president putin receives a russian made a vaccine against the kremlin says he is in good spirits and is ready to get back to work. israeli prime minister is a party is holding its lead in the country's 4th election in 2 years with benjamin netanyahu possibly on the cusp of a reelection despite currently standing trial on corruption charges. germany imposes yet another lockdown after a surgeon infections while the health minister is caught up in a scandal over a lucrative facemask supply deal.

direct for our studios in moscow this is march international and i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us and the kremlin has announced that the russian president vladimir putin has been vaccinated against covert 19 taylor has more on how it is part of a push to get the country. he said he'd do it and he's done it on tuesday evening we did get was now we foster that a job was on the cards on monday during a video conference between the president and national vaccine manufacturers it was then that he finds them all involved in fact development for the enormous contribution that they've made not just here in russia but of course globally in the fight against corona virus but it was undoubtedly his very casual missed in passing mention that he himself was planning on getting the shot that really grabbed headlines now whilst we do have confirmation that it did go ahead as planned it was not recorded at least not publicly so while some leaders such as joe expired in america prime minister boris johnson actively invited cameras into that

vaccinations president putin clearly didn't want this to be a p.r. stunt he treated it as a private medical issue and this wasn't probably not surprising given that he had previously mentioned that he wasn't really big into this sort of making a big political show of leaders being faxon ate it we do know that he is feeling very well and apparently the kremlin says that he will be watching a full day on wednesday one question though does remain which job did he get vaccinated with global of course sputniks he is probably the most talked about and it's registered in dozens of foreign countries but here in russia it's actually only one of 3 available we will probably not find out which one was the chosen one with the kremlin reasoning the president didn't want to seem to favor any of them since all 3 are as safe and effective as each other. group we're deliberately not revealing which facts in the president is taking thereby stressing that 3 russian

vaccines are absolutely safe and effective we have no need to try to boost the popularity of speech especially through artificial means to monitor the vaccine is such that our manufacturing capacity can meet international requests as it is which . is why we are struggling in production in foreign countries now of course saying once president being vaccinated can only be positive encouragement for citizens i'm sure the kremlin is hoping that this will trade gore boost up to it domestically not being said russia's vaccination rollout is fairly steady the latest official figures released on monday with that 4300000 people are totally vaccinated of the 6300000 a hof way that they've received doses and this is actually something that we talked to the deputy prime minister about specifically about one possibly herd immunity will fall here in russia so finally we can get rid of those mosques or.

has extensive experience a nationwide vaccination we have got used to it's voluntary nature i think trying to pressure foolish people to get the chip or stay home because they haven't been inoculated that's wrong because everyone is different some people have a medical reason to not get the shot and for the sake of common understanding we've established the number of people who need to be vaccinated to reach collective immunity it's almost 69000000 people we are pursuing this goal rapidly and estimated at the current rate we can reach it by august but we hope the pace will increase so voluntary vaccines for here in russia on tuesday president putin being the latest to take advantage of that certainly a step towards allaying any potential vaccine hesitancy but perhaps more significantly really a sign of absolute faith and pride and russian science on its latest medical breakthrough. countering is underway in israel's 4th parliamentary election in 2 years after voting at it a few hours ago exit polls or just prime minister benjamin netanyahu has the lead

of the potential to stay in power for a 6th term. carrie lee could hit coulter's with the mood is cracked faced if to put it quite simply the initial results have come through him and they said he suggests that the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is on course for a now that term in office this might launch we depend on whether or not his full my ally and defense minister enough to be finished he comes from further on the political right joins in alliance with him but what the turnout who essentially needs is a majority of 61 out of a 120 parliamentary seats and said he's here as i mentioned actually could have pulled to introduce him people think he has many chop tain that it was a bit of sort of a surprise from netanyahu so the main contained in that was the most interest leftist parties. at t.d. hated by ear and let paid and they seem to have done worse than they thought so

what we're witnessing here is as has been happening for quite some time a gradual turn more mole to the right on the israeli political spectrum and further away from same trust and leftist parties now this election was launched the every full range i'm on whether or not netanyahu should remain in office and that was the number one question that people were voting on shout people are certainly very enthusiastic about netanyahu but elsewhere in the country people are very vocal against him. voting ended at 10 o'clock this evening local time there was some polls by some political parties for it to be extended because some people said they had to wait too long queues because of the coronavirus effect not happening now they would some

13500 voting stations 5000 more than the last round of elections and some 6 and a half 1000000 people. legible to vote what is interesting this time around is that photo turnout was no way than it has been in previous elections and that might pop p.t.t. photo of the tea don't forget that this is the 4th election that is being held in just the space of 2 years it's also the 1st election that israel is holding in the throes of one of 5 us that was mission measures at all the polling stations people were forced to wait mosques and to maintain distance they were also special wards sit up in hospitals where patients with coronavirus could phones so certainly a 1st for israel in that respect but if we find out in the coming hours that netanyahu is again the country's prime minister that won't be a 1st. we spoke with times of israel writer mark shulman who thinks netanyahu is squarely to blame for the country's divisions. a lot of people as

a question of you know how is it even possible that he decided to keep on running up and he was the one when her owner was being investigated not even indicted when he was being investigated he said he could not remain prime minister chris someone who's being investigated that's what bibi netanyahu when he was out of office in the opposition that's what he said about it all more so a lot of people saying you said that then and now what about now so this be a lot of disappointment of course there's the you know the anger is strong amongst the opposition the feeling that enough i mean keep in mind the fact he was the longest serving prime minister you know a lot of people in this country young people don't even know any other prime minister as far as that goes i promise and then you know it is the prime minister so to speak there is nothing nothing else they haven't looked to anything else so. there's going to be they know this country is really divided on this issue almost more so than divided on religion and state than on the palestinian issue they really divided on whether that that you know should remain prime minister. tuesday

marks exactly one year since the u.k. entered its 1st coronavirus a lockdown a minute's silence was observed earlier so too was a nation wide doorstep candlelit vigil to remember the 126000 lives lost in the pandemic r.t. shot edwards dostie reports on how the virus changed britain. this time last year when coverage 19 began to ripping through the u.k. life a 66000000 people changed forever from the c evening give the british people a very simple instruction you must stay at home lockdown it began 3 short weeks as a prime minister protect squash the summer brevard keep the cave at 19 peak load to help the n.h.s. cope it quickly became the norm the government had waited as long as it could to long said many but as the horror scenes witnessed abroad became reality hospitals filling up empty supermarket shelves there was little alternative once

a infection has ceded itself into a population and is spreading and spreading fast it becomes very difficult to can train and control it and we were slow to put the barriers up to prevent the seeding in the 1st instance whilst the pandemic is a new iris the art and craft of pandemic management is not new and it is a bit disingenuous to say that because this was a coronavirus pandemic we didn't know what to do that is just not true 3 official lockdowns in total so far but most of 2020 lived under some restrictions and the mass of constantly changing contradictory rules that the public utterly baffled wash your hands stay home protect the n.h.s. stay alert control the virus stay 2 months apart no stay one meter plus apart see only 6 people no don't see anyone unless you're in

a support bubble don't go out go out to exercise walk from home go in if it's essential go back but don't use public transport now work from home again i think pretty much every time that they release a new set of rules everyone's been a bit confused a lot of misunderstanding somewhat confused. i guess is sort of cleared up towards the end for a lot down to work. there's got to be trust trust that there's a method in the madness and the government and the scientists could be forgiven for not exactly knowing how to confront an unknown threat but also the trust that we're all in this together which broke very early on as rule makers turned apparent for breakers we agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if i could drive safely we drove for a few half an hour and ended up on the outskirts of town they certainly won't encourage compliance for a number of reasons number one if people are going to comply with the law they must understand where it's coming from and they must see that those responsible for

passing that law are abiding by themselves the whole concept of one law for us and one law for that the rest do as we say not as we do that's how it really undermines compliance with any law the major issue with locking down when to open up that's got to be a balance and with hospitality in particular on its knees the chance to actually pay people to go out for a meal with a virus that at large that sent mixed messages for the month of august we will give everyone in the country and the town to help out discount what we do know that the scheme did make people go out and take it only go out to eat it on the days that it was operational so that those days restaurants were getting busier than they would have done it at that otherwise and the more people you have in the small crowded environment the more likely it is to spread infection of course lockdowns aren't

just about stopping the spread they also buy time with vaccines only becoming available at the end of the year a workable test and trade system was crucial despite the millions spent on an outsourced system left by a tory pair with no experience of it 3 lock downs weren't enough to get a grip on the pandemic. 2332. 20319 the total number of deaths stands at 50597 i'm sorry to have to tell you that today the number of deaths recorded from in the u.k. has suppost 100000 perhaps the biggest problem with any lock down it's a sticking plaster not a cure and it became addictive while the 1st was eased by the summer the end of 2020 was chaos to restrictions were introduced for different regions the prime minister's workable strategy which failed to stamp out localized infection surges

so it was quickly into lock down to back to the knock down 3 all within a few short months what began as a temporary stop gap was now to go to and even with the vaccine rollout supply issues trust issues and the rise of new variants all mean there's no guarantee the era of lockdown will end any time soon shut at red star city r t u k. still to come on our key international relations between russia and the e.u. have been destroyed states russia's top diplomat we will look at the implications for changes in the political landscape after a short break this is our chief national stay with us. join me every thursday on the alex i'm unsure when i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

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welcome back this is our chief international russia's foreign minister has said relations with the e.u. has as an institution have essentially ground to a halt speaking at a news conference with his chinese counterpart sergey lavrov said brussels has killed off all cooperation. we don't have any relations with the european union as an organization the infrastructure of further relations was destroyed by unilateral decisions from brussels. well it certainly isn't business as usual business as usual has been dead since 2044 minutes. specified because that's when all these meetings annual consultations summits between senior our profile russian officials and european commissioners and leaders that is when they ended ever since then it's been a steep it wasn't a gradual it's been a steep decline but it is important to draw the distinction he said the relations

between the european union as a as a huge bureaucratic machine soulless bureaucratic machine those are dead the relations between various european states and russia there are a lot of it in some cases very healthy but sergey lavrov did say there are there is hope because if the european union changes its outlook changes its approach decides that it wants to improve mend relations russia russia will be there but that has to happen as equals on equal footing to mutual benefit so russia isn't about to bend over backwards to do something that europe wants especially not after not after everything that has happened in china shares much the same opinion. which european powers and. china and russia but they know it's the invented pretenses and attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of china russia

a long gone result to uphold international justice remains undiminished. 'd was in beijing making a statement as he was talking to his chinese counterpart let's talk for a minute then about russia chinese relations or is that going to becoming closer and closer and they're being driven closer and closer because look at the european union's policy towards russia for the better half of a decade the united states to it was sanctioned everything that they feasibly could it was to try and contain russia to coerce. is it into doing into behaving in a way that europe wants that suits european or american interest and hours of work nothing's changed i mean they're the 1st to admit it that it hasn't worked so far but they believe it will work for some reason in the future and that is the approach they're increasingly taking towards china because we've heard multiple times in recent years that from european from american officials that it's china not russia that's the potential big threat of the future china's g.d.p.

its economy its military spending its population all eclipse that of russia and lately the biggest scandal was that the european union has now put into effect sanctions against china for its treatment of the wee good people who are violating apparently their rights the chinese have protested this they have summoned the european ambassador told him in writing in word but nevertheless there is little or hope that europe will change its attitude in the immediate future and say lavrov commenting on russian sino russian relations he says there's a whole lot more chance an opportunity in the east than there is in the west. the european union destroyed all mechanisms to re have been trying to build over many years we have a spartan or so individual european countries guided by their national interests

and that objectively leads to the fact that our relations with china are developing faster than what is left of relations with european countries both countries of course insist on loosening getting rid of this sanctions regime that has blew up in europe in the united states over the last decade or so but they also said that you know looking looking into the future when in the future some european commission drafts yet another report about potential threats in the future and says it's incredibly worried about russia and china growing very close politically militarily that it should look back to this moment to this moment when it sanctioned both countries and drew them together. which is what i have speaking earlier with my colleague kevin owen there now meanwhile a diplomatic spat between beijing and the e.u. continues to gain momentum several european countries including germany and france have summoned their chinese ambassadors to talks earlier china slapped retaliatory

sanctions on several european officials this followed western powers decision to punish the country over alleged human rights violations against of the. muslim minority now to discuss the latest we can now cross to. joseph gregory mahoney who's a professor of politics at east china normal university thanks for being with us and helping us wrap our mind around this tense situation to say the least how much of a blow is this really in tensions to chinese relations i think it's a considerable blow you know i think that we've seen that there are going to be media reports. for. you know in a minute their nightmare tonight and in fact over the past year we've seen 3 rounds of us thanks michel nevertheless getting all 27 countries would be you to go along with the younger somewhat surprised but there were rumors like that might

have. now a lot has been made in the western media over the human rights violations and the claims of human rights violations against the minority what are your thoughts. well the transgenic the terms genocide and cultural genocide i wash by both pale and blake and and trudeau and canada has that got these claims and yet the state department's own investigation king has determined that no genocide is taking place that said what's most interesting about the claims is that no non-western country has joined the effort no asian though south asian african or latin american country or even islamic country has way to raise these concerns so maybe what we're seeing is a kind of white man's burden way of thinking at work that certainly carries those irony and imperial connotations of aging more reasonably 1st aging is trying to avoid i think repeating the policy pursued and that is trying to find

a resolution to this insurgency that doesn't linger as an open wound for decades most of the nation sake and for the weaker themselves 2nd arguably this national self discipline self disciplining is nowhere near the atrocities committed by the us internationally in the 2 gulf wars and the war on terror well china is a economic powerhouse really do you expect the e.u. to sacrifice trade ties with china actually the blocs the 2nd biggest trading partner over the weaker issue. you know there's a line of analysis that they want to. be designed to placate critics on the left and right in the e.u. so that china you combine it with agreement on investment can be passed. i think a bit of a stretch but whatever the case i suspect that a number of e.u. countries have too much at stake economically to agree to curb their explosion i just have gregory mahoney professor of politics at east china normal university

fascinating issue i wish we had more time to talk about it thanks for being with us here on arch international thank you. my german chancellor angela merkel has announced yet another round of tough nationwide code restrictions through mid april describing the situation as very serious the new measures include a ban on gatherings and the closure of shops and mean an effective shut down of public activity over easter yeah even we are in a situation which is very serious the number of cases is rising exponentially and intensive care of bads a fitting up again. it comes after a german research institute confirmed the country has entered a 3rd wave of infections last week saw the highest number of daily coronavirus cases in 2 months and a massive corruption scandal over face masks has now reached the top with the health minister facing questions our europe correspondent has the latest. the federal government here in berlin has extended covert 19 restrictions across the

whole country but that is amid a mask crisis which is ensnared a new face the german health minister a report over the weekend in the online version of news magazine dish claimed that again spawn authorized the purchase of more than half a 1000000 masks from a company called bird bird as berlin boss mr spawn's husband himself down your phone care the company insists mr frewen care had nothing to do with this transaction that no commission was paid and denies any wrongdoing whatsoever 1st on to what i media the board of hooper birds and media all for the health ministry to assist with mask procurement when the german government wants an urgent need for this the c.e.o. of the minister directing that kind of act and the minister of defense but that means that the board a representative in berlin mr phone was not informed about the mask business neither by his company nor his husband who had been the direct contact person that

contradicts common sense. i can only repeat that according to bird there mr spawn's husband was not informed or involved in the transaction at any time but early a version of the article had claimed the bird it was owned by the health ministers husband that was later corrected to reflect mr for and his role as an employee about how to stop lawmakers from seeking clarification from the health minister this salami tactic with the bit by bit information from the ministry of health about the procurement of masks undermines the trust in the institutions of our democracy it has to stop we now need an end dependent transparency officer to shed light on what is going on the health minister himself is biased mr spawn's allies have dismissed the article as thin soup but opposition parties are circling and can smell blood the bird

a publishing house owns papers leg 110 bird also deals in mass half a 1000000 went to spawn's health ministry burgess bellinger representative in spawn's husband birth like to attend bird parties because somehow the villain has to be paid what does one actually have to do in the merkel kevin and to be dismissed. of course procurement had to be done quickly during the crisis but the wording of $4600000000.00 euro swap out a call for tenders is under considerable suspicion in view of the corruption scandals to ruling coalition politicians of already fallen jew to personal business dealings in mosques for profit scandals but what started out as a probe into a pandemic profiteering now morphed into a wider investigation into what money german politicians have been making aside from their ministerial salaries the scandal has caused real damage to the ruling conservative union's reputation they suffered some huge historic losses in recent

local elections with the green party taking up the slack in one of those areas and nationally when it comes to polling they were emerging as a real potential challenger in this september's bundestag elections in what's being called the super election year here in germany there couldn't be a worse time to have the whiff of corruption surrounding you peter all over r.t. berlin 32 minutes that's when i'll be back with another full and fresh look at news this is our international what have you with us. during the trump administration the us agreed to leave afghanistan by may 1st the

biden ministre sion is wavering over this commitment they claim the conditions on the ground are not favorable for withdrawal this begs the question what can be done now that has not been tried for the past 20 years. always be polite never engage with a negative aided or confrontational. don't get into any conversation or start answering questions just. surviving. definitely don't want to. jump. you're more likely to walk free if you're rich and guilty or if you're poor. you've got 2 eyes 2 ears and one mouth. so you should be seen in here and a whole lot more in your sand if you don't take that advice easy going to dig

yourself whole. economy is never good that is. highest standard of living for a country ready. oh. never mind how bright it nationwide they. may see an ebb and flow price but you're not going to see the collapse because she when people don't want to. see if there is a bubble. that. i keep the likelihood. of the most news in. close.