dramatic. breaking news. 20. 7 years ago. the country. the u.s. . washington imposing restrictions earlier in the week. from

president deescalation mixed messages coming from. you right continues to rage. stories from the past 7 days and right up to the moment. this is the weekly n.r.t. a little welcome we be. again with breaking news this hour russia has declared 20

czech diplomats persona non-grata amid an escalating diplomatic spat between the 2 countries it is in response to private expelling 18 russian diplomats while accusing moscow of being behind a huge explosion of an depo back in 2014 russia firmly rejects the allegations. the accusations herb's surge especially as earlier the czech government laid the blame for the explosions at the door of the companies that. this hostile step is a continuation of a series of russian actions conducted over the last several years by the czech republic one cannot also fail to notice the american influence by trying to win washington's favor as the u.s. imposes sanctions against russia the czech authorities have even outdone their american must is so many diplomats were forced to start packing their suitcases in recent days because of expulsions and counter expulsions 1st of all america ordered

10 russian diplomats to head back to russia moscow's response was then almost identical then poland announced a similar move but their sanctions only targeted 3 people and then eventually we heard from the czech officials who announced that prague decided to expel 18 people working for the russian embassy that is even more than that than america originally chose to punish you understand that this is a very significant share of the embassy staff so you'd have to think that there must be a very serious reason for it well the czech authorities have accused this group of 8 saying of working as intelligence operatives and also blamed russia for being behind a manger explosion at an ammunitions military warehouse in the czech countryside that happened 7 years ago and killed 2 people no confirmation of the cause has ever

been released by the czech authorities one version suggested that it could have been because of workers' negligence but now there you have that prague is blaming russia all of a sudden and it coincides with the decisions on diplomat expulsions by washington and warsaw guscott over the church. the reason for it is seeking some suspects in particular well you know and that is the interesting part because the people the suspects that the police are now looking for are actually the people with faces that you may find familiar these 2 were once accused by the k. of trying to poison the script balls in the united kingdom in 2018 so now when the authorities said that these 2 could be linked to that explosion immediately their names and photos were back and international headlines but the

russian foreign ministry though is saying that these announcements in these steps that are taken by the czech authorities could only be a deliberate attempt to somehow distract the attention of the media and the international community from another story which is now in the news here in eastern europe it looks like when it's actually supported by facts that the west need it to cover up the importance of the information published by both russia and belarus about not just a conspiracy but an actual plan for a constitutional clue we need to speak so who was allegedly being planned against the leader 'd what more do we actually know about this this is a story apparently that was happening more or less some real taney as the russian federal security service has announced lately that they have detained 2 men one with russian citizenship another one with dual citizenship del roofs and the u.s.

detention happened in moscow and these 2 are believed to have been plotting a coup in bella ruse by attempting to assassinate the ball russian president alexander lukashenko and possibly even members of his family during victory day celebrations that are upcoming the bell russian president. almost instantly blame the u.s. for it for orchestrating this attempt but washington has denied any involvement now you may wonder what does frog have to do with all this what we have to understand that the czech republic is a close u.s. ally in eastern europe it's a member of nato not with a central role but still and russian officials very often have blamed washington for using some eastern european countries the czech republic in particular asked

puppets so the assumption by the russian foreign ministry is that washington kit be pressuring these countries into making political moves against russia to demonize it so that is the message coming out of moscow and the meantime the u.s. state department has already said that they are expressing full support for the move that's been made by prague. let's go live in the program now to mark and mark is director of the u.k.'s crisis research institute always a pleasure to have you mark russia has been threatening a response so now it's come. further than you expected well in this sort of incident you're going to have more. the more i think more important question is is this. crisis or is it. all the growing darkness between russia. and the you know could it be was we more dangerous

by far could this go than without a lunde. well for instance some british commentators of british last talked about an act of war of nature turks raises questions whether the nato alliance in some way might be. a particular where. the tension on the borders of ukraine and russia that it would be really were all the time the last 3 weeks there is the danger of a money intended incident sparked something much greater whelchel behind. a russian. plane that able garion homes to find the soviet era weapons of my mission in the czech republic shipped into ukraine to frighten. us and so there is this back to the current tensions commercial crime and also a. little so even in all of these things of course.

subjects like when they come into the public domain they don't expose the. potential connotations because of. these reports and the same time this deep attention to. the czech republic today made its move essentially just the day after the u.s. imposed sanctions on russia how much of a connection or otherwise do you see there. well must be some connection after all one of the interesting aspects of the story of 2 alleged russian agents who were became public at the time the script was news in britain where people who thought the church were doing identified russia in 2001 of the time. will also be interviewed on russian t.v. so it's very all this information that some czech media are saying was already

known we were 2 services 2 years ago when you now become sort of so there's an element all politicization behind it i'm sure because we always cases that are inherently. political diplomatic issues you know go just. simply responds to events sort of what consequences. it does raise questions about how strong all the reports go how close. all these explosions and we are. still want to come or they sometimes over this. potential much more attention to russia in his place where ukraine is a potential bomb program but also it a player in its own right instance but there are people on the ground according to the dumbass who see trouble integrating their positions. and who may well be. if you will national aims i think put infuriates the foreign ministry here is that

the czech prime minister said it was reasonable to presume russia was behind the depo blast that they're going to say when does presumption trump hard facts and it seems to be a running theme lately. yeah i mean there is certainly be original explanations seem plausible but this will also munitions the types of weapons stocks which are inherently unstable and we want to get rid of 7 years ago so a lot of you know it wasn't implausible now the claim of course and the czechs all . visible evidence for. security cameras and so on these 2 alleged russian regions if that's the case it is extremely alarming but it also raises questions why. would we as a british. and so there's going to be a sense. behind. your ear some very

interesting points mark and we wait and see what comes in the next few days mark ellman director of the u.k.'s crisis research institute live on r.t. . thank you yeah as we have been going through this week the u.s. and russia least sanctions on each other marking another low point in relations more shinton block listed russian companies expelled barred u.s. banks from buying russian debt moscow in return kicked out 10 u.s. diplomats a number of officials from entering russia shortly after announcing the new sanctions u.s. president joe biden said he wanted to deescalate tensions with more on the mixed messages coming from washington your see course it all off. big politics is all about big p.r. political marketing of the trump era america transitioned from saucy nicknames for his opponents into the biden age which spearheads now shameless self promotion

america is back america is back diplomacy is back biden diplomacy sounds like a classic personal brand of so what is it well for russia it apparently means a sanctions sledgehammer you know i've been through several steps including the expulsion of several russian officials as a consequence of their actions i've also signed an executive order authorizing new measures including sanctions to address specific harmful actions that russia has taken against u.s. interests well the man seems to be abundantly clear at least for ones right well he would have been had he not led into these sanctions announcement with this. united states is not looking to kick off a cycle of skule should be in conflict with russian we want a stable predictable relationship these signals are not just mixed in terms of

consistency they're on par with noises from space joe biden was able joe biden said he's interested in normalization of russia u.s. relations but the actions of his administration show us the opposite the u.s. is not ready to deal with the reality of the multipolar world which shut out the possibility of american has the money instead they can sanctions and interference in our internal affairs just this week biden and putin talked over the phone to join the conversation the us president and now a new batch of sanctions in putin's face only to express hope later for a stable and predictable way forward and the white house sees no problem here no discrepancy forget proof for good reason forget who's president even biden strategy is to bully a country out of geopolitical relevance and it seems that's the only predictable thing about america left after all trumps anti russia sanctions galore that appears

to his whole term didn't save the ex-president from being shamed for being soft on russia so maybe biden is resorting to nuclear options right away this prickly trying to keep one foot in the door though the door leading to that positive trajectory while unfeeling the latest raft of sanctions the u.s. also cited claims made last year of russia offering bounties to the taliban to kill american troops in afghanistan the white house admits it very little to back up those claims but is nevertheless the learning elders from the kremlin. we felt the reports were enough of a cause of concern they assessed with low to moderate confidence as you alluded to that russian intelligence officers sought to encourage taliban attacks against u.s. and coalition personnel in afghanistan so while there's a lot of moderate assessment of these reports we felt it was important for our intelligence community to look into it this information really puts the burden on

russia and the russian government to explain their engagement here last june it was reported that russian intelligence offered to link militants mostly to kill american soldiers and $29.00 during the allegations were never proven of the pentagon itself said it could not corroborate the reports but that didn't stop the media from jumping on the fide story. vladimir putin is offering for the scalps of american soldiers in afghanistan now the european intelligence official called this callous shocking and reprehensible overnight president trump dismissed the intelligence denied being briefed on it as new reports emerged saying those payments did in fact lead to the death of americans russia has rejected the allegations with the foreign ministry branding them the speculations and phobias of the u.s. intelligence community we got to tick off former u.s. marine corps intelligence officer allness aspect scott ritter. the mere fact that

you have politicians action on intelligence that has appeared on the front pages of the new york times bill is you right off the bat that it's not intelligence it's been it's clear sized information as opposed to hard intelligence that the united states and russia are adults they they they they sit at the big table they were big boys pants and their intelligence services do things against one another because that information normally we understand this is the reality of the world but the united states right now is very defensive it's dealing with a changing world a changing reality and the fact that russia refuses to play the game of being subservient to you know 8 dominant america and so this is a domestic political problem where intelligence is 0 and political objective as opposed to doing what it's supposed to do providing insight american decision makers about what ground truth in russia is. this is r.t.

still ahead the founder of an investigative journalism professor blocked on twitter after the team's latest exposé saw a c.n.n. director caught on camera missing its channel spreads propaganda the story and more for you after the break.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race in. very dramatic development only. i don't see how that strategy will be successful very. few sit down and talk. there's been a full week of rest in the u.s. state of minnesota. by police so a right riot officers have been resorting to tear gas rubber bullets to disperse

protesters. the. guy. at the. brooklyn center police claim died as a result of an accidental discharge after an officer mistook her for a taser mr wright how to tend to to flee in this car after being stopped for a traffic violation subsequent protests soon descended into looting and violent clashes with police. protester also seen an other cities including

chicago and dallas and in portland where the police union building set fire to seem to reminisce until close in the wake of george floyd's death last year now he died during a rest when an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes radio host wayne dupree who served as a board member of the national diversity coalition for donald trump states by culture and rebuild trust between police and like norah to communities. tensions are so diode to the left and right the people that are getting hurt are in the middle what's happening right now is not going to stop is going to get worse because the lead leadership around many places is weak there is a lack of trust on both sides of the aisle. and when i mean both sides and there's a lack of trust with within the police community about what's going on within the

minority community in then there's a lack or try. it's within the minority community about what the police are doing because of what they see projected on our media every day there has to be a concerted effort from both sides of leadership leadership of people there everybody can try to sit down and work out proven solutions and and take it all types of suggestions and try to work out something and bring the trust back between law enforcement and the communities. twitter this week bound the funder of investigative journalism group project vera tells for alleged violations of its policies and it came right after the group published another undercover sting video involving a c.n.n. director. a strain of disease eternally teaching hate like a. people are getting attacked or is it just

a picture that you need to protect asians. and someone. who will try to like help like a b l ever like today like i mean it's individuals it's not a you know. that's like going to the optics of that and i'll get it for you that we can speak to the fact that this technical director charlie chester he was certainly part of the culture he was speaking as if they were an advocacy group and this is a network that uses the tagline the most trusted name in news does the most trusted name in news you know colluded directly or indirectly with black lives matter that's a question for the american public to ask it seems that the rules that as a society that we all thought were in place are no longer in place there is no more roebuck and it is the 3rd on the cover scoop published by project for a tell us this week with more on the revelations here is ortiz double quarter. the

most trusted name in news it's a title c.n.n. has long prided itself on maybe you buy it maybe you don't but what would you think if the network admin did to deliberately spreading propaganda well apparently they did i do. believe that it was. but again you are creating a story that we didn't know anything about. that's b.s. i think that you know he is the worst president we have ever seen but what president just said was undemocratic and false the president seems to think that dominating black people dominating peaceful protesters is law and order it's not he calls them thugs who's the thug here this guy is should not be president cnn's charlie chester's spilled the beans over a tender date he was enticed into by an undercover project veritas journalist and he claimed the channel long had

a pre-determined agenda to get trump out of office one that flows from the top down from none other than c.n.n. president jeff zucker himself naturally trying to make joe biden out to be a spring chicken was the other side of the anti trump propaganda calling yeah i mean. we did it right there was. shaking or whatever and he brought in like so many medical people so like all tell a story that i think it is ok to speculate you know you're shocked to hear john. mccain. you know. him and you say here she. hated me as a. young. tree. that sounds a lot like election meddling something c.n.n. has pointed the finger at russia for time and time again blaming on unverifiable claims from u.s. intelligence and its reputation as evidence the. in last year's elections the

network claimed that moscow was trying to hurt joe biden's chances by spreading conspiracy theories about the now u.s. president i'm talking about russia attacking our election russia once again interfered in the race for the white house russia is indeed interfering in the 2020 election with that kind of a double standard it should come as no surprise that people's trust for c.n.n. is on the decline but we don't think that this is all the personal attacks just. makes this worse when you're caught red handed hiding the way you do business from your viewers that's one thing but accusing someone else for breaking the very rules you yourself were caught breaking well that's another it's a rinky dink 2 bit organization what do you want it c.n.n. that scare defends immunised from any responsibility because nobody takes them seriously and as far as project very close and james o'keefe god bless him but how many exposé these must be produced before something's done things done and

nothing jeff zucker still there everybody still there but let me explain something their ratings are plummeting who wants to watch c.n.n. if there's no trunk what do you do talk about what a great job biden is knowing what a great job camelot harris story i don't think so now me we can't believe what we're seeing and our country is in complete collapse with our borders being destroyed and being invaded gaily with a sense of nimby leave a bill distrust with with vaccine efficacy vaccine malpractise with this anyway and years nothing for them to build up. this year marks 60 years since mom 1st left earth's optimist spear and ventured into space. current next we look at the latest generation of russian cosmonaut hopefuls as they attempt to make it through what is

a rigorous process and realize their dream of taking flight to the stars. psychiatric drugs are essential for millions of patients rather they want that pill that they hope will take care of their problem thoroughly and rapidly in the short term they really work the problem is in the long term they're mostly disastrous suddenly stopping a drug can cause withdrawal symptoms more serious than the condition it was meant to treat instead of the beneficial effects of these different medicines ending up to something wonderful and very often there are full effects of it up to something terrible until solve all ills. trying to mitigate life itself i just think i was in like i was just scared and i was a scared little girl of 24 and like. the didn't have to be so complicated.

and it just it's more than a little. mention that it's one. of those. to that but it it. doesn't is that the. other. thing you should like it a lot of this is your boys if you want those look at 3 young blood to. be distanced look so you took the last just so much notice that. this is your. uterus this is what you. told your wife for just finished a little move. it's

a lot of us are going to. in march 27th the russian space agency launched a new cosmonaut core recruitment campaign the requirements were strict a degree and piloting engineering or science psychological stability perfect health even height weight measurements are important because not all has to be able to fit into a space suit and of course the ship $420.00 applicants was shortlisted from the campaign but only 8 would be selected we'll focus on 3 of the would be cosmonauts whose progress we followed for almost 2 years.