the in the. more than a dozen people have reportedly been killed in the ukrainian capital today as break a truce with the authorities and attack police crew was caught up in sniper fire in a hotel at the very epicenter of the violence also. to be able. to get. militants resort to hostage taking stealing weapons and conducting kangaroo courts as the crisis starts to resemble a war authorities say they could launch a full counterterrorism response. barely. making sure. it's dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way parts of the u.s. and the e.u. turned a blind eye to the habit being wreaked by the writers calling on the government to

end the bloodshed that's despite opposition leaders admitting they have no control over the radicals in the streets. this is r.t. international with twenty four hours a day line from our studio center here in moscow where it's just turned eight pm and six pm in kiev from where we bring you breaking news this is in the capital of trying to force their way towards the president's administration gunfire and explosions are being heard in the city center meanwhile officials are demanding the militants hand in their weapons and return to protesting peacefully and r.t. team is in kiev for us. the frontline of the fighting has now moved further away from our hotel which is in the very center of the city and right next to independence square but for

a few hours for us it was quite hectic since. the shooting was happening just over the place all around the hotel we basically just couldn't exit the building for a while and while some bullets were flying inside the hotel as well one of our cameraman tried filming what was happening outside and a bullet hit just below his camera also cameramen off the roughly newsagency bullet ricocheted off the wall and slid his. right now moved away since the rioters are now aiming to control. the government to buildings here in kiev they have this hotel under full control and there is a makeshift hospital downstairs where the injured are being treated by medics and now we also know that ukrainian authorities have given the green light for police to use. in order to protect themselves from the rioters who are now heavily armed with different types. and

a similar situation is happening in other parts of the country. storming various types of government buildings for more about what was happening here in just a few hours ago when the intense fighting between the writers and the police took place. downstairs and managed to film basically the start of today's violence this does not look like a truce it all last night the opposition to president managed to agree on a cease fire but in the morning the right wing sect the core of the protest the hardcore radicals decided to go on the offensive from the independence square which generally looks like a battle zone right now almost seventy two hours. burning everything you know right now we saw that the police have been pushed away from this barricade they have been all keep. buying for the last forty eight hours last night i took a walk here it was all covered with the police now you can see for yourself the right wing's are again reinforcing their barricades we literally had to dodge

bullets during several of our attempted live broadcasts because it was very very unsafe here right now the police are pushed back we can switch is still here flash bangs exploded and we can still see most of cocktails being thrown the situation is very very tense we do know so that the government of ukraine of ukraine has implemented the so-called counterterrorism operation mode which would mean tougher security across the country but right now this is you are. always going to go the right wing sector the core of the protests their leader said last night that they knew nothing about the truce that they would not listen to anyone not the opposition not the politicians from the government they said that the revolution must continue until the very end we also saw already saw several wounded being carried from this this stand off point here at the barricade and at the institute's k. street. what i saw i think it was

a gunshot wound the man was bleeding heavily but it's really unclear whether this was caused by a by a live round or and anything else maybe it was a flash bang or anything of the kind so the situation remains still very tense and it's definitely far from being a truce. well street battles in the capital kiev have reportedly claimed more than a dozen lives health officials now say that more than sixty have died since the start of the week however opposition activists claim at least seventy of their ranks have been killed today alone witnesses say bodies of strewn around the area the bloodshed erupted when russia has broken a shaky truce with the government which only had been established hours before when our video agency ruptly sent this footage of two police officers trying to help an injured collie and he can see them being caught in an explosion of some sort and ten policemen have been killed since the clashes broke out a couple of days ago several hundred offices have also been injured. while political analysts and xander believes at this point some of the protesters must be

reclassified we are now talking about. militants rather than peaceful protesters we can no longer qualify in classify those people peaceful protesters. actually criminal activity and those are militants that's what we should call them some of the leaders of the radical groups for example nationalists i've already said that they don't have any talks with the government they haven't signed any agreements with the government and they are not going to. obey orders of. the little result of the incumbent government their president of the country or klitschko yatsenyuk or targeted they are out of control. more than a dozen policemen have reportedly been taken captive by the right is seen being lined up and taken to the militants camps some of them were wounded and we have

taken footage said to show one man leading an ambulance but the right is apparently refusing when they realize he's a special forces officer well you might find the following video disturbing. the beer will. be are. some of the responsibility for this latest escalation of the crisis should be shouldered by the ukrainian president putin of roic a kalashnikov head of the major russian foreign affairs think tank truth is not what they're looking for they are looking for the national revolution as they lead

their all of the extreme. right wing right sector says they they have been dreaming about this moment for a long time they have been gathering forces and actually a part of the responsibility lies also on president lee in the call that shit he couldn't not know about this danger grown in ukraine and still until now he hasn't been using it they can stick to tional means to preserve the constitutional or there. the president of the country has the duty to defend the city sense and to preserve the constitutional order until now president you know for this has been evading keeping all this to go in for some has not given them or all the necessary means to protect themselves and to protect victories for. cities and so few cranes so part of the responsibility is on him as well amid the ongoing mayhem the foreign

ministers of france germany and poland of wrapped up their talks with the ukrainian government as a silly has more on the reaction from europe. the ministers are in the middle of discussing whether or not to impose sanctions on ukraine everybody is here to save for distillery foreign ministers of germany france and poland who are in kiev and they will be giving feedback to the ministers were here in brussels and in order to decide how to move forward now there are initial reports of some sort of a compromise has been reached with some or suggested that it could possibly involve . stopping down at the end of the year although if you remember a previously had said that he is open to holding a snap election if this is the only diplomatic and democratic way of resolving the ongoing conflict in the country now was far as comments here are concerned that the general consensus is that the government you could in government has to take the lead or whatever there are

a few of the ministers and diplomats who are saying that they like the dutch foreign minister who is saying that they could possibly consider imposing sanctions as well on some of the protesters not what those sanctions are there could be asset freezes travel bad possibly some sort of an arms embargo so we have yet to see where they are headed as some have been very vocal about imposition of sanctions while others have been very measured there are also reactions coming from the russian side where sanctions are concerned russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said that this move because up until now the e.u. has not made such a move at this move today is a form of bullying he said that this he likened the sanctions to some form of blackmail and he also said that the trade and government has already delivered some of the concessions let's listen to what he had to say on this matter the ukrainian government has repeatedly shown its goodwill they offered compromises in deals like when they greet to free those detained during the riots if the protest is vacated the administrative buildings that camp should the government filled it so big

asians while the opposition eventually disrupted the process has been largely condemnation here. from all the foreign ministers on the ongoing violence on the ground but we also did hear from the british foreign minister william hague said that it is not right to call the protesters terrorists that they are simply people who are looking for a better life but he also said that all sides must turn away from the violence the weather did put responsibility squarely on the ukrainian government to take the lead on this and much is piskorski he's a political scientist from the european center of geo political analysis thinks that radicals in the streets deserve to be called terrorists but are called. or at least his advisors through. movies from from radio recordings from a ukraine and from the streets of ukraine just to see the militant opposition activists running away with weapons and and so on so it's it's just ridiculous to

say about to tell about peaceful opposition now in tears because as we see now there's no one representing the peaceful opposition taking part in the in the in the you know what is happening now in the streets of kiev the government does not control anymore the situation in the central the ukrainian capital on the streets of kiev we now have the militant opposition which would be called in every civilized country. terrorists are kind of close to terrorism opposition but we have more on the situation in ukraine as well as other news for you after a short break this is also international live in moscow.

i marinate joining me. for impartial and financial commentary cancer news and much much. only on the bus and.

it was a bitter pill to swallow for many russians to watch the red machine still lose in the men's hockey defending but there's hope yet for the home audience the ladies figure skating has begun pull scott told us russia's going all out for a spot on the podium. well it's been a relatively comparatively quiet day here at the twenty fourteen winter olympics but russia do have hopes for a medal possibly two in the figure skating competition which is just concluding this evening all eyes are on the ice skating concludes with the free program in the women's individual competition and going into the final round. of all of russia is in a silver medal positions he's currently in second place. points behind the leader so

there are real hopes that she could secure the gold medal elsewhere. the fifteen year old of course she's going into tonight's program in fifth place after the disappointment in the short program yesterday where she actually stumbled on the job of collecting a medal slightly trickier seven points than she did in the team of end when she helped russia win gold on the first weekend of these games so all eyes are on those two russian competitors who are taking to the ice a little bit later as you say that competition is underway there has been a comparatively quiet day. take a look at the latest medals table and you can see that it's norway who lead the way germany the usa and russia not far behind russia up into fourth place now norway have ten volts to their name eight for germany seven for the usa and the host nation have six. and we'll have full updates from the olympic games on another day

of medal hopes our special coverage from sochi continues throughout the day. the g twenty four team promises. exhilarating winter sports and he. joins us now. on. three years ago france banned a fracking saying environmental risks were simply too high but the french gas an energy giant to tell is getting down to business in the u.k. apparently brushing off the concerns of locals r.t. sarah firth put those worries to the head of the company's gas and power division police think it's fair to the public in the u.k. who are concerned about shared gas exploration and fracking. that france has banned this and other governments pushing ahead what is clear even to different countries of different different views of the we.

give you a new cue. striking. we have been speaking. and. of course. but. with people you do it like you can sure thing the problem a lot of people who live in the communities where fracking could take place if their plans are already sort of going forward so the decisions being made essentially whether they like it or not. of course what has been the city has to do exploration but we really need to have the proper permits you know to start production is the exploration success with. the we are far from being a situation where we are going to put dismissively. because we are six more closely held in that entity there are no guarantees when it comes to sale gas despite the u.k. government pushing ahead with exploration plans far from being questions gold and

gas when it comes to shell gas exploration the consequences long term remain extremely unclear from international petroleum week before thing for us. back to our breaking news story the international the rioting in ukraine's capital well the situation in kiev has been further aggravated by reports that radicals have got hold of more than a thousand far arms reports and footage from the scene suggest they now have access to their stalls assault rifles and grenades forty's and looking for ways to prevent your position from becoming a fully armed force. reports the leaders of opposition parties seem no longer in control of the more militant rioters. i am in a hotel you know european city in the capital in the very heart of it and i have to wear a bulletproof vest and a helmet simply because it's unsafe moreover i can tell you that i cannot give you a good view of the independence square which is just over there because it's unsafe

to be in front of the windows moreover the hotel where i'm standing right now is occupied by the protesters by the rioters they have set up something of a sniper point at the fourteenth floor of this hotel we managed to capture these shots our guys from a rock the t.v. video agency that managed to film. those rioters firing their sniper weapons from the windows of the fourteenth floor of this hotel in fact this hotel now is the front line looks pretty much like a wartime garrison i've seen scores of protesters dozens of protesters carrying firearms controlling the lobby and several of the floors the talk of the town right now when you just heard it from the stage at the independence square that the emergency situation stay the emergency state in the country is now back on the table it may be implemented within the next several hours we also heard that most of the roads leading into the city of kiev have been blocked one of our crews cannot get into the city of the just arrived to the airport there nobody's taking

them and they're saying all the roads are blocked at the moment so this is not true said all despite what the government and the opposition managed to agree last night of the cease fire the right wing radicals say that it's they're not invading the any kind of laws they're not debating any orders from any sides they want the revolution to go until the very end and this is pretty much what we're seeing in the streets of kiev at the moment. washington's response to the situation has been to band twenty senior at ukrainian officials from traveling to america but it's got a church can report the u.s. may only be seeing one side of the story here. but. president obama knows what the ukrainian leaders should do we told the reigning government by merilee responsible for making sure. it's dealing with fees for protesters in appropriate way. president obama has however made no suggestions on

how ukrainian authorities should deal with rioters torching the city shooting beating and sowing molotov cocktails at police. neither has he called to the so-called peaceful protesters to wait for elections to express their aspirations as he would at home under different circumstances you don't like a particular policy or a particular president then argue for your position go out there and win an election. year appealing leaders don't seem to want to wait for elections either all but calling for the ukrainian president to step down. the ukrainian authorities are by to lose all legitimacy the kind of forages in ukraine need to make space for a transitional government of national unity and early elections in order to bring back the legitimacy of national authorities was washington and brussels are considering sanctions against ukraine the u.s. has already barred

a number of ukrainian officials from entering the country shouldn't there be sanctions against the opposition because they're the ones who are obviously defying democracy by torching the capital as opposed to accepting the results of a legitimate election and working to challenge them next next time around washington may stand up for democracy in words that it is the people themselves that make those decisions and that's what the united states will continue to strive . to achieve. but behind the scenes u.s. officials are apparently trying to decide who should be in the ukrainian government and who should not go i don't think leetch should go into the government i don't think it's necessary i don't think it's a good idea in terms of they're not going into the government just let him sort of stay out in doofus political homework and stuff. it makes me wonder if bombarding the police with molotov cocktails and shooting at them is also part of the opposition's quote unquote homework in the name of democracy going to check on our t.v. . journalist neil clark has been closely following the crisis in ukraine and feels

the protests as a nothing but tools and a game of regime change. quite outrageous that we've got a us which has been bankrupt these writers will be funding them all of them can orchestrate the whole thing they're encouraging them to set fire to kiev and to try to take power and yet they're literally ukrainian government saying oh no and how much you actually quite back i'm trying to restore order it's a record of what it is it is it has to be in washington in people in writing in washington government buildings setting fire to a political party headquarters of all the trade unions for example again i think you have thousands of the us all corrections who look at the violent ways they've broken the occupy wall street count which was a peaceful protest and so it's actually going to no doubt in my mind that the rioters get involved because they know the books court of the most powerful nation on the planet the u.s. and the e.u.

they're not getting any g.'s writers they're not condemning the violence from the right is only condemning the government response to it and so i think that they are the people who are fueling the situation and they've got blood on my hands here because it's only because the rioters know they have the support me us knew that it was embolden them to to to stand up this and to try to topple the government of the ukraine. one more thoughts on the crisis in ukraine now with moss and see if he's chief global analyst at the global research center joining us live from washington martin why would a thought is what in fact what i do would ask years we've heard a number of people say on this very channel today that with america's unconditional backing the opposition feels it can get away with so much is it really fair to blame washington thaw fueling this violence now. to some degree yes but not totally washington the certainly culpable but i think washington is being ill served by brussels and the european union the primary

triggers for the whole crisis came from the pressures that the european union put on ukraine and for the e use refused to play a good loser when president you look at which. decided that he could not go through with the terms the e.u. had laid down for association. washington has followed brussels lead continually on this and they should not have done so the u.s. state department is at the highest policymaking levels relatively weakly staffed bill when it comes to europe and for that matter on russia the main emphasis in recent years has been primarily on asia pacific and also on the middle east they've ignored europe and this lack of high powered expertise is now starting to tail what do you make of washington and indeed the e.u. blaming the authorities in kiev for this violence.

it's a catastrophic move it's a revolutionary move there are far greater dangerous implications to this than anybody in washington or in western europe seems to realize is it is placing the european union and the united states on the side of revolutionary chaos and disorder not just in other countries around the world which would be bad enough but in the heartlands of europe this is very dangerous in the responsible and did not the e.u. and the us see the rise of nationalism and extremism in these riots in effect what we're seeing perhaps is a revolution and that's exactly what the nationalists want is that really what the e.u. and us want it. they oughtn't to wanted you're absolutely right for the e.u. especially if there's an enormous power docks here the force is the heart breaking up ukraine are seeking to break up ukraine are the same forces that are seeking to the stabilize western european nations there are major secessionist movements

within western european nations we see scotland very peacefully about to become independent with its referendum vote scheduled for later this year spain has acted very successfully to prevent the disintegration of his country especially the barcelona catalonia region the northern league is a very powerful force in a very relatively moderate responsible for its its constitutional but if rioting was taking place on the streets in the city nations of spain france italy. britain with the express purpose of toppling the government and splitting the states europe would not be founding those forces of destruction on they would be reigning live in why there are the founding of the flames over there yes we'll have to leave it that thank you very much indeed for your thoughts on that chiefly but i want to the clipless research that's five belgian pleasure now you. will continue with our coverage of ukraine in just over half an hour from now.

recently swiss voters nearly passed a referendum to put a strict quota back on immigration switzerland is a relatively small country and some estimate that almost a quarter of the population is made up of immigrants from countries that is a lot of people and the swiss are worried that the increased foreigners will also mean increased crime rent prices burn the state and erode traditional local culture as modern immigration almost always does this is populations democratic choice to restrict immigration is naturally being blasted by the e.u. brass with threats to cancel bilateral agreements how dare you have a different version of democracy than we in the you have switzerland how dare you i don't think this event will have much effect on the e.u. bureaucratic machine nothing could make them change their hyper liberal minds but i

think the swiss anti immigration referendum will have a huge effect on local populations of countries like germany and the u.k. which are seeing horrible effects of open borders and growing anti e.u. sentiment as i speak i don't like to make predictions by i think a lot of disenfranchised people across the e.u. are going to become quite jealous of the swiss move and demand the same type of changes at home but that's just my opinion.

over there i marinate and this is boom bust and these are the stories that we're tracking for you today are lovers old. the book big fish depict fish. out of and to guess which country is singing that same tune overtaken india as the number one consumer of gold we'll tell you all about it just ahead and boom bust stays golden with george sheldon who joins me to talk about whether the gold standards in flexibility contributed to debt deflation in the one nine hundred thirty s. plus comedian and author lead can that makes a big deal dave you talk about how chevron tried to mend his relationship after customers had to go through.