in a day of political upheaval in armenia the prime minister's call for early elections is rejected by the opposition he also says the country's military must debate here in march that he sacks the head of the armed forces saying he was part of an attempt to. do it all soldiers told this is the general rules it's your job god borders on the territorial integrity of war mean you this is my word and no one can disobey. i the clashes erupted of protesters as well as supporters of prime minister nicole passion yann faced off in the capital yet. another news come this hour essential vaccines for political influence critics slam israel for sending countries kovi jabs in exchange for diplomatic support.

but i welcome good evening you're watching r.t. international where it's 6 o'clock here in moscow. now we start without breaking news because i mean his opposition has rejected an offer from the country's prime minister for early elections earlier a standoff between opponents and supporters of prime minister nicole passion yann rocked the capital get a van and police were deployed in large numbers all after the prime minister sacked the chief of the armed forces general staff saying he was part of an attempt to military kill you there are fears tensions could escalate further. i was i was i was massive opposing rallies we're

seeing close to one another in central yet a van official crowd numbers yet to be confirmed but they are estimated to be in their thousands. i thank. cars have been honking their horns ascribes chanted anti passion and slogans some have been driving too with photos of the prime minister smead in fake blood opponents of nicole nicole a passion and have also been filmed standing on their balconies giving the thumbs down sign or they block the streets and paralyze traffic they're chanting that they want the prime minister out nearby there were rallies in support of the prime minister earlier in the day he took to facebook to tell supporters he needed them prime minister and his son then met the crowds to assure that the situation was manageable and that he's ready to discuss any problems in the country he also insisted today that the army chief he dismissed remains quote his brother but he is demanding that the country's military

a bait him after he sacked the head of the armed forces saying he was part of an attempt to. then why all the all soldiers this is. your job guard borders and the territorial integrity of armenia this is my order and no one can disobey to do with holding this railway means finished. you'll sit down at the negotiating table with the opposition for consultations on elections the prime minister and the government of armenia are no longer able to make adequate decisions in this football and critical situation for the armenian people given the current situation the armed forces of armenia the resignation of the prime minister and the government at the same time we called to refrain from using force against people whose children died defending their homeland and care about armenians general staff demanded the immediate resignation of the prime minister and his government the military accuses nicole passion yann of being unable to make sound

decisions in times of crisis on top of that the military is unhappy about what they describe as numerous attempts to discredit the armed forces their state goes on to claim to be their passion ends in efficient management has brought armenia to the verge of to my eyes but i discuss the developments in armenia with local journalists of its yeah. what we could see in goals meetings in here and square where opposition gathered together is the absence of provocations which is very rare or seems you know meeting so at their ease bury clear deviation between the opposition and the supporters and that's why we know no clashes no no provocations and no clashes and. the statement of prime minister was. one of the older representatives so for status

of ministries to go on doing it their direct responsibility to 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 all sebald and. somehow we telling is that early elections are also a possible scenario for development because the early elections as we mentioned before can be one of the rape concepts and to the rate of what you need to solve this problem without any aggression or without any clashes and and with all blogs all position needs a dialogue as well despite that think that their main theme on steel

resignation and he called by she mia but that's resignation can be a result of the election so maybe dialogue among. across the topic of the elections can be this calm on a red line a commerce. you know i. 2 political powers. or political tensions in armenia escalated following the military conflict in the disputed nagorno-karabakh region in late last year which did see as a big make significant gains forcing armenians to cede large swathes of territory the opposition has been calling on the armenian prime minister since then to step down accusing him of treason and also mismanagement as you could have done of you covered the bloody military conflict there between armenia and azerbaijan to join me in the studio earlier with a more in-depth analysis on the political crisis this whole process that has been

brewing for months because it all stems from mean years and well nagorno-karabakh a defeat in the world in last year's war the armenian government the promise their people that they would come out victorious out of this clash with their by john over the issue of this disputed region over nagorno-karabakh. i spent a month there in the world as the war was breaking out all around me and basically from the very start and all the way all the way all throughout the war everything that we've heard everything that journalists have heard everything that the population the people that heard from the armenian side it was we're going to come out victorious yes we are falling back a little bit but that's a tactical retreat and we will will will regain our positions and will actually get more of the more of the land more of the as the local don't worry we have it under control and so when i was there by john. i mean russia when the world when they

signed a peace deal when they signed it when they signed a truce which russia effectively brokered it became poor mean eons for ordinary people. as an absolute shock they were shell shocked literally because according to that deal 2 they had to concede 2 thirds of nagorno-karabakh to. and that when it sparked that was the mission that's when the protests started that's when people started to come to the streets and when they started to call on world local trashing and to step down because they blamed this bling this on him and essentially punching and he tried to just push the blame on something else and at a certain point it was almost like he was trying to blame the military to blame the soldiers for not doing enough he obviously he retracted that he later he said that he didn't but that's when the bad blood between him and the military started because being there and soldiers who did all the could they just they were

overpowered militarily they were overpowered they had no response they had no answer to the drone problem because the drones they were just obliterating their positions which were absolutely not ready for suit you know their defense systems were not ready for that so they were just flying hovering over and just bombing directly from above while all the defenses they were more suited to. more of an artillery more of a school that was suited for that but not for the of the latest generation of you know military military hardware so that's when it started basically people had broken absolutely devastated because nagorno-karabakh it's not just some piece of mountainous which it is for you or for me we don't have that you know feeling it's for that for them it's a matter of a matter of national pride so that defeat having to concede 2 thirds of the territories which are overwhelmingly populated by the ethnically armenian people

that was absolutely devastating and through the course of all these months it seems and while it is obvious now passion and hasn't the prime minister hasn't done enough to well to do so back together the divisions in the armenian society just so back together to heal this. woman this massive worn on their pride and their well on their on their national integrity even looking at the pictures today it's clear that it does have a fair amount of support doesn't it i mean a call for supporters to come on to the streets and they did and how much support does he have exactly and why is that support there given what you've just said judging from from judging from what i see right now it very much reminds me as to what was happening there back in october in november. when when when it was still morning when the wind was still bleeding from the last in the world basically i did see thousands of people turn out against michael passion on

a given back then but again every single taxi driver that i would talk to back then he would tell me something along the lines well i don't know i don't know why people are so angry like a lot of people who support the prime minister after all remember he came into power as the man of the street so to speak the words like pain with the crowd he came as part of a revolution himself so really the streets and the public support is all that he has to legitimize him as as as the country's leader that's why the his kneejerk reaction to the statement by the military was to call on his supporters to gather in the in the city center because this is what legitimizes him and that's why the opposition is following the same route because they know if a lot of people come out and if it is obvious that there is so many people who want him to go that the that the moves in i mean that the mood in armenia has changed because of this war and people and fewer people now support him after the after the

defeat and that they blame that the pin the blame of the defeat on him that's why they are calling so it is it is a pivotal time for armenia right now and everything that is going to happen in the next in the course of the next hours even and world days of course but even in the next few hours we will be more clear as to how dangerous. this situation really is for passion and passion and he's saying that it's an attempted military coup but again we haven't seen any military in the streets as the general chief of staff he signed a letter along with some 40 other top officers generals like they could where they have a whole salad bowl of ribbons you know wearing on their lapel. so they have called on him to resign but again they called on everybody to refrain from violence so to me it looks like the last world really the last warning like literally the last warning to passion and it's time to take sides really because again no military in

the streets as of yet but according to some reports citing sources close to passion on this statement came as a complete surprise to him so the this is the top brass the military top brass who are supposed to have back they managed to keep it under wraps long enough even as they were working on the wording of this statement and it came as a complete surprise to passion and so he's trying to find this balance as to why he doesn't want to be more hardcore than he needs to be and he's trying to and it is clear that he did not have a plan for this he's just he just reacting on the girl like something happens he reacts it's not like he had a he had a contingency plan for that at least it doesn't look like he had one to me. we're back in november there was another rally in the armenian capital when hundreds of demonstrators broke into the government building they were strongly against the prime minister's decision to end fighting in a corner cutting back saying they won't give up their lands under the day you. just

hold areas of this heated region taken during the conflict many armenians say they will never give passion and the law. however the current unrest has come from a more recent disagreement inside the armenian government over weapons the army disposal is don't quarter. 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 and he made his move he blamed russian weapons for his country's military defeat in a go in a car a block in 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 unreliable weaponry would clearly never be accepted into russian military service or by those who buy moscow's weapons when the person looks for ways to exonerate himself he will make iskander missiles look guilty and say the armenian people and to blame this of course is anything but true it's going to this high precision weapon system which has proven its effectiveness during your is drills the deputy chief of the general staff rejected the prime minister's claims about the unreliability of russian equipment calling his statement frivolous he then lost his post chain reaction ensued with the military demanding paasschen younes 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 the cosa there were some international reaction has been coming in over this but both russia and to keep voicing their opinion on the political crisis. 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. no matter where they take place across the world it is unacceptable for a military to call for the resignation of an elected government. ok let's get the thoughts now of dr william an insincere professor of political science and joins us this evening a very welcome in your own do you have fragile as you think is the situation in armenia tonight. as fragile as it was between 1980 in the 1923 when the same problems occurred between i mean you and us are young. that was all sold of course because of the soviet union. and its but i was doubt again in

1909 only history exists in that sense activism plays a very important part in this we don't know the history we can't really know the present. and what's happened is that the same problem has come back. and it's going to get and it's very very tense because we have outside involvement now as a result of the so-called end of the alleged cold war and we have turkish involvement which is also quite dangerous we have american involvement because they support by on very strongly in fact i wouldn't be that surprised if one day they would like to be members of nato you'll notice today that the supremes commander of nato made me to another very anti russian statement so it's outside involvement that's a problem it's also a big headache for moscow. this agreement the one that they're protesting against now in fact woodward was agreed by moscow so moscow compu very happy

with what's happened we have to remember that although the majority the vast majority of people want to cut our barkeep or armenian it was never the less easy and technically part of all of us are by young and the russians always tries to go by the letter of the law and sought that this might be a solution but at the moment it's not a solution needs you in young you have turkish involvement american involvement behind the scenes undoubtedly possibly israeli involvement because of how they help turkey with its drones which is a bit of a surprise so it's very tense and i think to predict what will happen in a week. it is dangerous we see a lot of people. apparently supporting the army because they're angry at what happened. when they had to give up between a half and 2 thirds of. the territory so. find we're asking as

difficult a question as you can what it is he's only just looking at the russian perspective sorry to interrupt you there but they were hoping or they do hope that this problem will get resolved internally they say it's up to armenia to resolve it so did it surprise you that the opposition today rejected passion yan's offer of early elections. not that much because there's a lot of out of ism and anger because of the way that the the if you like brothers in not gonna cut it back you have bits that were given up by being treated being very badly treated and that has i'm afraid still has like even in the worst part of the balkans an effect even today history jumps out and snaps at you and it's at people and i think the army has recognised this one thing i'm slightly surprised at is why couldn't the army just wait for the elections and then see what happens they

seem to be jumping the gun a beauty if you'll pardon the pun. and also they're dividing society because because there is this bus and young has a lot of support i think russia will be following it extremely closely and hoping that the whole thing will cement down again and that this is just. a storm in a teacup but remember it's exploitable turkey will have to be extremely careful as to how far it goes because i'm sure i suspect that there was a sort of so-called gentleman's agreement between moscow and i'm color about the original agreement in any case is that shaken we have a problem. i can tell drawing a parallel with us of what i don't want to it's a warped parallel but don't forget the cost of what a huge majority of serbs once upon a time. if they were then also really kicked out why yugoslavia existed so there's a certain parallel but i don't at all a parallel too far because i'm not saying that meeting would like to get involved in this dispute but to be very worried if it were to then russia would have its red

lines to draw i think moscow hopes that this problem will simply go away let's hope it does it is a reset area fragile and dangerous situation thanks here there are some nights when we always appreciate that was dr william an instant professor of political science and international relations thanks for coming. by. ok well let's turn to other news now today in the pandemic in the issue of exercising soft power through vaccine diplomacy because with jobs currently worth their weight in gold amid chronic shortage is israel's is negotiating political favors from countries in exchange for giving shots but more his poor sleep. it's really safe to share that stock of x. scenes with other countries including with palestinian doctors as a generous mean few might think about but. we are talking about symbolic numbers of vaccines that were given to them or is 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. reports came tradeoffs sought being made with countries which israel recently bolstered relations. sauce paula at its finest the often appears quite clear we will give you vaccines and in return you give us all diplomatic support this is the chick 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 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 uses us for diplomatic relationships he 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. it's before we think about 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 and 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 welt as well to get vaccinated but. not to use it cynically just to gain politico gain our loyalty and our government's loyals see should be to its citizens 1st and foremost like most of our population i think you should israel doesn't manufacture the vaccines itself and the idea is to stand thousands of left of the shots to other countries but opposition leaders are criticizing the secret nature of these deals and cooling for mold jabs to be seen to the way spank and gaza over the next year has made roxanne but wish i played this operation 1st the phobe only overstatement right far away country and. no matter what is there and you know the diplomatic aerobatics. are in can be

a very yeah you are humanitarian gesture and you can be very crying from red summer interns not from the far. more island pointed out and that humans are hell you know in hell why there are aspects i think that sending them folksiness far away might be going to india. not nice for. our own a geisha to our neighbors nearby that are on their our our responsibility. both your money cerium and directed go for it to keep these vaccines. 2 5 or 6000000 palestinians living next to it because the people that make knows no borders use not for israel to do it just to buy it from up there no more fires are and then if you starve that you know very rulers all the community is only going to get there 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 remarkable to me 10 yo and perhaps 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. tel aviv.

i don't want from so-called migrant concentration camps or getting a media rebranding an i.j. biden's new facilities for kids it seems because that appears to be the message from u.s. outlets reporting on the present reopening of a site for migrant chains so why is the coverage so different this time around his imprint. the same famous outlet reporting on essentially the same controversial issue of how children who are legally cross america's southern border are treated by the u.s. government the general practice is that they're put in camps after being separated from their parents different dates under the articles and very different titles the one from tobar 20 reads the american tradition of caging children the one from this week is 1st migron facility for children opens under biden and

the told in these 2 unmistakably different i'm not the one to judge but it seems under biden are the words that make the difference this is though how the dems were destroying trump not so long ago for oh they couldn't stop repeating. in cages there is a very clear intent and they are carrying out the intent which is to separate these families and put these children in cages they watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages but make no mistake what's opened or reopened after joe biden took charge is spelled f.a.a. c i l i t y facility that we're being. told is under fire this is not kids being kept in cages this is this is this is a facility that was opened that's going to follow the same standards as other

h.h.s. facilities ok i get partisan solidarity but there must be someone in the democrat camp with the ballasts vision who would say guys this isn't right bs double standards in how you look at treating young migrants being go here's what congresswoman alexandria ocasio cortez tweeted. this is not ok never has been ok never will be ok no matter that ministration a party only to backpedal in less than an hour after being struck by a hail storm of replies her next twitter post slammed the fundamentals of the immigration system putting the blame on the previous administration oh yeah under the old administration ms ocasio cortez had been much more adamant in her fight against what she wasn't just calling cages but full on concentration camps i flew to the concentration camp with the trumpet ministration was keeping children they still from that parents joe biden steam and left leaning commentators are

defending the decision not only to maintain but to reopen camps for children by saying it's a necessity in the times of covert or cabs extra room but the head of a u.s. border patrol union says it doesn't feel like any improvement is on the way instead though he claims the biden team holds unaccompanied migrant children in border patrol custody longer than legally allowed all in the very same cages the hypocrisy from the left in the mainstream media truly shows they care nothing for the children they used as pawns to attack president trump the ironic thing is that the camps or facilities or whatever you choose to call them appeared while barack obama was in charge along with vice president joe biden mr biden didn't even shy away from admitting responsibility.