today or more precisely last year because these are the last figures i have in two thousand and eleven we have given five million two hundred sixty five million. visitors to russia in the last two years two thousand and nine to two thousand and eleven there was an increase of sixty two percent of visits to russia and of these twelve point five percent were multi entry visas so more easy for. russian people that come to your opinion this according to us means that the system works relatively small sleep but now in the visa facilitation agreement that we are concluding and then we expect russia to agree on this visit facilitation agreement what can we do better first of all there are more categories of citizens eligible for multi entry visas they are visas for five years. these citizens will be the

permanent members of official delegations business people journalists so it applies to you civil society organizations students and persons transiting regularly through the your opinion territory second advantage of this is a facilitation agreement no visa fees for shula and young people participating in events organized by civil society and geos and people transiting regularly are participating in cross border participation cert important delivery of this visit facilitation agreement the fast track procedure there will be the commitment to issue visits in three days for those living far away from a consulate that is in for course extremely important force less documents to be presented to obtain a visa to some categories of citizens so we believe that now we should conclude this visit facilitation agreement will be an important step to create

a positive dynamics to the overall goal of visa free regime in fact we are discussing this with our russian partners in a good spirit in the so-called. different steps there's different steps for visit free region regarding an idjit regarding energy we believe the opinion is respecting all international agreements and also the principles and rules of law indeed our system is nondiscriminatory it applies. not only to russian companies but to european companies american companies norwegian companies companies from any part of the world so it's a nondiscriminatory regime and it is a region that we believe is fully compatible with our overall agreements because we think the new regime allowing for further liberalization is indeed creating more opportunities for trade and investment. so it's not restricting business opportunities in europe for russian companies indeed it is increasing my dw

a disease confirmed in particularly because we have now more participation of russian companies in the downstream market than we had before the presence of russian companies in europe and and the g. market is stronger now than let's say five years ago and we welcome that because your companies are most welcome in the european union market but they have to respect our rules this is very important to understand we have a system of rule of law today it's the third energy package and we have to make it respected by all our partners because this applies also to do you pinion companies the question of pricing is the important question and we have to understand what happens there. the problem is not the indexation inexistent percent in terms of linking the price of gas to oil is not in itself a problem the problem is when this is a direct impact on one the market that creates a dominant position for

a company in the market or part of our market this is the problem we don't have with norway and we have in fact some. companies from from russia where they have a dominant position in some parts of our market so once again there is no discrimination between russia and norway why should it be but it is an objective appley cation of the rules of competition and the internal market so this was part now we have part of the discussion the very dense intense and constructive discussion we had today during our senate having said this i think it is fair to recognize that both to russian side and european side are committed to find programmatic solutions in a constructive spirit to some issues and this is possible but it's also important to recognize that we have different positions on these matters and in full transparency we have to know what are the differences but i still hope that there

will be. progress and since we are not yet at the end of the world two thousand and thirteen will be an occasion to further our discussions including on energy matters thank you for your attention merry christmas. it's been involved with my friend of many years mr blair also explained to his stance that with so much emotion and so long because he felt he was guilty. actually just quickly and you just witnessed our discussion you can actually use. your truth open. city the color of the treaty of the cover ration agreements to interest that's article thirty four to be precise on the go with our partnership. the european union you should let me. read it for yourselves you. see. that the. price is. not. invented by russia but by.

the book pricing and. by market terms rather than that ministry of leverage and this is a direct. question we have. for years and years. many issues seem so difficult that we have effectively attacked this issues and reached a level of four hundred billion dollars in trade. thank you. especially in brussels at a news conference with leaders and e.u. corporation should be defined by choice and not. so says the commission president jose manuel barroso at this press conference with that in their routine russian president has been holding talks with for the first time since his return to the kremlin decides admits there are still disagreements on energy issues and they

remain committed to solving them. biggest energy supply exporting one third of you and gas well we'll be talking to our correspondent in brussels for more of an in-depth look at that you summit. the conflict in syria has been raised by russia's foreign minister an exclusive interview with r.t. so he loved believes that nato has recent decision to deploy patriot missiles on the turkish border were not designed just to protect against strikes from syrian territory he suggests there are indications the systems may also be useful against iran while talking about possible regime change in syria the foreign minister insisted that russia will play no part. in the business of regime change and some of the. regional

players were suggesting to us why don't you tell president to leave we will arrange for some safe haven for him. my answer is very simple if indeed those who suggest the stores have this in mind they should take a directly to president that's why show the use us as postman. if present us of this is interested this must be discussed directly with him during a sanjay's promising wiki leaks will release more than a million secret files over the next year and publications that will affect every country in the world. gave a christmas address from the ecuadorian embassy in london where he's been ensconced for half a year in what was his first public appearance since august. has more now. the world's media and a lot of supporters have come out for him this evening also holding

a candlelight vigil he called the crowd when he came out of the saw and then he marked his six months in the embassy by talking about it saying that he entered the building and it's become his home and his right to the principles of the dorians as he called them who had taken him in and then he said that he is able to communicate to the people here unlike two hundred thirty two journalists who are currently in jail all over the world he named a few of them and he also spoke with bradley manning who approaches accused of leaking documents to wiki leaks and he said he saluted journalists and others to stand up to oppression let's listen in to what he's got to say people often ask what can i do the answer is not so difficult to learn how the world works challenge the statements and intentions of those who seek to control us behind. democracy and more nikki unite in common purpose and common principle to design

document for a. loon. act now two thousand and twelve. for wiki leaks he has written a book he's also made a show and wiki leaks has continued to release documents but it seems that two thousand and thirteen will be no less busy a team have prepared a million documents which they promise to release with information that he says relates to every single government around the world and he also reiterated his plans to run for the australian senate so the message here is he might be cut tough inside the upper story an embassy based certainly not resting on his laurels we have christmas address in full on our website. explosions he's planning.

today. these are the images from. canada. giant corporations rule the day. the house of parliament has passed a bill targeting americans accused of abusing human rights of russians abroad and americans from adopting russian children where the move comes in response to the u.s. is so-called magnitsky act has caused controversy in russia. france has more on the tit for tat. most of vice of part of this bill is definitely the provision talking about adoption of russian children by american families it was approved overwhelmingly by the duma four hundred twenty four she's just seven

and it's been opposed by the education ministry and human rights activists citing that many of these children that do get adopted by american families have disabilities and they're given a better life in another country now bill backers have been unhappy for some time about the adoption process that takes place between russia and the united states nineteen children have died at the hands of their u.s. adoptive parents in the last several years and to moscow has wanted to be more involved in securing the human rights of children that do head overseas with those families this bill stems from the wrongful death of sergei magnitsky who died in pretrial detention in november of two thousand and nine he had accused russian officials of major tax fraud and died in jail while under investigation for investments u.s. lawmakers have wanted to hold responsible the people who it thinks may have been

responsible for his death by freezing assets and provoking. moscow has seen this is a very anti russian piece of legislation so this bill is in response to that it will not only freeze assets and revoke visas of americans that it sees it that it feels has violated the human rights of russians it will also now bad the adoption of russia's children over to the united states that the next step for this it's got to pass the upper chamber of the russian parliament and then it's got to go for a signature by the president. well still ahead for you this hour yemen's president attempts to break away from the political heritage of the country's ousted leader with washington showing a more interesting turn the face of the gulf state find out why. the bus the u.k. is preparing to withdraw its troops from afghanistan with hundreds of british soldiers killed in the millions of pounds spent on the war on that after

a short break. undergone these men and women are walking one of the longest probably the loneliest road in the world they reenacting march into exile made by thousands and czarist russia. if i was here three hundred years ago i may have disappeared my local lord i may have deserted from the army or a variety of other crimes the result was the same like my fellow prisoners around me i've got a long and very cold walk ahead into exile in siberia yet it took them years to get there summers and winters entire years a lot of people died on the way this group in the western siberian region of omsk discovered they're living on the only surviving stretch of the original nine

thousand kilometers of the siberian exiles track that's had no modern changes made to it have guinea discovered that he's descended from some of these exiles and decided to build a museum telling a story he and his reactors now receive interest from all over the world to show them what it was like when the story is going to stop it's scary to put the shackles on of course but it's interesting if we don't remember our history we will have no future we really want is a monument to want to czarist russia cruellest chapters. the city served as the capital of anticommunist white russian leader admiral culture shock in the civil war from one thousand nine hundred to nine hundred ninety whilst in residence he lived here though the study of the man like the maintenance of this building has remained a taboo right up until the present day or we still receive hate mail saying that he hanged a lot of people and was famous for severe punishment it's all true but it was at a time of civil war both sides were monstrously cruel it is sadly the theme of

cruelty which links so much of on past history to the rest of russia's particularly of exile where they were an apple or a criminal. world news for you now here in r.t. russia e.u. cooperation should be defined by choice and not forced by necessity that's how europe sees future ties with russia that view is echoed by president putin who is in brussels for talks with the blocks and leaders for the first time since his return to the kremlin of more the highlights of a summit let's circle us live now to our tease lexy ourselves alexia what has been achieved at the talks what has been said about the news conference. well a lot of speculation happened before the summit that this will be

a meeting of confrontation rather than cooperation but it actually turned out absolutely the opposite scenario all these speakers. started off by saying that the trade turnover between the e.u. and russia has grown significantly now it's exceeding three hundred billion euros a year and this is a good sign but both sides expressed their willingness to make it a corporation by choice not by necessity but clearly the biggest contradictions still remain in the issues of the energy supplies from russia to the european continent i'd like to remind to our viewers that the e.u. still has a certain accusations and certainly has some things they say about gazprom wanting them to allow the access to the governmental access to their pipelines in europe while certainly says this may not happen but today we've heard a lot of statements from both the european union leaders and putin on that issue in

particular saying they're saying that russia is not against all these kind of regulations but the only problem is that the two thousand and nine legislation made by europe in terms of the monopoly on the gas pipes now concerns the deals which had been struck before that and the russian president described that as completely uncivilized still hoping that sides will be managed will manage to find some sort of compromise definitely the energy sector is very important and certainly dominated the talks but of course size they also talked about the visa free travel for e.u. citizens and russians saying that this is a possibility in the various nearest future and also touching upon the geopolitical issues such as the syrian conflict where a lot can certainly reiterated russia's stance that this has to be dealt with behind the negotiation table not by the violence not by a military conflict and there seem to be lots of understanding between the e.o.p. and leaders and working on that so definitely it's been a very interesting summit but maybe not what some of the media some of the journalists had expected in terms of it being confrontational and. and using some

very harsh rhetoric. ok let's live from brussels thank you. yemen is in for a defense shake up as its u.s. parent president tries to break away from the legacy of the country's ousted leader the former president stepped down following mass protests almost a year ago under a power transfer brokered by washington and the country's gulf neighbors what is going to trigger can now explores why the u.s. assuming gauged in yemen's internal affairs. as washington continues to make a moral case for its covert wars on terror yemen is presented as a place that is full of terry getting ready to attack america but very few think of yemen as a chokepoint the vast economic interest yemen is the poorest country in the middle the book it's sitting on one of the most important trade routes in the wall the bubble manned up straight most people have heard about the southwest canal well of

course we almost broke out over the canal right that's how important it is but bob amanda doesn't instantly ring the bell although it's basically an extension of the suez canal and is of similar strategic importance almost all of europe's trade with china japan india and the rest of asia passes through babel manned up every day that's how important it is some argue that washington sees terrorism in yemen as a problem in the sense that it could have an adverse impact on economic interests to say the united states wouldn't be engaged in such a conflict in yemen if it didn't hold very specific geo political and strategic necessity for the us i think most importantly of course access to this awful month straight which is one of the highest trafficked waterways in the world. the u.s. already has a vast military presence in the persian gulf to secure key oil shipping lanes under the banner of chasing terrorists the us is setting up new drone bases on the

arabian peninsula including one in djibouti which is on the other side of the strait of babel and that the arrangement of the united states government has with the yemeni government is basically one of bribery we bribe them with money and weapons and in exchange we get to bomb their country with impunity. but it may be a dangerous proposition for the yemeni government because of the offer or this crisis caused among the population. on this much an american explained on this place until the seven. the people they were in a cynic they did not deserve to die but i wanted so late to go protest you know you're for it to happen he left them what we have now americans are coming to our land because you are the journalist who shot these images of a two thousand and nine drone strike in yemen that killed fourteen women and twenty one children is now in jail abdul a high to shine was accused of aiding terror it was about children but the yemeni

government reverse this decision after a call from the white house. because of the secrecy surrounding the program there was no way of knowing when the administration is out of target and some fear washington might continue the bombing to maintain control in the region the challenge here is something similar to what happened in. former yugoslavia when when they were looking for targets to bomb serbia prior to the dayton accords and the military. planners came to to richard holbrooke and they said well you know honestly we've run out of targets we bombed everything and he's in holbrooke so we have to keep this bombing up and they said well before we've already hit the store you said bomb them again find secondary targets because they needed to keep up the pressure now my fear is that in order to keep up the pressure on al qaeda or its associated organization the united states will explain you know its definition of

who is a legitimate target washington is helping the current yemeni government in order for it not to fail and to be friendly to the u.s. friendly enough to allow the u.s. to bomb them as washington sees fit and friendly enough not to mess with this vital trade route but historically that kind of a prop by the united states is often led to alienating much of the local population that sooner or later gets the sense that their government is serving its own interests and the interests of those thousands of miles away in washington i'm going to check in. with britain that prepare. going to pull its troops out of afghanistan the u.k. is counting its losses in more ways than one more than four hundred british soldiers have been killed in the war which so far cost the government a staggering seventeen billion pounds and as artie's explains the sum is raising a few eyebrows especially with austerity cuts being felt at home. seventeen billion pounds the british government has just revealed that that's been the cost of the so

far eleven year war in afghanistan now it was a very field at the same time as a clearer timetable was announced for troop withdrawal from the region but it's those seventeen billion pounds that are being spent that have been spent on for the war on top of the existing defense budget which means the estimates for the final price tag for the afghan war might be something around twenty billion off now and of course the u.k. is going to keep sending money to afghanistan after twenty fourteen they're going to be sending from thing like seventeen billion pounds for aid towards the afghan national security forces after twenty fourteen and this is all at the same time as the government announcing prolonged or sarah here at home that's going to continue until at least twenty seventeen twenty eighteen and the chancellor announcing that there's going to be extra welfare cuts and an extra ten billion pounds slashed through welfare budget i'm joined by john hillery who is the executive director of

county public charity four point one george eleven years later seventeen billion pounds down the line about money have been better spent elsewhere you could hardly really think of any worse way of spending the money as you say if you pointed out here in britain we're seeing an enormous cuts to government spending and to the world budgets about twenty five billion cold can total which actually is almost the same as being spent in the war in afghanistan defense when they can be justified but this is seventeen billion people over and above the existing british defense budget it's a completely only popular people in britain most of the troops are people in afghanistan want the troops out and now with the facing these massive cuts on top people really angry differently groups contain already the defense secretary has said that parts of afghanistan won't be under government control and so that means a lot more questions from the british taxpayers about the eleven years spent fighting the war and the twenty billion pound price tag for it. well some other

international news for you now. resurgent anger in egypt this time off the country's top prosecutor withdrew his resignation taber him had pressured judges not to release protestors opposed to present mercy. or never decided by the justice minister rejected preparing for a second round of voting on a controversial draft constitution just split the country into his opponents think it's hasty and creating an islamist state. u.s. citizen has been arrested north korea for underspecified crimes state media says hydrant who entered the country last month as a tourist but officials say there's evidence proving that he committed a crime against the state runs that diplomats from the swedish ships in sweden represents u.s. interests in north korea because of a lack of diplomatic ties between washington and pyongyang. after the break we'll

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