former russian tycoon mikhail khodorkovsky is getting ready to meet the press after finally being reunited with his family in lin following his surprise release from prison. also this week eighty civilians are executed by islamic rebels in syria while western nations signal upcoming peace talks might not need a sad removal after all. and a big deal for ukraine russia agrees to buy fifteen billion dollars of its debt and slash the price of gas which kiev hailed as its rescue from bankruptcy.

for the wealthy you're watching the weekly here on r.t. international in a few hours mikhail khodorkovsky is set to give his first press conference since he was released from jail after ten years behind bars the man who was russia's most high profile prisoner is now in berlin where he was free and i did with his parents and son on saturday peter all over has been watching the scene at the five star hotel where the ex tycoon is stay. i mean how to cope he spent his first full day of freedom in ten years here in berlin and the out alone hotel just behind me now he met with his son pavol who flew from new york in order to in order to be with his father i'm thrilled to be here in berlin germany today because my father is free. my family is finally going to see it and we're very very appealing because he . really can't hear us and. how to cause he's mother and father had flown here from

moscow know his mother has been here in berlin quite a quite a lot in the recent past she has been receiving cancer treatments here and a bill in city hospital in such a shock to me as to come myleene i'm going to see him now i feel like it's one of my regular visits the whole reason behind because of course he being granted the presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds was the the ill health of his mother so they have been reunited here the press secretary of the russian president dmitry peskov now he said that the khodorkovsky remains a russian citizen he is a russian citizen he's free to return to russia whenever he would like and live there should he want to also said that he's he's free to stay here in germany should he want to as well it's is pretty much as simple as that and no peskov also outlined the letters that were written by her to call ski to vladimir putin he said there was to one of them was a personal letter to president putin the of the was the official petition to be to

be released from prison and that it was that petition that resulted in him receiving this pardon is released on humanitarian grounds to the former german foreign minister hands it to again i must again she seems to have been instrumental in making sure that because of how to close the code come here he german chancellor in a statement paid tribute to the work done by mr gained share in the say in bringing her to cope ski here to cheer. i mean she also praised the work done by the german government behind the scenes in making this possible and well could be called how to cope ski it's germany so that's the way it stands would be we'll all focused on the berlin wall museum a little later on sunday when we'll be hearing from ski. outlines what he plans to do next well political analyst and expert on russian german relations alexander was one of the first to greet me how horticulture ski on german soil is what he told us his face didn't change in the past ten years i haven't seen him for ten years. i

think he didn't lose his humor he still in a very strong mood alexander was invited by the former german foreign minister hans dietrich genscher to consult with him in his push to release horticulture. doesn't think the magnet will involve himself in politics in the future but if he does foreign affairs analyst martin see if says he has little chance of becoming as powerful as he was in the one nine hundred ninety s. what is not going to happen is that is going to be a credible figure in russia he was significant in the one nine hundred ninety s. the beginning of the twenty first century for two reasons first of all because of his vast financial wealth and political clout from putting together yukos in the first place and he doesn't have the yukos conglomerates as a base and more so that's cool and secondly he was

a figure from the one nine hundred ninety s. he was able to amass so much wealth so for us i was the all the guard in the chaotic yeltsin era right after the collapse of communism this is now engine to street in russia. so it has been a roller coaster life for hudak of ski from one of russia's richest men to a high profile criminal and now he's back in the lap of luxury though flown on a private jet to berlin and accommodated in a five star hotel so let's recall shall we how he got to jail in the first place well back in february nine hundred ninety seven he became chairman and c.e.o. of the private corporation new cost which produced a fifth of russia's or oil order became one of the country's richest man or richest men about six and a half years later he was arrested on fraud charges around that same time linked to the privatization of state assets he was eventually found guilty in may two thousand and five and was given nine years in prison or paled and had one year

taken off that sentence and then in december two thousand and six there was a second case against the former tycoon and he was charged with embezzling three hundred fifty million tonnes of oil those proceedings also ended with a guilty verdict and a fourteen year sentence but the court counted time already served towards that new prison term president putin's pardon came as a big surprise sparking speculation it was a p.r. move ahead of the winter olympics in sochi but legal experts and blogger alexander says it was first and foremost because of order a plea for clemency. it has got anything to do with nobody was going to stay away from sochi because of bristol holder god being imprisoned i think the first point to make is that he is guilty and i i want to say that because this constant attempts to say that he was a political prisoner there's been six or seven decisions by the european court of human rights i've lost count how many there are which is said unequivocally that mr

holder because he is guilty of massive tax evasion on a simply enormous scale now he has been punished he's been in prison for that for ten years what what has changed the situation and has led to his release is that mr holder koskie did what he had previously consistently said he would not do and that is that he wrote a letter to mr putin asking for a pardon and just to remind you. press conference will be held at twelve g.m.t. and berlin and we will be covering it live on air and online as well at r.t. dot com. at least eighty seven's have been slaughtered in the syrian town of north of damascus after it was raided by radical islam ists some reports put the number of those killed at two hundred r.t. arabic channel went there to talk to why witnesses of the bloodshed. terror still

fills the hearts of those who witnessed the militants entering the town about drugs they saw panicked disoriented people running for their lives and they ran themselves they will never forget the despair in the eyes of those who were forced to stay behind we have no reliable way to communicate with the people trapped inside but officials are saying the atrocities against the civilian population are continuing and people are being butchered and even burned alive and every bit of news coming out of the town is dealing a new blow to those whose families are still being held by the militants everyone working for the local authorities was to be killed regardless of their religion organon an asian they were all taken to be killed they took everyone even those who supported neither the government nor the rebels they were all either tortured killed or used as human shields the things being done in the drawer unthinkable they're slaughtering children and throwing them out of windows and no one's doing anything about it the syrian authorities say they have evidence confirming that

massacres have taken place and address the dad taqiyya and many other areas which remain under the control of the armed opposition the situation in syria has now deteriorated to the point that international norms of combat are no longer being observed. he's an industrial town with a lot of these residents working both in the private sector and for government adnan sees horrifying crying as have been committed in this town houses who are set on fire with people trapped inside and. the syrian army which is positioned just don't side the town continues to carry out surgical strikes as part of their effort to liberate address which is now the only hope of the families waiting for news of their loved ones inside the town. r.t. . meanwhile western powers have indicated next month's peace talks in geneva may no longer call for assad to removal that amid fears extremists will take control of

the country should his government for the u.s. says it's willing to meet with members of the newly formed islamic front group which is also said to have been involved in the bloodshed we spoke to a geo political analyst who believes there is no peace looming as long as the u.s. continues to support the islamicists in recent weeks there's been an important shift in the relationship between the united states government on the one hand and what is darby presented as the new islamic front and we see that the united states is in fact goes to. establishing a dialogue with the leaders of these terrorist organizations i should say that in this particular case the people who have dialogue with the terrorists they have blood on their hands they have provided funding most of the military and

logistical financial aid has been china holds to these al qaeda affiliated organizations and that's what we have to address there could be no peace as long as the west military alliance supports the terrorists. now still to come on r.t. as if fracking link earthquakes were bad enough. you can't say i didn't hear how much you make it. we meet in texas living in the shadow of the shale well whose drinking water has started to. president putin held his annual marathon question and answer session this week which lasted for more than four hours bombarded by dozens of questions he shared his thoughts on intelligence leaks the controversial greenpeace case and tensions in the ukraine r.t. as you go piece going off was there. never met personally what is revolutions truly

made an impact on the world. that's really a question about edward snowden the president didn't reveal his exact whereabouts but he couldn't resist humoring his all relationship with barack obama and you were surveillance tactics. you want to know how my feel about mr obama after snowden's leaks i feel jealous i feel jealous because he can do these things and get off scot free still there is nothing to be happy about but on the other hand there's no reason to be frustrated however tough the criticism against the us may be all these measures have always been aimed at tackling terrorism but there must be some clear rules and certain agreements including those of ethics. ukraine was also discussed it actually said it rough in the last few weeks with mass protest both in favor of against moving closer with the e.u. moscow is giving kiev a fifteen billion dollar all to help of course with severe economic problems and according to putin integration is not the core reason behind the wave of unrest.

those who are pushing forward the idea of signing an association agreement with the european union these people would govern in ukraine not so long ago. was a foreign minister also headed the parliament to machinegun is a former prime minister you schenker was ukraine's president why didn't they sign these papers when they were in power no one was standing in their way they could have gone ahead and sign them and there'd be no problem today i have legitimate downs that the current protests are about moving closer to the e.u. it's an internal political struggle and signing or not signing this document is just a pretext like the current amnesty which should affect up to twenty five thousand people coincides with the twentieth anniversary of russia scott dushan members of pussy riot and greenpeace activists from the so-called arctic thirty are expected to benefit so obviously this issue was also mentioned including the president steps on the organization itself. through their ship it entered our exclusive

economic zone was not responding and they tried to scale the platform after an attempt to stop them the second boat started ramming our border guards is that a civil discussion about protecting the environment. it's just self p.r. or an attempt at blackmail racketeering or someone's order to disturb developing resources that will happen should serve as a lesson and unite us along with greenpeace into an effort to minimize environmental risks instead of just making a fuss. of course these are only a few topics touched upon which also talked about recent diplomatic breakthroughs like the syrian chemical arms deal and the iranian nuclear program the conference was attended by over thirteen hundred journalists and last it over four hours is going off r.t. moscow. the opposition in ukraine made. gains but would they be welcome should your island to gratian take place coming up in a couple of minutes we'll look into the faces of the ukrainian opposition.

right on the scene. first street. and i think you're. on our reporters later. today in the. millions around the globe to struggle with hunger each. one of someone offers a lifetime food supply no charge they carry sub take in the very strong position against g.m.o. and we think that. the genetically modified products are priest to help there is no. evidence to this any problem with genetic

engineering when you make a deal. or is free cheese always in a mouse trap i don't believe that. there. is profit. for this golden rice monarchy. again now ukraine could still sign a trade deal with the next year although better conditions that was the announcement this week from the country's prime minister meanwhile the opposition has the keys president unico which of pawning the country's assets to win concessions from russia artie's elect takes a closer look at who's leading the opposition movement in ukraine. an offer of support for ukraine z u s gracious was not enough to persuade one of the country's

opposition leaders elected a new book drop shoulders with the german foreign minister during his surprise appearance at the protests in kiev mr westerly is openly gay and the left of your book sponsor border has made its position on homosexuals quite clear attacked and gay parades the most but we want to build the country based on harmony and social justice issues were being dragged into homosexual values by the western states and we will not allow advance but homosexuals and people of different races are clearly not terribly books biggest foes. of any treaty with russia is not worth the paper it was signed. dirty looks forward cannot make up the core of the protest movement but there are clearly it's loudest voices and it's actions as well as words and the salt of the city hall and scuffles around it told the london statute t. of an event described as the full of the tyrants by the party and reckless

vandalism by many others this is a crack in the pavement where the toppled lenin monument literally lost its head and if you walk around the pedestal of what used to be the monument to the former soviet leader we can see some graffiti over here first one here says which your next and the one at the bottom says glory to the insurgent army of the 1940's in ukraine which some in this country believe to be freedom fighters who fought for independence while many others describe him as nazi collaborators on top of that and no militant field commanders believe were spotted at my done and men who fought as a mercenary in creation and south of setia in all cases against the russians. until the end of my days i will kill russians jews that got me a british reporter brian flynn had a first hand glance at the militarized right wing forces in ukraine and over the euro twenty twelve football championship he went undercover into their training camp these are people very serious about what they do they train physically to back

it up with violence and i watched what they followed live weapons and the presence of such people among the broadcasting crowd seems to cause no concern among european officials walking on the same square. which is rather extraordinary isn't it to see somebody that the united states has banned from entering the country on the same platform senator mccain to see somebody who has been by and by that i say francis mistake statements for denying the holocaust who supporters actually in the streets of kiev still do make anti-semitic as well as anti russian. gestures and slogans it does signify that the west and politicians are quite happy to use nationalist forces when it suits them that lack of reaction is particularly bewildering given many european statements about ukraine's right wing factions in the past and the burning over ukrainian football ground for now it's the slogans in this stance so if you create does make it into the view some day it will be

interesting to see how people with such different values sit at the same negotiating table. let's hear a shot ski r.t. forty from t. of ukraine. now if you get a moment to take a look at our web site we've got a lot more there to you including. breaking radioactive records is huge emancipator a missing substances are discovered at the crippled fukushima power plant in japan on line we weigh the risks of toxic leaks into the ocean. and no christmas in orbit a space suit a huge delays a second vital space walk to fix a faulty cooling system you can check out all the details at r.t. dot com. this week a group of researchers claims to have found another risk that fracking poses to human health they say become a cause use can disrupt hormones and have been detected in the colorado river locals living near the site already claim their property prices of tank while running smells and earthquakes plague their daily lives and that's not all.

explains the local government in texas tells steve lipski that the water from his well what of that he can set on fire is safe to drink and to use in his home. you can hear it in here. thank you but steve has the assessment of other experts who say he's well is it ticking bomb in his backyard loaded with methane and other contaminants why the starkly different assessments steve claims that a fracking operation nearby contaminated is well and that texas energy authorities are shielding the gas company. they don't want the world to know that it really is this bad they don't want it in official documents it could be that the fracking allowed gas from lower formations into the aquifer and subsequently into steve lipski as well the gas company denies the claim the lipski is sued the range

resources corp but the firm counter sued and won in cause and effect evidence a ground water is incredibly difficult to prove my use of us are is an engineer who worked with the federal environmental protection agency is not surprised that the state oil and gas regulator sided with the gas corporation agency that the rights seen come in survival from oil and gas production. issue usually put him in charge of also regulating the protection of groundwater from or going down swells and there's any parent conflict of interest in that determined to fight for his home father of three steve has been shipping fresh water from the city on trucks at a cost of five hundred dollars a month but the family now faces another blow from the fracking corporation of four

point two million dollars lawsuit for defamation steve lipski is dream house and it's a beautiful property has become his nightmare several of his neighbors apparently have the same problem but they're reluctant to speak out after they saw how the gas company went after mr lipski they shouldn't expect much help from washington either so why do you sell us our says the environmental protection agency has not put nearly enough resources into studying the effects that fracking has on groundwater but that didn't stop the p.a. from coming up with a reporting favor of the practice. phillips case were advised to vent the gas constantly to keep it from accumulating under their property as their neighboring gas well continues to frac slide thousand feet deep it were pretty much standing around on top of the one hundred years from now when somebody dies because

there's some contaminant the border area and they're able to trace it to this frack him and we've got the horses ted who cares invest in a philosophy for now it seems that the authorities at all levels are so fired up on fracking potential profits that households like steve leaves his family are left to fight alone to get a healthy environment in their homes. r t particularly texas. meanwhile a new energy boom may be coming to the british countryside but so far it's been given a far from warm welcome a government report has laid the groundwork to open up vast swathes of the u.k. for oil exploration including shale gas drilling a light blue on this map to show you how much land has been earmarked earmarked for the potential fracking the u.k.'s energy minister has hailed this report as the next step in unlocking britain's fracking potential but his friends of the earth helen rimmer tells us it's time to stop before it's too late we've only had

a handful of exploratory drilling sites across the u.k. but already we've seen huge local opposition whether it's been in the south east of mainland or the northwest where we're seeing it now and i think with the government's new licensing round which is going to open up another two thirds of the country to have potentially to fracking we're going to see even more a position and i think the government is going to have to put a moratorium in place like it had done previously and actually listen to the concerns of communities because there's a very loud and clear method. as national news in brief an hour a suicide car bombing at an army base in eastern libya has left at least six people dead and injured more than fifteen it's reported that all those killed in the explosion were soldiers no group has yet claimed responsibility will bring you more as we get it. i in germany reports say over one hundred one hundred policemen have been injured as they clashed with protesters thousands took

to the streets to oppose the massive victory of a squat in hamburg i object will hold police responded with baltic and the building has been occupied for more than twenty years but authorities claim it is at risk of collapse i found in sudan rebel troops who seized the key oil producing state of unity and taking control of much of the country former south sudan vice president riek machar has been accused of leading the group and attempting a coup meanwhile four people were injured when rebels opened fire on a u.s. mission to evacuate american citizens from the region at least five hundred people have been killed since the fighting began as the government struggles to hold on to the capital. occupy romania activists have clashed with police in front of bucharest university that had started as a peaceful rally calling for the resignation of the president and a ban on fracking remaining has been engulfed in a wave of anger against the energy giant chevron which is planning to drill for

natural gas across the country. now is not a killer or a terrorist but he's being held in conditions worse than if he was online activist and the alleged hacker got three days far home wagners one of the founders of the pirate bay he's engulfed in a complex legal battle though accused by denmark of stealing millions of personal id numbers and well the file sharing website first came under fire back in two thousand and six when it got on the wrong side of hollywood it was taken down for several days when swedish police raided its headquarters several years later its founders were charged and eventually sentenced to a year in prison for encouraging copyright violations earlier r.t. spoke his father home wagner lawyer louise hoge who told us her client is treated much worse than is warranted by the charges against him. it's got a little bit better since we talked or the last time he's been moved to a different facility. to be honest the first facility the first prison it couldn't

couldn't really get anywhere else and that so now he's an different facility and he's been allowed to. be with another in mexico it's another inmate two hours a week but it's still not good he is allowed to go outside as well one hour every day. and during that hour he would you know by coincidence be able to talk to other inmates he's certainly not good at giving given the conditions that other in the same case would be given police very cautious about this case they don't really want anything to go wrong because it's a very sensitive sensitive case in denmark you with r.t. up next toxic technology be terribly life film exploring the hazardous legacy of computers through an act with the rubbish.

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