there's a. huge anti-government demonstrations are still being held in the better russian capital after last week's contested presidential election which saw long time president alexander lukashenko secure a 6th term in office. this person has been in power for 26 years he's going to be with you steve and he doesn't want to let you go. to rallies have also taken to the streets today in support of the beleaguered president. i support alexander lukashenko i was asked to come here this is my personal choice. and in the stories that shaped the week russia begins mass production of its new covert vaccine claiming it is a world 1st but many scientists around the globe do express

a lot thiering that huge corners have been kept. well can you watch a new weekly here in r.t. international issue sconce 6 o'clock here in the russian capital a week after the hugely contested presidential election bellary still seeing massive demonstrations throughout the country both pro and anti-government rallies have taken to the streets today in some cases gathering just meters apart opposition protestors are holding a march for freedom through the capital minsk and they are demanding that the long time president alexander lukashenko resigns citing concerns he's clinging to power by force and ignoring the voice of his people similar marches being held throughout the country. this person has been in power for 26 years he's clung to eat with his teeth and doesn't want to let go and when we are against violence

we're defending our boate we're doing the best for the future of our contrary i want my children not to live in a country which has violence where there is no voice and no freedom of speech i think you see i can't agree with what's happening in the country one person is trying to hold on to power by force i'm trying to show everyone that i'm against it and that's why i'm here. at the same time demonstrators in support of the president to take into the streets to to voice their opinions several 1000 people from all over the country gathered on independence square in the capital to see show their support for the president the pro-government demonstrators for his fears about the security of the country saying it's all too familiar to what happened in ukraine in 2014 because shank himself or so made an appearance to with the demonstrations thanking the people for their support. structure for what it

predecessor was. coming. down like yes i support alexander lukashenko i wasn't forced to come here this is my personal choice but i've heard so many threats but they won't break me i bought the still shirt with my own money no one paid me. i support discipline what's happening now reminds me of ukraine in 2014 everything started exactly the same way the young people with flowers now just don't understand what was happening here in 1900 perhaps they want to return to 117 when people toppled the russian empire in a similar way and civil war but we want peace. well a protest is also being held to outside the better option embassy here in moscow it's been going on every day this weekend but on one course that i visit 1st today

to oh man you've been there for a few hours today just took 3 what's been happening. indeed for a few hours today and for the entire week this is the 8th day where we're covering the protests here outside the embassy a bill or is let me just to give you a hint self what's going on this is a live picture you can see people lining up with a white ribbon the with flowers with red and white flags once again this has been happening here for 8 days straight on saturday with seoul the largest turnout here as the line of protesters extended beyond the block over the last few days with talk to people from all walks of life but this particular protests are caught my attention let's have a listen. it's a big chance there's nobody still waiting for something to happen the end shoes and there is nobody like sation there is no sense there's a recent piece had to shoot it feels like there's

a trick but you did not know when it will play out or downwards stance that today's my wedding anniversary i wanted to you know i.d.c. events because you know personal life it's sending points to 3 sent in from other cities to says the moment he's you ok sweetie she's in the you're so says for me uniting the students being as opposed to new life you know. peaceful demonstrations continue in minsk as well where earlier at least $65000.00 people came out in support of alexander lukashenko now those numbers are according to the interior ministry hours later and that and the goal rally began building up with our correspondent in minsk reporting that there are over 100000 people the most recent reports indicate that the. cities in. dependence where is filtered near capacity similar scenes have been reported in other places in belarus as well as

pro and anti look at shanghai rallies unfolded meanwhile nato is calling on men to allow the peaceful protests to conceive and said that they're going to say she is following the events in belarus very closely the statement came. right after a look at shank award to his supporters and nato forces are building up they are army. the below russian border lithuania as foreign minister was quick to denounce to say that statement saying that it is indeed a lie however president of belarus alexander lukashenko still announced military drills near the country's western borders. ok thanks for man that was the wrong one cos they're a terrible place to say we can talk to you ben iris he's an expert on eastern europe and founder of be any italian news which has been following events in batteries ferry very closely great to have you on ben thanks for your time this

evening look we saw earlier today privately shanker rallies in maine scott believe the still there and the president himself paid to find his ever can he survive fish crisis. i think it's looking increasingly likely he kind of won 80 percent of the votes but the protesters saying if you really did where the pro percent go round these. protests today was the 1st day that we saw a pro government rally that was really orchestrates i mean there was plenty of video coming in there showing workers being bussed in from all over the country and there's a dispute about the crowds official number is the. ministry saying 70 where is the independent reports saying it was more like 2 or 3. and he doesn't have any look at the supporters who are. it's not like other color revolutions where the population's been divided the better russian population seems to be

pretty much unanimous against and the only thing that's holding up this regime is the security service is the medium on and that scrambling to assume defections on a daily basis starting with policeman soldiers throwing away their uniforms we had a senior member of the administration quit the state's t.v. has now said it's going to come out and strike on monday and notably the state t.v. today for the 1st time i want to you know position it ignored it. and today they reported it. so it looks like it's falling to pieces slowly and that sort of leads to some scary scenarios as the percentage gets increasingly desperate you know is he going to clear martial law there's been reports that he's concerned russia and asked for help. but i don't actually see him able to hang on without any mandate whatsoever he seemed to get himself no room for negotiation 2 because he

said defiantly look there's going to be no rerun of this election but that's exactly what the opposition has been calling for so that doesn't appear to be any opening for dialogue either but he seems to have made a series of mistakes and i think he's vastly underestimated the sentiment in the country and also the effectiveness of the opposition i mean it's a collapse campaign it was so clever and so much as it was very simple message and vote for me because the 1st thing i'm going to do is quit and hold new elections and that resonated with the entire population but it also is wrong for look for sanko because there's no way he can go there's nothing to negotiate there's no like policy or ideas that he can take on an attack it's simply votes to get rid of him and that leaves you know washington so he's been going to respect. used police brutality. and i don't see where it goes from here without doing something very

drastic in the army on the street as we mentioned earlier he has been in touch with russia asking for support what sort of support can or should russia give because it's an extremely fragile situation in better race well that's an interesting question there's been lots of speculation personally i think russia will its best option is to do nothing. that there's been too weak the push and pull would be good for the kremlin and it's. certainly you can see if the percent who has no support whatsoever he's going to have to do what he's told by the however i think the kremlin is also keeping his options open the ministry foreign ministry reached out to the people earlier this week is emphasizing the russian people you know they're fraternal bonds with the russian people so i think the kremlin is keeping his options open and everyone's pointing to media where there was a revolution that sort of pushed out a new. democratic rule come in however you know who took over has been

explicit in his desire to have good relations with russia is the economy and that's true of the better us an economy with knobs in the suit kind of these are tied at the hip and so i think the prime minister you can we can deal with the opposition and i should point out. as explicitly said she wants good relations with russia so there's plenty of room to negotiate a new format so i don't think i can see it and on that point because of that g.c. significant differences between what's going on in battery some what happened in ukraine and my down because then they seem to be a very distinct choice see the russia or europe but as you say people want good neighborly relations that they necessarily want to fall out with anybody on their borders i think there's very little in common between the 2. i mean apart from the fact that the people driving this are not going to be president. remark about this

story is it's totally devoid of geopolitics you know the u.s. the e.u. are not involved there's no aspirations to join the e.u. there's no aspiration for european values but people are simply saying the tired of the same go they want free elections they want to be more freedom they want more say how the government is run and also the peacefulness of this administration that the protesters have been extremely peaceful peaceful from the get go but also the violence of the state's response and in my months in violence and this became violent hours of the polls close it. came to a head and really. a dramatic escalation. so superficially yes it looks like another. revolution if you journey 2 cases a very. really really good to talk has been or if we have to leave it there founder

of being the in telling news which has been covering better reached and the stories here very place we appreciate your time thanks ben. now though things appear much karma in minutes because we were saying the beginning of the week was marred with plenty of unrest which left a demonstrated dead video has now emerged reportedly showing the name to the tragedy would a foreigner who might find the following footage disturbing you can see a group of riot police who are just a few meters away from the alleged victim shortly after comes the apparent moment that the protest of all scaled at a recent hearing ministry had previously claimed the victim had tried to throw an explosive device at officers but it went off in his hand you can take a look now at how events unfolded during the week. i. am. just taking. people that do it. yes yes yes. does he come up with mr.

masters. well the better is thirty's have also been criticised for failing to protect journalists 64 were detained during this week among them reporters working for artie's video agency police you did spend days behind bars 7000 protesters across the country this week the government began releasing them on thursday night

promising everybody would be free by friday they would is unclear whether this is actually the doctors were among those held. what kind of doctors are you you're not doctors i don't know what you are werewolves that's the sort of thing they shouted and a lot of swear words but i don't want to repeat they were also saying this when you were 1st held on the street everyone driving by was shocked doctors and white robes on their knees with a machine gun to the head of us in the. well there are 2 narratives being spun around what is a play him by the reset the moment. breaks and. right now the world is being reminded that one ma'am alexander lukashenko has ruled belarus for a long 26 years and he intends to add another 5 claiming 80 percent of all the ballots from sunday's presidential election have a tick next to his name but that's not something a considerable. belorussians believed taking their frustrations onto the streets it started off with a peaceful protests massive groups coming out and shining flashlights but the tear

gas and rubber bullets started flying and chaos has taken hold. there are 2 realities and deloris right now and the 1st there is look shango calling the vote a celebration but one that people are trying to spoil by inciting aggression and spreading misinformation foreign powers media and social media channels are to be blamed as well so look at shingles the reality is that the protesters are bad and the special forces have no choice but to act like this. was. c around

$25.00 police officers have been injured legs broken they were deliberately hit so they responded why are you crying now no response will be adequate we will not allow you to tear the country apart the 2nd reality though is that of the protesters hundreds of thousands flooding the streets of the country calling for the president to step down and contending authoritarian rule but also posting instructions on how to make multiple cocktails on social media accounts which is literally playing with fire with tensions so high and well we can't ignore the videos of police beating people on the streets we can ignore this clip showing a car ramming into troops in the capital either we haven't judging either of the realities but the international community is condemning the election as neither free nor fair not that they were invited to observe it so where does that leave he's a man largely without friends the west. dubs him in europe's last dictator while he's slowly pushed away his closest ally russia but nevertheless he still claiming

victory and his political rivals have either been put in jail or fled the country including his opponent in the election so. i took a very difficult decision i did that by myself my friends family colleagues and husband did not influence me many will understand me many will judge many will start to hate everyone is differing and it's not clear who will win if anyone and a number of countries have condemned what they called a rigged election and also the heavy handed response of the police is the latest reaction from europe and also the united states i was glad to see the release of some protestors but that certainly is not and the common objective is to support the belarus in people to achieve their sovereignty their own freedom the european union will put forward to the better russian authorities a proposal for e.u. support in establishing and facilitating a dialogue between the political authorities opposition and broader society in view

of resolving the current crisis ministers also agreed on the need to sanction those responsible for violence repression and the force of occasion of election results sanctions of the end of politics the key question now is what kind of policy the e.u. has towards but there is for us the european union is one of our top priorities. well as we mentioned the president lukashenko to discuss the situation playing out in his country in a court of law. they did agree it should not be exploited by outside forces some analysts we spoke to are drawing parallels with what happened in ukraine back in 2014 mothers do you say that dialogue is the case. there are very strong similarities he lays out but i tell you what happened in ukraine is that we had a very similar scenario of a color so it takes to bring a successful color revolution in yugoslavia the united states aligned in that line of many western countries with whatever happens in the result but also between it will be illegitimate we had the same rhetoric coming out of the western capitals as

we're getting here that the government that was told he couldn't really respond to any protests against even if they turn violent and that's what we're seeing so it's kind of movie that we've seen many times before and it doesn't end well that would be true that the previous law that didn't end well for the people of your great probably the better comparison is with ukraine in 2004 of the time of the so-called orange revolution by the russian society whatever its views on who should be president. is anxious to avoid not only the kind of violence or people who you saw in ukraine in february 2014 and all the problems in ukraine has had ever since and i think for those of us who want to see a peaceful and who could legitimately necrotic outcome for both of us it's very important that the losing side in any political crisis has options of coming back from the ballot box once you foreclosed that new then do risk civil war civil conflict which is after all what has been set up parts of ukraine ever since

because it is escalating that means that both sides are short sided the hair or lack of strategic vision of the situation overthrown governmental side it would be wise to ask the opposition to least the interests so why they are so key. you get to read the president look at opposition should also drive to find a way to be integrated to jury to own 2 legal illegal crossers drive to suggest something that is acceptable to the government. now in other news this week russia claimed a world 1st saying it has it has a k. with vaccine ready for mass production named sputnik 5 the authorities confirmed that work was now under way to produce it however huge concerns have been expressed to around the world over the speed of its development amid fears that russia has cut huge corners in the race against the corona virus

a mass testing has yet been carried out and no details published about the vaccines effectiveness i hope that the russians have actually definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective i seriously doubt that they've done that it is not about being 1st it is about having a try and say vaccine which will be given that's the important part to hundreds of millions maybe even billions of people the problem is that we know very little because the russian authorities are not being very transparent and so i am very skeptical about what's happening in russia. that would be. our foreign colleagues who probably want to kind of competitive advantage over the russians maxime or offering judgments that are to our minds completely groundless in fact many countries have taken accelerated decisions in their vaccine studies but the russian vaccine has already seen a distinct clinical trials and evidence. of the vaccine was developed at moscow's

institute of medical workers teaches in those considered to be other high right high risk groups will be among the 1st to receive it and are released to the general public is set for some time in the new year while the developers do say to you that around 2000 people will get the need jab shortly as the trials continue meanwhile more than 1000000000 the uses of the russian vaccine have already been requested from different countries around the borders may come from asia and also the middle east. the head of the russian sovereign wealth fund investing in the country's research outlined more details about the new job. on the russians people of the war a very byard of the virus are very tired of the restrictions of very tired of the refuse the moniker to those of one of the countries. in which i believe was very active read all sorts of. people

now here better hope to resume a normal life as a vaccination. well i'm confident enough to inject a legacy of myself my wife my of and your 4 year old parents and i think it's very important that we understand the science behind civics though russia great historic knowledge of books you can get money interest groups has developed very successful it all over the scene and mercy and then basically current virus just proved to be very similar the merce though we've had great science and will like that there is a bit of have been done really applied where 8 blows a lead goes a fight or not hires you tend to chill for auction because. everything will be followed almost i've seen to date i know that 100 percent always a line cheers elop very strong immune response or significant side effects of 100

percent protection of animals for as you are still level of immunity. it will produce stronger immune response going forward but we believe we as only ones who have those 2 different than the virus vectors as it was used miller was a big scene and that means that our big scene response will last longer hopefully it will be in more than a year while scientists believe that years but of course for this effect. will be needed to really understand the duration of the vaccination. and ever since people were starting to receive permission about a week see it more and more interest but frankel also western media always lets access slow information so i think now we have break ins through this information be there is it exists and the more people understand what we can do they go because there's a website lauren about the exchange more countries become interested even today we

showed. them by israel serbia it's over it's still. interest who was the russian because you know war is awesome. if you watch that we can hear not internationalist coming up to half past 6 need to hear moscow more from us that the top of the. world is driven by shaped. by dares thinks. we dare to ask.

illustrations but put it best and not just get up but just tell them. which not i. think it hurts you much i'm going to share slow. boredom. but. there. you know. just. because. you push too much think it's become less about the more so.

there. are. a lot of welcome to well to part in less than 2 months our notion of work life balance has been turned and it's had many of us the longing for the being screen used a little there about our jobs and resenting the things we used to free beer about our private lives the historically unprecedented response to the call that 910 damage has definitely masked our life standing what will they just will be alive once it's over well to discuss that i'm now joined by kitty in the short run at russian political scientist and a popular you tube or you can join in it's always

a great pleasure talking to you thank you very much for carving out your client asking out it's it is a kind of. life balance. where you get to see a study it's a kind of going to write a song think brings that kind of that forces you to your day. and in fact i think you in particular have been talking about marriage being all work and trying to live as a major social in a labor trance for quite some time i think you could've had me there's a go. yeah and i'm sorry to say but it's reached its unexpected average even with this onset of south isolation i wonder if you have had a chance to adjust well on the on how do we obviously privileged people who had a mission so we used to leave this way before it was mainstream oh now the have

it's evident that it's not normal and that it shouldn't conceive it shouldn't be like that surprising thing for me was not how easily i have adapted so there was nothing i said that to. rather the opposite saying i suddenly realized oh maybe i should have known it before this social component of social sciences i was always so much against talking sorcerers or using inside information i was always saying that it's all out * there in the open source as in official documents but now i see that there is this thing and that's not insider information but this is being in the atmosphere with their people and institutions you spread it visiting the evil behalf usually bad that used to be so cancelled so it's such a long time once you are deprived a whole days you'll begin to perceive how the quality of your work deteriorates while.