they claim the conditions on the ground are not favorable this begs the question what can be done now that has not been tried when the. president receives a russian made vaccine against covert 19 the kremlin says he is in good spirits and is ready to get back to work. the israeli prime minister's 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 corruption charges. and germany imposes yet another cold lockdown after a surge in infections while the health minister is caught up in a scandal over a lucrative facemask supply deal.

studios in moscow this is r t international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. 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 an ocular. he said he'd do it and he's done it on tuesday evening we did get was now we foster a job was on the cards on monday during a video conference between the president and national front scene manufacturers it was then that he finds them all involved in fighting 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 most 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 certain leaders such as joe expired in america for 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 and the president is taking there by 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't meet international requests as it is which. it's why we are struggling in production in foreign countries just 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 or boost uptake domestically but 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 as he.

has extensive experience a nationwide vaccination we have got to use its 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 is 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 subsidy 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. accounting is underway in israel is that for the parliamentary election in 2 years after voting did a few hours ago exit polls suggest prime minister benjamin netanyahu has the lead

and the potential to stay in power for a 6th term. apparently he 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 these were a prime minister benjamin netanyahu is on course for a now that term in office this might launch me depend on whether or not his full mad line defense minister enough to be finished he comes from further on the political right joins in alliance with him but what the 10 yahoo essentially needs is a majority of 61 out of a 120 parliamentary seats and said here as i mentioned early could hold his interview slim 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 it yet you look at that 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 me every for range i'm on whether or not netanyahu should remain in office and that was the number one question that people were voting on show 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 coaching stations 5000 more than the last round of elections and some

6 and a half 1000000 people. eligible to vote what is interesting this time around is that fota turnout was no advantage has been in previous elections mcmichael poppy cheap-o. to 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 of all suspicion walls sit up in hospitals where patients with coronavirus could phones so certainly a 1st for israel in back was big but if we find out in the coming hours that netanyahu is again the country's prime minister that won't be a 1st. with the 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 a bit he was the one when he would olmert 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 who don't even know any other prime ministers president that same promise and then you know it is the prime minister so to speak there is nothing nothing else they haven't the do anything else so. there's going to be no 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. german

chancellor angela merkel has announced yet another round of tough nationwide covert restrictions through to mid april describing the situation as very serious the new measures include a ban on gatherings and the closure of shops and essentially mean an effective shutdown of public activity over easter. even you that we are in a situation which is very serious the number of cases is rising exponentially and intensive care of bags of food in up again. all right it comes after 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 facemasks has now reached the top with the health minister facing questions our europe correspondent has more. 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 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 order media that the board of hooper birthday media over the health ministry just systems mask procurement when the german government wants an urgent need for this the see your proof of the minister directing that kind of act and the minister of defense but that means that the border 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. and 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 our 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 $110.00 birds are also deals nasa has half

a 1000000 went to spawn's health ministry burgess beilin a 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 suave out a call for tenders is under considerable suspicion in view of the corruption scandals to ruling coalition politicians of already fall in judith 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 and politicians have been making aside from their ministerial salaries the scandal has caused real damage to the ruling conservative union's reputation they suffered for 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 merged as a real potential challenger in this september's bundestag elections in what's being called the super election year here in germany that couldn't be a worse time to have the whiff of corruption surrounding you peter all over r t berlin. and it's not only germany seeing it tempers flare after more than a year of tough restrictions our correspondent in paris has been gauging the mood across europe after a weekend of widespread protests. on the streets of europe these are all the scenes that have been playing out those

countries what's again are announcing a fresh wave of restrictions as the 3rd wave hit rallies protesting against what they've branded health dictatorships were held from austria to sweden serbia to switzerland from poland to from demonstrators say they simply have enough we don't know we are fed up we no longer know which food to stand on we are a little lost a soul a blur we have the impression of being muzzled we're not free. we no longer have a social life this restrictions are totally useless i don't feel like i'm in logged we can go out like we want as long as we have our sophisticate so should we change the restrictions maybe. in germany more than 20000 tips to the streets in the city of care so one must protest is to cry to recent reversal on the easing of the structure of threat to freedoms. we are here in castle today because all the

measures that are being taken here in germany no longer serve the people. i consider corona virus to be a serious disease just like the flu which can also be very serious but to make a pandemic out of it as we are experiencing now with many restrictions on our basic rights i don't think that is justified. when water cannons and pepper spray we used to disperse protest as the tactic was also used in the netherlands protesters were left wet but they remain. undeterred across in the u.k. in the capital of london protesters to fight a current baron on public demonstrations demanded the rules changed a cool echoed by more than 60 and he's they've written to the home secretary's saying formalizing people are protesting was not acceptable at all if you believe

was not true for dozens were arrested this tempers freight. in mass different turku is taken in defiance of health regulations thousands pop the streets for the underclass callable the party atmosphere shut down by officials as it descended into destruction. nothing justifies destroying collective efforts to contain the virus nothing justifies desecrating the side of the root of bind building collapse nothing justifies attacking children's games and public facilities while the e.u. is trying to tackle vaccine shortages it's admitted to making mistakes during the

pandemic but have lessons been learned and i think this is a still being made on the go ahead no a very thought free. i think they're not doing a very good job at it in its working but by luck not really by design i think that . extends is a lamb to a very sick of it but i think that. is the most important thing is that 0 is a new consent to say europe and a little i think we have learned some and we took action. the thing is you come districts life so much easier citizens oh once again feeling the pain of tightening restrictions but often more than a year of living by the rules it seems now that more and more people believe that they are damned if they do damned if they don't show the. paris.

on the way relations between russia and the e.u. have been destroyed states russia's top diplomat we look at the implications for changes in the political landscape after a short break this is our trash. the world is driven by a dream shaped by one person. thinks . we dare to ask.

caches losing cording said micro strategy c.e.o. michael saylor 15 percent of its purchasing power per year why would you hold on to something like that when you have a big coin that's appreciating on average 200 percent a year for 10 years it's a pretty simple trade once you see the raw numbers. and welcome back this is arts international so tuesday marked exactly one year since the u.k. entered its 1st coronavirus lockdown a minute's silence was observed earlier so too was a nationwide doorstep candlelight vigil to remember the 126000 lives lost in the

pandemic are just shoddy edwards dusty reports on how the virus changed britain. this time last year when covered 19 began to ripping through the u.k. life for 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 witness abroad became reality hospitals filling up empty supermarket shelves there was little alternative once a infection has seeded itself into a population and it 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 rooms everyone's been a victim of a lot of misunderstanding somewhat confused. i guess

a sort of played 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 break we agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if i could drive safely we drove for roughly 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 the 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 the 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 but we do know that the scheme did make people go out and take you to only go out to eat it on the days that it was operational so some of 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 interest 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 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 it was chaos to be 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 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 shared with r.t. u.k.

. russia's foreign minister has said relations with the e.u. as an institution have essentially ground to a halt speaking at a news conference with his chinese counterpart sergey lavrov accused brussels of killing off all cooperation earlier my colleague kevin owen discussed the latest escalation with our senior correspondent. 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 2014 foreign minister sergey lavrov specified because that's when all these meetings and you'll consultation 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. is issues in china and russia but they know it's

a lie under invented pretenses and attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of china russia a long gone result to uphold international justice remains undiminished. 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 where 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 it into doing into behaving in a way that europe wants 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 cleats 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 we 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 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 blown 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 30 minutes that's when i'll be back with more news this is arch international stay with us.

during the trump administration the u.s. agreed to leave afghanistan by may 1st the bike need ministration 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 it's not been tried 20 . always be polite never engage with.