was. wednesday is declared an official day of mourning in russia as large crowds gather across the country to remember the victims of sunday's shopping center fire in the siberian city of camera which killed at least sixty four people including forty one children while in the city itself. thousands rally to demand answers and justice for those who died calling for the resignation of the regional government. the other the. god to. expose. the u.s. state department says it has no proof russia was behind the poisoning of double agent so again screw fall in the u.k.

or takes london's claims at face value. when the u.k. tells us that they have proof that they know russia was responsible we have every reason to believe. there is there i have i've not going to leave there were of. the ok partridge and you're watching the latest headlines here is r.t. international thank you for joining us. russia continues to mourn the victims of sunday's fire a shopping in leisure complex in the siberian city of camera at least sixty four people were killed including forty one children as many others reported missing the blaze started on the top floor where there was a cinema and children center vigils have been held across the country with people bringing toys and flowers to makeshift memorials. niña.

beechnut three q two. three kids and this has been the. court system where. we don't we put in the because. thousands attended a vigil in central moscow including families and children those who couldn't get to the improvised memorial to lay flowers and toys toss them to all those closest to the front ati's medina caution for those that. were here in the center of moscow as you can see here hundreds of people came to commemorate the victims of the deadly blaze and the city of camera now this square seems not to be enough to feed everyone who wants to be a part of this event you know many people came here with their children a lot of people brought flowers some pain here was the wide balloons that had been released into the sky up paying respects to the victims of that horrible tragedy now we managed to speak to some people who came to the downtown of the capital this

tuesday we consume as each of our bremer up our game a couple when you. look at jim's cousin brigitta point reach out able to use go of we you know we are in the pocket of i. do not said yet come or treats it's come aboard ship bring certain year due to syria not but the bulk of. what she is another piece d.c. is all up in my view of you who's with why you're probably a metal professional thumb if you know a preview of the ship but having a bizarre buffet is just the lawyer for prism i'm copy of the fiftieth the down the to the ideas that is the blood. what if still there were a lot of people here but down in a couple of hours the atmosphere here at this event started to change and became distinctly political now there was a group of people that started to shout different slogans they were protesting against the current russian government they were also calling for the governor of the canada. region this is where the tragedy to place to step down earlier and

other events took place by the walls of the kremlin where as well a lot of people came there bringing flowers and lighting candles it is a very difficult moment for the whole country as this horrible tragedy has shaken everyone and not only in the country but around the world. for wednesday has been declared a national day of mourning in russia more than thirty cities have already held vigils in the past twenty four hours some drivers also sounded their car horns in tribute to the victims. well these are pictures from elsewhere in russia where people are commemorating the dead they've been releasing balloons lighting candles and leaving notes of remembrance while people in israel ukraine hungary estonia the united kingdom and other countries have also been laying flowers outside russian embassies flowers

were also made in the former soviet republics of kyrgyzstan and. while anger has been growing at the center of the tragedy in kenya river itself thousands massed in the city center on choose day demanding justice for the victims and the resignation of the regional government the rally lost it for twelve hours. really was. that was that your we were when you what you know what. the worst was. a very emotional and. is probably the perfect metaphor to sum up one question on everybody's mind in one way or another or another is that this kid. should be farther from the truth the mother ship the sleep the emotion here the emotion level is borderline hysterical people want to know why why the fire

prevention system didn't work why the people had to break through fire exits. i ran upstairs cinema stuff didn't let me say who they pushed me to my daughter asked me why no one was saving her i asked the fireman to do something but he just stared. around two third floor firemen stood there did nothing in front of the door my daughter told me that she loved me and that she was suffocating i told her to get down on the floor and back her not to die the children our dear it isn't a matter of how many are dead now unless we change something hundreds of others could die if you don't do stupid boy in the future when you've got your back over the last one just as you are going to have those good old shit that i did yeah yeah yeah good stuff see if you love the thank you for the guys that this is just so yeah sure especially when we're going to see if they give it up well that of course

but there's yet another reason that you didn't exhibit is here was or did you sit. it's. and you know. this is of course is only a portion of experiences inside that shopping mall talking to people here talking to survivors we know that security guards actually often warn people about the beginning fine and we've heard some stories of security guards heroically carrying children out of the blaze now another very important thing people want to know hayes whether or not the authorities are lowering down the number of the dead in the blaze because. everyone we've talked to from taxi drivers to bystanders and passers by and people who brought flowers to the vigil of the all seem to believe that the actual number of people who died in the blaze could reach three hundred and five hundred people and that their thirty's are trying to shoot down so to speak to some people went to the morgue to see for with their own eyes whether or

not the rumor is true and he is basically the two different points of view on this the authorities claim that sixty four bodies were found and a few are missing so numbers are not that high and. no one believes that. why because it was a sunday there were a lot of people it was a school holiday free movie tickets were handed out people arrived on tour buses that is widely known information. i was at the morgue on volgograd street there are sixty seven bodies there sixty four of them from the shopping center burnt bodies three others are not related to that incident people exchange information and say that you shouldn't believe the numbers it's not sixty four it's three hundred so it creates a chain everyone shares it on social media messages video and screen shots appear

but there is a huge possibility that some of the video is not from the shopping center but from another fire some people are exaggerating it. landed here in camera in the morning and he has already laid flowers at the vigil and talked to some of the citizens to comfort them over their last one of. them a life a life. that would measure them in view of. the people with the permission. to know what his future looks like with that i would be fucking the president. when we are five people have been detained in connection with the inferno including a fire safety official it appears that a series of mistakes led to the tragedy as the fire raged out of control the fire prevention system in the four story complex didn't work and no alarms were heard emergency exits were lot leaving people with no alternative but to try and escape from up a story windows stuff at the shopping center trying to help customers but others

allegedly prevented some people from leaving the building one teenager's been describing how he saved three children. there was but. i could not see anything due to the thing a black smoke then i went into the next shot i heard children cry moaning i ran in the corner there were three children two girls and a boy and i fix the boy to my waist using my belt held on to me i took the girls by the scruff of the neck and i carried them out towards the people. in the blazing camera is one of the deadliest in russia in living memory it took firefighters over seventeen hours to extinguish as one section of the shopping complex was completely gutted and large sections of the roof collapsed here's a closer look at how the catastrophe unfolded the warning some of the footage is disturbing.

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still to just switch to the physical. abuse to. want to keep them. from. youngsters a visit to the big city is always an adventure these twelve year old classmates went to town and they went bowling ice skating to the cinema it would be their last adventure. that's a few if you teach them. to. give it to you.

dozens and dozens dead but they aren't just numbers they all had names lives all the compensation in the world won't cover their family's loss especially given that so many of the victims were children masha was there with her grandmother and she only turned ten last week and posted this photo in line exactly a decade is all she got in this world. both she and her grandmother perished. tiana an english teacher she was there with her daughter who survived that got out of the building before hearing that others were still trapped she went to help rescue who she could strangers but she never came back out you were the best teacher in the world right

a former students you didn't deserve this we will all remember you did ask you could tell it to your willingness to do. this when you did. little rats aboard pictured here with his mom and dad she wasn't with them but imagine her page when she had to identify the bodies of her child and husband or even surviving is easy. some say he jumped others but his father threw him out of the window in a desperate effort to save his little boy before succumbing to the smoke himself his parents and little sister. there are too many to mention here but the point is made a list of names is one thing but it's only when you get to know them just

a little that the depth of this tragedy really hits you. sixty russian diplomats have been ordered to leave the u.s. in response to russia's alleged involvement in the poisoning of double agents in the u.k. it's part of a coordinated series of expulsions by western countries but according to the state department spokesperson have announced statements washington has taken punitive measures that see solid proof. certainly know that russia is responsible for that attack that is something that is not in question that something that the brits and many other countries have said as well what we stand strongly with our ally with the u.k. and when the u.k. tells us that they have proof that they know russia was responsible we have every reason to believe them. you haven't seen their their evidence their proof i have

not personally seen their roof that would not come over to the state department that would most likely go to another building so i would refer you to any of those other intelligence department that deal with it as. well the state department briefing also touched on the expulsion of the russian diplomats but journalists weren't entirely satisfied to the reasoning for the move. on explains. well the state department held a press briefing today and as you can imagine the main topic of discussion was washington's expulsion of russian diplomats the most out of all countries to do so over the alleged poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter on british soil a spokeswoman now it was bombarded with questions regarding evidence or lack thereof and most boil down to whether the u.s. possesses any concrete evidence linking rushed to the crime and if the expelled diplomats were really spies check it out for yourself but how do you know these specific sixty people were that would you know that would be spent i mean can you give us any kind of example of what these people were doing that made them

not real diplomats i don't have access to that kind of information were they jumping the subway turnstile to show me that they were not actually used again if you're being funny it's different with the u.n. i don't you have to provide evidence to the u.n. and i think i just answered that i don't know the answer to that if i can get an answer for you i would be happy to provide something while answering now or basically admitted that washington hasn't seen any proof but somehow they've still decided to take london's claims as gospel now i have the rare opportunity to ask a question and i mentioned that the o.p.c. w. or the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons hasn't released the results of the investigation as yet and she said that russia wasn't cooperating we look forward to the o.p.c. of you completing its investigation we also hope at the same time that russia will return to the un security council and well agree to some sort of a mechanism like the joint investigative mechanism that they had stood in the way of and in fact defeated numerous times while now or blatantly ignore the fact that

russia has been saying it's ready to cooperate with british authorities since the day of the assassination attempt so it seems that washington doesn't believe in its own philosophy that one is innocent until proven guilty and i guess it doesn't matter how many times russia tries to cooperate especially when they've already decided who's to. russia has long arms russia has lots of tentacles we imagine that they will continue to have an interest in our elections but also many other nations elections as well. arms and trying to do the right way to quit it seems like as if you just want the beast from the deep sea but let's get back to evidence while the american ambassador to russia said that britain had a document that showed that russia was involved saying it was pretty comprehensive but was it really well russian media got ahold of that document but it was a six slide presentation the first slide just read incident in salisbury and the other slides had a timeline of events information on the type of gas that was allegedly used and the

number of people taken to the hospital now the last slides contained a list of russia suppose that nefarious activities and the british responses so clearly the document contains no actual evidence that russia was behind the poisoning but it's somehow considered proof by western states that are using it to justify expelling russian diplomats when in total twenty seven western governments are now sending home over one hundred russian diplomats british prime minister as a reason many has praised the coordinated response. welcome the international support that we have that we have got to do this a little as i said in the house yesterday this isn't just a matter of the u.k.'s position and working with the u.k.'s i think in the national security interests of the individual countries concerned so theresa may has appeared in front of the parliamentary liaison committee following the mass exposed expulsion of russian diplomats now she commended the rising number of countries

that have expelled diplomats commending this unified response from the countries she says it's not just in the interest of the u.k. but internationally as well now in the past a reason me is also reiterated that more needs to be done in response to russia's alleged doctor of aggression on. his daughter yulia she said the u.k. stands shoulder to shoulder with the e.u. and nato for nato though we've really been haring mixed messages from the secretary general we do not warrant a new cold war. today drawn there could. serve an install of the russian mission to nato. the pending. request for three orders so the secretary general has decided to reduce its russian mission to nato by a fit it really begs the question of how nato is going to prevent

a cold war because this expulsion is anything but friendly the russian foreign minister has also responded to the wave of expulsion saying that russia won't tolerate these measures but that it will replied don't you worry no one would be willing to tolerate such berish was not either on monday more than one hundred russian diplomats were expelled from a number of countries it's the largest collective expulsion of russian diplomats in history now there are countries though that have said they will not be taking action and not expelling any russian diplomats monk this list austria greece portugal perhaps they want to keep an open dialogue with russia something that the president of the mission is summit last week but new zealand have come full though and after running a few background checks on that russian that perhaps this is what new zealand have to say to the people who've been exposed being undeclared by large undeclared intelligence offices and we've done a cheek

a new zealand we don't have russian and declared intelligence officers here if we did we would expel them or russian ambassador to the e.u. vladimir change of believes the u.k.'s reaction in the script case was pre-determined. and i have the impression that the british government never wanted the conclusion that it had its own. decisions ready well in advance and the swiftness with which. a number of countries followed the u.k. and the united states should dead their lead in this is deeply disappointing of course. i don't think the british government. is. should be satisfied with this they have managed to

split the european union in a way that russia never could or never intended to because half of member states did not support that view of the u.k. and did not follow with similar measures. it's a different reincarnation of of the cold war you could say but i believe it's just . the russian prejudice i believe in common sense of the majority of europeans that this hysteria doesn't of grip the business community which in many cases. is eager to continue investing in russia to continue cooperating in russia. was discussed the situation further let's not cross live to earl

rasmussen the executive vice president of the ration center well thank you very much indeed for talking to us for if we were hearing opinions from both sides or mean why do you think such far reaching punitive decisions are being taken before the investigation into the script our case is over i mean why is there such a rush. ok i agree with your previous representative from from russia that i think this is pre-determined. we've got. no evidence really has been presented we have. to rush to judgment. there's a lot of political situations going on in the u.k. right now. dealing. the price.

to the. i think we're getting a few we got a few connections were problems review think we're trying to reestablish that connection with you and come back too soon as we can thank you. well meanwhile north korea's leader has said he is ready to meet the presidents of the u.s. and south korea for talks that statement came from kim jong un jaring an unannounced visit to china chinese state media has just confirmed cameras in beijing from the twenty sixth to the twenty eighth of march when in beijing kim jong un held talks with his chinese counterpart ping north korea's leader said that the issue of denuclearization of the korean peninsula camber result if the u.s. and the sas respond to the north efforts with goodwill and create an atmosphere of peace and stability the u.s. has already announced it was informed of the visit by china it cried its campaign of maximum pressure for this possibility of dialogue with north korea.

now the united states ambassador to the united nations nikki haley has also lambasted moscow over how it handled the syrian cease fire negotiations and the u.n. . reports when the fifteen member body that leaves the united nations convened we heard from u.s. ambassador nikki haley now as she often does she began to make accusations against russia she accused russia of deception hypocrisy and brutality but from there her remarks took a rather interesting turn one off on kind of a tangent in her remarks referring to what she said was diplomats leaving the room to call the syrian regime and if you watched closely during the negotiations we could see our russian friends constantly leaving the room to confirm with their

syrian counterparts. the possibilities for what was going on are only two. either russia was informing their syrian colleagues about the content of the negotiations or russia was taking directions from the syrian colleagues about the content of the negotiations now the russian ambassador to the united nations and in benghazi he took to the floor and responded to the accusations from nikki haley with some rather clear facts about what's taking place on the ground in eastern guta and he pointed to the solid achievements of the russian sponsored humanitarian pause he pointed out that one hundred twenty one thousand civilians have been able to leave of their own free will and get out of the areas where the fighting is taking place he also described the fact that russia is providing food and medicine to those who've been forced to flee the area and out from there he went on to be quite critical of how the un security council meetings are being conducted and what

does essentially a blame game being used by certain countries at the council this isn't a bad. move so that the present posted some members of the u.n. security council prefer to spend time on passionate speeches and allowed to make and shaky claims towards russia that's broadwood to the ruach tends to do anything good for the implementation of resolution one to pull over one who is daunting to believe that some external donors are losing interest in supporting people from the region switch and pulling on the syrian government control we're getting signals from some capitals there's a need to help opposition and. it's unclear what will happen next but it it's pretty clear that the position of russia is that the united states should be using these meetings for the purpose of trying to actually help the civilians who are in harm's way not for making unproven and shaky accusations against different countries and placing blame when so many civilians are in danger and do need the

real assistance and attention of the security council. the region obvious didn't do so which ones had a population of four hundred thousand has recently been the topic of un security council negotiations the own place near damascus came under rebel control in twenty twelve and the syrian element has been trying to recapture it ever since finding intensified last month and the government now holds between seventy and eighty percent of the territory under a cease fire deal remaining militants off eating into rebel controlled pockets in the north. all about with the latest headlines in just over half a knob meanwhile for more on all of us stories.