doing storm stories on our t.v. putin is back in russia's presidential saddle with all eyes now on his plans and policies following the latest wave of discontent with him retaking the top job. radical islamists say they carried out a deadly bombing in the syrian capital in response to the actions of government troops confirming fears the terror of groups are fighting on the rebel side. spaniards flooded the country streets for a second day as anger and hurt over a sterile boil over of the protests while fresh turmoil in greece puts a question mark over the fate of the europe. and russian rescue teams join the search for answers in indonesia at the site of

a super super jet crash which killed and forty five on board. hello it's eleven pm sunday night here in moscow you're watching the weekly here on our t. with me kevin owen it's our roundup of the top stories of the last seven days and first a new president but a familiar face for him a putin was sworn into office this week in a lavish culmination of russia's tumultuous election period with opposition activism in the store and high the focus is now on how putin will deal with the huge challenges faced at home and abroad. reports. for the third time vladimir putin took the thirty three word oath to become russia's president with an air of ease and calm. as i fulfilled a jew cheez 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 tossed case taken on could be more like an uphill right back sports believe any leader who's been in power. 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 his 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 me that individual however statements on foreign policy have given a hint that we may see something new off to roll first he insisted russia will firmly different 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 people and its 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's 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 and you putin willing and able to face difficult challenges. moscow. putin's return to the kremlin scene people turning out on the streets on mass with major anti government rallies happening in moscow some of those recent protests descended into clashes and hundreds of arrests in this now in political analysts to me to babbage i'm looking a bit more closely at the aims and ambitions of the opposition movement. 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 alexis in the widely and surrogate self 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 let me use in all my typical leftist populist like would 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 was so friesen to decode. he's.

left from the reason why all of the communist party of russian federation human being chronically ill participate in all these actions get him constantly arrested that's his style that's like is that they're on a kibbutz where he is their traditional. russian i guess what does that mean in terms of there are several groups which do a lot of why themselves with the left front or with the communist party job you gone off 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 if 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. right. but who would not like to be associated with

communists or leftists what 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 syrians trying to happen why don't we see the thousands of the masses do we see so many different flags 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 in histogram not simply contradictory that's just in the school of the nationalistic he was put in of being a liberal the liberal secular would have been a nationalist the leftist accused would you know the soviet social system is a liberal secular splitting of reviving the soviet imperialist 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 it to me through 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. listen are there with the latest series of anti putin was also seen ongoing an indefinite sit in or a moscow central square as the governor has already been labeled occupier by from the name of public. square so many people have been taking part just a few dozen but there are some surprising visitors like this farmer to the protests which has got some serious be farmed out with russia join the world trade organization it was an eye opener for muscovites not used to seeing livestock on the streets just girls but police say as long as it's on the leash no laws were broken meantime around two thousand opposition activists marched through central moscow sunday in what they dubbed the control to supporters say they wanted to check how the police would respond to the mass rally however no one stood in the way when the march passed off. is the most extremist

have claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in the syrian capital on thursday which killed fifty five and injured four hundred others it was the worst terror attack in the country since the start of the uprising there last year the group called the nostra front installed to show it is jihadist ideology it says the suicide bombings were in response to attacks on residential areas by president assad's forces the claim seems to confirm fears that al-qaeda linked extremists have joined the anti regime fight r.t. sara furthur met syrians you've been living through more than a year of violence now whose hopes rest of the un observers. the sound of gunfire and heavy artillery brings out. all with the un and in it late in there's been some pretty heavy gunfire. throughout the night. now also government seemingly has fairly tight control. and the fighting is continuing there's now a cease fire here both sides we're told of violating the peace plan we've followed

the un into it on the way passing through homs and hama other areas monitors that based there is that it's seen some of the base destructive fighting. as we pass through homes we have a brief an emotional conversation with a resident of. safety. people who are still fighting. the tos 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 is on to it and a stretch of road this names are 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 thoughts 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 others say it's on groups we don't know who's doing that last we get a chance to me to governor and ask him about the situation here. even if there is a little unrest in some areas 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 your monitor is making small steps on the ground but it's 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 is right now a city at civil war sara for. the turmoil in syria sparked clashes in neighboring lebanon where a soldier and two civilians were reportedly killed on sunday gunfire broke out in the city of tripoli in the north of the country most of the fighting took place between a neighborhood primarily populated by sunni muslims who oppose syria's present a sad and alawite supported the two countries share multiple religious and political traits and their deep with lebanese society right now over attitudes towards the south. in bahrain anti-government protesters have stepped up their rallies demanding the release of the country's top human rights activist now bill roggio was arrested a week ago for allegedly organizing and taking part in protests just days before that he spoke to wiki leaks founder julian assange an interview aired here on out

last tuesday now rodger himself believes that is what prompted his arrest when i said in my twitter account that i'm going to meet julian assange and i'm going to speak to him in a t.v. program my house was surrounded by almost one hundred policemen and. machine guns. and they realized that i was not at home didn't they just to ask my family to tell me to come to the public prosecutor today at four o'clock where i am here what are you going to do or i'm going to go back i mean i have to face it. well journalist a middle east affairs expert afshin rattansi believes raj absent rest exposes the west selective approach in dealing with the arab uprisings. so there is no case against in the cases against the british and american and european governments that are 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 arrest his interviewees very disturbing what's happened to the

president of the bahrain center for human rights is not just him more worryingly of course is the we don't hunger strike i understand his daughter who is also been in custody you know they are 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 a bomb or administration stepped up sales which include equipment used by the authorities in bahrain to suppress the protest and to this is ongoing and then the journalists that cover it. in the next edition of julian assange show is here on choose that on our tail so if you missed program the mother triggered the rest head to a website streaming there whenever you want to see it didn't catch all the previous editions so far the a sound show it set aside. don't comb. i speak to two leading revolutionaries one from bahrain where the revolution was

really egypt where the revolution is now in turmoil what makes a revolution and where is the arab spring going to go are. reporting next tonight on a murky story of dodgy financial links between british royalty and a fugitive russian oligarch prince michael of kent is facing questions tonight over reports he's received more than half a billion dollars from the london based tycoon boris berezovsky the british prince's spokesman saying the financial support was private as all know and did was get more on this go straight to london we're joined by alexander corrupt he's from the u.k. based production company russia xander very good evening to you thanks for being on the program number two of us that you've interviewed haven't you prince michael of kent personally in the past how does this broader story look to you what kind of links do you think that may be here between the prince and we only got what's going on. good evening but well i remember the year right into you hugh was two thousand and three and that was

a year after the first. articles in the british press appearing completely that prince michael and his wife who was that i read princes as princes for. the only sixty nine pounds for their argument and consent and it was then decided that the queen will be supporting him for seven years and by two thousand and ten he will need to be the food rent for his apartments it would be about hundred and twenty thousand pounds so when the year reign to him prince michael probably would be very concerned about you know his welfare and i think that is. it will the growth of sport at the pretty soon it's here so on the face of it though you can look at it one way a friend helping out a friend in times of trouble but of course this friend boris berezovsky a controversial figure how do you benefit from such close ties maybe from the

parades. i think that if we go away case study is ironically prince michael's grandfather who was king george defeat of couldn't help his cause and tsar nicholas who actually called to get to refuge in the u.k. but as we all remember despite that mutual empathy and the royal ties their then prime minister lloyd to george sent a telegram to kerensky in russia sane well. may just as issues may just as government wouldn't in ceased upon given refuge tools are nicholas another you know in other words to sions when of course there boris berezovsky wanted back in russia or on to on charges of fraud is any absolutely so i don't think that prince michael would suit very suitability to sions on this matter and political situation seems to be changing with respect to those extra dictionary requests and what about the

reputation of the prince harry as you alluded to just then is it his financial difficulties have been well documented in the british press how could these kind of ties affect his reputation and the broader reputation of the royal family now there are. well interestingly i spoke to the american journalist who is associated with the project. obviously referring to the famous american journalist who was killed in russia and who was the author of the book about berezovsky the world father of the kremlin which was very critical of berezovsky and the american journalist told me or actually referring to that today's article that well i didn't know that the house of windsor takes blood money so that is the opinion of many people i spoke with and especially in american journalists who still remember the affair or fall for you know both clinical spoke and do what

happened late in connection with with the book and the forms case in the high court alexander last thought talking about the high court this of course coming on the heels of that high profile multibillion legal battle between fellow russian businessman roman abramovich much has been made of that in the press and that can have any effect on the case now what's happened it couldn't be any any effect. well probably because i think that you know many in britain not being offended up with with people who are you know using their position using their status of the refugee to basically bring involved political unrest else we're all using that simply as a leverage and i think that it's not going to reflect very nicely upon either prince michael all mr berezovsky story or following closely thanks for your thoughts about alexander caracal from london based production company russian as you said previously interviewed prince michael i can personally thank spin a program if you. recovery teams in indonesia are reportedly

focusing their search on a ravine now as they try to track down the flight data recorders from that sea hoist superjet that crashed on wednesday once been put on hold over night but will begin again to dawn all forty five people on board were killed in that newly designed russian plane slammed into a mountain at his press read reports. 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 russian sukhoi superjet 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 this

on med had no idea his wife was on board the jet 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. she was not supposed to fly because shouldn't tell me i wasn't 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 floor by asian country demonstrations had already taken place in kazakhstan pockets son and me on the multibillion dollar plane is the first commercial aircraft built in russia at the end of the still be 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 it back that jets future as well as sukhoi its reputation but some

e.v.a.'s experts say it won't this is going to have a temporary impact. very much to the report of course. to the common core could be the crush war we have to remember of course because of the jets flying here and commercial it's a very new across a very modern russian rescue teams will work alongside indonesian search teams until the investigation is concluded hoping that family members like they can get some answers to that that i just want to find out what happened to her. prius three there are teacher carda indonesia. it was a truly had this last week violent. political deadlock again cost of the future of the euro in spain it is the second round of my son to assert the demonstrations of seeing here hundreds of thousands turned up around the country

and something to protest for conan cuts and tax hikes also in italy to the violence and he has to accept clashes erupt with the city of naples after yet another suicide apparently caused by the aggressive government taxation program. the political turmoil in greece making those headlines their last ditch effort to form a coalition is all but collapsed over differences on the stero terms the country now looks likely to stage new elections but regardless of the outcome journalist and lecturer at the university of virginia in particular two satoris told me he thinks that the vote is guaranteed. i think the only way to solve the problem is to have a radical change in policy that austerity cannot continue you know it is a choice between austerity and democracy the people have rejected the terms of the bailout agreements they have rejected the terms of the loan agreement they want a radically different policy the question is not whether or when greece is going to

exit but how i think that default and an exit from the euro zone are now practically inevitable i think it's must but it's much better if i default and an exit from the euro zone takes place according to the will of the people and not in the sense that i think that certain circles in the european union are karen lee thinking that is i shouldn't it's exit from the euro zone as this you know way to punish people for rejecting austerity trouble for the eurozone can this week not only for the struggling south but also from the more prosperous north to french president elect francoise hollande is valid to renegotiate europe's debt limit thing agreements on member nations that may begin as soon as choose day when he meets german chancellor angela merkel these tests are still in a report from the man elected to lead france and whether he can really deliver. out with the old. in with the new.

president has claimed 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 a laundry lies is that people rejected talk is it when then france would also cite france for many reasons one of them was his personal arrogance so we can hope but 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 . allegations kept coming out about his relationship with gadhafi you know

the march thirty seconds he has created an awful 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. a lot is being branded france's new hope against 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 sharing the e.u. fiscal pact believe me he will experience in the coming month the negotiation power of america because america will face an election in one year and will not be willing to compromise we said was a french president and to withdraw for. troops from afghanistan a year earlier than planned it's a sign that i think you want to scale down foreign policy but i would guess that is

going to be more considerate to what is happening in the rest of the world and more focus on economic issues within europe at the end of the day all the french really want our jobs and leadership to truly represent them both at home and abroad. tesser cilia art harris. world news headlines in brief tonight at least eleven al qaeda fighters have been killed by drone strikes in yemen which are believed to be carried out by the united states it comes after the yemeni government launched a new offensive against armed groups in the arab peninsula has already resulted in the deaths of fifteen militants over the past year some of the country's southern provinces of fallen under the control of al qaeda. gunmen to show that a senior afghan peace negotiator involved in talks with the taliban in a drive by shooting in the capital kabul a seller of money was one of the most senior members of afghanistan's high peace council that was set up two years ago in a bid to try to reach a peace deal with militants the group earlier threat in the spring offensive aimed

at lawmakers and officials as well as american and coalition personnel. and afghan president hamid karzai is offered his views on the tense security situation in the country an interview he's given to r.t. you can listen to what he has to say in fact on monday. to what extent when i would call them paid mercenaries how much are they going to be at your defense to protect your administration nine your successors none none you're saying the mercenaries like blackwater will not play a major role on security on this kind of shift doug this is one of the issues over which we had immense tension but they will be here they will be they knocked as far as the afghan government's goes and no way no mercenary no way no way. let's go the next twenty four hours back to now and if you want to explain explore the reasons behind a military conflict the claimed thousands of lives you talk about the war in iraq the softer reminder of our main headlines in the last seven days going out to you

from moscow with me kevin our. home. is.