what i think is this is the. top stories here on. large scale military exercises in the country. moscow was preparing for war with ukraine. corruption as a report reveals that over 20 percent of the money spent on the. politician. at least 100 people.

potentially. undermining the. also the. us democrats call for the. police warning if. george. will. live here on international. news team welcome to your story. forces have wrapped up a large scale exercise in crimea more than 40 warships 1200 vehicles and 10000 soldiers took part in those drills and the russian defense minister. a

success. i. today the armed forces have successfully completed complex drools for defending russia's souls and border this region is facing increased military activity for me too including reconnaissance operations and massive preparatory activities. i believe that the aims of this chick have been fully carried out and i notice that the exercises have now finished. i let's get some more details on this now r.t. jacqueline joining us out live in the studio today so jacqueline these as i understand these were shuttled military exercises being staged within russian territory and yet over the past number of weeks western governments the western media they've been all screaming that russia is about to invade ukraine well

exactly from moscow this was business as usual and now it's done the troops the military machines they're all headed back to their permanent bases which makes for a pretty anti-climactic ending to all the hype over russian aggression that you can hear in about for the past few weeks right so let's take a listen to a sampling of what we've been hearing on that front recently. tensions are rising in ukraine as russia continues to ramp up its military force on the border between the 2 countries a pentagon spokesman has called the deployment of russian troops deeply concerning moscow to terrify its intentions ukraine international support against russia's military build up along its borders in that direction just a few miles the russian border and beyond that that is where the pentagon says more than $40000.00 russian troops are now massing the ukrainian government twice as high so that's what we've been hearing from the media and apart from that all of

the biggies the e.u. the u.k. the u.s. nato they've all been expressing their unwavering support for ukraine and urging russia to deescalate the situation and to stop what they call provocations over those reports and all the headlines were just about promising all out war because big bad russia was doing it right military buildup on the ukrainian border but the thing is from the get go moscow has had a very clear explanation as to what is going on military drills plain and simple and yes these drills are coinciding with a flare up in the conflict in eastern ukraine but russia has also come out saying that they were in response to perceived threats from nato and even went so far as to say that they had nothing to do with ukraine the theoretically in attempt to calm things down which unfortunately had little effect whatsoever so thursday those drills officially ended but it's worth noting that this year nato is also carrying out some of its biggest drills in years and that and other actions won't go

unnoticed by moscow on tuesday president putin said that russia will respond quickly and firmly to any threats and the russian foreign ministry has come out claiming that nato is continuing per vocative measures in the black sea region so while this particular chapter may be coming to an end this story is going to continue i think you're absolutely right. thank you. the conservative government in the u.k. is fending off corruption claims over the way is dished out emergency fund a new report shows that many contracts were awarded to companies with political connections and with no track record of supplying relevant goods or even services are easy to ali has the story from london. well this is really blown the lid off the contracting and tendering processes that place when of course the pandemic was at its peak and government spending to get people in place as personal protective

equipment and other vital equipment to fight the pandemic when all of that was going on contracts were being handed out and there are accusations in this report of contracts being handed out to those with the right political connections and concerns even being raised about the emergence of a so-called vi p. lane that fast tracked offers of contracts from companies who had been directly approved from politicians or lords and others and according to the report all of these processes raising a number of red flags it is very surprising for the u.k. government prioritize recommendations from politicians given in most of the areas of economic activity this type of association raises red flags and they are not known for their expertise and procuring medical equipment what is even more surprising is that it did not engage professionals such as the british medical association and the royal college of nursing now the focus of this report centers

around almost a 1000 contracts awarded between february and november of last year totaling 18000000000 and there's also been accusations of a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability with public bodies less than forthcoming with information about these contracts public bodies across the u.k. failed to comply with their legal obligations to provide timely access to information on contracts and all of these contracts and all of this focus on political connections the lid of which has been blown off by revelations that former prime minister david cameron was attempting to lobby the government during the pandemic on behalf of a company called green silk capital and he had reached out to the. chancellor issues so that also the health secretary. all of whom have denied any wrong doing but investigations are going on into the role that politicians play when it comes to contracting and many here in the u.k.

worried about what impact this will have on britain's role on the global stage on britain's image on the global stage particularly when they come other countries about corruption and staying with britain border guards so you're right 100 people a day are arriving in the country carrying fake covert certificates potentially bringing in new variants of the virus undetected in london picks up the story. in the u.k. cases of coronavirus and cope with 19 deaths fully following the look of the vaccine rollout but there are concerns this progress could be scuppered by the variants of the disease being brought into the country by people using fake negatives certificates foreign holiday travel both leaving and entering the u.k. is found that business travels allowed the government website tells travelers to the u.k. before they settle which they must provide a passenger locator for and proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within the 3 days before arrival this could be

a printed documents an email or text message failure to show it could mean no travel or 500 pounds fine on arrival the traveler must ensure the test meets the right standards and the results must be in english french or spanish with personal information matching the travel documents and the tests provide us contact details but border immigration and customs staff say these documents are very easy to forge and in many cases offices have no way of checking whether they're genuine it's taken on trust we do get a 100 or more and do fake coverage certificates that we catch while the e.u. police agency europol has already warned travelers. to be aware of organized criminal gangs selling fake negatives certificates these have been found at british french and spanish airports online and in the netherlands via mobile messaging apps for as much as $300.00 euros each as long as travel restrictions remain in place

due to the pandemic it is very likely that criminals will seize the opportunity of producing and selling fake 900 testator for kits given the widespread technological means available in the form of high quality printers and different software fraudsters are able to produce high quality counterfeits forged or fake documents and up to 20000 people entering the u.k. every day most are corneas who are in the large group of exam jobs and people including children under 11 who don't need to take a test which raises the question of whether the certificate system or any passport scheme could work in siri or in practice because there are challenges around international travel you know you have to look across the continent and see the rise in case rates in many of our nearest neighbors it has been in the past the case that those rising infection rates have seen their way through to the u.k. we're hopeful that that won't happen this time around because of our progress with

the vaccine and so on but we do need to be cautious about that but the big worry about fake certificates is letting people into the u.k. you were carrying you know you could variance like those from india south africa and brazil which could be more resistant to antibodies this would diminish the impact of the u.k.'s vaccination program and thought the economic upturn then just one forged document costing a few 100 pounds could cost thousands of lives and millions in lost revenue kate partridge r.t. london fronts meanwhile wants to be europe's 1st state to enforce covert passports a move heavily criticized by rights campaigners as discriminating against those who don't want to get the vaccination yet ministers insist it's all about. it did this summer i hope we will reclaim our freedom thanks to the vaccination restraint and this digital certification the dream of the passports will list

people's inoculation data or immunity status and will be trialed on internal flights this week officials hope to expand their use of all across europe within the coming weeks shops and restaurants will be exempt political analyst thinks the scheme simply won't work without public support. people are jittery with the talking about putting their personal information on an app which is managed by the government again if people were confident that people meant the people at the head of france to date were concerned by the health of the citizens and that was paramount to them and that was their primary concern that i think they would be ok but people see that there are huge interest personal interest big pharmacy group interest there's a lot of these interests with a lot of people think are more important than the interest of the citizen the safety of the citizen so as long as people will be skeptical about the real intentions of the government and what this is the 1st day or 2 then i think this is

going to have a hard time going through after a moment if it's an obligation to have this have to travel is going to be complicated because some people will really feel forced to take the ad because they need the need to see family relatives or even to work so it's going to create a lot of frustration and we risk having some sort of 2 way society with the fast track for those who got the vaccine or who go to p.c.r. test regularly and those who don't have it and have less liberties than the 1st and so i think this is going to create a lot of confusion and. tension within the french society and plenty more still to come here on the program on our seeing clued in france is reportedly enlisting celebrities to get people to take the astra zeneca vaccine reaction to that in just a few minutes. but for now the conviction of former officer derek chauvin for the murder of george floyd has only fired up black lives about how demonstrators they pulled back onto the streets again saying the police shooting of a black teenage girl on the day of the verdict just goes to show

a total lack of progress. ah the officers claim they were justified in shooting the 16 year old and have now launched a probe however protesters have run out of patience calling on the police to be defended and denouncing cops donald quarter reports on those rallies and how they've been encouraged by the democratic party. the verdict guilty but the mass is far from satisfied it wasn't long before celebration over chauvinist faith once more turned into anger. oh god here. i don't want your career. or. progressive's are paying a lot of lip service to it's not justice and i'll explain to you right it's not justice. it's not justice because justice is

george floyd going home tonight to be with this family this is but a miniscule step on the path to justice next topps independent agency to investigate police misuse of force criminalize violence against protesters dimeter eyes police departments disband and deconstruct field police departments some are taking a more sentimental approach making sure everyone knows the death of their new martyr makes them very sad thank you. for sacrificing your life for your name will always be synonymous with justice. your original is yours young daughter if you get to change the world. you towards this afternoon. if you do choose them since the campaign trail biden has spoken with the victim's family multiple times assuring them that his administration was on the side of justice even appeared to border on justifying the pressure that activists and

vandals were putting on the court process or jury who heard the evidence carried out their civic duty in the midst of extraordinary moment under extraordinary pressure. for so many. it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver a just just basic countability naturally the administration's pandering to police protesters has radicalized the republican party in the opposite direction so much so that it's now illegal for drivers to run over road blocking protesters in the red state of florida we saw really unprecedented disorder and rioting throughout the summer of 2020 and we said that's not going to happen here in the state of florida and we wanted to make sure that we were able to protect the people of our great state people's businesses and property and it is the strongest anti writing

pro a law enforcement piece of legislation in the country one big verdict on a whole lot of unsolved problems and the 2 ruling parties at each other's throats tragedies like the recent police shooting of a 16 year old 'd black teenager in columbus ohio just continue to pile up with neither side ready to come to a compromise the american political structure of the constitutional structure is so antiquated and so shot through with undemocratic practices and. bias that it would take a top to bottom 3rd political structural reform in order to put america on a new racial footing and i don't see it happening any time soon but short of that there will be no progress whatsoever i am absolutely convinced. nuclear annihilation is not something people would like to contemplate unless of course you will the u.s. has to come on that is they've counted rooney tweeted that it could well happen.

the spectrum of conflict today is neither we're not predictable we must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as the least bad option the us is to come on as responsible for safeguarding america's nuclear arsenal and that tweet came ahead of the agency's annual posture statement informing congress over its work and plans they added the u.s. is facing quote 2 nuclear capable strategic peer adverse or he's at the same time i.e. russia and china however the notion that atomic armageddon is just another option on the table is not going down well among social media what does this mean did this need to between. the least bad option it would just be letting the enemy take your chicken nuggets and not new can the world only insane people would consider a nuclear conflict

a clear indication that those who have the power positions in this country are not mentally fit to have this responsibility we spoke with a former pentagon security policy analyst michael maloof who said that such nuclear statements are unacceptable. it's an unfortunate thing that to treat it so blithely leica. as a as a means of trying to scare off adversaries but it's scaring people and it's not meant to be a it's not a pleasant subject and i think they're it's a scare tactic on the part of strategic command to to put something like this and i think that it's just just better to not try to create unnecessary hysteria at a time when tensions are already high that was the whole idea of arms control was to try and minimize the potential danger of the use of any nuclear weapons whether such whether strategic or tactical and unfortunately were treating the use of

nuclear weapons as as the strategic command statement said there in a rather bliley way and that something that is is should not be treated in such a cavalier dismissive way it's a very serious problem. german lawmakers are considering a bill that would let the government over rule regional authorities on covert restrictions would also give in the right to enforce a nationwide phuan a range of other measures and it's certainly sparked anger on the streets of the capital. her. it was. was. was it was. it was. with her.

on wednesday the bundestag the german parliament voted through amendments to the infection protection act which would essentially take powers to impose covert restrictions away from the 16 states of germany and give that power to the federal government here in berlin now this is being called an emergency brake what it will do is it will give uniformity to what is essentially being a year's worth of a patchwork of covert measures that have differed from state to state across germany this will allow the federal government and angle of merkel's government here in berlin to impose things like a curfew from 10 pm until 5 am also restrictions on meeting with other households that will be the closure of sports facilities and leisure facilities also restrictions and perhaps closures all non essential retail when it comes to

schools they'll be a separate market put aside if it reaches $165.00 new infections per 100000 of the population then schools will close their doors to students and revert back to distance learning now it's fair to say that these new measures of resulted in a mixed opinion amongst the german population and. i don't know this new legislation will do much i think they should have done something much earlier also today they see one thing tomorrow something else then they do something and then do not stick to it. well the new legislation is very very important i'm a doctor myself and can therefore say you can really do it consistently now so it's really bring something everything else will not ultimately bring much success i believe that the new version of the national virus control law goes against our basic law or at least restricts our fundamental rights far too disproportionately germany is currently in the middle of a 3rd wave of covert 19 and it's expected that this emergency brake would be pulled

and last until at least the end of april perhaps as long as the end of may in the last 24 hours journey saw just under $30000.00 new covert infections and the rate of infection currently stands at $160.00 new cases per 100000 of population across the whole country now there are regional differences with some areas faring better than others but it does look like that brake is set to be pulled once it passes german politicians that we spoke to here at r t told us the changes threaten fundamental freedoms. i was one of the protest protest kosovo was one of the key speaker on the street protests also warned one that these 250 year m.p.'s who loaded against. it is. quite softly speaking to callie being infix for protection act out its cold

infection protection act but it's funky small s. like an enabling act yes or no we are very sensitive in germany due to truman history about enabling acts. by which sure government is granted such a huge power that it will never give away any more in the future it will be seen when a building act empowers government troops you saw it for the whole ringback of germany were few and all the other pressing measurements looked on and so on without the regions. to see the we don't incident in the one on one hand it is that the parliament at least decides on. the law all now before it was just a group of presidents of the federal states and the chancellor now it's a parliament that is about the measures that it says they are contradictionary and in itself you have on the one hand reasonable things that for example you have to.

measure since you have reasonable things like if there is a high incidence security measures have to return again but on the other hand it's no scientific condiment for doing you could view from 10 o'clock in the evening that is. abusing the basic right of freedom of movement and that of course causes social discontent and it causes a smell that people are frustrated. frontis reportedly planning to use celebrities to entice the public into getting the astra zeneca covert injection but will it work as a correspondent shala dupe and scheme powers. celebrity power could be about to be harnessed for its most bizarre campaign to date helping to convince people to have

the astra zeneca job questions over its possible links to rare blood clots and its effectiveness have essentially made it roll the design a rouble for some leaving the french leadership scratching its head and wondering how to make it more appealing we have had difficulties convincing people on astra zeneca we must think about communication and our ability to convince if we want the vaccination campaign to improve though the president to may have being part of that given his previous buz own the vaccine the real problem with astra zeneca is that it doesn't work the way we were expecting it to the problem is so bad that in the city of nice a covert vaccination center got to be closed over the weekend when only 58 people turned up despite some 4000 doses of astra zeneca. grabs

so how did change people's mornings that's where those celebs coming into reported the government is musing full blown communication campaign that would be headed by famous people because in a crisis that's who you trust right. celebrities that people like cos i don't think they have more knowledge than the specialists if it's a celebrity who says that i don't care we don't know what influenced them to do it with social media it's too easy for people to be persuaded of anything. i will not get vaccinated because some famous person tells me to it's like they're telling me jump of breach i'm not going to do that. we know that these a product placements and it turns out that they themselves have not been vaccinated it might influence people but i personally rely more on medical expertise and scientific reports. over the link to the rare blood clots from vaccines

isn't confined to france so either in sweden several regions of reported cases of people i don't want refusing to have the extra zeneca joab in my department we had planned for a $150.00 patients aged over $65.00 with diabetes who were to be vaccinated there were 20 who cancelled ahead of time and 7 who left once they found out which vaccine they would get one said i don't want to die and left immediately were still is the loser a few skills all resulting in vaccines being thrown away and all of this is taking place as the european medicines agency the world health organization and even sweden public health authority are continuing to stress the benefits of the vaccine for outweigh any risks so why are people still shelling it

probably because of the side effects people don't believe in science and the more i think it's. the social media these discussions. because of bad taste in other countries that have decided not to take the risk a tool since that link with rare blood clots was raised the rollout of astra zeneca remains suspended in countries like norway and denmark but as countries struggle to convince citizens that the short is safe to use the e.u. itself has admitted that they may not be renewing its contract which begs the question why pull the convincing people i told. r.t. this and still lots more stories still to come here on r.t. international if you will join us at the top of the hour more of your thursday wallboard headlines live.

i am max kaiser this is the kaiser report hey stacey what's happening you know what max is j.p. morgan all the way down and tire economy of the u.s. is j.p. morgan all the way down the 1st headline former j.p. morgan banker gets finra bam after bilking his wealthy grandmother a former j.p. morgan financial advisor has been barred from the industry after being accused of trading his grandmother's assets without her knowledge so federal banned him and he had a parent.