wants the european union to give up. on what's known as the third energy package essentially it's an energy market reform that suggests that companies such as gazprom should not be allowed to own production and transportation networks at the same time putin has long been

critical of this idea centrally saying that aims to destroy the energy market formula that ties the price of gas to the price of oil but it doesn't seem like it's really phasing investors at least not those here in russia the markets in moscow the r.t.s. and the my six opened on monday on a quite upbeat note they are trading in the red the sour but that's mainly in sympathy with the european indices and one of the biggest movers on the y. six is russia's second largest bank v t v it's actually managing to buck the downward trend and energy majors gazprom and draws now they're pretty much flat this hour. investors on monday are also reacting to one of the biggest stories and that's of course the g. twenty summit over the weekend the finance ministers of the world's leading

economies met in mexico to try and iron out their differences when it comes to these second rescue package for the european union the idea that there is that europe has to put up its own money if it wants other countries to chip in and it turns out that the main sticking point is germany it said it will. side by sometime in march whether or not it actually wants to put any more money into the bailout fund and it seems like european the investors don't really a life that answer the european indices are sliding and reaction to that decision or the lack of the decision who can say europe is indeed low or both the footsie and the dax are down one of these stocks bucking the trend is british petroleum the energy giant is considering an out of court a fourteen billion dollars settlement for its twenty tell gulf of mexico oil spill it seems like investors are welcoming that the macro economic headlines drive the

markets this week including oil prices extremely high oil prices a threat to global economic recovery and it's actually declining on monday for the first time in eight days tensions over iran's nuclear program is of course one of the driving factors there and a higher dollar is also putting the lid on crude prices the dollar is gaining against the euro and the ruble is strengthening against the dollar and if the euro on monday and that's the latest from the business this i'll be back with an update in about fifteen minutes.

culture is that so much i mean in which of course you might find a job and so here it is the price of crude me stubbornly high and consumers feel the pinch the wire energy prices so high because of the lack of supply and security . get are sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture.