a, a a headline stories this, our russia say it has sufficient funds to pay its foreign debts in rubles, it's in response to washington barring moscow from pulse filling its obligations in dollars with media outlets. once again, pushing the default normative, the russian president visits wounded russian soldiers in moscow hospital wishing them a fast recovery. also had r. t explores the bunkers of the old style steel plant in mar, you'd bold for female fighters. sheltered during the c, g found weapons, guns,

equipment, oma, et cetera. and this bunker here used to show to women, look his. there are beauty products over here, over here as well. with the south african president, sultan's the alarm, and seeing that anti russian sanctions are hurting, neutral quote. bystanders states, particularly african nations, with many already impacted greatly by the pandemic, uncross with from moscow to the world. this is our t pleasure to have your company today. my name's unit o'neil. the u. s. is pushing russia to announce a technical default. now after washington bard moscow from paying its debt off in dollars through the american banks. moscow essays, the default is not on the card, however, stressing it has the cash to pay investors, and it's simply being stopped from fulfilling its obligations. our senior

correspondent morale gasdio have told me more about earlier what the united states as done as it has allowed, given russia a license to continue operating through u. s. bank. so paying americans, institutions, banks, investors, who have throughout the past few months, who have all fluted all the russian debt that they have very few still hold on to russian debt. and we've seen this western press trumpeting about a potential russian default. how's russia going to get out of this? but ultimately it's, it's all a show because what do you, what do you think when you hear someone's galant, a default or bankruptcy or bankruptcy, it's that they've brought out of money right to pay off their obligations. in this case, that is of the truth. russia has plenty of money, it's just american bags of, of stopped russia are for, for my paying out those loans in us dollars. that makes it the opposite of what happened in $1098.00, for instance,

which people might be thinking there's parallels to merit in terms of the dollar k, then being shut to russia. what does it mean for moscow? while the united states is made no secret of this very little change, because ultimately this isn't a default in the classical sense. russia has said that the, it won't call this a default, whether it's a technical default as some abundance and financial analysts have come to call it. but ultimately, russia says it'll continue paying out it's obligations of coupons, monthly payments in rubles, and the united states is pretty much said the same thing. you know, not a whole lot will change, unable to find a recall way to make these payments. and they technically default on their debt. i, i don't think that really represents a significant change in russia situation. they're already cut off from global capital market. what will, by the way change is, is in, in this type of energy,

us across the world with, with fuel prices in california, in asia ito, and in africa all saw it, few pies for dees of gasoline for electricity. and the issue here now is that because a ver, what some u. s. financial institutions and pundits will call a technical default, russia, russian sheeps, for example, shipping as well as an air freight will have to pay a higher premium insurance premium, which will be included in the bill for russian fuel. and eventually those same western consumers, they all go to have to pay more even more for their fuel, which they will keep by. i am much in russia has anticipated such a moves by washington. what are they doing to shield themselves from those sanctions? willis, as putin said, russia had spent years preparing for a sanctions onslaught to suit we're seeing now, which,

which has been unprecedented thousands upon thousands of sanctions which have restricted russia away from western capital markets. and that mere putin had said now is, is the time to adapt g he to were you, i have already said. and i would like to emphasize again today that in the new conditions the russian economy will certainly remain open. moreover, we will expand corporation with those countries that are interested in mutually beneficial corporation. the actions of some countries ng to isolating themselves from russia even to their own detriment, shows how important it is in the modern world to diversify traffic flows and expand corridors in the direction of responsible partners. he common time again, we had heard a biden officials and in europe all come out and say that we're willing to hurt ourselves to hurt our people's for the sake of getting that button. and this is, this is the case a with, with these bonds because ultimately it is by the investors both in the west and he

in asia. but it suffered because of the sanctions because of the effects of any tactical default that they must declare. and it remains to be seen how far they will go and how, how much they're prepared to hurt themselves on their people in order to be seen as getting it. ok, another big financial headline today. russian oil giant luke oil as a non fits acquiring british company shells, plants and stations in russia. nicole will now own all the stocks belonging to shells russian subsidiaries. the british energy firmed the seeds control of some 400 petrol stations across the world's biggest country. and move as part of an ongoing policy of cutting business ties with moscow amid the conflict in ukraine. let's go through all those stories where professor richard berner from the center for research on accountability,

governance on sustainability at the you case de monford university. you are very welcome to the program on the debt dory 1st. richard, why did the u. s. bar russia from paying a $7.00? what's the aim of the move on? if we take it out, it's to try and punish try and sanction russia. is it going to work? right, so what's the aim? the aim seems to be to punish investors and russian bonds because they're not going to get that coupons that dividends paid out. if the aim is to punish russia, it's very strange because essentially, the u. s. a say, russia doesn't have to services that were preventing them from, from servicing it quite a running because the u. s. s. pull of resources into the i, m f and the world bank in the last 70 years in order to get countries that borrow internationally to, to make sure they really pay their coupons in time. so we see that international

finance is very much political to maybe they want to punish europe a bit more because of course the sanctions imposed and the europe essentially forced by the us to, to impose that the very painful europe. have they been painful for russia? well, kelly far less so, and likewise concerning these payments on, on the bonds essentially, i think the real story is that, trying to make russia look bad, which is kind of child is really, if you think about it, i mean we've got a series international situation and they're playing games like that. it's something that, of course, the u. s. regulators can do because in order to pay in us dollars, you have to at some stage in the, in the, the plumbing of the banking system involved us bank. and if now the regulators in

the usa that then on allowed to deal even at arm's length with russian banks that are simply trying to meet the international obligations. then you are really damaging international finance because it's not a situation of a default default is when a country can't pay and all decides not to pay, but that's really not the case. rushes absolutely able to pay its debt to g. d. p ratio is one of the very lowest in the world, less than 20 percent. and most countries, including the us, have a massively higher figure. and so it is playing games and it doesn't make the us look very good. this is not really a country that is overseeing the but the currency of international trade, which the dollar used to be. so really the u. s. is ending the ear of the us dollar,

which i think the long run is definitely going to hurt the united states. curry and even i don't rushing yeah. limits. it's very interesting point. as you see in a roundabout way, it could affect european citizens at that you americans trying to, to nudge them to agree more the european states with what washington is saying. but in terms of, as you see, that the mechanism being put out of the nuts and bolts of the financial system in the u. s. how it is russia that shield itself from, from the sanctions, from those punishments from the financial hit. and well, 1st of all, you know, just to, to, to make clear to our view, is that not paying your, your, do you coupons and bonds is not really a financial hardship. you know, it's like saying ok, russia can keep the money. so that actually does not heard russia very kill, it just is a very silly attempt to make russia look bad if on know that the us doing it. so i think even that is not going to work. thank sions, on europe, so that europe can't,

or is increasingly reducing imports of gas from russia. that's an inconvenience. but of course, russia has other countries, it can trade with, and russia is huge. it has, it has so many neighbors, the largest country in the world. and of course, that is, is already happening, that russia will be increasingly selling its resources to other countries. there's plenty in the world that are happy to trade with russia in asia, in developing countries across the globe. and so the economic fall out is going to be limited and we can see that looking at the strength of the rubel. and did we do the last few weeks in house trenton dramatically at thank you very much for your take today. professor richard bernard from the center for research on accountability governance unsustainable at the monford university. thank you.

love me. i couldn't have paid a visit to a military hospital in moscow where wounded russian soldiers are receiving treatment. this is why it's the 1st time the president has visited soldiers. personally since the start of the ukraine conflict. together with russia's defense chief, he checked on recovering soldiers, spoke to medics and thanked them for their service. it comes, the russian ministry of the fence states more than 200 localities in the next people's republic have been taken under control of the russian army. since february, when all russian suppers have de mine the waters off, the more you pull coast, opening the city port for civil shipping. the ministry of foreign affairs says 5 foreign vessels left the port today, which could be significant in terms of green exports as we'll go into later. at d, mining works are still in progress though, on the territory of the results style statement. it's under the full control of

that and yet republic forces following this surrender of 2000 ukrainian soldiers last week, including those from the neo nazi as off battalion official, say, those who are accused of war crimes will stand trial in the done yet. st. republic ortiz, he crushed it down of explorers. now, what life in the as of south factory was like, during this good road, this is the room where we found weapons, guns, equipment, well, armor, et cetera. and this bunker here used to show to women, look his. there are beauty products over here, over here as well. but judging by the amount of well military paraphernalia that we found, they were no civilians. in fact, in the back of this room, there's a rocket launcher, so not only did they live here, they also fought here. there's still more of their clothes hanging on the rope after they washed it. these big reserve was they still have water in them.

and well, here's how they slept. for example, there's another little nook over there with beds more beds here, mattresses. it's obvious that women who used to live here some of them had children and it's puzzling at best as to why they weren't allowed to surrender. and to get the kids to safety earlier there still to come in the program, poland point the finger a germany over a ledge, broken promises to replace tanks of the country sent to the great anti russian sanctions are hurting innocent countries that have remain neutral on the ukraine conflict that is, according to the south african president. now the sanctions that have been imposed on russia are going to have in are having an overarching impact. even those countries that are either bystanders or not part of the conflict are also going to suffer from the sanctions that have been imposed against russia. it does appear

that african states only just beginning. of course, the recovery following the pandemic are among the most vulnerable cobra. 1900 savagely damaged their economies pushing millions into extreme poverty. anti russian sanctions have led to disruptions in supply change with food and fuel prices rising in recent months. many african nations are highly dependent on russian on ukrainian import says those 2 countries producing the a 3rd of global wheat and barley on 2 thirds of the world's exports of some flower oil. the direct and indirect impacts of the conflict in ukraine were recently underlined in the united nations. the war in ukraine as threatening to derail development progress in african countries. the direct impacts of the crisis in africa include trade, disruption, food and fuel price, spikes, macroeconomic instability, and security challenges. there are also the in direct impacts of the crisis to consider, which include imported inflation, difficult energy transitions, and

a potential geopolitical realignment. what we mentioned that the, i said the negative impact of anti russian sanctions was reiterated by the south african leader during a meeting with the german chancellor. all of schultz is on a visit to africa to try and gain support for ukraine despite many countries there are maintaining close ties to russian. notably, south african russian ties go back to soviet times when the u. s. s. are supported, the anti apartheid struggle in the country, so i forget, has refused to condemn rushes offensive in ukraine. the countries president met with a german counterpart to discuss the 1st vacation of energy in ports on climate change issues. so the african investigative journalist madiba madiba believes western sanctions will only lead to a protracted global crisis section. still, history has never been about just never being about to, you know, the always been, it's of course, more instability. they've always been there for cause more harm to goes in the military and crisis. what's been pension,

tried to impose us to all of their one sided approaches because what's happening in, you know, without looking at the facts and evidence with regards to this issue. you know, and the only reason why the germans on citizens are that is because they want coal . so this is just there to do, to push their own agenda to push their one sided approach. because what's happening in the entry try force. so that get into condemning rush, i feel that i listen with them. can't you feel that you know, there with an african kind of feeling. and so they feel the rushing into the anti rush. and since it's on their own, touched on their own people, they have no choice, but essentially the law with intentions. and they will continue with this. and she was with this into russian sentiment. the law is going to be for the rest of the country. i mean, for the rest of the war to recover, poland has accused germany of breaking promises on replacing tanks, warsaw sent to ukraine. it comes amid mounting tensions between you states as they attempt to balance domestic interest with foreign policy. ortiz,

europe correspond. charlotte gibbons, he can pick up the story from their once again, we're seeing massive criticism from poland, against germany, and against its policies. this time, as you mentioned, this is to do with a broken promise that's all over tanks. this is because i germany apparently promised to send brand new tanks towards poland. a for poland sent its soviet era tanks to ukrainian forces. poland says it's done that, but it's still waiting on those tank deliveries. and the polish president is pretty furious about bats they have not fulfilled this promise. and frankly, we are very disappointed about this. the spokesperson for the german government says it stunned by these accusations. in subsequent negotiations, poland made a specific request to supply modern tanks of the leopard to a 7 type. the problem is that the german army itself has

a small number of these tanks about 50 units and the rest must be delivered later. they are not ready, but must still be produced. and this will continue for a long time. things also not looking, particularly rosie elsewhere in europe. either we had on tuesday evening this declaration by victor opening hungry of a state of emergency in his country. he said that as a result of the war in ukraine, but also the crippling economic impact that, that's have a not just in hungry but essentially across the european union. at the moment. a hungry we know has been a major obstacle for the you getting to pass it 6 set of sanctions. this is a set of sanctions that would see oil band. this is russian oil band in for the next year or so. and hungry is being really clear that that would have a big problem freights. economy. victo been said it would be like robbing a nuclear bomb on the hungarian economy. like we see the war and the sanctions from

brussels have lead to massive nomic upheaval and drastic price increases. the world is on the brink of an economic crisis. hungary must stay out of his war and protect the financial security of families. this requires room for maneuver and the ability to act immediately. the government is exercising its right under the constitution to declare war time, state of emergency from midnight tonight. this will allow the government to respond immediately and protect hungary and hungarian families by any means possible. over is also question about the timing of this announcement by victor over not only is it just a few days before there's another you summit where you crane will be discussed. but it also came just a few hours after present salon sky of ukraine announced that polish citizens in ukraine would get reciprocal rights mirroring the rights it at poland has just given ukrainian citizens. now, there are quite

a number of hungarian citizens in ukraine and it could be that victor open is perhaps angling for that kind of deal to now hungry as well as italy and cyprus. of all. also, apparently, behind the scenes been urging the e u to explicitly call for sci fi in regards to that war in ukraine, they want to russia and ukraine to put down their arms and to start really negotiating peace. this puts them at odds with other e. u. member states, particularly poland, but also the baltic members as well, who have been pushing the you to look at more military assistance for ukraine. and also they want harshest sanctions against russia, not just an outright ban on oil, but also an outright ban on gas to. now we've also heard from the commission president to his pretty hawkish, she's been talking at dab or saying what she wants to see is that there is a clear outright win for ukraine. and of course, all of this could come to

a head in the next few days as you need is meet at that summer. another summit where we will see crane being the main discussion on the table. we spoke to political come to john brick, more to say it's normal for countries to have at divisions based on self interest, especially in wartime. well, let me start with the gentleman that this is saying that victor, he has many fathers, but the defeat is an orphan. so i think everything depends on what's going on in the ground. and you can, if russia is defeated, the hope in can is winning, as they say. then of course everybody would be united. but if the opposite going on, which seems to be the case. as i know, then there will be a lot of divisions. and the both are be funny because of the one hand, they would like germany to get all their energy supplies with russia in order to

crash the german question economy. why did we actually cash cash, the german economy? and at the same time, they would like to german to be to give them the most advanced weapons. i mean, they are guns of the bose is just beyond belief. no, there's never been consensus on any on it on anything. if you look at it, it's always, you know, a negotiation and then the thing and i don't know who is going to treat them, of whom i don't see the germans being 80. i'm interested in that. you see also the conflict between turkey in case i mean talking, he's out book member of nato and they've been out of all kinds of issues in particular say police and nothing is done to overcome that. the unity of need to, in the you, there's not, he is the fact that these are different people in these different people have different interest. and there's something which they always want to forget. they always want to ask if there was a nation that you have in people, and there's not,

there is. so there will be, have these divisions all the time. and especially in the case of situation of war. let's bring attention to another story today. turkeys president has place to cut all ties with his greek counterparts, accusing the countries prime minister of deliberately antagonizing and cry, and address the u. s. congress last week. tennessee they go to stick in our meeting with the greek prime minister. we had agreed not to include 3rd countries in our disputes. despite this last week, he had a visit to the u. s. and warned congress not to give us fighter planes. this year we were supposed to have a strategic council meeting, but from now on there is no one called mit. so touches in my book that i will never accept meeting him because we only walk on the same path as politicians who keep their promises. who have character and who are honorable. please also note the last thing, the last thing that made to meet our time, one of focus is on helping ukraine defeat russia's. aggression

is another source of instability on nato's south eastern flank. and i ask you to take this into account when you make defense procurement decisions concerning the each submitted to read. while the to nato members have been at loggerheads for decades over mara time and energy issues. they divided island of cyprus and most recently migration. richard, ty berto on also expressed concern about nato basis, being built in greece, turkeys taking a stance against sweden and finland, 2 currently opposing their nato membership. it's, it accuses stockholm and helsinki of harboring members of the kurdistan workers, party which anchorage considers a terrorist organization. it also wants the countries to lift sanctions imposed over turkey's military operation against kurdish militias and syria. geopolitical expert peer emanuel tom man told me the rift in nature was forcing the block to

ticket the fence of stamps on a to route the united states. on one side used chalky as a m. o tron stay to to content russia in the south. but also they dont trust, aver, or turkey, which is 2, a balancing between united states on russia and the united states is opening new military bases in greece or to, to make greece there are made ali, eastern mediterranean and content turkey as well. so this is why there will be more mo, or rivalry between greece and turkey may be easier. herb, increasing is defense, defensive position, but cannot play any more and offensive her position. it was a tool for united states to export american interest to were or to continue and not have an nato to end cycle russia. and because of a crisis in ukraine,

you couldn't, you will not be able in the long term to enter nato and, and it's means, this is a, are a defeat for nato. it's mean serv. nato cannot expand and is not able to be expansion is to order of united states. a rums islamic revolutionary guard core will remain non america's terrorist organizations. less thoughts, according to media reports, not the guards are an elite units, nor viridian armed forces. find it to the 1979 revolution and operating within and outside the country. in 2019, there were included in the u. s. list of terrorist organizations by then president donald trump, those parts of his maximum pressure of policy. iranian officials were furious at the move and retaliated by designating the us central command terrorist. i

welcome the decision by the us administration to keep runs islamic revolutionary guard corps on the foreign terrorist organizations list, which is where it belongs. or the move cut further complicates the process of restoring the iranian nuclear deal, which was already on hold for the us withdrawal from the pack in 2018 with little progress made since then. the ball was a pleasure to welcome live onto the program professor aside. mohammed miranda from the university of t around for his take. welcome to you. the u. s. has finalized then it's decision not to remove the core from the terrorist organization list. are you surprised? we don't know what the final us position is. the position has changed a lot over the last few months. if you recall, during the negotiations, the united states said certain deadlines and said beyond that point,

the negotiations can continue because the iranian nuclear program will have progressed too much. but now we've seen that that deadline has passed. we passed that deadline a long time ago, yet that there's still no move away from an attempt for a negotiated solution by the american from europeans. so artificial deadlines threats for iran, none of these are important. the important thing is that we have to have a nuclear deal which is fully implemented and the nuclear deal is the j. c. p way that was signed in 2015. under obama, the united states constantly violated the deal. and under trump united talk the deal. so the bad actor was the united states and their allies, the american allies, of course, joined them. and the iranians were the only side that was implementing the deal. so this time around, the iranians are saying americans, the europeans,

they have to implement the deal in full. and the issue is not just about the guards . it's also with regards to assurances what happens at the united states suddenly, under biden pulls out of the deal. what happens to, let's say investors, and also the issue of sanctioned entities and other issues. so it's not just about the cars americans like to make it about the guards because they want to hide the fact that they are not there so far resisting full implementation a deal that would be that would be able to bring about the full implementation of the nuclear deal, right? run on the u. s. to appear to be moving slowly down the path of normalizing the relations, especially in the sphere of energy. what are the prospects of normalization now? well, there is no normalization. biden continues to impose maximum pressure sanction he is pursuing the same policy as did trump. but the problem is that the americans.