tonight a terrorist plot to kill vladimir putin after the presidential election on sunday is prevented by moscow in kiev. yes to reform the syrian people have overwhelmingly approved a new constitution but the e.u. is stepping up the pressure with tough new sanctions on president assad's regime. iran's nuclear tells our t. that his country is open to genuine u.n. inspections but accuses the i.a.e.a. of working for american efforts. and cash rich berlin bags a new rescue deal for greece despite worries that it won't be enough to save the indebted country and also growing calls for it to leave the euro zone.

welcome you watching r.t. live from moscow with me kevin though in our top story the eleven pm this monday night a plot to kill vladimir putin after next sunday's presidential election has been prevented in a joint operation between ukraine and russia the suspects caught red handed with explosives earlier this month turned out to be planning an assassination attempt artie's jacob greaves is across the latest developments. it's already based on confessions there since speed acquired warm say in this so-called law of was actually a church of minutes and who's thought to remind a number of very bloody terrorist attacks in russia scouser moscow although he was paid a quarter point to straighten this assassination on the prime minister also according to confessions of why all those involved the fixer in fact spent some time studying

in the u.k. and a british university is in fact in london where he says he learned the art of explosions and trains there now this is for two authorities attention back in january i saw for an accidental explosion in the apartments in or dexter in the ukraine there are fires his investigation situation put out the flames and when doing so they found a number explosives also a laptop containing information about this planned assassination bid probably savella me a person he's known thought his role in the k.g.b. also heading up the f.s.b. russia's security service he says he saw he was aware of the dangers involved all this job of leading a country that's made all the more power so it's typically what he's serving as were presidents and their attempts on his life for a measurably war are covered mainly by foreign intelligence services including allies of those in azerbaijan iran and ukraine or when he's trying to visit other

countries will know that really puts his life in there would be a danger it has to be stressed although when he does travel around russia and moscow because of stanch or security entourage you see at least seven vehicles following him wherever he goes on the roads also traffic police usually locked down the roads that he's traveling on but of course this is all the more important becomes just before those presidential elections before watch. across one of jacob graves there will assassination plots aside prime minister putin is gearing up for his presidential bid on sunday publishing his latest article outlining a vision of russia's future is he sees it and with a focus on foreign policy to the premier slammed u.s. efforts to promote regime change in the arab world. the recent events showed that the desire to impose democracy by force can and often does lead to opposite results

it leads to a rise in extremism which attempts to change the course of the country's development and secure rules putin also reaffirmed moscow's refusal to back the u.s. led drive to pressure the syrian president to step down political analyst dimitri babbitt says the kremlin simply wants the international community to adopt a more balanced and case specific approach to solving conflict. i think the whole article was not anti western. would you know obviously want to cooperate with western powers he's just don't hate people with certain actions or need to other western countries which as you proves in that article actually run counter to the west interest itself. you know he wants the problem to be solved by the syrians themselves without outside involvement and i think that's that's a very 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 victors always stay you with revenge on the bank. he speaks about in the vulnerability of the united states seemingly it's a good concept you know why shouldn't some state be told to lean vulnerable to security threats but he writes in his article that these stall doing vulnerability for the united states means total vulnerability for many others i mean before all of this because then the united states will not only be the biggest power in the ward with the biggest amount of fire power but also it will be able to strike anyone it wants to strike still ahead the cost of blank spring spanish protesters turn out in the thousands of the struggle to stay afloat during the country's deep debt crisis and also reporting for you on the high d. e-mails published on wiki leaks claiming an israeli military attack on iran could be imminent more than a bit late to. put this to conflict torn syria we focus our attention next to the

people have made their voices heard a new constitution one massive support in sunday's referendum despite ongoing violence in some parts of the country still. got the latest from damascus. nearly two thirds of all those eligible to vote in syria cast their ballots on sunday with eighty nine percent of them voting in favor of the new charter there's been many concerns before the reform started on sunday about how the ballot may go on amid bollixed and team in the country how they vote in may go i had in particular troubled areas here in syria like in the besieged city all palm's all in the city of live north of the capital damascus syria interior minister has said that the violence is isolated to some particular areas within the city as for the other areas it's quite calm there and there's been many polling stations that and people had the opportunity to come there and to vote to express their will kills assad that they've been attempts to intimidate people there on the ground by gunmen

they've been attempts to prevent people from voting and of course he has said look old those who wanted to vote in the referendum actually had the opportunity to do that but the fact is that fifty seven percent of all those eligible cast their ballots here in syria their sources meanwhile refused to provide a breakdown on how people voted in particular areas like for example in the city of poso in live all that are where the clashes between the opposition and this source is still continuing serial interior minister has provided the job list with kind of a date on what's going on in the city of homes right now was the situation that has said the security forces are on the ground trying to take control of the city trying to fight with opposition forces and they will do that until it's all over until no on forces on the opposition forces left in the region. despite the

referendum in syria the european union with the toughest sanctions yet they include an asset freeze against officials and a ban on importing precious metals and minerals from the country brussels correspondent. what's the expecting to achieve by this move and what effect of those sanctions going to have how they had up to this point let's reflect back as well. will the e.u. first of all and they just want to again add pressure to the syrian regime as they've already been doing so in the past few months and reiterated their message that the syrian government has lost any or all support of the nations they did add additional seven government officials to that asset freeze and they also oppose sanctions on the syrian central bank also banned the purchase of oil a purchase of gold that is precious metals and diagnose from the country and another thing they added is banning any syrian cargo flights to wild at any

airports. it has to be said is now was the largest trading partner of syria accounted for about twenty percent of traits and this is no small matter however it begs the question are the sanctions effective at all the e.u. had imposed asset freezes on about one hundred individuals in the past as well as thirty eight organizations they will an arms embargo on the country yet the conflict is still going on for about eleven months now it hasn't it hasn't helped to resolve the crisis in the country nevertheless it seems like this will not be the last of the sanctions as the e.u. had stated today that it will continue its policy of imposing additional measures targeting the regime and those measures be. well these measures are they will just tighten the economic sanctions they've already been putting hopefully that they're hoping that they will target the business sector those who are still supporting the regime this adds to that statements already made by the u.s.

and its allies and just on friday they had met in tunis the so-called friends of syria we can call this a coalition of the willing here about sixty countries including the e.u. the us as well as our states they had said that they want president bashar al assad to step down and they also recognize the syrian national council as a legitimate force in the contrary now there are some countries such as saudi arabia qatar and jimmy zhawar even calling to arm the opposition groups in syria now it is also expected that they are going to recognize the s.n.c. as the legitimate force in the country now some observers would say that this is this bears a resemblance to the lead up to that libyan scenario that's something that a countries like russia and china don't want to see they say that going for a for example u.s. security council resolution would just be taking a side in this conflict this is not something they want to see whatever like the sanctions it seems like this is the calls for this is going to continue as the u.k.

foreign secretary william hague said today that they will push for a u.n. referendum again in new york some time later this week and france is also calling for support from the international community to prosecute some members of the government of syria for crimes against humanity said this is set to continue. in brussels today. german lawmakers have this monday evening approved a new rescue package for greece despite worries that athens will need even more cash in the future and suggestions from germany's interior minister that it's time that greece left the eurozone altogether the hundred thirty billion euro bailout was agreed in principle last week of tomorrow. tense discussions among the eurozone leaders germany is europe's richest economy has to contribute a majority towards it but is a sense of unease in them that it'll have to keep coughing up cash to prevent a greek debt default in the future it is the second bailout of course in

a little over eighteen months it said to ensure athens for now at least can pay its debts is the view from inside berlin however let's get in from financial writer peter to build these way to talk to us in the studio peter good evening the question of the night i guess on everyone's lips will another bailout prevent a greek default or do you think for the time being yes. people are of course talking about the probable need for a bailout and. the chancellor she is not guaranteeing anything as a result of this bailout she's saying i can't guarantee it we hope it's going to work because the opposition are saying you know that it's her own policy her own lack of drive or lack of leadership that has left europe in this position and that almost certainly europe is going to be back in this position and germany once again probably voting for of bailout who knows in one two or three years time i mean this was passed through gritted teeth even a rebellion within the party why so much effort going into trying to keep greece

afloat well it is simply the alternative even more all for people don't deny here that of course greece shouldn't have been invited to join to adopt the euro when it did because it couldn't meet the criteria and nobody denies that probably greece would be better out of the euro than in it that isn't the issue the issue is how do you get from within to your guest earlier on saying that the consequences wouldn't be too bad for the rest of the eurozone you're kind of saying differently. well the risk is absolutely enormous this is the problem nobody really knows exactly how much bad debt is actually on the books of the banks whether they would for example be able to get the cd and effectively the insurance that would result from a default nobody knows exactly how much this could involve it would certainly be

billions who knows maybe even trillions of dollars by the time you add up all of the links that the banks have with each other around the world that is the great fear and that is why it is deemed this stage better to go on the shelling out little by little in order to try and stave off a default but of course it comes a great pain to the greeks a lot of conditions attached this latest bailout one school of thought is that they're so serious they're partly designed to tip the greeks of the quitting the currency themselves well it may yet come to about and of course people are warning that the austerity package which or maybe all right for germany which has got low unemployment and an economy which despite recession in europe has generally been growing but it isn't all right for greece in other words it will simply strangle growth and that is certainly one of the criticisms certainly from the left party which voted against the bailout there was very strong criticism from the opposition

parties in germany but in the end they did vote for the for this measure and of course if they haven't it's quite possible that anglo american would have the last majority in the german parliament and that is a sign of her power or authority is weakening and of course within greece again focusing back their findings from the o.e.c.d. the organization for cooperation and development showing that greece is bending over backwards with its reforms that they appear to be trying stream we are to do this more than any other euro nation how much more can greece and its people crucially reasonably take you think. well i would have thought that the greek political and social system is already almost at the breaking point i mean we've saw ireland do this but do it voluntarily we've seen it in the baltic states but whether greece which was if you like welcomed into the euro zone and really had very little idea until a couple of years ago that all the government figures were faulty they were frauds

and that is the real problem is that you cannot now according to the germans simply leave the greeks to get on with it because you don't trust their figures what the greeks need to do say the germans is to use the money that is being applied in order to restore their finances properly in order to pay back the debt and then for the greeks if they want to go for growth which of course they must to use the e.u. funds that are there but in order to do that they need to structural to restructure their own internal administration there are structural funds available to help greece expand but so far they have not really been in a position to do that people build very good to get your expert comments on the line there from berlin much appreciated my pleasure. russia has called on iran to provide assurances to the international community that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only but in return moscow says to rad's right the regime in richmond must be recognized. it is

a school it's very important for world powers to confirm once around answers all the questions raised by the international atomic energy agency on its nuclear program that it will in turn have the right to peaceful uranium enrichment this is the same right exercised by other members of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. the statement comes after the us atomic officials said they were unable to confirm whether iran has the ability to build nuclear weapons was criticized for its failure to cooperate with them during two with a recent visit to the country the western allies suspect the islamic state is building a nuclear bomb the countries under tough sanctions currently from the us and the e.u. with israel also threatening military action that something iran's nuclear envoy said might put existing sensitive discussions about the program at risk. or nay spoke to us at length earlier on he told r.t. that they're open to genuine nuclear inspections but not the american agencies they represent. your warning that

a couple of courses include the united states is trying to run the agency so that they can dictate from washington what vienna should do and that is why we don't not permit such a thing to occur and that is the whole issue that the agency as a professional technical organization should do its work and that is why you see they make meet so many noses here and there they do not let the agency to do its work and that is why we want to expect all countries including russia and others and i am very pleased that last meeting in fact russia and china ambassadors along with hundred countries of nonaligned movement all together questioned what had happened in fact namely the least of confidential information that that we need mobilization our member states to prevent something happening in vienna which did you raise this agency from its actually that is what we need but are now on. that's just a short excerpt from the full interview gave me earlier on

a bus to seoul today here on r t next hour now back to one of our top stories again syria which has successfully held a referendum on a constitution has been hit with new sanctions by the anyway because some reaction to that from meal club journalist a contributor the british guardian newspaper neal good evening from moscow so the syrians apparently approving assad's reform plan should the referendum result alleviate the western push against the regime do you think but of course it should i mean let's just reflect what's happened here this weekend we've had five decades of single currency rule in syria president assad has bought all this. fifty seven percent of syrians and the overwhelming majority said yes to it so it's a great day for democracy in syria and yet what's the reaction of the western leaders well hillary clinton's announced is a cynical ploy leave the rest of the german minister he said that it was a sham that what is a sham is the west approach because it because their reaction to this referendum

shows they're not really keen on real democracy in syria is the last thing they actually want here the of simpson were you saying that i mean the us knew official supporting the syrian opposition constantly talking and they are helping people in the country but you could say that this referendum is big turnout for it a big yes result suggesting people are ready to enact change themselves without any interference from abroad. quite you know the fact is when we've had opinion polls before the show and fifty five percent of syrians want president assad to stay we've had huge demonstrations in favor of president assad in damascus which have barely been reported in the western libya the reality is kevin is that the majority of syrian support. for the west these are not people their views don't count and so we have this ludicrous position where we have the west which claims to be supporting democracy is discounting the syrians or the syrian people as you said voted heavily in favor of this new constitution constitution but as for multi-party elections it provides for a fixed presidential terms so it's great news and yet the west is unhappy about it

is capable of delivering what he's promised to and what the people who voted for the i think he could be and i think the interesting thing is that really his best card is actually to go to democracy route and. that he does have widespread support it's not just the people who are more baath party supporters it's also a large number of syrians who are horrified at what will happen if assad goes the christian community for example terrified of what will happen so i think his best bet is actually to go down the elections route and call the west bluff have free elections and. get democratic mandate to the syrian people into west saying that their democracy but this shows they're not really but democracy at all well and i should just just know about how the u.s. officials talk about what do they help the syrian people what of course the latest sanction packages ended isolating the syrian regime but as we always say with sanctions it's generally ends up hurting the general public as well doesn't it absolutely and this will to and i think it's highly symbolic on the very day that

syria after five decades of one party vote for democracy what does the e.u. do and he announces tough new sanctions on syria it's highly symbolic the e.u. which is hardly a democratic party itself has announced these sanctions will hurt syrian people they will put back was the reform process in syria and you know there are democratic and i think the. it's quite ironic on this very day we also have the president nicolas sarkozy explain why we the european people are not going to be allowed to vote ourselves on the fiscal treaty he says it's too hard for us to understand so the e.u. which is claimed to be in favor of democracy is actually working against it. interesting a bit of news coming out as well about the opposition national syrian council reports of a split inside and there some members even leaving to create another group is the news we're hearing that if any of them came to power in syria how can they keep the country stable if they can't even agree on a way forward between themselves it begs the obvious question doesn't it or they wouldn't keep the country stable i mean many have to look at what happened in iraq

when the west into the in their in iraq talk of the secular regime and we had nine years of civil war with terrible outrages going on on almost daily basis in libya. gadhafi regime and i so you know that's why the majority of syrians are very very worried the majority of series as i said before when their party supporters whether they're people who simply feel that president salih of the lease was solution to syria to hold the country together and prevent the kind of ironic in civil war which will break out if assad goes or i will club journalist contributed to prince guardian newspaper thank you very much been on the program thank you. russia tonight two bodies have now been recovered since we've been reporting in the last hour from that collapse nine story apartment block in southern russia we showed you the pictures a dozen others were wounded with the same number still buried under the rubble these are the latest shots we've got now the first blast took down a lower section of the building and

a strong man and as people rushed to help the other six stories and collapse as well awful pictures natural gas explosion i think is believed to be the cause of the tragedy but investigators are also looking into claims that it could have been caused by one of the residents attempting to commit suicide rescue teams the medics are working at the scene to. get more news in brief. a car bomb attack in afghanistan has left nine dead and several others wounded the blast happened in jalalabad airport in the eastern part of the country the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was in revenge for the burning of korans at that u.s. military base last week days of deadly protests over the burning of a ruptured across the country leading to the deaths of more than thirty people. remote control bomb blast at a mass political rally has left at least seven dead and two dozen wounded in northwest pakistan the motorcycle device went off outside a gathering of the region's ruling awami national party attended by thousands of times the province has seen an increase in attacks recently and is home to major

military installations. update for you on my train coming around seventy five people that the rail daily are in canada three railroad employees were killed and dozens of passengers injured when the carriages came off the tracks as it was traveling from niagara falls to toronto investigators have recovered now the train's black box data recorder which they hope will help them establish how the development happened show business news the silent film the artist stole the show at the academy awards taking home five prizes including best picture and best actor it's the first silent movie to win since the very first oscar ceremony marking twenty nine and meryl streep the best actress award for her portrayal of former british prime minister margaret thatcher in the iron lady while martin scorsese's prison adventure hugo also claimed five awards in the technical categories. good news for those who do the business in roubles the russian currencies up to its strongest level in almost six months crean is at the business desk with views about

what's behind the rise corrina well kevin first of all the rally comes on the back of strong oil prices and also investors are due to pay tax bills at the end of the month so money is also coming into the into the country because they're supposed to be paid in rubles now let's take a look at some figures right now as we see here who is at twenty nine to the dollar which is six months high and again the euro is the best since may of two thousand and ten below thirty nine and elsewhere the euro is lower against the dollar that all has declined for the first time in eight days before happened after a group of g twenty finance ministers held off calls throat e.u. countries to boost international leading resources but a stand of between the west and iran over this nuclear program continues to keep oil prices around nine months high light sweet is losing one dollars seventeen stands and it's trading at one hundred eight and

a half dollars per barrel brant is losing one and a half dollars and it's raining nearly one hundred and twenty four dollars a barrel here on this great. merit as for the equity markets here in russia the audience and in my eyes it's closed mixed financials were among the main gainers of the day with the t.v. bank over one and a quarter of a percent spare bank also closed has signed a memorandum of understanding with italian carmaker fiat the companies are reportedly planning to set up a joint venture and produce cars here with russia but most energy made his finished in the red though with blue coral losing a third of a percent. let's take a look at europe now. it's closed lower as well we see the footsie in the dax losing over a quarter of percent despite the fact that the german parliament approved a rescue package for greece on my. day banks and all those who are driving the indices down and let's head across the atlantic to the united states where markets

are trading with moderate gains the main factor here is data showing an increase in american home sales and also crude have kept the s. and p. five hundred index from further gains in recent weeks as worries over disruptions in the middle east supplies push prices higher. well that's our update for me and our business does care but remember you can always find more stories just log on to our website dot com thanks for watching.

move them a. suit. to.