holiday cooper, the mobile chem wait, it's support in when you get a new business should not put the key and that should go up by news. i'm not sure what the the some of the headlines are on our feet. an optional european nations recording daily cove at numbers at the mark on strain takes hold, while st. protest carry on against harsh and restriction. also, when the stories that shape the week off into nations, you must give up the guarantee it is up to you and you must do it immediately. let me put in demands nato. give assurances for not move the military. but if there's any close to the russia, because he always has questions on global politics during his annual media briefing,

also a whole find that over half of adults in britain, the to scare to express their real opinions, open, leaf of pre were falling victim to that of counsel culture by living in a coach. now bullying, we used to have a good healthy democracy. we have a debate and country where you could say things done, then you'd have to all be okay. people are frightened to always say what they feel in cases come by today marks 30 years since the collapse of the soviet union. we look back at those historic events and how they shape modern brush. the stories of the week demand headlines today. welcome to the weekly, this is off the internet. so as the micron strain continues to spread a number of countries in europe and setting records from italy, the u. k. registering new highs and daily infections are correspondent paul,

asleep has details from berlin. we have a huge surge, ours cause it cases new cases happening in a number of european countries. if we start off with france on saturday, france recorded a record high new number of cases for the 3rd consecutive day reporting, a 104611 cases. now, despite those people took to the streets and protests primarily against the necessities necessity of carrying a health past, which is needed to enter all public spaces and also for children to be vaccinated. on monday, the french president emanuel cron will discuss with a few members of his cabinet, new measures to counter the coven. 19 pandemic. particularly in light of the new variant army con, which we know is very contagious. it is expected that the president will announce that in order to get a health pass people in france one, i'll have to agree in principle, to accepting

a booster 3 months after their initial vaccination. if we move across to it, me here to we have record numbers for the 2nd consecutive day on friday, italy reporting 50599 new cases. italy is also reporting the 2nd highest number of deaths because of covered in europe after the united kingdom, with some 141 new depths reported now. and then if we move across to the united kingdom here on friday, we had another record high, a 122186 new cases being reported. largely because of this highly contagious on the con variant. now, the local government in the u. k, is losing political points with boris johnson's popularity rating. it has taken a snow dive and has hit record, learn december of some 23 percent. and that is largely because of his poor dealings

with the co. 19 pandemic. and a number of scandals here in germany, the health authorities have come forward and admitted that they are no longer tracing contacts of people who have court covert. in other words, there's no comprehensive follow up regarding people infected and who they coming into contact with. take a listen. many germans believe that they do not have to be quarantined as a contact person because they are vaccinated. but that is not true. now the society here in germany is divided on christmas day. you had thousands of people who turned out to protest against vaccinations and that was in the city of adopted goals. but then again, on the same day, you had people waiting in long queues in potsdam waiting to receive a vaccination. so the coven 19 pandemic remaining as controversial and as alarming

as ever still become a recall here when i see that a new form of cove it passed, it could really get under your skin on that in just a few minutes. but for now, here on the program, nato expansion, record gas prices in a wide range of other topics unconcerned. so these were the main issues addressed by president vladimir putin on thursday during his marathon end of the q and a with the media. can you imagine over $500.00 journalists gathered here at moscow for the event, including many foreign outlets as well? ah, no, she needs to will directions, you know, depend on negotiations. they will depend on unconditional compliance with russia, security today and in the future. we've made it clear. nato's further movement to the east is unacceptable, was not clear about it. are we the ones who deploy missiles next?

the united states know that the united states who brought their missiles next to our home, already on our doorstep, is it an excessive demand? no more a tax systems near our home. is there something unusual about this yet? no, we're doing. we're not an inch towards the east we were told in the 1990 them what they fooled us. they are outrageously deceived, of 5 ways of nato expansion. and now they say, we'll have ukraine as well. usually if i take the traditional approach, that is a woman, is a woman, a man is a man, a mother is a mother, a father is a father. she is not all the peoples of the russian federation have a certain internal moral protection against such obscurity. them let them in the west do whatever they want, but the fit and while this must be fought, not my direct instructions and shouts, but by the support of the traditional values of them. so it is necessary 1st of all, to rely on the nature of the investigation. 17 criminal cases have been initiated

under under investigation. over a 1000 people dismissed and their criminal cases opened against the law. i assure you, there's not a single investigator interested in any case. this is why we have a divided the investigative committee and the prosecutors off. is there problem? yes, there is a problem. we need to work with it's umbrella and a conscientious, fully fledged investigation of those crimes. and these are clearly the crimes that have been committed. we need to bring it to an end so that everyone understands the punishment for these offences is inevitable. ah, yeah, i have no way a long time ago i spoke with the former us president, i guess with whom. and he told me the boy was to be picked up engine in muska with big mistakes, including on the side of the united states. and united states keeps on making them again, why the diplomatic and political boyhood of china. they tried to hold back the developers of china. there are no on the most with

these we need to be realistic. the forces that appear at the helm of afghan is done trying to have different ethnic groups in the countries leadership. and this alone can create conditions, stabilisation enough, get this done. what we should do now to help the people have up, get it done. and 1st of all, it should be done by the country that created us, the damage to the african economy and people. those were there for twin view destroying the economy shipping. the 1st help on our side, we'll do everything depending on us. what are some use just in here at oxy international on this sunday afternoon? as we understand, nato has just offered the whole talks with russia through the nato, russia council on january the 12th. so right now, we're waiting for a response from the kremlin. those talks will focus partially on military bases in ukraine, which is also at the heart of a gas dispute. and on that story, as i'm sure you're well aware of europe did see record process this week with western powers planning moscow. however, president putin, this week gave his own explanation for the gas crisis. the will to him,

it with both of them with they are lying to us the confusing everyone has promised shipping. the entire volume requested by counter agents in accordance with the existing contracts, we were saying we must not destroy long term contracts, but know that the european commission, we must use market terms. the market will regulate it. well, here's how it regulates it. we have 2000 dollars, 1000 cubic meters. you're welcome, the issue of gas. it's pretty clear that you know, russia has nothing to do with that. a. he said that gas brown one is one of the few companies in the world that has increased its supplies to europe. whereas, for example, the american suppliers have diverted gas from the yeah, liquefied natural gas from the european market. toys the markets where they can make more money. russia hasn't done that. it increased its supplies to germany, for example, by 10 percent. but that's not enough. i'm in and the russia is always whenever there is any issue, any contentious issue or even

a domestic problem. it seems that in europe and the west in general, i, in the habit of sort of resurrecting russia as the scarecrow to, you know, hang all the possible problems on them. you know, you can be irritated by that, but after a certain amount of time, you still thinking attention and i think this is the state that the control is at the moment. it's just simply boring. you know, like to narrow down every problem in the world onto the rushes. plotting are evil doing well, it's good to have you with us with the sunday weekly here or not t. so more than half of people in the u. k. are apparently too scared to say, well, they really think new poll found they're worried about being, quote, cancelled, whether it be by friends, colleagues, or even their own family. auntie correspondence, shantia, it was dashti, picks up the story council culture is silencing academics, a gagging public figures and wiping celebrities off the face of the planet. wait, can i really say that? who knows?

but i not the only one biting my tongue as, according to you. gov. paul. majority of brits are living in fear of will being canceled. a majority of britons 57 percent, say they have at least sometimes found themselves stopping themselves from expressing their political or social views for fear of judgment or negative responses from others. the idea or a person can be cancelled, or in other words, blocked from having a platform is happening to hundreds with a very similar cycle. you say something offensive receive a public backlash, and suddenly you're gone done a finish cancelled by by. but it's only happening to big names and faces, but people like you and me work on line on dates and even at home. i think we're living in a coach now of bullying, bullying in workplaces a government as that actually. so i think people are frightened to always say what they feel in cases come back on. so the main, she may just seem to want to

a point of view of everything. and so if you say in different you get so it's quite you get quite a has to think there's a lot of things for the climate change cove age or whatever. there is no discussion that is the narrative and you of the group, or we should cause you. dan has a lot of issues where you fear fred, very careful about what you say and not right now, a good debate. and we used to have a good healthy democracy, could have a debate and country where you could say things and then you'd have to all your case and some people just don't want to argue, i want to hear the ever argument. i just want to shut you down and say, no, you can't tell you that you don't allowed to say that i thought divide the traditional approach to the apology. atonement forgiveness is no longer enough to warrant if they weren't accountability, social justice boycott. and the more controversial the view on any topic like race, immigration breck, that the more you should keep your thoughts and your mouth shop most with less

progressive views on device of social topics. feel more reluctant to voice their opinion. some say rather than being politically correct, the whole thing has been spelled out of control into his social media, merciless mob rule. but i have some from taking the risk of being cancelled. like for instance, j. k. rowling and anti trust public position. worse bees. freedom of slavery, ignorance is trans. the meanest individual horrid to you is a woman. well, that wasn't her only comment. there's been plenty more. and as a result, she's been wiped off the face of the earth, even by the world. she created the pot to community and the movie production team deleted her from scripts. meanwhile, h b o is 20th anniversary. she was bored. not only that, a number of quidditch leaks tasks they really do exist announced that they're rebranding to distance themselves away from j. k. rowling, the tough that's a trans exclusionary radical feminist, but there are others in her potty school of thought. jackie raleigh wrote all the

harry potter books by herself, and they canceled her because she said gender was a fact. and then the trans community got mad and they started calling her turf trans, exclusionary radical feminist on tune, turf gender as a fact. well, trans employees and allies at netflix stage to walk out forcing the c e o to publicly apologize when you quoted ah, meanwhile, team tough relished in the drama. if this is what being cancels is like i love it. the song. 4 continues as monty python star, terry gilliam got canceled for endorsing chapels, netflix special shortly after the old vic right here in london,

announcer pulling his shirt into the woods from its november schedule. it is very said that a great cultural institutions like the old, vague, allowed itself to be intimidated into cancelling our production of into the woods by small group of closed minded humor, averse i. d. o x on their stuff. my unspeakable crime was recommending my facebook followers to watch netflix special by brilliant and provocative american committed . they did, and civilization didn't collapse. ok, so that's on the most extreme end of the scale. but at the end of the day, how hard is it not to say something that's obviously donning turns out really hard indeed cancel culture. this cancelling this punishment, it's everywhere. punishment. and i for and i, you said that therefore you must never work again. sooner or later the counselors will win. oh, british actress of primetime tele, more in let been thinks, even comedy is now on the verge of being canceled. it's

a bit like laughter in church. something has to be forbidden to make you really laugh, to make you belly laugh. it's when you shouldn't be laughing. and so therefore all the things that are being canceled out, or i'm afraid the things that i've always made people laugh. so is it time to cancel, cancel culture because pretending somebody doesn't exist because they've touched and now it's a temporary slope as let's face it. we've all upset someone somewhere, haven't we? i just for a moment back to cope it here on our to you might think the idea of implanting microchips under your skin to show colbert immunity is just a conspiracy theory. apparently not. a swedish company is actually developed such a device. we talk to the people behind it. ah, are there a versatile technology that can be used for many different things?

and right now it's very convenient to have a covered passport, always success to build on your implant. so in case you phone wrong shuttle battery, it's always accessible to the implant has is readable by and the smartphone, that house and up see function. so i can go to a restaurant or a movie theater. i just show them my arm and swipe me with the smartphone and then that pops up the co passport that i have on my chip. so you don't need a special app for this kind of similar to a q r code. just of course i don't want the q r code on my skin with any more still to come here on r t. so it has actually been, believe it or not 30 years since the ussr officially cease to be just

a moment after a break will be reliving that historical turning point you'll program with ah, with

the, what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy, even foundation, let it be an arms race is on offense. very dramatic development. only personally and getting to resist. i'll see how that strategy will be successful, very difficult time. time to sit down and talk ah, it's really good to have you with us with us weekly sunday program here or not. so can you imagine today marks 30 years since the ussr was formerly dissolved or the union of course replaced by 15 independent states among them, russia? so i think that murat gasdio now takes a look back. it was changed since the soviet flag over the kremlin was dropped. 30

years ago, humanity witnessed a spectacle. that dramatically changed the course of history. the spectacular overnight collapse of the ussr. she loo, fluti to as a result of a newly formed situation creation of the commonwealth of independent states. i seize my activities in the post of the ussr president. so uniqueness, ah, here enough, 300000000 people woke up with a new nationality. their homeland gone race that the stroke of a pen and it began with perestroika, a radical rethinking of soviet mentality, identity and ideology. we must begin 1st by restructuring our thinking on psychology, organizationally and the style and ways working. i will say frankly though we do

not restructure ourselves and i'm deeply convinced of this that we will not rebuild economy or social life. but perestroika proved too much too sudden, too intense to unpredictable where the intent was evolution. the result was revolution, nationalism worried up with frightful speed across the u. s. sr. a leads and opportunities and various republics clamored for power and independence. the result was climactic. the ussr a season, his existence as a subject of international law and to jail political reality. it was the dawn of a new age. that was pessimism, but there was also optimism what marvels could piece bring. a great empire nicholas superpower, was split into independent countries, which got the chance to cooperate with each other as closely as they wanted, without any bloodshed. and so began

a flood of cultural exchange as western ideas rolled and roiled across the former ussr. ah . ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback ringback hundreds of millions of people have thrown off communism dictatorship or apartheid former adversaries. now cooperate with us in diplomacy and global problem solving. we ality, however, turned out to be far uglier than the propaganda post as will mainstream media promised with the guiding hand of the communist party, god, old and buried hatreds, re ignited, and neighbors turned on each other. ah .

it wasn't just war and uncountable debts. i'd was misery, pure and simple economic social health care collapse, the rise of transnational mafias and organized crime fraud and corruption fisted across the former soviet union. ah . ringback ah, it traumatized the people, undoubtedly the misery and the hopelessness of the 90s,

they yearned for stability. not for communism, no, nor the ussr, but for a semblance of order. and whatever his, the tractors might have to say about putin, he gave the russians stability. agatha. unfortunately, are common fatherland, the soviet union dissolved. as you know, the core of this common states is historical. russia, the russian federation, which is, you know, lost almost half of its industrial potential, half of its economy, the same share of its population and a substantial part of its territory. what can we do about this? now, i've already said that restoring the soviet union would be pointless and impossible for many reasons. and not even desirable to them. which make sense. you want the you as a saw communists back legends have made that very clear. but to build a new state, a new russia, one which provides for the people, rather than uses them and at the same time,

evoked the sort of respect that the soviet union did. while that scares russia's opponents, hooton's plan scares them. you know, i think the concern is that president putin's public lamentations and private lamentations without the demise of the soviet union have gotten noisier and stronger over the years. so the concern is that he's actually as a legacy project seeking to reconstitute the soviet union. and then, you know, would his appetite be fulfilled with that eating or what he seek? the soviet union has been gone for 30 years, but had spirited lives on lives, on the hearts of former citizens who now remember only the glory days, the good pots. they forget the empty shelves, the food lines, the k g, b, at lives on the minds of rush, has rivals,

who still think in terms of blocks and superpowers stuck as they are in the past. who believe that russia lost it say, forever when the usaa saw collapsed? regardless of the fact that 30 years have passed since i runic, isn't it even in death? the soviet union still shapes off futures. after the soviet union fell, low, people gained certain freedoms but lost out in other ways. a v h a slap on crat off moved to latvia back in 1965, but has been unable to obtain citizenship ever since he told us that life seemed better in the u. s. sr. i moved to latvia from the russian, the pat screeching in 1965, and have lived here ever since. that time it was good fun and people have life to the full ever was good natured and cheerful. and it felt as if there were some kind of future when more comfortable than under soviet rule. then of course there was the referendum to leave the usaa on people voted for it. we're here from then on.

we were divided into citizens and non citizens. those who lived in not feel before 1940 wednesday grant assistantship, and those who came later went on citizens. if you're not granted citizenship, then you do not have the right to occupy certain positions in government structures . they introduced the state examination commissioner language, which checks who speaks latvian and who does not passing their exams and not in language as a way for people to be able to obtain citizenship. but the elderly people is difficult to do, especially since the mind is not what it once was and everything is much more difficult to learn for citizens, it's easy enough to get a job, but the same cannot be said about non citizens. plus non citizens are not allowed to vote, even in local elections is not like this in germany. we lived there for 10 years. they give you a passport. there has been 30 years since the collapse of the ussr and the position is still going to have exams. education is changed to before you could attend luck via an russian school seamlessly. and there was no issue. the now the majority of schools a lot in only because many russian language in bilingual schools of forced close

the sole is longing for the motherland. but where can it be found? i've lived here for a long time now and have so many contacts and friends here. i should thought early about where i was going. hundreds of millions of people of thrown out communism authoritarianism or apartheid former adversary's. now corporate withers in diplomacy and global problem solving. what a lot of stories and headlines wrapping up this addition of the weekly here when asking international. thank you for sharing some of your sunday with us here at moscow. it's not about pop us 5 sunday early evening. hope you can join us when we return. talk with

0, one of the major fights, chance to merge with president bush junior, was in 2008, this called bucharest company. at that stage, the united states actually wanted for georgia and ukraine to get them and nato membership to start the so called membership action plan. and it was germany that stop that and then said, no, no, we don't want to do that because these countries will not add to the nato, which is one of the prerequisites and the nature of treaty

oil and gas manufacturing, electricity, telecom guys with all of them now have a type of infrastructure connected to the internet was clearly realizing this disruptive potential so that those countries can't ignore it because it, there's a national security issue. but if we take a few countries, virtually all of them subscribe to certain doctrines and maintains selling but tell us forces. they are a cyber army on behalf of a country. that's their job. who.