breaking news. lands in germany after being released from prison in russia itself that president putin signed a pardon what he called humanitarian principles we go live to berlin shortly also this. year the idea that people don't deserve access to knowledge because people cannot. speak to a wiki leaks associate and co-producer of a movie which shows just how hard it can be for whistleblowers to get the truth in print. and syria's embattled kurds take their ambitions for a new level demanding an independent seat at next month's international peace talks in switzerland our top stories.

now from a studio center here in moscow where it's just past eleven pm this is international so after a decade of incarceration is free russia's most high profile prisoner left jail and travel to germany on board a private jets when ati's peter all of it is in berlin and joins me now live what it seems peter that he's pretty keen to give his version of events. well we've heard the first comments from. himself he placed a short phone call to the newspaper the new times in which he said after ten years the feeling of freedom is amazing now it's believed that that phone call was placed not too far away from where i am here in central berlin at the upper class hotel the and along the hotel not far from the the brandenburg gate in central berlin

though the reason we believe that he's there is because former german foreign minister hans dietrich again sure was seen leaving that hotel to go and give a statement to german television now missed again sure has it seems been instrumental in bringing mikhail khodorkovsky here to win he has to have done a lot of work prior to him arriving here in fact he met at the airport and help him achieve they helped him receive a visa for one year to allow him to stay inside the shamed end zone now the fact that we saw just again she leaving the hotel and he was in the same convoy of cars well that leads us to believe that mr hart of course he remains inside that central berlin hotel now in that interview that mr gaines you give to german television station he said that. he was very grateful to the mercy of blood amir putin for granting him his pardon now that echo statements that had been released by one of mr holocaust the spokespeople through

a an open letter and which he thanked president putin for for granting him this this pardon on humanitarian grounds now in terms of response from the german government under miracles folks person released a statement saying the german chancellor welcome to make here to lynn and praised hans dietrich genscher for the work that the veteran diplomated had put in order to secure this she also spoke about the the work that the german governments and russian governments had done behind the scenes in cooperation to allow. to come here and spend his first night of freedom in ten years in berlin and peter the big question of course is what does he do next what is his likely move. well in this oh in this open letter from mr holder he outlines his immediate plans and his immediate plans are quite simply family and friends he wants to spend time with his his loved ones his mother is very very sick she has been receiving treatment

here in berlin for. some time and both his mother and father are expected to make the journey here from moscow where they currently are on saturday also believe that his son from his first marriage who is in new york is also going to be making the journey here as well as other family members and friends now in this letter he said that was what was most important to him right now was was hugging his loved ones shaking hands with friends and spending the new year's holidays together with them new year's holidays incredibly important in the russian calendar and in fact at the end of this open letter he wished everybody a merry christmas and a happy new year so that's where he's going to be his attentions going to be in the short term of course that's said to be a very emotional meeting the first time they've seen. in ten years as a free man his family that chose to be as a team credibly emotional moment but we're looking at a day that friday began without us knowing where he would be would he be released

on friday at all it turned out to be a real. roller coaster ride of stories about where he would end up and what what where he actually was and my colleague or piskun of recaps what went on in russia before he arrived here in germany. prison worker of course he spent his last days of imprisonment situated around a thousand kilometers north west of moscow in the town of together used to be part of the gulag system during the soviet times it was quite a confusing day here where we are some people were talking about him driving off in the car others were talking about this helicopter which took him off directly to germany whole thing came as a complete surprise to everyone including of course his lawyers and his family members you know i can't talk to him because he doesn't have any answers but i am in moscow right now and i don't know anything except for is being said on the radio first of i haven't accepted what has happened yet and he didn't you know watch for

me since yesterday i'm still feeling lost and confused i guess i still can't believe it and the boston he has gotten used to living in this reality where my dad is in prison and i can only see him once in three months to realize and accept that i will be able to see him average day to talk to him directly without worrying about someone listening and it's unreal in just two days i'm still stature and it's also significant is that all the events that have been unfolding day happens in less than twenty four hours then the president broke the news that he asked him to get fired and we did it on the next day and apparently just a few hours after that mcauliffe of course he went free from jail. let's now take a closer look at how khodorkovsky relations with the russian law panned out over the last ten years where back in february hundred ninety seven he became chairman and c.e.o. of the private corporation you course which produced a fifth of russia's oil a critical city became the country's richest man about six and

a half years later he was arrested on fraud charges around the same time linked to the privatization of state assets he was actually found guilty in may two thousand and five getting nine years in prison he appealed and had one year taken off that sentence well in december two thousand and six there was a second case against the former tycoon he was charged with embezzling three hundred fifty million tons of oil and those proceedings also ended with a guilty verdict and a fourteen year sentence but the court counted time already served but much speculation in the western media has suggested hostilities surrounding the winter olympics in sochi could be a reason for his release but also a russian affairs another smart mccauley i spoke to him earlier he disagrees i don't see really a direct link between me and sochi because no one's going to demonstrate it. because the vast majority of russians don't really care he was one of the rich is not a national average russian doesn't. like these people are very rich very supportive

many ways are broad but the other point of view is that russia needs foreign direct investment it needs a climate in which foreigners will invest in russia so this may be linked to improving the f.b.i. because as long as he was in jail the average business was in the west that could happen to me or one of my friends i know he's out and they may in fact come back and say right possibly the environment is. we're closely following developments now we called kosky has been freed these are the latest pictures for you from outside his family home in the moscow region we've been getting reports that members of his family planned to join him in berlin where he arrived on a private jet and our cameras are camped outside the hotel where you can go to go ski is reportedly staying there in berlin and earlier we saw the former german foreign minister hans dietrich genscher walk out of that building so these are the

live pictures at the moment from berlin do stay with us on r.t. international for all the latest. well for more on this top story i'm joined by columnist and veteran foreign correspondent eric margolis erich chancellor merkel such she's very happy that he's out what's it got to do with her why she's so keen to see him walk free why the germans being so helpful will be were increasingly close business. germany and russia germany france there are a lot of trade between the two energy business those germans feel that they're trying to step away or break for. closer to russia simply as a balancing act many believe the germans have a newfound liking discovered for russia now of course he does have a fortune abroad that he managed to keep despite his imprisonment do you think he could perhaps turn into a putin basher from overseas a bit like that late. and it's certainly

a possibility he can afford to do it one wonders he might be a little traces by his lip and not started rants against google career for a while but it'll be awfully cutting after ten years in prison will he be mandela or will he turn out and really star will have by better cost because their last thing the kremlin and of course you make a good point about mandela he certainly has become a human rights figure hasn't he could that perhaps be a career option for him i don't think so. the core of the goods he was. trapped in a brilliant man but he really did no not arouse any sympathy i don't think it russian certainly not in the west. no none of them saw anything only in some part or there was little. love lost on the russian oligarchs most people felt they should have been in jail and had their my confiscated so he's lucky really have got

away with some money into a word of no longer just. so what about his business partner eric platon lebedev we see him there in the footage of him standing trial in the courtroom why wasn't he released but what about his future i don't know he's. not a bad person he's not a ultralight some of these people. i don't understand i hope that it will come quickly is really it's do you think though that russia's image abroad will improve after this release do you think the west will look upon it positively and i think so i think this will help russians in which was russia's image was definitely hurt by this whole code of jailing people whereas or we're told it was a miscarriage of justice and that he was really a really good prisoner wrote the lawbreaker. this will that there will be better

for sure but just briefly eric some are saying that this is just a p.r. spin ahead of a such a winter olympics because russia's obviously is image has been somewhat tarnished particularly over the gay propaganda issue just briefly more to gets more than that i think it's your previous candidate who said it's improving the business and now small choir heard in russia and is a very astute lubov president who star is rising and said one success here another and this is both combined humanitarian and it's allowed to will process here did the right thing columnist and veteran foreign correspondent eric margolis great to talk to you on this thank you for joining us live here not international thank you. of the news now despite the vigorous attempts of whistle blows to expose the wrongdoings of governments it's often quite difficult for them to find media outlets willing to publicize the truth media stana recently backed by wiki leaks highlights their struggle kavanaugh spoke to the film's director. it's been described as

a wiki leaks or road movie following the journey of a group of wiki leaks associates across central asia searching for media outlets to help publish secret diplomatic cables with making me do. something which which i would like to call an acid test and our us interest was one of the u.s. state department cables where you give these cables to certain. publications and see how they react to it most of the publications had difficulties in responding to and publishing secrets that had to do with the with united states with empire in our world your home as well strong helped direct the movie although a feature film wasn't the original plan initial goal was to actually distribute this material that bradley manning allegedly makes that we can mix and in that attempt to get the material out to the public and to people we realize that there

were. some interesting things happening in the way that the media were actually reacting to it the team traveled through central asian republics from kazakhstan to us occupied afghanistan all in an effort to partner with local news outlets to redact and then publish relevant cables do it's. still going to version was then your bills you were to do more with. the other. question as to. whether you know another thing traditionally in case after case editors would initially show interest and then back off. to me it was surprising. not as much based on the idea that these countries are bastions of free press and. but i was more surprised about the

honesty. in their limitations and was surprised that many of the of the editors and journalists that we met. in the central asian republics they would would actually explain that there are certain things we can publish in certain cases we can actually see where fear of. having your funds got about something else does actually physically influence your ability in reporting on. what you know in this particular test the material is american. but it's hard to tell to what extent it's a question of fear particularly from the united states or if it's a fear from the local regime a censorship of sorts that johan is believes exists within the western world as well the idea that censorship is something that exists in. third world countries and speak but not in the enlightened west that idea i think has.

been very challenged by works the main point which which we're trying to make isn't that you know there's somebody which is more censored than somebody else the main point is that there is there's a certain degree of censorship everywhere and what would you say is the biggest obstacle to freedom of speech and freedom of information the instance the biggest obstacle to to freedom. of speech is the obstacle which isn't in our minds it is the the idea that the people don't deserve access to knowledge because people cannot deal with it and that idea in my opinion is there is not just a little stick it is. it's incredibly insulting but in making a film about the boundaries of press freedom johana says he discovered a world that's moving away from old boundaries one of the most amazing things which

has happened with them. with these releases and particularly if we speak about the n.s.a. documents it is. is that the censorship that we had just a few years ago has become irrelevant and you can watch the movie online right now on our website dot com well still to come here off international a fresh push for independence syria's kurds to model seats in next month's international peace conference on syria as they continue their quest to set up a nation. stories still to come. it is a whistleblower edward snowden has always maintained his motivation was to force a serious conversation about the all encompassing surveillance state well he certainly has achieved this so with mission accomplished is it time to cut a deal with them or even bring them apart.

dramas the. stories others refuse to notice. six is changing the world. so picture. from around the globe. on the money with the business of russian business.

syria's kurds want an independent seat at next month's international peace conference in geneva they said their interests are in opposition to both the syrian government and the rebels the kurds are pushing for autonomy in northern syria and have been fighting to protect their homes from radical islamist rebels well they are the largest ethnic group without a country in the middle east are mostly spread across a region they call kurdistan they make up keep minority groups in turkey syria iraq and iran and their population reaches an estimated forty million and as artie's paula slim reports the kurds have their sights firmly set on long awaited independence. discriminated repressed and divided for years the kurds were the scapegoats of the middle east but now the fortunes have turned resilient and hopeful history is on a side for four thousand years kurds lived in iraq now they're enjoying defect autonomy and many believe independence is not far away but is now practical is

another run by. powerful state in baghdad. a strongly believe that we are moving towards. a full independent kurdish state in the north of here across the border in turkey as much as twenty percent of the population is kurdish they fight for independence has long been a thorn in and her side but. always called for a kurd fighters they have more weapons and they'll never give them up easily but it's in syria where the kurds faced a toughest fight they were caught up in the middle of a bloody civil war their territories are being claimed by al qaeda their villages raided their people killed residents of this kurdish village of pursuit fina forty five kilometers from aleppo say all it does is make them tougher fighters they are prepared to die to protect their land and their people over there now every night they want to restart the clashes but now we're well prepared because we made new bunkers so we have more ability to them before if they attack us we are ready to

defend ourselves but if they don't we want to attack anybody. with such a strong fighting spirit and even stronger desire for sovereignty the kurdish influence in this part of the world is growing and arguably it might be only a matter of time until a new state appears on the map of the middle east policy or r.t. the syrian government's been too busy with the civil war leaving the kurds to fend for themselves and one of this tells us that the the aspirate has capitalized on the power struggle to the fullest. because syria was emboldened by the fact that the arab spring came about of the regional powers busy with internal strife with. the stability of their own government while the sunni arabs of the different factions syria are fighting each other and the government is weak and the kurds have found an opportunity to run the ground to whatever they can and we're

territory. historically has been to my to take he's not very happy because what he sees if the. the target because syria get hold of them have some sort of autonomy turkey fears that this will translate into or encourage . the kurdish population to demand the same rights or similar rights. time now for more world news in brief and at least eight people have been killed in a double bombing in iraq two explosions struck a live stock market in a town north of the capital baghdad while the victims were being buried another bomb went off killing three more just yesterday a group of suicide bombers targeted shia pilgrims in another region taking as many as thirty six lives bloodshed in iraq this year has reached levels not seen since two thousand and eight and r.t. dot com we've got

a special project looking back at how the violence in turkey for. egyptian police. have curbed a series of protests were to guess clashes started when crowds of supporters of the deposed president mohamed morsi took to the streets after friday prayers gatherings took place in the farms of a controversial more restricted rallies it's been validated many times across egypt leading to numerous arrests. the european union's long term credit rating has been dealt a blow standard and poor's downgraded it from aaa to double a plus now this is despite on its recent signs of recovery being used as an example that the block is going in the right direction but as tests are still reports many are still looking abroad for better options. despite painful austerity three years and counting the irish capital of dublin is relatively bustling but the same can't be said for all other parts of the country carlo wants him to be are the sugar company that at the

forefront of industry now stands empty this sound is only one hour away from dublin but niles apart in terms of the economy even if you just scratch a surface a look around you'll see a lot of these boarded up houses or shop fronts or for sale signs a shadow of what this south used to be this is the center of. town for three hundred year. history period. while the government heralded arlen's exit from its international bailout as a success many find little to celebrate with others having long moved on in search of greener pastures people with skills people with jobs and i live in the country we thought that we put behind us the black plague effect of immigration in the country and now it is back growing sectors of this economy which are importing workers from outside the law and on high wages with high skills and so forth

completely deserve it then but that is starting to get all these and little bit of attention within the population as well the european commission statistics office figures show thirty five thousand more people left are linda didn't arrive to last year making arlen go from having had the highest net immigration levels in europe to the highest net emigration in just six years if we see what you believe. we want. you. to feel. and when young emigrants do come back it won't come as a surprise if they're just back for the holidays like feel one who had just arrived from perth he left two years ago after completing a science degree and went on to become a videographer in australia there wasn't anything. sort of keeping me here besides my immediate family really all my friends who go on it's a londoner canada has just completely crossed the world so i made

a very easy for you and while the holidays draw back the irish to their native land it will take more than a bailout exit to keep them home just are still your r.t. . so back to our top story now even after a decade of incarceration is free russia's most high profile prisoner left journey and travel to germany aboard a private jet let's get the very latest now from ortiz peter oliver who is in berlin so have we heard much from khodorkovsky himself at this stage. well he has put in a very short phone call to the the new times newspaper in russia in which he said it was an amazing feeling of freedom that he had right now now it's believed that that phone call was put in from very close to where i am right now in the market and along the hotel close to the brandenburg gate here in berlin now we believe he's there there is no confirmation exactly of where he is because former former german foreign secretary hans dietrich genscher was seen leaving there now mr

densher had met at the airport it's believed he sorted out his flight on a private jet from russia also aided him in getting a visa to allow him to stay here now mr cain she was spotted leaving the hotel on his way to give a an interview to a television station germany in which he said that mr khodorkovsky was very grateful to the mercy of president vladimir putin for granting him this pardon now that really reiterated words that. the spokes people had put out in an open letter from mikhail khodorkovsky earlier on and which he he was said he was pleased that president putin had granted him this pardon on humanitarian grounds he also in that letter said basically that what comes next for him in the short term and not is family he's wanting to spend the holidays with his family and we're expecting his mother and father to arrive here from moscow on saturday as well as others to come in the very near future but he ended by wishing everybody a very merry christmas and

a happy new year seems that spending time with his family as a free man is what's next on the cards for mikhail khodorkovsky peter all of us live in berlin thanks very much indeed for that latest update. this is r.t. international more news in just over half an hour from me for from me in the team in the meantime the issue of a pardon for edward snowden takes center stage in cross talk that's on the brink. the parliament of yemen has put forward a motion to ban drone attacks in the country the motion is now awaiting approval by the president and it's probably impossible to enforce unless they could build a really big net or something isn't it strange that now after years of drone strikes in their country the parliament just wakes up to the fact their systems are getting blown up from the sky to be fair yemen doesn't have a ton of cash and i could see how having the well equipped and funded us military

to take care of the al qaeda problem for them for free could be really entices i mean it must be scary to be a politician with lots of power hungry terrorists about this would be the first time in history that a stronger foreign power fought a weaker states battles for them but the problem is that according to the huffington post a former u.s. state department official in yemen says that every year drone attacks create eight from forty to sixty new terrorists why they create terrorists because according to the human rights watch seventy percent of the people killed by drones in yemen are civilians you know if the yemeni government is really free from washington's grasp and really wants to deal with their al qaeda problem they'll have better luck doing it themselves or the good old rifles and bayonets pointed at the right targets but that's just my opinion. please.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered on peter lavelle n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden has always maintained his motivation was to force a serious conversation about the all encompassing surveillance state well he certainly has achieved this so with mission accomplished is it time to cut a deal with him or even grant him a pardon. to cross-talk edward snowden i'm joined by my guest mary fan in seattle she is a professor at the university of washington and a former federal prosecutor in washington we have ray mcgovern he is the co-founder of veteran intelligence professionals for sanity and in new york we cross to timothy car he is a senior director of strategy at free press all right folks cross talk rolls in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want.