russia's u.n. envoy describes the u.k.'s allegations in the script paul poisoning case as absurd during a tense meeting at the security council. is it's a district of paris where the soaring crime rate has been blamed on gangs of madrid the major. campaign for israeli women to keep their seats on airplanes instead of switching with ultra orthodox jewish man is blocked by the authorities. the latest on the story to dot com coming up though former defense minister of austria is the guest on sophie and co talking about the ongoing diplomatic rift between russia and their case here with us.

at the poisoning of us former russian spy in great britain has cost at diplomatic scandal. calling for a united global action against moscow but are all countries really on board with the british version of events murder fussell former minister of national defense of austria is with me today to discuss all this. as russia newest exchange diplomatic expulsions over the poisoning on the x. y. in britain some european countries are refusing to be drawn into the scandal making a dent in the u.k. claim global support is there a danger of the incident growing in some more than just a diplomatic row and how it can further escalation. there fast lobban former minister of national the sense of austria welcome to the show great to have you with us today. so austria refused to heed the call of u.k.

foreign minister boris johnson to expose russian diplomats over the ex spy poisoning case mr johnson called for a united global action and your country right now i imagine must be injuring a lot of pressure for not being part of it. well there was one third of you members who declared with all the other clear solidarity with great britain on the one hand but. did not decide to over sanctions and austin is one of those nine countries. but does it feel like you are being pressured because you are not united with a great britain on this no i do not see of course the question was i think. probably the british presentation held high plausibility otherwise all the members of the you would not have decided to make. the lattimer's

declaration but in the question of the sanctions opinions different because of course there was no clear proof on the one hand and on the other hand still also was to question whether it was very reasonable to react with sanctions and breaking the dialogue between russia and the western countries. as one of those countries that is firmly convinced that it is necessary and will be less a survey to keep up this dialogue and to talk. about all the matters security matters between russia and the west and the former swedish foreign minister carl bildt said austria's position is incompatible with your membership while former alaskan foreign minister artie's sees this as a bad joke this is a quote is there a risk his relationship with russell's will turn sour because of this i don't think

so because also the belgian government had a similar position luxembourg the country where the president of the commission comes from the same way as austria but also portugal corey. slovakia cyprus malta the us in silver. it was a clear decision from the allston side it was clear that we would not go into. actually you actually hit it on the nose that was going to be my second question because there are other countries also that aren't united with great britain on this issue why is your country being single out for criticism out for criticism in this expulsion episode. with art you know that on the one hand there was no proof and there is no prove up to the day if if the members of the. council probably got more information than we do have as observers and as they could then weeks all over

the world. still there was no proof everybody. afterwards said that there was a high plausibility for the case there was no proof and if there is no proof of course you also have to consider your reaction this is one side the other world is as always there will be in the presidency of the e.u. in the second half of this year and i think that it will be one of the major tasks of austria not only tried to make good contributions for the salvation of problems but also for the relationship to important neighbors and russia is one of them or is the most important neighbor for you and then so far it is was very clear for the austrian government not to take part that any sanctions or regime but try to keep up to the relations with russia critics say the n.

ow selectively invokes its traditional neutrality whenever it feels that its interests are jeopardized do you feel that your country's fairly accused of being the e.u. security policy of freeloader i don't think so. it is a new to come through but all neutrality is only military neutrality it's not an ideological but i didn't see a logical problem in this question of course on the one hand almost always will try to be to act solidarity with the other your members but of course it also will go its own way fight for its own position when it is convinced that it is necessary and all government was convinced that it was necessary in this case not to react spontaneously to fast but to keep open all the

channels of information of dialogue of speaking about the problem as i can see no this is my personal says. to the development in the last days i think this was a right decision so this whole diplomat expulsion business do you thing it has any profound the fact i mean you keep diplomats out one day situation becomes better and the new group comes in i mean besides half of those states that joined the u.k.'s measures expelled one single person h what is one person's departure really going to change. it is all a signal i guess probably the poisoning of the ancient. probably was a signal for somebody i do not know but also the reaction of the new countries certainly was a signal the sanctions signal that there is

a red line in the relationship because we are not in the phase of a cold war there should be. not only a better understanding of also better cooperation between russia and e.u. and of course every side has to look at its actions and reactions and therefore as far as i see it it probably was a signal signaling the red line that the relationship if elin travel some cases should not go beyond a certain limit this was clear this cannot be as this cannot be. chemical weapons so despite the mutual diplomatic expulsions projects like the north stream to gas pipeline from russia to germany which os to supports are going to hant does this mean that the political gestures like kicking out diplomats are mostly for show. maybe. the question of north the law also

is part of well the discussions. in this considerations about sanctions easily could be what i think is that you have to look at it from a reasonable point of view from a reasonable position and the position i see is the for germany this is an important project germany has given up its nuclear capabilities it is highly dependent on energy from all sides and of course they are for an efficient. way of getting energy and this is certainly north stream is and will be important of course you can discuss appalled many things that are linked to it but i absolutely can understand the truman way of keeping

the north through to project as one of the major contributions for its own energy security so nato is most ng its military preparedness in europe in case of a conflict with russia increasing the number of troops aircraft ships available for rapid deployment and that's up to the spy scandal broke out to nato be using this route to build up its presence closer to russian borders have been more so i do not see that there is really a build up of late two forces against russia if you look at the strength of the forces military forces in russia and in neighboring countries you can see there's almost no soldiers no tanks no fighters in the baltic states or in some other neighboring states and i do not see a real danger of what i see is that both sides should try to keep.

the. common trust the trust about their own ways. the common future if you look back through the last exercises. russia last year and you could see the heavy reactions from baltic countries. and also the way it was done in reality then you can see of course there is quite a subjective feeling subjective sensitive ness of danger on the one side maybe also on the russian side you can win it much better than i was i see there is no need to do so. not in the moment also i would say not in the foreseeable future the ears planning to create a so-called military shango in europe that would see interstate borders scrapped

from for moving military equipment and troops this is seen as a step forward to words accomplishing a european defense union that is supposed to reduce europe's dependence on nato do you think europe needs one i think i am absolutely convinced that nato is important on the one hand but also european autonomy will be important because. it is not only an economic union but also political and it only can be official political union if it also can kill itself for its own security we are only at the beginning i myself. about twenty years ago organized the first european defense ministers meeting in vienna and since then there's been some progress but the progress is not so strong and now we

are going into a new phase that european countries with the lead of france and germany will try to build up some own capabilities but this will not mean there is that nato will lose its function on the contrary i think that both organizations. are necessary and will be will be there also in the next day kate all right we're going to take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to a very near fossil bank a former minister of national defense of austria discussing austria's perspective on europe's pressing issues stay with us.

henry kissinger once the british and the united states went into the ukrainian crisis acting rationally based on mutual misconceptions with tensions heightened over the scruple case other sites guided by misconceptions were deliberate misrepresentation. of what for many clubs over the years so i know the gaming so i got. the ball isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school. it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each of killian erroneous and spending two hundred twenty million on one player. it's an experience like nothing else i want to because i want to share what i think of what i know about the beautiful guy

a great so one more chance with. the base this minute. franking gave americans a lot of new job opportunities i needed to come up here to make some money like me twenty five thousand dollars. fifty thousand dollars a truck story shows. people who rushed to a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent it was like gold rush is very very similar. but this beautiful story ended with pollution and a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here and slow down so much they lost their jobs got laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. it's a tough reality. and

we're back with their fast lab and former minister of national defense of last year and talking about the challenges europe is facing so australia says itself as a bridge builder between us and west does it have enough wades and clout to change something between russia and the western world. because all. situated right that. was a line between western central europe and the east and central europe has many links to eastern europe and to solve the eastern europe and therefore i think in some times we do have a little bit more internal knowledge. about what is going on

maybe sometimes understanding of people in politics is a little bit their friends to other western european countries but i'm sure that. this specific knowledge of politics about the situation. reaches is very important and can be a good contribution of not only for dialogue but for cooperation and i'm convinced cooperation is important and will be needed from both sides it is important for russia and it is important for you because. into the sea between the countries politically economically and otherwise. politically not only for european affairs but also for the development in the middle east. it can obviously anyhow because europe is dependent on russian

energy russia is dependent on industrial incentives and it does feel development coming from the european side so our share has long been calling on the e.u. to ease its sanctions on russia and protested against adding more and the sanctions are hurting the austrian economy will business circles force fianna to do anything to change this. of course in austria the sanctions are not looked with great pleasure. but on the other hand almost always was willing of course to carry out common decisions coming from you and austria will do it also in the future because a common european security policy is necessary and even if you have a different position or a different opinion you have to follow that and also we'll do it. because otherwise

we also would not be able to influence european policy and politics we tried to do so in the sense of more. common project war dialogue between the two sides are yours is not the only country in the e.u. that has a moderate look on sanction engressia however the sanctions get extended unanimously a year after year can there be a real difference in opinion within the e.u. about sanctions or are they protests against and will never go beyond that ration. those countries that have more intense economic relations with russia like costa of us also bigger countries like italy and so on they are not so happy about it but they will follow the european line and this is very important because otherwise also the weight of the european union also the possibilities of

this of those countries with edu would be weakened and therefore i fear is this sanctions or. is not will not be changed just by discussion but by change on the ground now as you mentioned vienna is presiding in the you for the second half of the twenty a teen how can this be you. so improve years relations with russia would other e.u. states listen to you. we will have the visit of. of president putin in june i guess this certainly will bring intense exchange of views of positions and we will try to use this opportunity already before of presidency in order to find all. of the moments where the fields. could act which this is not easy because of cause every

side has relatively clear positions and you only can go step by step try to improve improve the relations and try to find solutions for minor problems in order to go and next step and to have a bigger progress on the whole and i think this way is something diplomats and lost in politics. well aware of and therefore will try to do so chesser sébastien curt's says the country is planning to use its presence in the e.u. to work and securing its borders against new waves of migrants well this finally fixed a spat between the eastern western members over the refugee problem i think that now already all the european countries almost all the european countries are aware of this challenge of. not only refugees but

migrants coming from africa coming from asian countries and if you look to the demographic development this will not become a minor problem in the future but that the problem and the challenges will increase and therefore it is necessary to overthink european politics and also to established. new instruments and tools in order to have a better control at the border. of course if you need the consensus of twenty seven countries as we have to do in european union this is a long way this is difficult this is a proses that lasts but it's there is the clear will to do so because otherwise this would if they jostle the overall consensus within the all and therefore

i'm sure that we will find solutions in the coming months and that is that also australia will come to contribute quite a bit during its presidency in the second half of this year but your old government used to support a refugee quota system and that's all changed now for vienna does that mean the refugee quote as the idea that countries have to accept a certain number of refugees whether they like it or not is gone for a good while the law it is the actual official ruling is that countries should always take more or less a certain number but of course you cannot enforce it within. europe against the will of the government and as i said already there is quite a lot of countries. against it which you got countries but also others in order to overtake specific quota. you only can you

only execute such a rule if there is efficient border control but when the border control is not efficient that nobody knows how many migrants will come tomorrow and the day after tomorrow they will not be ready to overtake and the use of efficient border control the one side and trying to get efficient rules for distributing by grants and finding solutions on how to handle this challenge of course they go hand by hand part of last year's migrant integration strategy is a ban on face they'll. but for right now only a dozen or so people have been charged since it came into force not so many people have been charged but actually one person one person that was charged will so was was in prison was wearing a giant bunny costume. he makes that makes us smile so i wanted to ask your opinion

how effective do you think this ban really is i think this is not the most important probably to have the bike aeration issue certainly the most important thing is that people who come to austria have to learn the language have to be able to communicate with the others have to adapt to the rules and be ready to live here are the rules of the also government and not only. official rules was also the rules covering all of society this is the most important one the other one is of course that you have to differ between those people who have the rights to stay here. this is the real refugees and migrants that only come to australia due to economic reasons because the. find

a better job earn more money than they can do with home but it's not possible to overthink all those people from all the countries who have. lost their payment that is is as high as we have it in australia and therefore you have to differ very clearly between the refugees and migrants are refugees which means people who have come to australia out of security reasons they have the right to stay here but they have to integrate and all the others they are selected all they have to go back because we cannot know what they billions and tens and hundreds of millions. million people all over africa all of us to come to the right thank you so much mr fast lad for this interview we're talking to you there in a fast eleven former minister of national defense of austria discussing the diplomatic rift between russia and britain and what role awestricken play here and

another hear a pin issue is that is it for this edition of so i think oh i'll see you next time . thank you all the best. zia's says harlan kentucky. the place you go three sundays leave. a co money city it was almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the ones that showed. that it was love to see these people the survivors of disappearing

before their own eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in the million years i would see that and it's how it's happened. after weeks of media hysterics an official claims without a shred of evidence the case that russia was behind the song is very poisoning incident is falling apart transparency in the real blogs have never played on what happens next sadly it is only too predictable. there. are.

a lot of welcome to all the parts he hears ago had a kissinger is sad that russia and the west full speed into the ukrainian crisis while acting rationally based on that misconceptions of the other but tensions heightened once again over this crippled case either side still guided by the same misconceptions or perhaps deliberate. mr presentations of the other well to discuss that i'm now joined by you gave me bush and i retired lieutenant general of the russian army and the chairman of the board of the peer center mr brzezinski it's great to talk to you thank you very much for your time thank you now you recently gave an interview it's you b.b.c. radio which carry the lot of people in that interview you said you want actually about russia and the west moving very far so a war and not just a war you said this would be a conflict that would be worse than the cold war in fact the last war in the

history of humanity for a military guy like yourself i think that's a pretty dramatic statement what made you reach that conclusion well first of all maybe i exaggerated a little bit and maybe it was a bit misunderstood a little bit but what i actually meant first of all comparing the present day situation with the days of the cold war i say that the day of the cold cold war in the seventy's eighty's i was active military i felt more comfortable by the way it was everything was clear yes it was ideological confrontation maybe. military confrontation but still there were rules definite rules red lines the corner of the soviet union containing the soviet union well. yes but no it's not convenient no they were wrecked through.