russia calls on all those involved in ukraine's political crisis to avoid further escalation is a manhunt is launched for the country's ousted leader and members of his former ruling party. it's not really juice you need a bulldozer to push through the consultants from the u.s. and. western politicians step up to ukraine with the e.u. offering a financial lifeline to win over the new leadership and in other news this hour. a giant bear sheds a tear of farewell as the curtain draws on the sochi two thousand and fourteen winter games that will go down in history for merkel and a record breaking performances. president barack obama's attempts to tame the n.s.a.

have apparently failed as reports claim the agency snooped on hundreds of german officials after the president forbade them from spying on the country's chancellor . eight pm in moscow by mattress i could have you with us here on r t our top story the ongoing hunt for ukraine's ousted leader a victory on a covert chain his once powerful party of regions has prompted some strong statements from russia a statement issued by the foreign ministry says moscow is quote alarmed by the dictatorial and sometimes terrorist methods chosen by ukraine's interim leadership is a discontent the text posted on the ministry website also ordered that all those connected with the crisis should show deep responsibility to prevent further escalation of tensions restore law and order and restrain extremists who are striving for power there are he's a group is. is in the embattled ukrainian capital give us more on what's going on

in. well the situation here in kiev now referred by many as a witch hunt because now former officials are being searched for the party of regions which was headed by ousted president declaring the provision still a few days ago was the key political force in the country it's now under the threat of being banned altogether while its numbers accused. of being behind the violent actions of the authorities during the fighting. self is now wanted and apparently being charged with organizing the killing of innocent ukrainians now there are i've seen some police returning to the streets here in kiev but now they're standing side by side with the rebels who are also still patrolling the streets armed with sticks and baseball bats but the pictures that

we're getting from eastern ukraine are completely different and presumably that's where the president. currently is and he is being searched for of course his exact whereabouts are unknown because apparently he's been ignoring any state facilities trying to stay in private residence nevertheless in several eastern ukrainian towns the attempts to hold rallies in support of my don have been fooled by local residents were even getting reports that in some parts of the crimea volunteers turned up and are pretty much preparing to try to try to fight any oppositional forces if they enter the republic so the situation is still very tense especially when it comes to the relations between the western and eastern ukraine and for more about the events which have been unfolding here. here's

a report we've prepared earlier. independence as mind on hayles won't be downing of the dictator and warns those killed in kiev a city or street battles perhaps the way certain groups of the opposition have been acting can hardly be called democratic around five hundred offices of the now ex ruling party have been burnt down those with a different political stance or physically attacked inside the parliament most of those which have right now it's somewhere about emotions rather than political rivalry the most important thing right now is to prevent all parties from being bound completely because then the situation would lose all regional mysie. the president has fled the capital saying a coup has been carried out while the parliament passes new laws as fast as a printing press. taking down officials and appointing their old political rivals including putting a right wing party liners even government calls such as i did he from the

nationalists the party taking charge of the prosecutor general's office because it's just. a new regime is taking shape really quickly and with the use of strong measures it has nothing to do with democracy because those coming to power will go on with pursuing tough policies and they will conduct massive expansion of the eastern territories. among the first laws adopted the banning of russian as the second official state language despite nearly fifty percent of those living in the east of ukraine being ethnic russians the public is told from now on the right wing is going to be heavily present in ukraine's law enforcement at the moment the situation in kiev is basically controlled by radical people with with us who are pursuing a very very militant agenda which is a political call i think he is an utterly discredited man he cut deals with opposition leaders. who well quite obviously since the nineteenth of january no

longer in control of the crowds and here there are reports that foreign journalists who've been promoting different values from the rebels have now been put onto a wanted list as well as trying to temporarily ban russian t.v. channels many are now raising the question if this is the type of democracy so many ukrainians put their lives on the line for. key of the uprising in kiev has deep in the longstanding divide between ukraine as west and southeast with a huge russian speaking population the eastern provinces are home to the country's main industrial areas and the south contains ukraine's ports in the second largest of those sevastopol ethnic russians make up more than seventy percent of the bible asian while the u.s. foreign policy chief catherine ashton is set to meet ukraine's new interim leadership following europe's pledge to provide the state with twenty billion euros once a new government is formed international monetary fund has also confirmed its commitment to support kiev's floundering economy the former soviet leader mikhail gorbachev

things the west has crossed the line when it comes to stepping into ukraine's affairs. we just have you seen what's going on the it's not religious you need a bulldozer to push all the consultants from the u.s. and the e.u. and they should let the people decide for themselves issuing recommendations to nations is unacceptable you shouldn't send. both sides need to head to the negotiating table and talk one month or six months if needed a little come to an agreement eventually. christine stone a journalist and a writer on the former soviet union things compromise wasn't a priority for brussels or washington when it comes to ukraine. as far as we can see now the west will put up with anything for regime change in in ukraine. it is a cynical approach on the one hand we saw last week in the middle east proper pads

were ninety all year old concentration camp guards among the other hand they give up power to be people. in groups like probably think. parties like at least in in the orange revolution. that was an opposition that was a government that was in opposition all these rules that have been found so far the last few days and the rather of all being passed unanimously even baroness ashton of the west surely will want to see. some opposition power at the moment there are none or not allowed one of these. he suddenly going to say you well the opposition and i will be the the price will sort of thing we don't know if we can let. the station doesn't lead in the next few days weeks

and i can't see how they can be plausible elections quite frankly stay with us here on our the national we're following developments in and around ukraine you can also find a timeline of the crisis and minute by minute reports online at r.t. dot com. right now so. we're strong. and i think you're. twenty fourteen winter games in sochi ended in style sixteen days of competition kept with a dazzling closing ceremony are nice in our way and was an r.t.s. so if you studio was lucky enough to witness the games from start to finish she has a bittersweet look at how it all went. this is sad and it's overwhelming

we've seen so many big breaks and heartfelt waltzes cheers and tears here in sochi over the past weeks a lot of nail biting competitions nerve wrecking races and great performances all of those are going to go down in the olympic history and this great celebration of sport certainly was sealed with a finale to remember viewers were taken further on a journey through russian culture picking up from the opening ceremony it was a tribute to the russian greats in the arts music and literature and the organizers didn't miss the opportunity to poke a little fun at themselves over the infamous the limbic ring that would open up the start of the games of course the biggest excitement came from russian fans after the host nation searched at the top of the medal count with a total of thirteen goals and a spectacular moment of course to the farewell show was the magnificent slyer work display. link

ceremony there and plenty of olympic moments to remember we've put together our top five sensations of sochi we begin with the dutch they managed to grab eight golds and all of them in speed skating and actually twenty three out of the twenty four medals they want in sochi were in speed skating and number four a rising star of figure skating seventeen year old nick of a she became the first russian ever to take individual gold in women's figure skating i'm very proud to have won a gold medal at the age of seventeen it's such a great feeling it's a blast with everything including with myself. sensation number three the new russians korean born speed skater victor on he won three golds for his new homeland an american snowboarder vic wild were married to siberia and join russia as the olympic team to become one of the gold medalist i didn't have any good for the united states and that was a good to reach the goals that i wanted. for sure. the opportunity to get people's

. person station number two is norwegian biathlete although born die then he became the most decorated winter olympian of all time a great performance for his sixth and final winter games and of course the top stop goes to team russia for their overall performance of the host nation making a victorious comeback from the vancouver games and making it to the top of the medal table at home with thirteen gold medals thirty three overall. sochi has also welcomed some usual competitors to for them it was not about taking the podium but about enjoying the games and making everyone else happy and inspired artist paul scott has more on those athletes with a difference. for some athletes sochi twenty fourteen was simply about taking part take for example indian illusia shiva can shave in his

commitment to his sport highlighted by his training regime winding his way down dusty trucks by passing jokes and lorries along the way. and i want some insight yes he may have come thirty seven thousand and thirty nine but the him is more state following accusations of corruption the indian and limpid committee were suspended by the i.o.c. in two thousand and twelve was lifted during these games meaning can shave and could finally compete under his nation's fly unfortunately there's a lot of politics played with the flag of india which i'm sure many people back home we're not happy with but no that's over thing that's a lesson learned for everybody. one of the more colorful characters of these games was prince you bertus of hohenlohe in london the fifty five year old is a descendant of a former german royal dinner he's also a way photographer the pop star who goes by the name of royal disaster.

these are his sixth olympics jewel nationality skis for mexico he's never won a medal for the maybe deserves gold for p.r. so i think that russia the only problem that had these things to hire the p.r. person like me to be better p.r. before i mean you know it's a great place. on the phone but you know what the. everything is really. just got a positive for my over to europe and to america that we're so negative it's time to make his debut in these games you know banani went in the luge to tell his real name mind as part of a sponsorship deal he changed his name to the german underwear company but he told me he wants to be known for his sporting prowess if i didn't qualify for the olympics they wouldn't care at all what names i am so i think is the most important thing that i try hard in training hard to get to the. m d's any winter olympics complete without the jamaican bobsled the main attraction for preston five raising

their own funds to compete missing a connecting flight losing their luggage on coming second last still didn't dampen their party spirit proving that in amongst all this posing excellence there is still room for sport to be fun. for such olympics ever again lots of records and it's not just sports we're talking about almost half of the planet was watching these games at some point with at least three billion viewers and talking about fans they set a surprising sound record with their vocal cords during one of victor on speed skating races but the cheers reaching one hundred ten decibels and here's another record quite an unexpected one thirty four babies were born in sochi on the day of the opening ceremony the city's highest single daily total of newborns ever such a games will also go down in history for the weather becoming the warmest winter olympics in history or certainly not complain. there's been lots of sunshine and

not snow the olympics of course officially over we're left with a lot of things to look back at but we're also looking forward to the paralympic games starting in less than two weeks earlier my colleague marina joshie had a chance to chat with the man who was in charge of making sure that everything went like clockwork in sochi now the olympic flame is deb's to me share with our t. is personal feelings about the project. the biggest achievements probably for us for russians as the nation's. the best games ever in the history of my country all of us live us that we have gained the confidence that russia scape ability to deliver ambitious projects and the most important decide that the gold that we generated to historical legacy for the generations to come well i have the games as you know russia has come under a lot of criticism so how do you feel about those reports i mean how the in any way

overshadowed the games you know it's impossible to shadow the truth we were in the brick it's all of this to you at types from the cold war and now it was broken everybody who came and we can is this. fish and. inspiring hospitable they really change from the criticism to the cover and the real positive things now looking at the object of infrastructure that have been created in the city had all the games what can you tell us about how they are going to be used in diffuse the future of my native city of sochi is very bright the plan for the legacy it's all very well. with the money allocated to maintain in the event is but the most important. events place where host in a couple of months or so in the formula one the race in for moms and no

more to come in the wall to wall championships so if you're in the wrong from the ordinary. summer resort to the all the around international sports and laser convention this nation. and putting a heartfelt goodbye to the winter olympics we asked you to submit your highlights and feel good moment of the games to our facebook page thanks for sharing your sochi moments with us no surprise you picked russian gold in ladies. figure skating there are some also impressed by national team's parade while others selected the performance by russian figure skater ricky darling yulia lipnitskaya in just over an hour our own cape archers will bring you a more detailed roundup of all the winter olympic action but before that on our t.v. with scotland's independence referendum looming britain facing the prospect of losing the union flag i mean to be said. so many things would have to be changed. r.t.

as a brits how they would feel about saying goodbye to a treasured national symbol. going to extremes all across europe rightwing and the e.u. parties and groups are gaining strength and in some cases respectability what accounts for this hard economic times or the growing alienation and frustration with the euro project could be said the new right is really the old right so we're in a nice suit. choose your language. actually we can without any financial literacy skills and. choose the consensus you. choose the opinions that you think are great to. choose to stories could impact. the access to.

thanks for staying with us twenty minutes past the hour president barack obama's recent ban on monitoring communications has forced the n.s.a. to turn off a return to other other sources of european data reports say the agency switched to spying on hundreds of german officials including the interior minister. has more from. the national security agency was allegedly monitoring three hundred twenty eight people here in germany mostly politicians also business leaders and this is

according to a german newspaper here built and so on tag which says it's info comes from a high ranking n.s.a. employee here in germany now that source was quoted as saying the agency had the order not to miss out on any information and that the n.s.a. is no longer able to monitor the chancellor's communications directly the interior minister a close confidant of mr merkel was also allegedly watched as well as several firms such as s a p a competitor of the us company oracle this allegation was rejected by the us national security council spokeswoman who said that the united states did not spy to give american firms competitive advantages the german interior ministry so far refusing to comment on what it called allegations of unnamed individuals but this is of course bound to make things quite difficult for on the lower merkel keep in mind revelations last year about mass u.s. surveillance in germany in particular of miss merkel's mobile phone had shocked

this country sparking some of the most serious disputes between the two allies in a decade as a result we've seen a tougher stance here the german chancellor now pushing for a european communications network and also pushing for a so-called no spy deal with washington the german foreign minister is due to visit the u.s. on thursday but he has said that he has doubts that such a deal would have very much of an effect. a norwegian man has reportedly been arrested charged with terrorism after returning home from the syrian war national media says he's accused of fighting alongside jihad is this is oslo officials revealed dozens of people have left their home country for the syrian front lines western analysts estimate that at least two thousand volunteers from across europe are involved in the syrian conflict about seven hundred of them from france according to the french government which says it's deeply concerned about the trend new while some two hundred fifty british citizens have recently returned from the war london now considering them a potential homegrown terror threat security analyst hello laura says european

governments are unable to stop the radicalization of their citizens whether they are in syria might get into and be comin to come talk to the. very ground who cool idea who. doesn't work. very closely. will call you the chance to learn and to bust. on the jewels of. the history and the names of the capacity and knowledge to actually carry tykes realistically have a different capacity is the system the legal framework to exist it can't be completely stopped some countries of tried to make it illegal to do to join these foid in syria but it's very difficult to gather evidence and to prosecute so they tried to you know cooperation among the various intelligence services also into the region to try to soften to some of the moment or in their activity but should these

activities. i think go side of the remainder of the intelligence services. gas magnates may claim fracking is safe but as we report online they will put up with it near their own homes more on the controversy sparked by a statement from exxon c.e.o. on r t dot com plus. alligators of the skies a state of the art attack helicopter named after a shark tooth carnivora joins the russian air force on to our website for more images and details. of all the many things that britain stands to lose if scotland breaks away in september's independence vote giving up the union jack would arguably be the most keenly felt some of already started to reinvention a flag that's been a cherished symbol of national identity for more than two centuries laura smith has londoners what they think about some new designs. campaigns on both sides of the scottish independence debate a hostage in opp the factions have until september to sell their idea of how the

union should look going forwards westminster says an independent scotland would lose the pound but hardly anyone seems to be talking about something even more simple legs at the rest of the u.k. could lose if scotland declared independence the union jack scotland's represented on the flag by the blue background and diagonal white cross but if scotland left the u.k. might have to get back old these flags would become obsolete and replaced with walt u.k. charity the flag institute has most tops and suggestions so let's see what people think the noise she's looking when i see. who's got the world kingdom so the current state sure kingman i. know is to find she that one. some of these are my favorite british one ok and what what you think of the idea what you think the concept in general would have to try to do what is going to more

. and everything so i don't want to change i suppose it makes more sense i mean that's one point i'm having an issue in america and a part of the u.k. anymore that's quite attractive. she shook educational ball flag that you know be difficult for people to have any change really yeah i mean to be sad. so many things would have to be changed. it really was that you think maybe. you know the union jacks enjoyed a resurgence in recent years becoming an iconic brand again apparently everything from high fashion to soft furnishings it would be haute for britain to discard it and indeed there are no firm plans to change it even if scotland does declare independence but david cameron and alex salmond might do well to better the flag in mind as this war of words save a scotland gets here and. up next the resurgence of the far right near

a party's peter lavelle and cross-talk s. take a look. judy cox a utah mother out of spite but an entire line of t. shirts at a popular chain store at her local mall the reason that she bought them was because she feels that the images of nearly naked women on them violate her local towns decency code she wants to make it clear though that she feels the store has the right to sell this type of shirt just not displayed in an exterior window ultimately her plan is to return the shirts on day fifty nine of the store's sixty limit let's hope for her sake they don't have a no return policy i bring this up because this is a great example of a nonviolent form of protest that actually works because the scandal and more importantly it will make the company lose a few dollars technically the girls on the shirts are even fully exposed believe me i checked thoroughly and i would even call them r.

rated by local communities have the right to be more conservative than the rest of the nation if they want to be and it's good that judy cox actually did something rather than just sitting at home on the internet complaining about moral decay across the country if a housewife from a small mormon community can stand up to the man what's stopping you but that's just my opinion. for the young girls cammo for the future hotter. between two and three hundred million guns united states so you can act like they're not here and keep kids away from them. the process is they long for you

know this teaches them a lot of response ability. it would do it for our children our future. hello and welcome to crossfire where all things considered i'm peter lavelle going to extremes all across europe right wing and the e.u. parties and groups are gaining strength and in some cases respectability what accounts for this hard economic times or the growing alienation and frustration with the euro project could it be said the new right is really the old right but wearing

a nice suit. to cross talk the rise of the right i'm joined by my guest so anyone dull in london he is a journalist and writer for the guardian and al-jazeera in berlin we have harold whelan bach he is a researcher and a member of the european radicalization awareness network and in harrisburg we cross to paul godfrey he is an author and professor emeritus at elizabethtown college right gentlemen cross-talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it sunny if i go to you first day i think my introduction should be a little familiar to you because i stole it ok from an article that you wrote recently and i want to quote one of the sentences talking about the right wing right wing groups and parties in the west they put on smart suits stop using crude racist language and set out to gain respectability explain to our viewers what you mean but i think that they love the parties across.