the week's top stories on our t.v. guide amir putin returns to the kremlin as russia's president with a raft of new challenges facing him one of the biggest being the protests that grew into clashes ahead of you know duration. of. a jihadi terror group says it carried out dual suicide bombings in syria's capital which became the deadliest since the under a started. the search is on for reasons why a sukhoi superjet plowed into a volcano killing all forty five aboard rushing to reach indonesia in the hunt for the black boxes. and austerity anger fueling mass protests in spain and clashes in italy with warnings that fury among europeans over economic misery could tear the

view of our. three pm in moscow i mad treasure giving you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news russia's latest president took his seat this week as of letting your putin return to the top job but it's a very different world than when he was last in the kremlin and all eyes are on which course will take the question being if putin can move forward now that he's back or he's alexei reports. for the third time to put into the thirty three word oath to become russia's president with an air of ease and calm you know it as i fulfill the duties of the president of the russian federation i swear to protect and guarantee the rights and freedoms of our citizens to observe and protect the constitution of the russian federation to protect the sovereignty independence and

territorial integrity of our state to serve its people faithfully. but the task he's taken on could be more like an uphill ride x. birds believe any leader who's been in power for five six seven years in a difficult position because people get used to him and the taken for granted he has to then reinvent himself international challenges have changed greatly since used two previous terms while russia's new president faces an absolutely different situation at home the country has become more politically active and with so many reforms promised by putin during his campaign he has no choice but to start fulfilling them and the set out for reform and not a reform on paper but something real something that both the opposition and you know the regular people not just in moscow but all throughout russia can see that this is really putin to point out the eyes of the world are also on what putin's

foreign policy will be many believe it's likely to stay close to that of meeting him individual however putin statements on foreign policy have given a hint that we may see something new off to roll first he insisted russia will firmly defend its interests over american missile defense plans in europe he also said he would not be going to the next g. eight summit in the united states it has already made some analysts speculate that the relationship between moscow and washington would not be so rosy the return of putin to the presidency. heralds a strong not a decisive shift but a strong shift in emphasis away from the failed reset policy that hillary clinton offered when video first the man is president and i think it's been clear that the reset has brought nothing positive for security or stability in russia it was

a time bind measure on the part of washington simply to allow it to build more of its ballistic missile defense installations and put more pressure on russia. security situation the next few months say experts will be instrumental in defining putin's long term strategy the question is whether russia and the world will see any you putin willing and able to face difficult challenges. on c mosco. people the new government probably needs to convince most of the opposition that drew crowds before and after the inauguration some of the most recent protests in moscow led to ugly clashes with police and hundreds of arrests are teasing nice and now he sits down with political analyst dmitri babich to take a look at who's driving the demonstrations. who is the russian opposition well of course it depends who you ask but also if you take a look for yourself what you'll see most often are a lot of different colors organizations and parties well to help us kind of decipher who's who in this i think we can call it modern russian opposition is to

me through bob which he's a political analyst for voice of russia radio thanks for being with us i want to start with aleck's in the widely and surrogate so just because they're the most well known at the moment they're constantly getting arrested and being released just briefly tell us who they are and why they've become the prominent leaders of our name is not a typical leftist populist like well does he use the morning to corruption and nationalist. but let's focus on the flanks for a bit looking at this video this is this is sunday's protest which for the first time turned really ugly you see these there's so and the left front it's called what what are the main focus of that party it's a flag we saw a lot of on sunday you see the red flags with the red star so this is an image abroad people might think it's you know a communist party because they read russia a communist so what they write because it would also friesen to decode. he's.

left from the reason why all of the communist party of russian federation human being chronically ill but dissipating all these actions get him constantly arrested that's his style it's like is that there on i.q. tests where he is the traditional. russian and i guess what does that mean in terms of there are several groups which do not want to live themselves with the left front or with the communist party job to go on the sunday i was there and there were clearly some people who were trying to provoke violence a lot of these so-called anarchists you can see here basically were running into the riot police and also were wearing a lot of these masks. let's talk a little bit more about the nationalist fight that we see sometimes i believe it's white there it is. what's this is right it means someone you know all of the groups all the nationalist groups that are strongly opposed to the current government strung up all white. and red. but who also but would not like to be associated with

communists or leftists why does it mean that. when we see tens of thousands of people on the streets of moscow as opposed to small groups like we see here which we saw after the inauguration sit ins trying to happen why don't we see the thousands of the masses do we see so many different flanks if they are so anti putin can't they just get under that banner all these groups have a mutually exclusive view they're not simply i think he seemed to contradict you that's just excluding the nationalistic which you know being a liberal the liberal secular wouldn't of been a nationalist the leftist would you know the sort of social system is the liberal secular splintering of reviving the soviet period so they can't agree on anything the only thing that they can agree on is that they don't like pollution and they want the current russian state to collapse that's about to meet their bob rich political analyst from waste of russia radio thank you very much for trying to help us understand what's happening with the opposition in russia because certainly

people in the country have never been more involved in politics the latest series of anti putin a rally that started last week and has dwindled to an indefinite sit out in one of moscow's central squares the gathering spent already to label the occupier by from the name of the poet whose monument stands in the square there are many people there are a few dozen but there are some surprising visitors including one farmer who brought his how to the protest he's got some serious before joining the world trade organization that was an eye opener for many jaded muscovites who aren't used to seeing livestock in the streets but police say so long as it's on a leash there is no laws broken. several thousand other opposition activists were marching through central moscow today they were keen to see how police would respond to what they called peaceful walks in the capital so far no incidents reported. islamised extremists say they're behind twin bombings in syria's capital

thursday that killed fifty five and injured about four hundred others the al nusra front which shares the same jihad as an ideology has posted a video online saying it carried out the worst terrorist assault in syria since the start of the uprising last year it also says suicide bombings were a response to attack on a residential areas by president assad's forces the claim confirms fears that al-qaeda linked extremists have joined the n.t. regime fight r.t. sarah ferguson met syrians who've been living through more than a year of violence and his hopes rest with u.n. observers. the sound of gunfire and heavy artillery rings out in its skyline with the units that is in it late in this being some pretty heavy. to at the nights. now will see government seen any hints from the control of the century and it's in the areas that that live and that she is fighting is continuing this is the cease fire here both sides we're told of violating the peace plan we

fully the u.n. is into it on the way poncing three homes and hama other areas mon it is that based and there is that is some of the base destructive fighting as we passed three homes we have the three animation of conversation with the residents of to win safety. we would do what. the fighting there. would but he's cute. that is he tries hard not to show perfectly encapsulate the level of devastation that has been on people's lives here throughout the course of the conflict it's on to it live on a stretch of road this name for being extremely dangerous it's a journey that would have been near impossible without the u.n. presence and with the volatile situation criminal gangs thought to operate in this area. we find it live under siege like conditions

a quiet and intimidated city i don't know since a year and a half ago no one knows what's happening we go to sleep and wake up with fear some say the government and other states on groups we don't know who's doing that last we get a chance to me to govern and ask him about the situation here. even if there is a little unrest in some areas or in a few spots it's due to people who are breaking the. checkpoint after checkpoint then we enter into an area outside of government control and it's a unique chance to see the u.n. monitors in action almost a month into the peace plan and u.n. monitors making small steps on the ground it is going to be a slow process throughout the course of the conflict it's been hard to come to some of the areas where the fiercest fighting happening and get a gauge of exactly what the situation is on the ground the u.n. observers traveling to some of these areas have given them access to what we see is

a frightened population and the city symbol is the olive branch the symbol of peace right now a city at civil. there's a fear of the u.n. peace mission in syria is being undermined for a broad according to the director of the conflicts forum organization. having militarily experienced witnesses on the ground who can tell what is a mortar shell and what is a burning being fired on the top of the roof more than an ordinary journalist can does help but please bring this thing that maybe possibly will contribute to stabilizing it of course military observers any sort of a con deal with a few determined. who wish to infiltrate the country and place explosives in the middle of a time for head of american intelligence assessment james clapper himself said that americans believe that the earlier bombings were done by groups infiltrating from

iraq into syria to places it's most likely those that are sponsoring these groups will be in the gulf states will be gulf states who will be by the funding it's all stimulating these sort of attacks it doesn't take a great deal of investigation to work out. for both sides. the peace process is not what they're wanting to see they want to see the ball and to overthrow the assad regime anti-government rallies have gained momentum in bahrain after the arrest of the country's leading human rights activist a week ago nabeel rajab an outspoken critic of the regime was detained for organizing and participating in protests just days after meeting with wiki leaks julian assad's regime himself believes the interview which aired on our t.v. last tuesday prompted his arrest when i said in my twitter account that i'm going to meet julian assange and i'm going to. t.v.

program my house was surrounded by almost one hundred policemen and. machine guns in the. eyes and i was not at home didn't you just. ask. me to come to depose the prosecutor today at four o'clock where i am going to do it i'm going to go back i mean i have to face. journalist in middle east affairs expert optionor aton see things were jobber or a jobs arrest exposes the west selective approach in dealing with the arab uprisings there is no case against in the cases against the british and american and european governments that have backing bahrain i don't know i don't know how long julian assange has been under house arrest here in this country without charge but they obviously seem to think that they can now arrest interviewees very disturbing what's happening to the president of the bahrain center for human rights is not just him more worryingly of course is. going under strike i understand his daughter who is also be in custody you know killing people fifty dead in

a country that small equates to a lot of people this is an apartheid state being backed by the obama administration in the years two thousand and nine two thousand and ten as if seeing what was about to happen in bahrain the obama administration stepped up sales which include equipment used by the authorities in bahrain to suppress the protests and to this is ongoing and then the journalists that cover it next edition of julian a songes show airs on our t.v. tuesday and if you missed that program that allegedly triggered which aabs are rescued and head over to our web site you can catch all the editions so far that have aired at a songe dot r t dot com. speak to two leading revolutionaries one from bahrain where the revolution old ones that egypt where the revolution is now in turmoil what makes a revolution and where is the arab spring going to go. recovery teams are scouring the site of wednesday's deadly air crash which saw

a sukhoi superjet slam into a mountainside in indonesia priya sridhar reports from jakarta. it was the demo flight that ended in disaster rescuers in indonesia have attempted this week to scale the treacherous terrain outside jakarta at the site of the crash of the russians two coys super one hundred forty five people were on board and authorities say there are no signs of survivors ever since the plane disappeared on wednesday family members of those who were on the plane have been gathering here at the airport hoping for any word from authorities about what could have happened to the plane they've also been putting up memorials like this one to remember the lives that were lost that day did they come met had no idea his wife was on board the judge that took off for the second time on wednesday for a thirty minute demonstration for potential customers and airline executives his wife was heading the cabin crew that day because some of them got to she was not

supposed to fly because shouldn't tell me i was in the forms of the normally when she flies she would tell me while authorities are still continuing the search an investigation into exactly what happened many believe that the poor visibility and fog that day contributed to the plane crashing into a nearby mountain. the sukhoi superjet was on a tour of five asian country demonstrations had already taken place in kazakhstan pakistan and meehan are the multibillion dollar plane is the first commercial aircraft built in russia since the end of the soviet union and already had one hundred seventy order is placed for its part just around the world it's not yet clear if the crash will affect the jets future as well as sukhoi reputation but some aviation experts say it won't this is going to have a. very much depends on the report too cool.

to quote the primary called the crash was we have to remember of course that was the cause of the jet li's thought implying love here and commercial it's a very new across a very mild russian rescue teams will work alongside indonesian search teams until the investigation is concluded hoping that family members like this big can get some answers that the bit that it's be able to i just want to find out what happened to her. preassure either our teacher carda indonesia. still ahead here on r t the pressure on for france's new president adoring crowds are sure in france but they'll be no honeymoon period without an image and crucial negotiations which could dictate europe's debt survival plus. russian businessman victor boot gives his first interview to english speaking media since his extradition to the u.s. he exclusively tells r t why he thinks he was what he thinks is behind his conviction. but first it's been another turbulent week for the trouble to e.u.

is anti austerity anger spilled onto european streets in spain tens of thousands marched in eighty cities across the country saturday with loud demands for an end to cuts and economic misery earlier in the week violent and sturdy clashes erupted in the italian city of naples where hundreds of protesters tried to storm the local tax office this is euro zone's future again descends into doubt over greece sticking with its harsh plan to dig out of debt party leaders in a last ditch effort to form a coalition following last sunday's inclusive election if they fail it could mean going back to the polls in a few weeks political and strategic analysts dr alessandro polity says the part of the protests we're seeing in europe could soon turn to revolution. it is very clear that this financial us holds is like an artichoke first you start with the weakest states of then you go to the hearts and the heart is from germany and

the other triple a recession already hits you know the bottom and very soon other countries will do the same because it's not just working class it's really middle middle class which will be squeezed without any picture for the sake of these financial interests and this is something which goes against the grain of democracy and begins to grain of dignity and freedom so i think that the situation at least in some countries is really ready for. something very similar to an arab revolution. or worry for the use austerity champions is france were newly elected president francois hollande plans to renegotiate a fiscal pact driven by german chancellor angela merkel they'll meet tuesday after a lot to sworn in or his tests are silly as sums up the nation's mood as she joined the crowds welcoming their new leader. out with the old.

in with the new was the press was allowed to ask a victory in the french presidential elections the people here are saying that france is once again peaceful event here they had voted for change but the question is how soon are they going to see that change and what kind of threat are they really going to have and the world is asking precisely the same question. is is that people rejected talk is it when then france would also cite france for many reasons one of them was is based on the arrogance so we can hope that in foreign policy is going to move in the right direction that is less arrogant. be it arrogance or something else there was no hiding nicolas sarkozy's eagerness to lead the libyan intervention sending french warplanes in first he of course betrayed himself all along as deliberate of libya but he kept that extremely quiet

as allegations kept coming out about his relationship with gadhafi you know the marsh good because i can see has created an overall image of france we don't want divisions within the french society we don't want the bombing of arab countries we are friends of the arabs yet it isn't a lot is being branded france's new hope or gach one task ahead of him to sort through the euro crisis and clean up an image which many think is no longer in line with what's traditionally french while foreign policy took a backseat during the campaign a lot it did throw out two moves one go head to head with germany's angela merkel on really go shading the e.u. fiscal pact believe me he will experience in the coming month the negotiation power of america because just american will face an election in one year and she will not be willing to compromise we said was a french president and to withdraw for. a year earlier than planned it's

a sign that i think you want to scale down the sea but i would guess that is going to be. considered what is happening in the rest of the world and will focus on economic issues within europe at the end of the day all the french really want are jobs and leadership that truly represents them both at home and abroad. tesser cilia are two parents. it's not just the burden of cutbacks that have europeans fired up as we report on our team. hundreds marched through london occupy demonstration against corporate corruption we have the details and video online. and how's this for getting to grips with your gadgets meet the man who is literally attached to his toys all the details online at archie dot com.

russian businessman victor boot convicted of arms trafficking by the u.s. has compared the u.s. justice system to a witch hunt an exclusive interview with r.t. he's serving twenty five years for conspiring to kill u.s. citizens and sell arms to colombian militants but insists on his innocence this week it was decided but will be sent to a super maximum security prison despite his trial judge recommending medium security confinement in the jail in colorado known as the alcatraz of the rockies housing some of us the most dangerous and violent criminals who it's lawyer wants this is installed right now who is still in a new york prison if more he exclusively spoke with r.t. about why he thinks he's been targeted. and want to help i think a pure political ok kind of trial is a very you know. you don't know.

you know your mom could. have but you know people think. that you know i don't want it don't commit it and if you're going to have to publish it. and i want a m h me i'm a crime these crimes would never take these i'm going to you have got to get back to a crime i'm going to revoke it with this conspiracy. decision to get up every three to think like a magic bullet or pull the trigger for. the next hour we'll bring you all of victor boots interview too in a first interview to an english language channel since his extradition from the u.s. from thailand take a look now though at some other stories making headlines across the globe a roadside bomb aimed at police killed one officer in peshawar pakistan and injured several others including a child security officials say the explosives was plant were planted in bushes near

a checkpoint which was destroyed in the blast this marks the fourth straight day of bomb attacks in peshawar yesterday four died when a car bomb exploded near a prison convoy in the city and. turkey's football championship final ended in a mass riot as hundreds of angry supporters of the istanbul side fenerbahce reacted to their team's goalless draw the title was given to archrivals galatasaray and saw the raging spectators stormed the pitches as well as throw flares and chairs police had to protect the players with their shields as they fled to locker rooms the violence continued outside the stadium with police cars torched and buildings vandalized. a former taliban official who became a senior member of the afghan peace council was killed in a drive by shooting in kabul arsala rahmani was reportedly a close figure to president karzai and responsible for peace talks with taliban insurgents the group earlier threatened

a spring offensive aimed at lawmakers and officials as well as u.s. and coalition personnel the saturday before nato troops were killed in separate incidents. afghan president hamid karzai was sharing his thoughts and forecasts on his country's many issues in an exclusive interview with our tease peter lavelle that airs on r t monday take a listen. to what extent when i will call them paid mercenaries how much are they going to be in your defense to protect your administration and your successors none none for you saying the mercenaries like blackwater will not play a major role i'm supposed to be obvious kind of should if the this is one of the issues over which we have immense gentian they will be here they will be knocked as far as the afghan government schools in no way no mercenary no way no way. in about five minutes the story of check of villagers struggles against the u.s. attempts to build a military base nearby that's after

a roundup of our main stories stay with us.