the rift between madrid and barcelona deepens as catalonia says it's ready to declare independence from spain in a matter of days. the leadership of the al nasra terror group in syria is all that eliminated after twelve top commanders and the group's leaders left in a critical condition following a russian airstrike. on the middle east is also in focus at the russia energy week forum with saudi king solomon set to arrive in moscow for talks with president putin.

these are the headlines at r.t. international coming to you live from moscow i'm kate thank you for joining us. the european parliament is holding a special meeting on the crisis in council lonia on tuesday hundreds of thousands protested in the spanish region supporting the results of sunday's disputed independence referendum and decrying madrid's crackdown of the vote while i'm especially a chicken is following events in barcelona and she joins us live or hi there the next year so what are the latest developments. well kate indeed the european parliament has meeting and has been meeting in strasbourg to discuss the latest developments in catalonia clearly highly concerning not just for the people of catalonia of spain but really throughout the european union since there have been concerns about potential exemplary seeds are being sewn in terms of what is going to unravel here regarding the future of this country potentially breaking up given

the moods here and how to lonia now at the european parliament's discussion today we have been hearing voices saying that people need to stick to the law aka of course this is a job that cuts lonia the european parliamentarians do believe that they need to adhere to the spanish constitution their new surprises there they've been talking about how going against the law is not a good idea and dialogue is needed with madrid now this is all great but when it comes to the reality we do of course now see really across a critical situation between madrid and barcelona with no really signs in sight that they're going to be able to agree on anything given the vigorous mess with which the capsule and leadership has been wanting to move forward we did hear a few voices from the european parliament on the violence or brutal police crackdown on the of to over first referendum let's take a listen to what was said. but i wish to be. in the.

but. and whatever your intention. can change you should be out of the image of your government. well what's crucial in terms of what we're going to be watching here in barcelona throughout the day later on today we do expect the capsule leader preacher monster make a statement where he is likely to outline some kind of lines in terms of when a potential process of launching independence from spain could begin we do know that there is going to be an emergency session being held in the regional council on parliament here in barcelona on monday where this is likely to come to the forefront and some kind of clarity in terms of the timeline of when the cats land region once to step out of spain but certainly this is not going to be an easy

fight whatsoever despite these diplomatic slogans from the european parliament for the two sides to get together and negotiate moods are quite intense both here in catalonia as well as madrid in terms of seeing the situation completely differently now of course this whole situation has been leading to yesterday tens of thousands of people coming out for a general strike on the streets of catalonia we are expecting another protest later on tonight which is going to be an anti independence one and we're going to see how many people come out to our demonstrate for that but certainly a busy day a busy time had a very crucial in terms of what it's going to unravel thier next certainly is nasty a church in mosul and i thank you very much indeed thank you. well meanwhile the european union says it won't condemn the police violence in spain and instead gave its backing to the spanish prime minister to resolve the crisis was punished or so it is continue to say they see the vote as illegal and unconstitutional well

meanwhile the mare barcelona's says she's received reports from so. for women who say they were sexually assaulted by police on the day of the referendum is that the few get out some subsistence if you want no notice of any given what sort of position you get into having their right. to the ocean many of them finally get something positive not just political well but when i see my sexual equality receive only several reports from then on as you say released actually some kind of silly you know well sunday's referendum led to violent scuffles between riot police and voters almost nine hundred people were injured by the or sorties who were trying to stop people from casting their ballots. well for more on this i'm now joined by carlos bratz a catalan m.p. thank you very much indeed for joining us karl as well the castle on government promises to proclaim independence by next monday what will happen do you think if madrid doesn't accept the referendum result. well yes good afternoon

from barcelona. well i haven't really now we are in the moment where we are you know following hours we are going to know all the official results of the. referendum saw in the coming hours on the coming days the problem and we will meet in order to make the correlation of independence. from doubt. on we know that the spanish government is not recognizing the. results. they are not recognizing that there are suddenly you we could. not organize and. receive more than three million people voting in different points prepared for for that purpose we know is not going to be easy and they are trying to talk to you to keep using force in order to. make a stop. well in the meantime colors the e.u.

parliament is holding a meeting on the crisis most of the m.p.'s are calling on catalonia to open dialogue with madrid i mean do you think though that that will happen. well over. a couple gourami's really. in these objective about four hours it's very important. international community. recognizes what is happening here in qatar lonia and also they are and we are making calls here in order. to receive some international support. in the process of negotiating with. the spanish government so we hope we will do the meeting in this. taking place at the moment in the problem and we will help. to internationalize the conflict.

to make some to receive some international support in order. to make the spanish government sit on the table and they will see it or water or we can do together from now to the future very briefly because if i'm just asking is pro and anti independence movements that calling for the mass protests on sunday i mean there is a risk of violence or is there i mean do you expect the spanish police to be as brutal as they were during sunday's referendum. we hope that by once we we saw. was. going we hope they are not going to repeat it because yesterday in barcelona i mean you see this in god alone you know we saw. how society was really against. the use of. force from the. the spanish or police are no more than

one million people here in barcelona where. protesting against these teachers and also in the. main cities even into your own parliament of got a lot of you know all star games so we hope that those problems go along it's not going to go forward. with the use of the four. leave it there carlos pratt's catalan m.p. thank you very much indeed for your source thank you thank you very much well the crisis has even crossed into football in spain as national teams prepare for their final qualifying matches to reach the twenty eighteen world cup here in russia was alone a defender gerard piqué an outspoken backer of council on independence was booed as he trained with the spanish squad if by well p.k. is from catalonia and has had

a glittering career for both his club and the spanish national team him he's won the world and european cups however piquet has said he is willing to retire from international football over his staunch backing of castle on independence well barcelona football club is a focal point of catalan nationalism supporters can be heard chanting independence slogans during matches after seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds seventeen fourteen being the catalonia became a part of spain well the club also took part in the recent strike against the government and after last sunday's game was played behind closed doors due to fears of crowd safety piquet got emotional talking about independence during a t.v. interview. so you got the land a year story. or much going on in total your so. i don't know what the. bomber you're so i mean it's almost a little too much of the notion of quality. you know. you know you're only going to. know your name or not very soon.

or procure the. greatest show you the problem of going to. follow. now the u.k. independence party has elected a new leader henry bolton becomes the fifth head of the group in just over a year well fifty four year old bolton is a former british army officer he used to be in the liberal democrat party and he was awarded the order of the british empire the other be his services to international security and henry bolton joins us now. hello there henry congratulations on your new position i mean well let's start there with your key party policy which is u.k. independence well the exit secretary david davis has issued a strong warning to the you that britain says that we no deal if there's no breakthrough in talks what do you think of that i think that's absolutely right my

fear is that it's well and good saying that but the british government was plan and prepare to leave we must we must be prepared to leave and we must be prepared immediately to leave if necessary if there is no deal and that without that preparation there's no real credibility behind such a statement well let's look at some other independence issues i mean particular the one we've been talking about which is spain the european parliament is holding a meeting on the council on crisis but the main focus so far has been less been on the legality i should say of the referendum not on the brutal crackdown on the voters i mean how can you explain that. well i mean. the it's not in the interest of the european union or the spanish state to allow the debate to focus on anything else apart from the constitutional and legal issues however i would say that if the spanish authorities. are keen on dealing with this issue

and making sure that catalonia doesn't break away then the police have to act appropriately some of the scenes that we saw on the television and some of the scenes coming across on social media were quite horrific in the in the manner in which in showing the manner in which some of the spanish police were treating innocent and peaceful people queuing up to vote i don't think that helps helps anybody at this stage they need to be discussing a mutually agreeable way forward now but that may be difficult given the ballance that we've seen. i mean do you think then madrid is gone too far i mean is it past the point of no we said now in terms of negotiations i mean do you think that the heavy handed police punts was the only way that they could deal with a referendum now do you think there was another way that they could have handled it . i really don't think that that was helpful the referendum was held anyway it was a result in any case the actions of the police simply served to alienate the madrid also are too strong from the people in catalonia who want to move away and.

dependence so you know for me it was it was handled in appropriately ok of course it's a matter of the spanish authorities but that's my opinion i am a former police officer and what i saw you know just made me real because i just thought you know this is not the way to police such an incident professionally. let's turn back now to the u.k. i mean it's been revealed that the u.k. has the biggest audience in europe for jihadist online propaganda i mean how do you plan how does your party plan to tackle the terrorist threat given that the level is now it's the fear. well we being the terror threat general you know that's a massive question i mean you know this country needs to tighten up on its border security it is to better control its perimeter if you like without which if your external security is or the security around your borders is compromised then of course your internal security is compromised as well and then internally we've had cuts to policing of some twenty five percent the the first policing

functions if you like that have suffered from that are the ones that the public don't see a backroom officers or functions or most such as intelligence analysis which of critical capabilities that are being undermined by by these continued cuts and then you mentioned the jihadist propaganda online when indeed that's that's a significant problem and i believe that it should be equally as it is an offense to to watch and download. child exploitation videos and so on equally it should be an offense to download and view jihadist material that's also now that harry had a look at some of the why do issues international issues that come into the naming to me what are your plans what your part is plans for dealing with the north korean crisis i mean would you support the u.s. actions all the way. no not unconditionally no not stole the

you know obviously the moment we're not in government and we're not involved in any dialogue on the matter between the u.k. and the american authorities or any other authorities for that matter however. there is a worrying trend here i mean obviously we're all worried about north korea if the u.k. can contribute in any way to solving that then i believe we should now that also the last resort is of course military force the u.k. does not have the military weight or clout so the ability to deploy large forces into that region and indeed anything that we would be doing would be. i would imagine in a coalition effort in support of the americans but that would we need to have a say in what that was before i would be happy in committing british military assets to to such an operation if it were to go military which i hope very much it doesn't that's also now look close to home let's look at your family what are your thoughts in the wake of the john the elections i mean do you think that the rise of

the right wing alternative to jam the policy is going to affect the integrity the staying together of the in u. . you know it's the european union it's a little bit i don't notice that the european union have not in any way condemned the violence in catalonia i mean the european union is is a a centralizing authority that the it actually is is slowly sapping local autonomy. and identity problem all of the member states and i think that's why you see the rise of of policies that are keen to to limit the powers of brussels if not leave the european union altogether like ours the the success of the f.t. i think is. a very strong signal to brussels that they need to reform but unfortunately all we see from brussels in response to the u.k.

referendum on independence or indeed the election of the the election of the members of parliament is. increasing effort to centralize and and assert more centralized control which is exactly why we want to break away so i think the european union is going in entirely the wrong direction if it wants to remain a solid unified bloc then we should leave it there new ukip leader henry bolton thank you very much indeed for your thoughts thank you thank you thank you very much now the leader of the algos a terror group has been gravely injured in a russian ass strike in syria more on that story after this short break. in case you're new to the game this is how it works now the economy is built around corporations corporations from washington washington controls the media the

media. the voters elected businessmen to run this country business equals power you must it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. what politicians do something to. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president i'm sure. we somehow want to be rich. but you'd like to be for us this is what before three of the more people. interested always in the waters and. there should.

welcome back the leader of the al nasra terror group abu mohammed al giuliani has been gravely injured in a russian as strike in syria russia's defense ministry says its fighter jet successfully targeted an meeting century eliminating the group's leadership were at gusty of reports from syria. and this is all in the aftermath of last month's attack on a group of russian military police in northern hamma they were there to monitor a deescalation zone and what caught in the middle of a rebel offensive they were surrounded by fighters jihad ists led by nusra front and what ensued was a battle that lasted for many hours as a result of the bandits attack a platoon of military police numbering twenty nine people was trapped for several hours and was forced to repel enemy attacks despite being outnumbered that military

police unit was with the help of then surely able to withdraw break out of the encircled mind but since then russian surveillance and military intelligence has gone into overdrive looking for new stores leadership and their fighters on the third of october they learned that there would be a meeting with senior officials nusra officials in attendance and when sources on the ground confirm that two jets would dispatch to carry out and then strike it was hugely successful twelve field commanders were killed abu mohammed al giuliani the leader of nusra front apparently lost a hand and is now in critical condition fifty other fighters and bodyguards were also killed as well as many others injured this is extremely important because nuestra among the jihad to stand rebel factions in syria is arguably the most powerful with the most sophisticated weapons and the most fight is.

that allowed to elevate the highly effective. the gap to block is full of the extremely toxic chemical. this is one of the methods of torture that was used by the militants. however the fight against terror is not over despite most militants being driven out of syria and iraq russia's president has warned that the series of major defeats has forced the terrorists to change their tactics and relocate the key aaron has the details in his address president putin said that terrorist factions

in syria and iraq are reeling after a series of significant blows and this is something that may be pushing them into setting their sights on other countries in other regions also this comes after some major gains in the fight against terror groups in the two countries we've seen the syrian army supported by russia retake syria piece by piece from the clasp of the militants successfully liberating india resort breaking the three year stage there also the u.s. led coalition is forcing the group from the defacto capital of raca while fighting against isis continues in iraq also so it's been blow after blow for the terror group announce what could prompt the move to establish new bases elsewhere here's what he said to counter terror activities in syria and iraq have not led to the total demolition of infrastructure and the combat potential of terrorist organizations the militants have changed their tactics and started creating new strongholds in other states and regions but this isn't just about eliminating i

still of course there's also. job at hand as well whichever one you want to call it that's the second strongest insurgent group in syria after iceland russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has stressed the importance of not overlooking this group we have long been trying to draw the international community's attention to the fact that the us led coalition before the russian military had started its anti-terrorist campaign in syria which quite possibly citing eyesore. and not striking our newsroom. after russia launched its operation the coalition became more active strikes against isis but even after the new u.s. administration stepped in we haven't seen the coalition making any serious efforts to target al newsroom and this week has also seen significant gains against those who are also courtesy of russian forces and their strike this week unlimited several key think is unless the group has the leader of the group jelani critically injured which could deal

a major blow to operations and also to the mood rout of the on this were a terror group gilani could almost be the poster boy of terrorism you know he for u.s. troops in iraq he quickly rose through the ranks of al qaeda he was released from u.s. prison in iraq and then went on to join islamic states and prior to the formation of illness or al johnny was a senior member of islamic state in iraq so after he became the leader of on this road there was an attempt to rebrand the terror group if you like in two thousand and sixteen but despite this the the tactics used by this terror group and women's large the same from torture to shelling residential areas and even allegations of using chemical weapons. well the middle east situation was only one of the topics tackled by president putin at the russia energy week forum taking place in moscow now correspondent joins me live from the event hi there betty leah so tell us what's been discussed. while the event is indeed called be

at or g. week and vladimir putin really needed a lot of energy not to go on about all and other resource business but to answer the many questions and loads of global difficult political issues everyone always wants to hear from the man in charge of both countries what is going on between russia. and the us today a lot of our putin has said that moscow washington relations are the hostage to america's own political battles. but he still is a little us russian relations through victim to the internal political situation in america certain forces are using these relations to address the internal political problems in the u.s. but we are patient we're waiting to this process is over. now besides

this the russian president also believes that there are many other issues that he needs to worry about that could be much more dangerous or no less dangerous than the difficulties between america and russia for example the north korean crisis because we often forget that russia shares a border with north korea something that always triggers instability in all trade is of course any kind of conflict in the middle east and that brings us to syria and that also takes us back to u.s. russia relations vladimir putin says that working with the americans on taking out the terrorists in syria and also on the syrian peace process is very challenging but still promising and he still hopes to do a lot of things together with washington when it comes to more than a billion dollars in cooperation in the energy sector. is hoping to do

a lot of things with saudi arabia's king is about to come to moscow here's what was said about that issue during the may plenary session of the russian energy week. we're looking into the future with confidence as far as saudi russian relations are concerned as well as russian relations with such country. as egypt jordan israel and with syria. but let's face it. major is always going to be the united states when it comes to your political interests do you worry that the saudis are using you was because you said always will remain is that anything in the world that is so absolutely constant when we leave it there that's a must i thank you very much indeed thank you i will be back with more news at the top of the hour.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle the people of catalonia went to the polls seeking independence the spanish state reacted with force against peaceful voters still again the question arises what is the e.u.'s commitment to democracy and who is allowed self-determination. crosstalk in catalonia i'm joined by my guest my quarter up in london he is a professor of political science at coventry university as well as author of referendums an ethnic conflict also in london we have matthew goodwin.