thanks for joining us in indonesia the search for a missing russian plane has continued into the night there's been no communication with the aircraft since contact was lost made journey during a sales demonstration flight wednesday sean thomas has latest. it certainly is a mystery at this point what we do know is the plane was on a routine flight taking people up to test the jet out as it were people who could be buying it this plane for their own companies and it was supposed to be a thirty minute flight then we do know that the pilot requested to descend from tel ten thousand feet to six thousand feet and then it disappeared from radar at that point they decided to send out search crews but they had to call those crews back because of night time hours and poor weather conditions there are reports of fog in that area at this point in time they're waiting to see when they can go back out to the search for that airplane again but one thing that they're not ruling out is they're not ruling out the possibility of a hijacking they also know that the plane was low on fuel in fact by the time the plane was supposed to land back at the airport in jakarta the fuel was supposed to

be spent so there could be a problem with that as well the mountains south of jakarta are volcanic some of them are very high and surrounding those mountains are hills valleys rocky terrain there are some plantations in the area lots of rivers but even those rivers aren't what you might expect as a river valley they are rocky type areas that are really easy to navigate now the good news is that it is a densely populated island there are people everywhere so if something did happen to this plane there will be someone who has seen it and authorities are hoping that they can get in touch with those people some time when the search resumes in the morning this is actually a brand new airplane it is russia's first sojourn into the commercial aviation industry since the soviet union in fact it was meant to revitalize the commercial aviation industry in russia it is a highly technical and highly advanced piece of equipment in fact it was also equipped with equipment that could detect normalities in the terrain is so at this point in time no abnormalities this is an anomaly. and to many in the aviation

industry saying things didn't seem likely to human error than technical malfunction that's according to operations and for online magazine flight global david and. what i think i think the most helpful way of trying to understand what might have happened here is to remember exactly what it's doing in indonesia it's on indonesia on a demonstration tour of the world showing off to potential customers just what a good airplane this is and just how clever it is and how far you can take it sometimes the pilots or the crews deliberately take the aircraft right to their limits and they do that sometimes when the aircraft is quite close to the ground that's what a demonstration flight is often like sometimes they push the limits just too far and that might happen we're talking about highly professional test pilots on board

this aircraft people like that just less an airplane run out of fuel so i think you can rule that one out hijack like like who why what's the motivation of being on that's not a commercial flight this one is a demo flight no i think you can rule that one out mountainous terrain well yes if there are mountains there a pilot isn't going to run into them if you can see them if the mountains are in cloud the pilot still knows they're there and this aircraft has to rain warning system on it using the high terrain is an excuse for an accident in an aircraft as well equipped as that i think is a bit farfetched but just because the demonstration flights have come to grief so often in the past if i were to put my money on this the cause of this one that's where i'd put it does turn out to be the fact that the crews simply were pushing their luck too far and then sukhoi will regain face. and

according to the information we're getting from the russian blog at so gay darley at the rescue helicopters all the sense of the scene in less than one and a half hours to get all this earlier that he was originally supposed to have been on. was the missing sobre dread the search continues in indonesia and we'll bring you more details as we get them. millions of russians have been marking the true day to commemorate russia's triumphing what it calls the great passion or to call the. wrong were observed a minute's silence dedicated to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom the finale of the celebrations it was a magnificent display of fireworks across the capital our correspondent tom barton has more. this enormous fireworks display and also a minute's silence held earlier both of those are central to them the commemoration

of victory in the great patriotic war over nazi germany and it's not just here in moscow all over russia at the turn all flame sites that have been burning for every day and every night and war memorials all across russia in the former soviet union people have been marking this event those memorials bear the words and urging people never to forget the great sacrifice that the soviet union went through to defeat nazi germany it's estimated about twenty six point six million people gave their lives in that conflict when nazi germany invaded in june one nine hundred forty one they nearly destroyed the soviet union but over the next four years on the front ranging from the black sea to the baltic from the volga all the way to berlin the red army turned the tide and pushed them all the way back until an armistice was eventually signed and it's that the marking of that achievement and

both sacrifices that this is all about early on in the day here a red square there was a large military parade fourteen thousand troops marched through accompanied by more than tanks aircraft flying flags and nuclear missiles which were paraded through the capital that parade watched by president vladimir putin and prime minister dmitri medvedev those two having swapped jobs also veterans came out as well obviously all of this is designed to try and mimic what was what was done in one nine hundred forty five in the victory parade then the veterans were there then and there is a dwindling number of them now those that remember those dark days firsthand and there was also the laying of a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier against the kremlin walls there's an awful lot of young people joy. joining in the celebrations and you'll also see a lawful lot of these around russia in the days around victory day these redden of

these orange and black ribbons have become synonymous with the celebrations they're hung on bags are flown from cars and and people wear them on their clothes and that's part of the central italy of celebrating this event it's also been victory day in europe the day yesterday the same reason the defeat of nazi germany but it must be said that in europe the v. day doesn't really hold the weight anymore but victory day does in russia perhaps a mark of the immense sacrifices made by russia in recent polls of of the younger generation russia it's been found that the memories of lenin the revolution are starting to slip from from their memory and the memories of stalin are starting to slip a bit as well but this day sticks the memory of victory day and that almighty victory is remembered by all and perhaps a final fitting gesture is the fact that

a lot of young people in moscow carry flowers on this day and they give those flowers to the older generations those that remember the war but remember those dark days first hand and they give them saying thank you thank you for all that you've done to save our country and to winners victory. the size the soviet troops thousands of british soldiers and sailors also sacrifice their lives during the war many went to sea braving subzero temperatures in the arctic to deliver arms and food to the red army all in all four and a half million tons of supplies were sent to the east a front but is other than it reports that ethnic efforts have remained largely unrecognized until now. the worst journey in the world was how winston churchill described it the ten days through hell the arctic convoys were a vital lifeline of supplies to the soviet union with britain's eastern ally in the grip of a nazi onslaught that just nineteen john c.

is was a gunner on board one ship braving fierce seas bitter cold and a treacherous route infested by german u. boats never been spirited in the can you just imagine. wives coming natur as a block of flats just passed the wife say just picked us up picked us up just. just. perrie mind we were fourteen thousand per year. and you know we've been lifted out because you could hear the screws turn in at the wall. below and in the water this is the very ship john says his job was to man the anti aircraft guns against the heavy enemy fire from above but the onslaught came from the sea to the huge icy waves with the warmth even a ship this size just over eight hundred ships were dispatched in total in the convoys but one in eight never made it back britain lost three thousand men in what

was known as the most hostile theater of world war two the waters so cold that falling in meant almost certain death yet those behind the mission never on and the men it sent john received medals for other campaign see fourteen but he's still missing the one that matters most but our phil discussed it wider while being trained in a minute only a few of us left now. a more well interactive. not frightened now and i mean come one. way i know. sam we deserve as you say a got a lengthy burma pacific defense medal i've got all the campaigns other campaigns are been in a pair of them only if i had. one of an english. medal for the russian congress but that could soon change prime minister david cameron's finally ordered the medals review after years of campaigning from veterans they

haven't been on it so far because of bureaucratic red tape limiting war heroes to one medal per campaign medal rules also mean a stint on the convoys wasn't long enough to meet the six month minimum and impossible targets given the extreme conditions of the arctic is this gusting and to my mind the fact that it's been it's taken so long is really heartbreaking because over the years we've been campaigning for this medal many many of these veterans have and have now passed away and the absolute tragedy of this would be if we do get to a situation where the medal really removes the barriers and the article with veterans are allowed that medal and there are none of them alive to receive it of the sixty six and a half thousand men who sailed on the arctic convoys just two hundred remain like john they've just been offered another medal by russian government for ever in debt to this service on top of the two it's already awarded john paul find out in

september if he is to finally receive what he really wants but for other aging war heroes like him it could be too little too late i've been it r t london. moving on now jailed ukrainian opposition leader you has been moved from prison to hospital for treatment they for prime minister have been a hunger strike for nineteen days claiming a he's an early attempts to move authorities are hoping this will diffuse a growing diplomatic crisis threatening to overshadow the euro two thousand and twelve football championship. as well from here. now we have officially confirmed that ukraine's former prime minister yulia timoshenko has been delivered to a hospital in her reported spinal hemorrhage will be treated it is interesting that it will be treated slowly by a german doctor now has insisted that no ukrainian doctor has access to her

treatment it's unclear whether she is just mistrustful or she is afraid of her life something her daughter has been reporting now this with lots of control over c preceding this transportation of. the hospital now for several weeks she had been claiming that she will not be treated in ukraine and asked permission to be relocated abroad for her spinal damage to be treated there but the authorities have been adamant that she would not leave the korean soil now before that there was an attempt to transfer you to machines or to one of the hospitals. on april the twenty one fact she back then claimed that prison guards physically abused her during the transportation and recently photos of her bruises were made public on the internet causing a lot of fuss here in ukraine and internationally and now there has been a very harsh reaction following the a legit views of physical abuse by the prison guards domestically with thousands of supporters of unity mission called protesting in the prison building and in the

near the court building and also very harsh reactions coming internationally now several leaders of european states said that they would boy called the you were twenty two well football championship in ukraine and poland because of the way had allegedly been treated by prison guards in the list of the officials included the german chancellor angela merkel the government of the netherlands the president of the czech republic and the german president as well as several other top officials in europe now ukraine even had to cancel the european states summit in the crimea in this city or because of so many officials from europe deciding to boy called this summit and certainly the fact that she will be treated in a hospital. by a german doctor is definitely a move forward we are certainly waiting for any more developments in this rather turbulent on a rollercoaster story. hundreds of opposition activists have gathered in central moscow on the evening of victory day they're protesting against the arrests of anti-government activists and exchange sergei solve all seems greaves has and tells

this action behind me has been going on all day but it wasn't till the last couple of hours where the numbers really swirled now about a thousand people have congregated it's a very public event organized on the swiss in fact i was starstruck by alexei no bounty put on to opposition activists early tuesday morning when a similar demonstration was staged and the ethos of this is continued on to wednesday is all about the voiding political chanting and political sentiment that's because it's not actually have sanctioned demonstration therefore they risk arrest by doing so no less late tuesday evening there were arrests of attention to be made official police reports but that's about two hundred people but protesters stressed it was more among those being detained crucially were alexina bound person originally started for organizing this he will remain in detention for fifteen days as will. head of the left front of proving quite problems again when it comes to

organizing such demonstrations this has angered some of those in attendance and really inspired them to come out this evening know how seeing protesters in action earlier on today there the white river moving that we're seeing here at the moment for free and fair elections is their slogan they join the ranks of the communist party really latched on to their officially sanctioned demonstration you can hold their own independent want this is a question that's been asked of the movement of the moment do they have the numbers to continue in force you know there's a few opposition activists who play a pivotal role the bounty we don't solve but i'm they have their core followers as well but they pass a lot of. major milestones that lead up in protest of the presidential elections to the inauguration and indeed here on the tree day it must be some wariness now among opposition leaders about how to drum up more support on the streets in the future.

undermined top stories here in aussie russia celebrating the six to seven son of us year of a trio of the nazi germany in the second world war the traditional annual parade of rolled across red square on wednesday and here are some of the highlights from. oh oh

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and you can watch the full military parade coverage from red square on our channel on the back with a quick recap of the headlines in about ten minutes time and right now analysis a historian and political analyst. recently been to syria as as the very same powers that bought the u.n. initiative are also fueling the calls and.

today we're sitting down with here pitching in he's a historian and political analyst specializing on the arab world he's traveled extensively to the countries that have gone through the so-called arab spring and he's also written extensively on these countries the most recent one being syria thanks very much for joining us today. and first question we'd like to know ways you've been to syria the most latest a country you've said

a couple of times what was your goal and going to that country. in syria is a country that is very much diverse in terms of ethnic and religious groups you have to be inside syria to understand what is really happening there on the ground my goal was to get reliable information i did some research and found out that there are actually two rival syrian human rights groups that monitor developments and supply the bulk of information to the west what i discovered to it was that the uprising was supported by a minority of the population which differs from what the western media are saying when they quote the syrian observatory for human rights also this eerie and opposition is very much divided they do not share the same goals and they use different methods to reach their goals so you've talked to the opposition various routes and the opposition can you tell us about what you discussed with them and how you would assess them. first there is no such thing as a single opposition in fact there are many opposition groups and some of them are

in conflict with each other there are two hot dogs of discontent. one in the city of hama where the muslim brotherhood led an uprising in the one nine hundred eighty s. the demonstrations that took place there were peaceful in july the syrian army surrounded the city but stopped short of occupying us early in august the army moved into the city and establish control over it demonstrations are continuing the army and the police are present there to prevent the protesters from accessing major squares and streets protesters do throw stones at the police from time to time but these rallies never turn violent so the army does not have to respond although the media often say that the police opened fire on protesters and it's not true at least i have never seen any use of weapons their homes and other historical center of discontent has become the fighting ground for many armed rebel groups i was there with the residents of homs these were ordinary people who took up any weapon they could find and defended their neighborhoods from the army however along with this civil uprising we witnessed a much more dangerous one i'm talking about the islamist movement which is fighting

in homs also there are insurgents who call themselves the free syrian army it has been active on the border with turkey and lebanon that the syrian army has largely remained loyal to the government there are fighters who came from libya qatar and saudi arabia so it's not quite clear what kind of force the free syrian army is asked for the armed opposition groups inside syria there are also several salafi groups who are responsible for terrorist acts and at times commit horrendous atrocities how do we classify this movement in syria then is it a civil war is it an uprising is it a revolution i think it is a revolution i think we can say that it but there are islamic groups in syria that are trying to use the situation and turn syria into an islamic republic in a way this is similar to what happened in libya there was a civil war between tribal clans and now a group of salafi is represented in the new government of libya islamic groups spread throughout the sahara and got into sub-saharan african countries there is something unhealthy about these groups like tng alongside the revolutionaries it's

impossible to identify. or contact them they are truly secretive groups since the beginning of the crisis the government has always stuck to one line which is these are armed groups or they're supported by outsiders by foreigners. are they blind to what is happening in the country to the past or the possibility that this is a real real revolution are the right are they watch how would you assess the government's hand. and also could first of all as for the governments rhetoric i don't believe the syrian government is blind rhetoric and reality are two different things syria's government is in denial of the fact that a revolution is taking place they are talking about some foreign conspiracy about israel and the u.s. plotting against syria the regime is far from collapsing it's nowhere near a downfall bashar assad has a lot of sunny days ahead of him and many people ask me how can you say such things you're advocating the regime no i'm not advocating the regime i'm doing my research i want to see what happens on the ground i take the facts and draw conclusions but

shiela side has agreed on the piece by presented by kofi annan but bashar al assad has made a lot of promises in the past and a lot of them who did not do you think is going to make good on his promise this time for a cease fire and this this peace plan. kofi annan plan wasn't very well timed as far as the syrian government is concerned you can't really demand things from the government when it has the upper hand and is defeating the free syrian army at the moment the government's biggest problem is cross border raids from refugee camps in turkey and lebanon and so what happens is that the government gets the upper hand and is defeating the free syrian army a demand comes in to stop the violence and it comes from those who helped the free syrian army conduct their training qatar and france were directly involved in helping them get new arms advanced and heavy weaponry and help them reorganize and review their strategy you cannot demand this from the government it is certainly a dictatorship but it's a legitimate government according to international law and the westphalian says.

and it's oppressing an armed revolt to reestablish control over its territory i understand that bashar assad said yes we should comply with the plan and will stop the violence because he wanted to buy some time but in reality they continue their offensive against the free syrian army so how do you see the syrian conflict ended at all unless of course there is an intervention from outside i expect that the bathurst government will be able to control the situation with military force after that i think it will conduct progressive reforms to develop democracy this may even be a formal democracy at the initial stage i believe to a large degree this democracy will be formal yet civil society is awakening and it's making its position known and in the future the government will have to make a turn towards a real democracy here pichot and thanks very much for your time. if it's in.

height fifty two meters. weight more than eight thousand tons it's. skin thickness thirty centimeters a guinness record holder. commemorating the battle of stalingrad. the motherland called. on our teeth. russia to be so much brighter if you knew the song from finest impressions. whose phone starts on team dot com.

welcome back this is all see after track of the headlines. dmitri medvedev has launched a special commission to investigate the disappearance of a brand new russian sukhoi superjet one hundred in indonesia the aircraft was on a short sales demonstration flight with fix a passenger's on board but the radio contact was lost in one statement. just a touch of a display of fireworks as enjoyed a victory day involving russia's defeat of nazi germany and the great patriotic war . included a grand parade in red square to another red army is i think at that six to seven years ago. and ukraine's former prime minister yulia timoshenko has moved to a hospital from her prison in a bid to address concerns over the treatment.