a russian court has found members of the controversial punk band pussy riot guilty of acting. following their protests russia's main cathedral. given asylum but still trapped britons unmoved by ecuador's acceptance of julian assange as a political refugee. is still subject to arrest and will not be allowed to leave the country. at a road the u.s. group claims it's behind the ongoing attack against the odds the web site of all of this in an attempt to silence coverage of julian assange.

live from the heart of moscow this is our. welcome to the program three members of the feminist punk band pussy riot have been found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and follows their controversial protests in russia. this year and the judge in their cases right now still delivering her findings on is yet to hand down a sentence however. who is standing by outside the court house of peter thanks for coming on again the judge has ruled guilty as charged but wants me in their reaction. well in finding the three women guilty the judge said that they had committed a gross violation of public order that they disrupted citizens and a deeply offended believe that they had clearly expressed hatred based upon religious affiliation in their actions and intended to make their actions as public as possible christ the savior of the judge said being. and russia's main cathedral

was picked as a target to create the highest insult possible now the reaction to the guilty verdict outside has been well pretty much acceptance from some of those who were. on say who were pro pussy riot demonstrators a few minutes before the verdict was announced people say well you know we really expected this to come out we have seen some heated discussions occasionally spilling over into small scale pushing and shoving and the occasional punch throw in between those opposed to pussy riot and those on the side of these three women who've been found guilty no police have taken a number of people into custody and be hard for me to put a figure on that because it seems to be constantly happening however it's quite difficult to say what those people have been taken into custody for right now as i say there have been some scuffles but they we have seen people in the past at opposition protests taken into custody for the for failing to to get out of the

roads well this afternoon we've seen people all over the roads here however the police seem to be trying to clear that at the moment so anybody that's refusing to get off the main road here than they seem to be taking picked up as well but really we can't say for sure what those people are being taken into into custody for right now. part of peter we've been watching the live pictures are still coming in still streaming in from the courthouse so just where you are outside it now and i know following of a translation here on r.t. of the verdict being announced alternately waiting for the sentencing for the members of the soon. as we hear from that sentencing yeah absolutely absolutely support if you would just stand by i know i know it's a melee where you are with with protesters demonstrators and loads of journalists so just stay where you are and we'll see a very soon artie's peter all of us thank you of course but as we were reporting here on r.t. other the whole pussy riot case has just exploded not just in worldwide media but particularly on the internet i'm now joined on the. you know with

a host of aunties website program why you should care blogger tim cubby joining me now good to see you when it comes to what's happened online it's been since sation lived in such a degree of massive phenomenon online twitter and facebook and all of this attention for this all girl band punk riot how it's their protest being successful well if their objective was to get attention then yes because the thing is when you look at these protests so that one of the church the masks and they sang a song about sort of putin go away what exactly was their objective when you have protesters who are saying that maybe law x. needs to be banned they get together they say well x. is evil we need to get rid of this and if expose the way they win what exactly is their sort of objective how would you know if they particularly won this protest i think this was maybe more something just to be a stunt or to just get that attention because if they just want attention boy they sure have if they have our attention well if you talk about attention to mean something the world has been watching and now hearing i'm now hearing that

according to human rights watch attention to the pussy riot case has been big it's a vacuum of the case of what a couple ski and magnitsky that gives you a massive scale about truly how much attention is has made on other shows what is important human rights activists it's important that some girls who did a stupid stunt or that they have some sort of right to free speech to have sex with a chicken at a supermarket but it's not important that a lot of workers in russia were welders don't have a welding mask but to come out and target but since when since when does committing a sex act with a chicken in a grocery shop have anything to do with protesting against russian president vladimir putin i guess in a way it does if the objective is to make russia sort of look bad so when you have this perception you know not that much news goes out about russia right but this is one thing that's going to be everywhere so you have a personal the country they have a limited opinion of russia limited knowledge and then this big thing comes across what sticks your mind in russia they punish people for doing stuff russia is tyranny russia bad all well i think they're going. that many of my say the that

kind of that kind of out if you that is dated in am pop going back to the days of all that of the soviet times how is this trend being taken in the west well just today i just saw pictures that does some girls even in austria put together a little protest in a eastern orthodox church there they have been also copycats in finland so you know like on this sort of more the lower sort of layer of normal people it is starting to be become more of a trend and certainly amongst the celebrities the madonna staying oh they may love to you know they love to jump ahead i would i'm a pop star and i'm a i'm loved by the well so i'm going to step in and give my two cents give my two cents about a culture of a country i don't understand i don't speak the language i don't know anything but my universal pop star values what's important that's fine because the things these protests look at the language they use it's theater it's abstract it's hard to see they're really talking to the guys who make the trucks in russia or they talking to

madonna. as you and i are talking right here on the bottom so on the bottom part of our screen was still showing live pictures coming in from the courtroom here with our correspondents waiting for the that the final sentencing of what's going to happen to the women of pussy riot talk to us about the reverberations of the case so what do you make of that. even in russia i think that we do have a problem is when you provoke there's a reaction oftentimes reactions a bit better bigger there's a provide a provocation think sort of build like that and i think that now just today they showed images of us someone spray painting i believe the translation would be like down with the church fanatics on a church and school in russia and i think there's going to be some kind of reaction to that because now it's going to be cool and trendy to spray paint on churches don't never mosques because if a mosque and i actually get a good reaction and i think the there's going to be some sort of retaliatory strike of some kind do you think do you think the members of pussy riot need to what they would get into by going into the iconic landmark of jesus christ. save

a cathedral here in central moscow do you think they knew what truly what they were doing. wool i assume they would they did it to make reaction i mean they did something political stunt filmed it put it up on there you know think that facebook twitter and all that live journal and they had to expect a reaction i think they wanted to react and here we are here we ought to be showing the foot is right here all of them inside the. called the jesus christ or so because each way they are they and they said they said it you know when they made some comments off to me the vote it was an alice with a guilty of hooliganism incited by religious hatred they said they were wearing balaclavas they had no desire to incite winters hatred they didn't want to offend any christians and yet at the end of the day the entire end of all this conclusion seems to be well you know what despite your protest what you have truly done is offend but leave the church oh yeah and that's ultimately this this is the irony this super left. activist group is getting convicted of a hate crime usually they're the ones who love to see it everything against them is a hate crime but it was the motivation of that's the only motivation was religion

so that means it was a crime against a value system ethnicity therefore it's a hate crime and that exactly shows also the level of their own hypocrisy sorry sort of the question backwards but it just bugs me that any conservative or sort of right wing other group in europe did like the opposite these people would never support why indeed ended and you know he has put iraq becoming a massive global internet sensation that is hugh hefner of playboy hoping to get one of them and his and his magazine so so obviously when it comes to that the true ramifications of this there are always going to be those that will sensationalize and make this really stuffy for west and yellow papers as we say from here in russia the entertainment papers and special hugh heffner although he would argue himself that he's some sort of warrior for free speech i think what he's saying is here's a trend russian girls look good it's time for me to cash in you know what i mean and there's also that sort of cashing factor but i don't want to get into the evil conspiracies and all that maybe he does have some sort of moral heart him the evil

conspiracy have already begun. on a host of the website program why should i think of you thanks for coming on my pleasure. well you're watching live from moscow before the case became one of the hottest topics in russia and abroad pussy riot was little more than an obscure punk band and for more on the path to popularity and the reaction to the trial insanities are nicholas carr. it was a prayer directed at virgin mary but it was heard all around the world to see why its performance of the christ the savior cathedral outraged invigorated others and left almost no one indifferent along with the patriarch are russian who condemned the flash mob thousands of orthodox believers especially of the radical kind were just short of demanding the women be burned at stake the whole question of the mosque or being it was blasphemy desecration of a church it was sacrilege but i think they belong to some sect which conducts the

tanach rituals and. but their supporters see them differently to the defendants their lawyers and hundreds of supporters the dancing and singing was an artistic way to express the women's disagreement with the government particularly with president putin that's why they say the women ended up on trial and on trend. madonna the red hot chili peppers sting franz ferdinand just some of the celebrities who have voiced their support for punk collective on this point a very limited number of seats inside the courthouse even a member of british parliament managed to get in to observe and make her own judgment something that just said something like. that i don't like it but a short space. that's part of the our group by now which translates in russian as war this wasn't the first time pussy riot has

attracted attention but is that the work when you give a participated in one of the groups performances an orgy moskos biology museum just four days before giving birth because you know some would say that she is said to be the woman seen here performing a sex act with a frozen chicken in a supermarket both incidents were also meant to be forms of political protest but neither were followed up with arrests in which there. the actions of the right immoral initially they were forgiven for the disturbance i mean the museum the incident in the supermarket foods now we just want this to end but we don't. have a puzzle from playboy for a cover photo shoot and offer to perform along with bjork from of the singer herself and a contract with a record company who believe pussy riot are now worth tens of millions of dollars these are just some of the offers the group has received in the week leading up to the verdict so if their goal was to be heard and to become famous then it's safe to

say that with the rise players have been answered in moscow if you've got the sco our team. and of course we are closely following the pussy riot case with live coverage of from the courtroom available for you at our to you tube channel in fact on the lower left side of your t.v. screen you can see the small box where we are continuing to show live feed from in the coming from the courtroom where the court is a court of you posting updates about the trial via twitter all of that. under score com. it's good to have you with us here on our t.v. today julian sanchez now officially a political refugee but he seems no closer to getting out of the ecuadorian embassy in london before the asylum announcement britain made it clear that the deal did not affect his determination to arrest the whistleblower and extradite him to sweden in clear defiance of international law artie's laura smith was at the embassy on the day of drama with these details. it was the day they'd all been

waiting for julian assange was holed up in london's ecuadorian embassy for two months and his supporters who turned out to cheer for him rain or shine since his legal battle against extradition to sweden first began more than eighteen months ago also there in large numbers the police who didn't. long to make death first arrests obviously. when the decision came it was the one they wanted. we decided to grant asylum to julian a song. called it a significant victory and his mouth was full. and shining like if it were out of might encourage the government. but not everyone was pleased the u.k. foreign and commonwealth office called the decision disappointing and foreign secretary

william hague said it changed nothing it does not change the fundamentals of the case we will not allow mr sands safe passage out of the united kingdom nor is there any legal basis for us to do so hague also denied any suggestion that british police would storm the embassy so for an territory under international law to arrest but that's not what ecuador inferred from a letter it says was delivered through the british embassy in quito in response ecuador played hardball. when it was no national law could be used in this way in any intrusive way in any diplomatic facilities any place in the world it shouldn't be used to threaten or blackmail the sovereignty of any other country and they called a summit to try to deal with this threat so that this fact doesn't go unpunished. the scary part the part that i find completely incredible and outrageous is the british press to actually go in and try and extract julian assange but i must say

to see british police surrounding that embassy was it an act of intimidation that should not be allowed and is not allowed under asylum stuck in the middle julian assange who has a new home but no way of getting there and putting him in a big trunk and label him in his diplomatic bag i'm not quite sure whether that would work but. otherwise we might see him holed up there for a mixed couple of years who knows until solution to this imposter but if he leaves the embassy he's liable to arrest by the u.k. which insists it must still extradite him to sweden a position that when to accept it or respond to the united kingdom it went back mean constantly breaking relations on a regional level it could have been the bronzing of the limbaugh i could also use enough confidence about the end of this tale already full of twists and turns in fact it appears to be the beginning of something else with neither the u.k.

no way to do apparently willing to back down it's developing into an ugly diplomatic spots which could affect relations but sometimes norris may see outside the ecuadorian embassy and up to and you can probably see just behind laura smith right there are a dozen british police went to the station right outside the ecuadorian embassy the . threat to raid the premises to get hold of a song for quite a wave of criticism many experts agreeing with such an act would set a dangerous precedent. the u.k. made a huge mistake u.k. government and the u.k. foreign office but i threaten in the ecuadorian threatening to invade the ecuadorian embassy which is the sovereign territory territory of another country this just isn't done i mean i couldn't even find a case where this was done in the last sixty or seventy years when they probably i'm i'm sure they thought that this thread would never be made public but the

ecuadorian government will release the letter and it's a very clear threat they tried to walk back from it's so they were threatening but if you read the language it's very clear they said that we you know if we want to we'll go in and arrest. if you don't cooperate with us then you know the ecuadorian government made every attempt to reach. a solution to this impasse because you know they offered first of all to let him be assigned to be interviewed in the he's now wanted for trial he's not charged with a crime they really only wanted to question him which they could always do in the in the u.k. what this shows those of us who have been saying all along that this really wasn't a case about alleged sexual offenses in sweden but it was a political case and they were going after a son for political crimes i mean this view has really been vindicated. but one of the key factors in ecuador's decision to grant a songe asylum was the danger he could face political persecution in the us the

south american country also stressed the u.k. and sweden's failure to guarantee that he wouldn't be handed over to america prove that assad has fears for his freedom and life that he's more important looks the part that washington's played in the long running saga. julia saunders mother is calling this a victory for her son many see this as a small defeat for the u.s. and that is because many believe the u.s. was hoping that julian assange would be extradited to sweden so that sweden would subsequently be able to extradite julian assange to the united states we have heard in recent years it's no secret former and current u.s. government officials quavering julian assange too are terrorists and that was in the aftermath of him releasing cables and memos that were classified that belonged to the u.s. government as a result the integrity of the u.s.

government was compromised a lot of secrets were revealed and it painted the u.s. foreign policy in a dark light it's no secret that the administration of u.s. president barack obama has been earning a reputation for waging a war on whistleblowers a fearsome reputation than any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julie the songe one is including naomi wolf she's a journalist and author first of all this is a white house now to wait houses obama's and bush's which is systematically overclassifying everything especially wrong doing it specially anything related to what whistleblowers want to release specially you know torture that they've indeed been methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government same to journalists everywhere in america. we're going to do you and we're going to threaten you and we're we're threatening you with with serious legal penalties like

prison time if you do your job when i was speaking with naomi wolf what she wanted to clarify for me and her position is that she sees chilliness anja many do as the publisher similar to the new york times chilliness orange is the publisher of the one that made the information available he is not the leaker she noted why isn't the u.s. government going after the new york times for publishing what we can leaks published instead of the u.s. government it is a presumed is all to me hoping to go after julian and i signed either way she said that this is this would be a dark day for all journalists in the u.s. if he would be in the custody of america prosecuted held indefinitely or possibly even face capital punishment and if you'd like to hear more of our naomi wolf thoughts on julian assange and just play it all you can the increasingly belligerent role of governments we'll be bringing you have full interview here on r.t. just a bit later today. boy it seems like our extensive coverage of giuliano saunders

case has attracted more attention than we expected access to the arts the web site has been jammed by end of the launch of online traffic in what's known as a denial of service attack by a hacker group known as the leaks reports. if you try to go to our web site today you'll see this it's the result of a d.d. o. s. cyber attack which made r.t. dot com unavailable around the world on twitter the group calling itself anti leaks claimed responsibility for the attack they linked in their tweets to the topics june songe and wiki leaks in one particular tweet they joked that they would like to see julian assigned smoking cigars and drinking whiskey as he is seen here but with their irony that that wasn't possible because they had brought artie dot com down those and other tweets indicate that they wanted to stop artie's coverage of the granting of diplomatic asylum to the wiki leaks founder by ecuador's embassy in

london a d.z.o.'s or distributed denial of service attack is where attackers use remotely controlled computers around the world to flood a website with too much traffic for it to handle and to leaks has previously attacked wiki leaks as sites itself with d.d. o. s. but they say their primary target is to innocent himself describing him has a new breed of terrorist the group says they're based in the usa but there's much speculation as to who and the leaks actually are. reporting right there ok into where we go time for the r.t. world update now or start and start our police are killed more than thirty workers striking outside a mine officers opened fire when the group chartered them with machetes since fears of the strike began last week when miners demanded higher salaries and better working conditions the shooting is one of the worst in south africa since the the end of the apartheid era. iraqi police and hospital officials claim that thursday's

wave of attacks across the country have left more than ninety people dead the bomb and shooting attacks targeted civilians and police in back dad and other cities near the capital making it the deadliest day in the three weeks of violence but this month's death toll has risen to two hundred as al qaeda keeps tearing the country apart eight months after u.s. troops left. and afghan police officer shot dead two u.s. soldiers just minutes after they gave him a new weapon as a present the incident in the west of the country is the latest in a number of similar attacks when members of the local security forces have targeted those training them overall thirty six nato troops have been killed this year alone by afghan allies are raising concerns over the presence of u.s. troops in the country. all right well as you can see here on our t.v. in the bottom part of your screen we are still monitoring our live video coming in from the moscow courtroom as we are been following the sentencing and verdict

announcement of the all girl punk band pussy riot more to come on that but for now dimitri joins us with all the latest from the business world good to see you dimitri everything quiet on the market in the final day of the week or do we dare say it at the calm before the storm well you know it could be because we're waiting for consumer confidence data in the u.s. and that's crucial data if it comes in worse than expected we might see the markets tumbling in the final day of the week second of what's going on right now in europe the indices are looking a very very moderately positive the footsie up just point one percent as you can see there now the dax is up just point two percent apparently the optimism from angle of merkel's comeback with the reiteration of her support to the euro is weaning off and that's also illustrated on the currencies markets with the euro actually now dropping slightly versus the let's take a look at currencies the euro slightly dropping as i was saying around twelve point versus versus the dollar whereas the russian ruble is also losing value to the good

of currencies let's move over to commodities now well right now is seeing a decline of one dollar eighty cents for brant that's after a strong session on thursday as we heard those statements from the chance language merkel and this is not providing much support to the russian markets where the r.t.s. and the my six are down but within just as you can see half a half a percent point one percent even but gazprom is looking better than the markets it's up point four percent for the second straight session. now ukraine has made its first big step to wean itself away from russian gas now the country has joined a consortium led by exxon mobil to develop its own gas shells in the black sea the ten billion dollar project will. provide ukraine with five billion cubic meters of gas per year that's around twelve percent of what it gets from russia they say you know shifty explains. the biggest gas deal involving foreign investors in the

history of silver in ukraine this is how experts have been describing the latest agreement between ukrainian government and the exxon mobil consortium on development and exploration of the natural gas field in the black sea coast of ukraine the offshore gas field combined with other potential deals which the ukrainian government is now discussing with the british investors within the system i said by john and through committee stan could and large the natural gas extraction in ukraine in the next twenty years by four times which would make this country all but independent from the gas imports it's been having from russia currently key if it is on a contract with moscow until twenty nineteen buying russian gas in a certain amount of a certain price and it's been looking actively for both the discount and lowering the amount of gas it has been buying but so far when the stand negotiations to not brought any success another way that ukraine is trying to implemented to diversify

its natural gas resources is getting a loan from the china investment company and there's already been an agreement on that three point six billion dollars on buying new technologies which would allow ukraine to buy less russian gas certainly this raises many concerns among european consumers whether there would be any more disruptions of the russian supplies into the european continent which go through ukraine but both sides in the negotiations have been holding over the past several years have been saying that regardless of how much gas ukraine buys from russia the transit of russian gas through ukraine to europe will not be hampered will not suffer in any way besides russia is already building several other pipelines to deliver its gas to europe so this should not be a concern according to both the countries governments and both countries gas monopolies companies and as a business for now more updates to come for the day to meet you thank you see you next hour. so you can see on the lower left part of your screen right now is the

live feed coming from the moscow courtroom as the winding down continues of the pussy riot trial the girls that the members of the band guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred more details to come here and we'll see you in just a moment. the british. it's not on. the big. markets.