in tok. 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 military must obey him after he sacks the armed forces chief saying he was part of an attempted coup. by the old soldiers this is the general's job gog borders and the territorial integrity of armenia this is my ward and no one can disobey. clashes erupted as thousands of protesters as well as supporters of prime minister passion young faced off in the capital. ahead another news essential vaccines

for political influence critics slam israel for sending countries covert jobs in exchange for diplomatic support. from moscow this is our see international money is called embrace the saving ace here in the russian capital it's 9 pm in armenia that's where we're starting this hour breaking news from the south caucasus the opposition in armenia is rejected an offer from the prime minister to snap elections earlier a standoff between opponents and supporters of prime minister nicol passion rocked the capital yerevan and police were deployed in large numbers the escalations in response to the prime minister's sacking the chief of the armed forces general stuff saying that he was possible attempted military coup and the roof is the tensions could spiral further.

massive opposing rallies were seen close to one another in central europe an official crowd numbers are yet to be confirmed but they're estimated to be in the thousands. drivers have been honking car horns as crowds chanted anti passion young slogans some of the driving with photos of the prime ministers smeared with fake blood stuck to their vehicles opponents of nicole passion yaniv also been filmed standing on their balconies the thumbs down sign. your position blocks streets and paralyzed traffic that chanting that they wanted the prime minister out protesters have also set up a makeshift camps next to the parliament building in yerevan ever possibly being encouraged by opposition leaders to stay there until m.p.'s vote for the

resignation of the prime minister. nearby there were rallies in support of prime minister passion earlier in the day he took to facebook to tell supporters of the prime minister and his son then met the crowds to assure them that the situation was manageable and that he's ready to discuss any problems in the country. and he also insisted that the army chief that he dismissed remains quote his brother but he's demanding that the country's military obey him and he sacked the head of the armed forces saying that he was part of an attempted coup. then why didn't the all soldiers officers generals do your job god borders and the territorial integrity of armenia this is my order and no one can disobey today we're holding this rally and we'll finish all accidents we will 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 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 called to refrain from using force against people whose children died defending their homeland and care about. armenians general staff insists on the resignation of both 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 there statement goes on to claim that passion and inefficient management has brought armenia to the verge of demise. a local journalist a carin of its yonkers reporting from the ira van says that the opposition is preparing for a night of demonstrations. right now where between the 2 towns say in the fall of

one square right behind me you can see the building of the national leslie of parliament here right in the streets of the opposition is teaching the chance to make that chant. because their wish is to stand still 24 seventh's and all souls day they are preparing for that night. bringing firewood for camp fire everything going for it for ration for the night not for just a one night but to every day 247 yes the all physician leaders they are lost and also waiting for the president of for me to make some seizure and to be had the feast of the president the for me is also in the parliament street so the main to process of the main actions will take place

right. political tensions in armenia escalated following the military conflict in the disputed nagorno-karabakh region last autumn which saw azerbaijan make significant gains forcing armenians to cede large swathes of territory the opposition's been calling on the armenian prime minister to step down ever since accusing him of treason and mismanagement. who covered the bloody military conflict between armenia and azerbaijan forus joined our drew farmer earlier in the studio with 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 to defeat 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 well as the war was breaking out all around me and basically from the very start and all throughout the war everything that we've heard everything that

journalists have heard everything that the population the people there. 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 regain our positions and don't worry we have it under control so when i was there by john i mean it signed a peace deal which russia effectively brokered it came poor mean eons for ordinary people as an absolute shock because according to that deal they had to concede 2 thirds of the go in a car back to azerbaijan and that when that was the ignition that's when the protests started that's when people started to come out to the streets and when they started to call on world local trashing him to step down because they blame this on the him and essentially well passion and he tried to just push the blame on something else and 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 mean that but that's when the bad blood between him and the military started because i've been there soldiers they 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 and we were absolutely not ready for some of you know their defense systems were not ready for that so that's when it started basically people heartbroken absolutely devastated because we're going to care about it's not just some piece of mountain as 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 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 wall and looking at the pictures today it's clear that it does have a fair amount of support doesn't it i mean he called for supporters to come on to the streets and they did and how much support does he have exactly why is that support there given what you've just said judging from what i see right now is very much reminds me as to what was happening there back in october in november when it was still on the ground was still bleeding from the last of the war basically i did see thousands of people turn out against an equal passion on the going back then but again every single taxi driver that i would talk to back again who would tell you something along the lines well i don't know i don't know why people are so angry like a lot of people do support the prime minister after rule remember he came into

power as the man of the street. so to speak he was you know he gave over the crowd 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 this statement by the military was to call in 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 called passion on his 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 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 on and it came as a complete surprise to partially and so he's trying to find this balance as to 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 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. or back in november there was another violent 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 the fighting in a go no care about saying they won't give up their lands under the deal reached

with azerbaijan but who holds areas of the disputed region taken during the conflict. many i mean to say they'll never forgive old battles. however the current unrest comes from a more recent disagreement inside the media government over weapons of the army's disposal is don't know colton that explains there must always be someone to blame for losing a war what leader would blame himself right he wouldn't be a leader for much longer that was the dilemma hanging over prime minister posh and young and then he made his move he blamed russian weapons for his country's military defeat in a go in a car bomb 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 russian made is skandia missiles either did not explode or quote exploded 10 percent it's not exactly clear what the pm meant by that 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 like the armenian military which pasha neon is now at odds with in fact russia's ministry of defense says none of their iskenderun missile systems were in any way involved in the nuke or in a car conflict giving russia's defense officials the impression that posh and yon's been given inaccurate information by i mean she is there also be doing that. according to the objective unreliable information available to us no miso systems of this top were used during the conflict it's appears that armenian prime minister and the cope was misled and used in cuba information. 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 the chain

reaction. ensued with the military demanding paasschen yon's resignation and then the chief of the general staff himself was dismissed and all that brought us to today's standoff in front of the government buildings with the fate of the armenian state itself hanging in the balance. now there's been international reaction over the past few hours with russia the united states and turkey all voicing their opinions 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 the old military coups or 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 we are closely following ongoing developments in our mania and encourage all parties to exercise calm and restraint and to de-escalate tensions peacefully without violence.

and live together about. who's a specialist in constitutional law or the armenian institute of international and security affairs glad to have you on r.t. international tonight can bash me and survive this. first of all of a low good evening. i think that this attempted coup in my opinion it was an attempted cloak. by the military was unsuccessful because it's it was not only unconstitutional but also all. has not any social basis under it 1st of all. 'd i would like to remind you that after. announcement of the november 9th 102020 radical position comprised of representatives of former political regime which was opposed to it as a result of the will of the revolution. is trying to.

strengthen public busy negative reaction. after the results of the war out of the defeat of. armenia forces but. the legitimacy of the call question. after even out the war remains quiet. and. vice versa for sure legitimacy of the predicate position of the former region let's say remains very low and. as for famous some would say that french or philosopher always is the. 'd last people in the streets the more radical they are and that is why the rhetoric of the radical position and especially their leader was going on and can ease quite

offensive by quiet the speculative and they call. upon to even physically destroying. power or the police. have yes i want to ask you how significant is it that the prime minister in the same battle states is not the support of the military. let's say the following that. a military who also were in charge during the war. are trying also to just. keep far from the results of the war and they don't want to will resume any responsibility even. normal normally will criminal but let's say even disciplinary liability or are built with it to liability for the grave results of

the war and that trying to put everything on crushing our shoulders and bit and that this is a situation became tense or after the announcement of the compression on that around $1000.00 criminal cases were initiated. based on some alleged treme no acts during the whole war even though like conspiracy of. bringing the war to the defeat or and even. treason and something like that and. overall all military and i will just stress one thing that the army itself. is not against the pushing and of the army itself. and particularly the minister of defense and well as our current union announced their

disagreement with the chief of the staff of the army and they stress that they maintain. as supporters of just occasional stability and. security of the media which is the main institutional obligation need stability is what i call a full rounds an emotionally charged day where you. appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. in thanks for your time. was turning to other news in the pandemic namely claims of exercising soft power through vaccine diplomacy with jobs currently worth their weight in gold of a chronic shortages israel's negotiating political favors from countries in exchange for giving shots his policy or. it's really safe to share that stock effect 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 men 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. but ports came trade off sought being made with countries which least some people stood relations. sauce paula at its finest the often appears quite clear we will give you vaccines and in mattoon 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 many of those think it's simply wrong to trade medicine for political influence the reason being it to me 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 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. speak for we think offering it to any other country is 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 price 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 politicos 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 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 mole jabs to be seen to the way spank and gaza over half the population has made a mark sanford wish i played this operation 1st before bowing overstated or very

far away from actually. no matter what is there and you know the diplomatic aerobatics. are in can be a very you are humanitarian gesture at me and very crying read somewhere in there is not far. more eloquent to gather and that you member help you know in hell why aspect i think that sending them books seems far away might be going to india. not me for we have our obligations to our neighbors nearby and are on their our our responsibility. both human. and directed. to these vaccines. 2 of 5 or 6000000 palestinians leaving next week because the dead make knows no borders. it is not for israel to do it just to buy it for ahmad there are no more fires are and then to some that you

know american rulers all the community is only going to go there or there are israelis living in settlements in the west bank next to arab villages and towns are always doing it. really it isn't the odds so yes after israel palestinian should get the 1st and not goals regimes were cruel to me tell you how it worked against the israeli interests inside the country netanyahu is main rival in governing partner defense minister binny 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. the world health organizations a special envoy on covert 19 has told r.t. that the world should prepare for a new post pandemic reality and also warns the we should expect other dangerous strains to spread. as some who say we should be striving towards eliminating the virus completely others and i'm in this 2nd group say that we must strive towards being able to live with the virus as a constant threat but putting in place a mix of defenses in our societies that mean that we hold the virus at bay at the center of that is vaccination which can protect people from getting

seriously ill and dying but there's also how we behave and there's also how governments create the conditions in which we can behave in a really helpful way with regard to avoiding the virus and as international cooperation because if one country is brilliant and the neighbor is not so good that's not helpful to the people who specially if they were to move between the countries so that last point about international cooperation is absolutely vital. i want to be clear you always need to have traction nations to be good so that's good practice or even just for many years i've carried a little yellow book next to my passport which 'd indicates that i've had yellow fever vaccinations it includes being toes of the data i've received the vaccination who vaccinated me and very importantly will number of vaccine i received i really

think that's good practice now how the significance it used as possible for being able to get on a plane or get into a hotel or go into a building or go to a festival that's a different story and right now i don't think anybody is in a position to start saying to our vaccinations if it gets will be used in practice it's early days on that but what matters is that there is good international cooperation between countries to really work out what the protocols for using vaccinations to the kids when enabling people to travel or enabling people to benefit from going to a particular event that needs to be discussed internationally. there's been as as most of your viewers will know a recent investigation into how this virus appeared through an independent scientific group that was set up under the auspices of the world health

organization a joint independent group together with the chinese authorities and they are in the process of producing their report looking for hypotheses about the origins and their report will detail where they've got to in relation to each of these hypotheses finding out the origins of any kind of pathogen whether it's the one causing this corona virus or other pathogens for example like it or particular kinds of influenza these investigations that difficult to do and as far as i'm concerned this is a process it's on track where it's very political and a lot of people are watching it and we have to wait until the report appears before any further judgments could be made. or not so long ago they were called donald trump's concentration camps for migrants however the same facilities being operated

by the biden administration seem to be getting the thumbs up from the media so why is the coverage so different this time around. 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 practices that they're put in camps after being separated from their parents different dates under the articles and very different titles the one from october 28th the american tradition of caging children the one from this week is the 1st migrant 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 open door reopened after joe biden took charge is spelled f.a.a. c i l i t y facility that we're. trying to survive 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 parts and solidarity but there must be someone in the democratic camp with the ballast vision who would say guys this isn't right these double standards in how you look at treating young migrants being go here's what

congresswoman alexandria ocasio cortez.