allies for the next 30 years. the victims still live with the consequences today. the headlines in r.t. armenia's prime minister has called for an early election he also says the country's military must have bay him after the head of the armed forces saying it was passive of an attempted. also this is. a good job. for me this is my own way and no one can disobey. thousands of protests as well as supporters of prime minister nicole passion and rally in the capital yet a van with clashes they were doing between the groups also to come this hour essential vaccines for political influence critics slam israel sending countries with jobs in exchange for diplomatic support president biden reopens the facility

for migrant children similar to his fellow democrats concentration camps. but i welcome you watching us internationally for cock here in moscow in our top story this hour standoff between opponents and supporters of armenia prime minister . in the capital yet a van military planes were seen over the capital earlier and police have been deployed in large numbers all after the prime minister sacked the chief of the armed forces general staff saying that he was part of an attempted military came with a have already been clashes between rival groups and there are tensions could escalate .

i have opposing rallies were saying to close to another in central yet of an official crowd numbers are yet to be confirmed but they are estimated to be in their thousands but we can see some live pictures too of an opposition protest at the moment taking place opponents of the prime minister have gathered in the city center saying they want him out cars have been pictured driving through the capital with photos of the prime minister covered in blood they've been haunting their horns as crowd chanted anti passion and slogans. are also getting these pictures from rallies in support of the prime minister passion yann earlier in the day he took to facebook to tell supporters he needs them a passion and in this sunday met them to assure that the situation is manageable and that he is ready to discuss any problems in the country and went on to say that he was prepared for more elections he also insisted to the army chief he dismissed remains quote his brother despite the rather brotherly statement from the head and

general of general staff of the armed forces that sparked this whole conflict i mean the prime minister addressed his supporters and rather than announcing his me said early elections. then why would you want to also solve this is general doing your job god borders and the territorial integrity of armenia this is my order and no one can disobey the prime minister and the government of army no longer able to make adequate decisions in this fateful and critical situation for the armenian people given the current situation the armed forces of armenia demand the resignation of the prime minister and the government at the same time we call to refrain from using force against people whose children died defending their homeland and care about. general staff only demand is the immediate resignation of the prime minister and his government the military. being unable to make sound decisions in times of crisis and on top of

that the military is unhappy about what they describe as numerous attempts to discredit armenia's armed forces the statement goes on to claim the passion yan's inefficient management has brought armenia to the verge of demise. ok let's get more ny and the latest on what's happening at events going live to cut and of at c.n.n. he's a meanie correspondent process news agency in the capital for us and good afternoon to you again just describe what the situation is like there at the moment now we here we are at the republic square the largest square of capital yet about or i mean yeah where we could. could see the. russian you know with his supporters now meeting kohl ready and it but there will be some more walking towards along streets of yet up on shunting need told prime

minister and. not the things with the support of prime minister what we could see in goals meetings in here and square where opposition gathered together is the absence of provocations which is very rare it seems in a meeting so at there is very clear division between the opposition and the supporters and that's why we know no clashes no real provocations and no clashes and. statement of prime minister was. all the representatives so for forces of ministries to go on doing their direct responsibility and not to get sick integrate it into any

political process is and a call to opposition was an opportunity to make a dialogue and he mentioned that the dialogue is possible and it's somehow we to mean is that early elections are also possible sin. now you know for development because the early elections as we mentioned before can be one of the rear concepts and to the rate of what you need to solve this problem without any aggression or without any clashes and we don't log cabin g. think people will accept that offer of new elections. i think that some people we'll because all position needs a dialogue as well. despite that think that their main theme on

steel resignation nichole question yeah but that's resignation can be a result of early elections so maybe dialogue among. across the topic of early elections can be this calm on a red line a common thing that can unite that these these 2 political pop political powers and just finally caton a people dispersing and going home or does it look like they will be on the streets for some time yet. i think it's a pose that this polls can be for for tonight but in both squares there is a atmosphere of for consistency so this consistency can be. provided to morrow and that they often are to moral but it is clear that both powers are

already for consistency and to both of them. i'm ancient and asked. people in the square to go alone to go on the stand being it may be a short break. after and after. ok we've just lost connection there with catherine yvette seann he's a correspondent for a sister channel sputnik but is he saying there he does feel that people will accept this proposal to soften. for new elections and he does say that many thousands of people came out into the streets today but it does seem to be a pause in these demonstrations that is taking place after you call passion and did make that statement earlier where he offered to the opposition the chance for new elections. all right well let's

talk more then we go to donna has been closely following said by the prime minister . it seems he must be happy with that speech you would think concerning the reaction to it absolutely and considering the mass showing of people who just he was mocked initially for being a man of the people and the still showing up in a in a in a of you know of security police just literally encircling him and keeping him safe for probably 3 layers of there are. a lot of people definitely in the crowd i haven't seen any official figures yet but definitely thousands of his supporters perhaps tens of thousands showed up he made a fiery speech which resulted in culminated in him calling on the opposition to accept his offer of elections essentially he just said. we we march today today we march then we stop all our action all our protests and demonstrations and we

sit down behind and we go shooting table and start talking and discussing with the opposition the early elections this is this is this has been his final say and when i say this when i say about it seems that he is he. he's no longer he says he is going to lead a very is going to lead the country from a position of power basically won't mince his words he will means his actions he's . again he's basically he's trying to strum his support so to speak so this is so he must be happy because yes indeed there is another reason our opposition march that is happening in central europe on right now so hopefully we might see some scuffles when the crowds need much other we'll have to see if that indeed happens but again

a message in the cool elections this is the main outtake from passion's speech look at the reaction of people because we had pictures in may of his supporters and people who are against him but as we heard from the local correspondents on the ground no signs of provocation amongst the support is it just seems to be and it's hard to say just a guess but that message that passion is giving seems to have been received by both sides it seems to be if again the ball's in the opposition's court now whether or not they will accept his this idea of early elections because they have already rejected it once they have already called on their supporters before before before the announcement before the statement before he called passion and speech but they had already called on their supporters to spend the night in the streets to spend the night in the main square showing that they're basically an indefinite and indefinite demonstration which would only and when nicol passion on resign so we'll

have to see whether or not this is still on the table where whether or not it is. even if the if it's still there or not because now the situation has slightly changed the opposition is still to react to this statement by you no reaction yet then from the military but nothing. very defiant when it came to that you could see the body language he tried to come across as a very strong leader who's going to lead from a position of power a position of strength he will not show where he made his best to not show any weaknesses that he even said that basically the time for soft for the soft politics and for sort of governance is over making it making it clear basically making it very clear that from this moment on the games are over and that he's not going to tolerate any dissent men even the even directly called out the president because nicole passion has said that he wants to fire that he is the general chief of staff

man who well the chief the the main person on the list of some footie top officers who signed this letter he said that he is the chief of staff but according to the constitution that has to be approved by the president and the president still has not signed that unequal passion and called him out for it saying that well either you should sign it either you should approve my decision and and back my decision or i will make it or i'll just i'll decide. otherwise that means you are with those who are trying to carry out a military does literally a game of political chess some forward in this afternoon isn't it because on the one hand a lot of pressure initially was on passion and due to the military saying look you should step down he came out and define then offered that all of branch to say we can have early elections and it seems that the momentum is with him and it's up to . the opposition and also the military to understand what they should do next

because do they feel they are in a powerful enough position to continue their path to trying to get rid of him now do they sit back and do they say no ok we'll take our chance the election exactly how and how they will go about it because nicole passion and he gathered all these thousands of his suppose. for a reason because he this is a clear message to to to the military that if you get the slightest idea that you are out there that you can carry out and perform a military coup in armenia this is this is how many people this is how many people will be out in the streets just like that protesting this and world possibly that it could go it could go completely haywire result in calif it can go terribly terribly wrong so now the military has this image of the 10s of thousands of people definitely thousands of people ready very answered the call because passions call very very quickly but so did so did the opposition basically. nicol passion is

trying is trying to do everything in his power to so that the the people in the military don't get any ideas you know just go through it's worth going through some background here absolute about why the military is upset with passion and why so many people are against him it's all revolves around the goal of cutting back what happened there over the last few months this situation is very complicated because again it is it would be a mistake to treat today's events as as an independent incident the through the the tensions have been brewing and this whole situation has been simmering for months and it all started when armenia signed a truce deal with us here by john over at the end of the war ending effectively ending the conflict this round this round of conflict in nagorno-karabakh and that we came there deal with the details and the just the i mean i had to concede

that to about 2 thirds of the territories previously under its control and that came as an absolute shock to a lot of people especially in armenia and even in even in our back but. as a person who covered who covered the war because i spent a whole month covering the we were. nagorno-karabakh there people they were they were the the kind of the sunni what was going on so they weren't surprised because here's the thing during the whole course of the war the the the authorities the armenian government they were saying that look we got it yes we are falling back here and there but we're in control we're going to come out with korea's there's no there's no question about it we will kick the as any forces back and probably even captures and more lands there were very well they were they were very cocky about it so when the deal came and showed that the i mean ins were battered that they would defeated absolutely obliterated especially in the later stages of

the war and that was the only really that deal was the only way out for the bloodshed to stop and to stop because from that moment on would only get worse the i mean is there there was no there was no turning back for them so the people who for over a month they were getting this message that look it's going to be ok it's going to be fine we're going to win and then all of a sudden ok we can see 2 thirds of the of the territories and like it came to them as an absolute shock and so that's why people saw it as humiliation they saw it some people demanded the we should go on but. mostly those who stayed in year of on the campaign yet softer name we saw thousands supporters coming out. to hear what their president what the prime minister had to say and sharing what he said why so many people still backing him given what happened in the going to come back well he's a popular president and it's just some people those people who claim to pin the blame

of hope in the blame of defeat on passion and obviously they're with the opposition but a lot of people thousands of people they don't blame it on him they basically they but they keep blaming it on the previous administration for failing for instance they're saying that well it's it wasn't passion on who. failed to modernize the armenian army start the process the process started a long time ago that's why this still show support they still have their faith in the incumbent prime minister and after all remember he's the man of the people it was the protest and the crowd that essentially got him and gave him the prime minister's seat so a lot of people again talking to people in here of on a lot of people who they were disillusioned in nickel passion and who used to be their supporters not anymore well now but again a lot of people they've remained his supporters it's that simple ok well now everybody it seems would have an opportunity to cast their votes again and whether

they'd like to see him in power again just recapping eagle for people who are just joining us that in the last sort of hour or so passion and actually said look i'm prepared to go ahead with new elections he did he did he did say that he also said that basically everyone everyone who got top military positions top positions in the military under the previous government they should go so it looks like he's going to be cleansing of the ranks of anyone who might be not so loyal to him but rather while still having feelings towards towards his now political opponents and now the opposition so that was that was that was the message from them and and again new election again we don't know whether or not it will happen whether or whether or not it will come to fruition this seems to be the olive branch as you rightly say from the incumbent prime minister ok thanks ego that was done well ok

let's just give you a few more details now about where this rift between the armenian government and the military comes from his own course. there must always be someone to blame for losing a war what leader would blame himself right or he wouldn't be in power for very much longer that was the dilemma hanging over prime minister pasha and he made his move he blamed russian weapons for his country's military defeat in a go in a car a bokken autumn he said russia's electronic warfare systems could not handle turkish drones used by azerbaijan's armed forces the prime minister's attack on russia's military industrial complex added that the missiles either quote did not explode or exploded to 10 percent it is not exactly clear what the pm meant by that were only 10 percent of the missiles launched did missiles hit only 10 percent of their targets neither statement has any confirmed substance behind it since no evidence was provided to back paasschen yon's claims what is known is that such

a fun reliable weaponry would clearly never be accepted into russian military service or by those who buy moscow's weapons like the armenian military which posh and yon is now at odds with the deputy chief of the general staff who rejected the prime minister's claims about the unreliability of russian equipment calling his statement frivolous he then lost his post the chain reaction ensued with the military demanding pasha neons resignation and then the chief of the general staff himself was dismissed and all that brought us to today's standoff in front of government buildings with the fate of the armenian state itself hanging in the balance well comments have been coming in from russia on the latest developments taking place today as well as passion yan's recent critical comments about russian made weapons. when the person looks for ways to exonerate himself he will make its missiles look guilty and say the armenian people and the army are to blame this of course is anything but true. high precision weapons system which has proven its

effectiveness during numerous drills russia has made it clear that it views the situation in armenia as its own internal affair and hopes for its peaceful resolution we condemn all military coups or a coup attempts no matter where they take place across the world it is unacceptable for a military to call for the resignation of an elected government. and independent journalist who has been following events to tell us the armed forces in armenia if they were discredited over the last war in the corner. the problem of a 1000000 years that they lost the war the 6 weeks war that left 6000 people dead in moscow intervened in november or 2 to obtain a cease fire and have things calmed down and come down the situation so everybody sort of agrees you know. they lost the war but they're all the same. should have been better project maybe and the problem is that the army feels discredited

lost the war and dour all day they have anger at their humiliation and so i think it's more between the general staff the the generals and the president that the thing is of course your position tries to make use of it but it's some it's not really. the opposition at least the game it's more of. an issue between the president and the military that needs to be sort of. like a well go back to the main events happening in armenia a bit later on but let's continue with some other stories now of the day and in particular the latest on the pandemic and the issue of exercising soft vaccine diplomacy because the jobs currently worth their weight in gold to meet chronic shortage is israel's negotiating political favors from countries in exchange for giving shots with more his. israelis say to share that stock effect scenes with

other countries including with palestinian doctors as a generous means he might think about but. we are talking about symbolic numbers of vaccines that were given to mary's countries i took the decision in return for many things that we already received through many contacts in various areas that i will no detail here. poults came trade off sought being made with countries which is well listen people stood relations. sauce paula at its finest he often appears quite clear we will give you vaccines and in return you give us all diplomatic support this is the czech embassy in tel

aviv not so long ago paul promised to open a diplomatic office in jerusalem and in return the people of the czech republic would receive thousands of coronavirus vaccinations from israel or somalia has moved its embassy to jerusalem 100 page the same hungary has also set up a trade mission in jerusalem and many of those think it's simply wrong to trade medicine for political influence the reason being that any always doing it is to promote himself and to try and win the elections so in that sense of course the it's not done purely out of the right multi-verse he use us. diplomatic relationships to use us for anything he has to report to people in israel why he's doing it and to which countries he's doing it to you has to be transparent about it but there's nothing wrong with it we need to give to all of our citizens here in israel the vaccine. speak for we think couple offering it to any other countries

regardless of what they are doing for us the ideal thing would be that these vaccines would get directly to these countries and not through israel in the original prize to get to all the countries that need it and we shouldn't make any profit out of it i do agree it should help other countries and the 3rd as well to get vaccinated but. not to use it cynically just to gain for politico gain our loyalty and our government's loyalist see should be to its citizens 1st and foremost like most of our population i think you should quit israel doesn't manufacture the vaccines itself and the idea is to stand thousands of left of the shots to other countries but don't position leaders are criticizing the secret nature of these deals and cooling for mold jabs to be seen to the west bank and gaza over half the population has been black sand but i wish i played this

operation 1st the full voting overstatement right far away country. no matter what is there and you know the diplomatic aerobatics. are in can be a very you and humanitarian gesture at me and very crying from its rather fun summer in there is not far. more eloquent to go out and out human i help you know in hell why aspect i think that sending them folksiness far away might be fine for india. not nice for. our own a geisha to our neighbors nearby and if they are on their our our responsibility. it's both your money terry you know and wrecked it for it to keep these vaccines. 5 or 6000000 palestinians living next to it because the dead make knows no borders if you is not for israel to do it just to buy it from up there no more

fires are and then if you start on that you know american rulers all the community is only going to get you are there are israelis living in settlements in the west bank next to arab villages and towns. of religious intolerance so yes after israel palestinian should get the 1st and not goals regimes were cruel to me tell you how that worked against the israeli interests inside the country netanyahu is main rival in governing partner defense minister bill guns has harshly criticized the arrangements saying they had been reached without any governmental deliberation the fact that netanyahu trades in vaccines of israeli citizens that were paid for from their tax money without any accountability shows that he thinks he is running a kingdom and not a state next month hundreds of thousands of medina vaccines are expected to arrive

in israel once the country has finished inoculating its own population the surplus supplies might be used to help normalize relations with new countries who knows how many more of these embassies might be springing up in jerusalem. r.t. tel aviv. now ahead of talks between the leaders brussels has threatened legal action against 6 member states if they don't reopen their borders the countries including germany have shut down to stop the spread of the pandemic however the closures have hit some supply chains and these are rows of italian trucks here trying to get into austria on their way to germany they can't get through there because they need coronavirus tests to enter our europe correspondent peter oliver has more. the new commission currently after all 2 with 6 member states who've unilaterally put in place border restrictions of one type or an other in order to try and stop the spread of covert 19 whether that's the spread of the virus in

general or the stop of the spread of mutated versions particularly here in germany that's been a top issue e.u. commission buying up though they're not happy with the situation the commission has been clearer to coordinate that approach among 27 member states we risk fragmentation and disruptions to free movement into a supply chain is something we have witnessed again in the past 2 weeks so who's on the naughty list belgium germany denmark hungry finland and sweden have all been given 10 days to provide a good reason why they put these restrictions on freedom of movement in place or to relax the restrictions that have been put there the e.u. commission's unlikely to win easily on this one we've heard from the german side who've defended their move these measures obviously puts a massive strain on border regions commuters and the transport of goods and the single market but the protection.