ah ah, berlin makes fresh accusations against moscow was russia temporarily shuts down a key gas supply route to germany for scheduled maintenance. that's made a fuel crisis caused by the backlash of western sanctions. also this our group. yes . another forward position where american em 777 houses were based deal. you have a number of shells. these a powder judge, candace, this will bud by almost direct impact. ah, r t investigates, hastily abandoned ukrainian army position where u. s. made heavy weapons were apparently used to sheldon boss. us tries to pin the blame for the crisis in sri lanka on russia. as the south asian countries president

confirmed, he's stepping down and i made widespread riots over the country's economic term with 7 pm here in moscow. and you're watching r t international. i'm donald quarter. welcome to the program. now there are fresh worries in the european union after russia halted the flow of gas through a key pipeline to germany called north stream one for 10 days due to scheduled maintenance. germany's vice chancellor says european countries need to agree to tighten their belts in an attempt to get through expected shortages. however, the pipelines maintenance was agreed by all sides in advance and will last until the 21st of july. north stream one flows directly from russia to germany through the baltic sea and has been crucial for berlin. last month, russia reduced the pipelines load by 40 percent after saying that some key hardware needed for the gas root was being held up by western sanctions. the pipeline

accounts for around half of germany's gas imports, as ortiz, rachel marston has more on the issue. germany, economy minister, robert havoc expressed concerns stay at russia when use gas supplies as a political weapon. amid the program maintenance shut down of the north stream, one pipeline which normally transports gas from russia to europe. havoc said that solidarity is more important than ever solidarity for what collective suicide it's easy nations, their weapon ising, their own energy policy, putting their own gas supply in peril with anti russian sanctions for which we the citizens are paying the price of the pump. here in france were on the cost of a massive heat wave right now with up to 40 degree temperatures forecasted over the next couple of weeks. france even has a statutory holiday in june every year in memory of the nearly 20000 elderly who died in care homes from a similar heat wave in the summer of 2003. but french economy minister between roland there hardly inspires confidence that our leaders have any clue what they're

doing. let's prepare for a total cutoff of russian gas today. that is the most likely option. we have to anticipate and to put ourselves in order of battle as of now, except that we're not ready for battle here in europe. let's face it. habits proclaimed that he cut down his shower time yet again. like that's any kind of a solution for supposedly developed nation while german cities are planning to introduce warm up space is this winter amid the need to ration energy? you know, those things that you see in depression era, hollywood movies, you know, the, you is really jumped out of a plane here without a parachute, when it went gung ho sanctioning its own gas supply from russia. the proof, the fact that this plan maintenance shut down of nord stream one is sparking hypo ventilation by you. officials who fear that russia could use it as an excuse to reduce gas delivery to europe. org. stand the shut down beyond the 10 days. the italian oil and gas company, any reports that daily supplies been cut by a 3rd of the usual volume. austria's energy company o m v also reported

a reduction by nord stream, one operator gas prom of 70 percent. when you sation roger and energy, the ease top economies went along with it, but now was panic sets in. and russia turns off the top even temporarily. we seeing the u bit off more than it can chew. it's kind of like that teenager who runs away from home, gets halfway down his own street and starts panicking over his own foolish decision journalist on political analyst, lucrative a told me that it's becoming harder and harder for european officials to justify their sanctions against russia. to their own taxpayers and voters, all the politicians in europe, i trying to explain the, to the very, very difficult things that we can go through in, in the coming months and years. probably only we getting into recession. we have a 10 percent inflation in, on average, you're a point 5 or 8.9 percent. inflation and of the worst hit will be

germany. that's terrible because this is the local motive. all european economy of european industry, even if they could find out gas to replace rush and gas, this would have to be paid, not in, you know, anymore, but in dollars. and we don't print dollars a year, so it's going to get worse and worse. you have a voice is coming to find this princess, but also for example, sequel in a while. yeah. in france, who has sent for one, something crucial that be the conflict in ukraine was not our conflict. and she could not understand why we impose sanctions dot harmless, much more than russia. so it's getting, you know, very difficult for the politicians to explain this and that they are trying to prepare a sway before rationing that probably come in. the auto a german princess has accused berlin of hypocrisy and double standards over its

approach to doing business with russia, as opposed to other countries. yeah, happened this last. we decide that that we didn't want to buy anything else from the russians. the americans forced us to turn off nor soon to which has since gone bankrupt. it was our decision claiming that evil of russians don't sell us anything is just keep on chrissy. because we have been explaining to people for weeks that we can't get anything from them because he can not buy from criminals. but the funny thing is, we're willing to do business with other countries that use criminal methods in the same way. i remember saudi arabia or china, where we grew, are sent to concentration camps. for some reason nobody is talking about that. so the moral treatment is only dished out whenever it's convenient. for me, there is a lot of ideology behind this. can we afford so much ideology? and the question asking is, who benefits from all this high call is always go. meanwhile, it's been confirmed that the required equipment of natural gas turbine will be returned to germany by canada, where the hardware has been undergoing scheduled repairs. the move requested by

berlin was met with outrage and key of, as i explained more in the following piece, last month, russia's state energy company gas problem was forced to reduce the flow of gas along north stream. one by 40 percent y. several turbines essential for the pipelines, proper functioning, were under repair in montreal, and were blocked from being returned on time because of sanctions imposed by ottawa . so after a bit of begging from berlin to avoid making germany's energy crisis any worse, canada sidestepped its own sanction. something kiev was apparently crossing its fingers would not happen. if god forbid this decision is approved, we will undoubtedly appeal to our european colleagues that their approach must be reassessed. because if countries do not follow decisions they have agreed on about sanctions. how can we talk about solidarity, of course berlin would rather not insult its ukrainian proxies. so the german chancellor been accusing russia of using das as a political tool, instead of you know,

admitting that the west is shooting itself in the foot with its own sanctions. to day we have to admit, russia uses energy as a weapon. no one actually believes that russia is reducing its gas supplies for technical reasons alone. for its part, moscow is reminding everyone that it has never failed to carry out its energy obligations. we completely reject any hints or direct statements that the russian side is using gas or oil is a weapon of political pressure. there is a certain routine with gas pipelines and such work is carried out every year. russia has consistently fulfilling all its obligations in a still able to guarantee the complete energy security of europe, sidestepping sanctions, making up stories to avoid looking hypocritical. it might just be easier for everyone if you're up stop trying to play hardball with the very country that's long provided most of its energy needs. meanwhile, mass protests in albania, over social and economic issues have hit the capital city of toronto. demonstrations broke out amid rising fuel fuel and food prices as well as

allegations of government corruption. protesters are demanding the resignation of the countries leadership after inflation reached double digits and fuel prices rose by 30 percent. in other news, sri lanka, as president, has informed the government that he will resign on the 13th of july days after protesters storms storms, the homes of both the premier and the president. some of them swam in the pool wide and beds and crowded the corridors of the leaders houses. demonstrators have continued to occupy those residences, accusing the government of responsibility for severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. in recent months, the protesters say they will remain at those locations until the leaders reside. now here's a closer look at the events that surrounded the latest chaos in the country. with

. ah not only the supervision he's not so certain and the board because stability as

gone still have 5. even a couple of ministers who were recently appointed have been designated. so it's going to need to be an unstable. wanted to go situation an unstable economic situation as we speak go on to a new resident, hopefully, the speaker taking all the beauties as the active president and leaving the b. what the fall they took off and all government, which will be most from the day after the 13th of this month. so the people are going to need to be below roaming around. the president tells me that the temper tree tv of each residents of the 5, but it's the same day so much of other special government. the residents as are being, are owned by the professor, fingers crossed for a better tomorrow. hearing for lack of because these are involved reporting view on both us secretary of state antony blinking is once again pointing the finger at

moscow. he says that the rushes that the russian military campaign and ukraine has caused rising food insecurity around the world, including in sri lanka, thousands of kilometers away. we're seeing the impact of this russian aggression play out everywhere. it again may have contributed to the, the situations we were concerned about, the implications that it has around the world. russia denied washington's accusations, saying that western powers constantly blame moscow for events. it has nothing to do with the chaotic events in 3 longer or a combination of months of protests over an unprecedented economic downfall and emerged in the south asian country. long before russia's military operation began. the crisis had been attributed to the coven pandemic, which deprives the island nation of vital tourist revenue. human and labor rights lawyer dan colic says western capitalist interests are actually to blame for so long as turmoil. what happened in sri lanka is the result of western

capitalism run amok. this has nothing to do with russia and everything to do with the failings of western style capitalism. but of course no one in the west wants to admit that. so they blame russia. western style capitalism unfettered capitalism has shown itself to be a complete failure. we've seen this in the united states, in terms of the pandemic, where we've had the worst, the most number of cases, the most number of deaths of any country in the world. meanwhile, the super rich have gotten $4.00 trillion dollars richer, and we're seeing this type of economic injustice throughout the world again, including in sri lanka, this is not inspired by russia. this is inspired by people's own demand, their own suffering. and the west has no one else but themselves to blame, but of course, so they go and blame russia. the us secretary of state has praised former

japanese prime minister sions abbate. during this surprised visit to tokyo, just days after the ex premier was shot dead during the campaign event. all bay did more than any one to elevate the relationship between the united states and japan to new heights were friends and when one friend is hurting, the other. friends shows up, blake, and also said he handed japan's incumbents. prime minister, some letters from the u. s. president for members of our base family who held a private funeral for the country's longest serving premiere in tokyo. sions obey died in hospital last friday, shortly after being shot at close range by a lone gunman during a campaign event. a 41 year old suspect was arrested at the scene and is now under investigation. well, following the assassination of bob, a biden ordered american flags to be flown and half staffed. at the white house. we got reaction from former pentagon security analyst, michael maloof. well, it definitely is a little unusual for the united states to put the flag half staff for foreign

foreign national ok. but on the other hand, i think what i think it's all a political gesture on the part of biden, to show the closeness of and reinforcing the closest between the united states and japan. it was obey who actually helped create the quad, which is really aimed at china. so you have a lot of countries in that region. we're all competing the relying on the united states as a back up. and if the united states were to diminish that influence, then that there would be a lot more confusion. and because those countries will all go their own direction and that might not be of such a bad thing. and i question the u. s. is position that china is trying to dominate that, that those countries in that way, i don't see that. but they are a large country. they are influential. they're like the united states in terms of

influence. but, and now you have the 2 powers competing with one another, and it could inevitably reach a crisis level and it has in some areas. so this is something that has to be very, very tempered and very and be very, very careful. the family of slain al jazeera journalist, sharina arbel aqua has demanded to meet joe biden. during the u. s. president's visit to israel later this week, the relatives of the palestinian american reporter who was shot dead and may have accused washington of turning a blind eye to his real role in her killing in the days and weeks since in his railey soldier, killed serene. not only have we not been adequately consulted, informed and supported by u. s. government officials. but your administration's actions exhibit an apparent intent to undermine our efforts toward justice and accountability for sharon's death. instead, the united states has been skulking toward the eraser of any wrongdoing by his

railey forces, from the failure to immediately ensure an independent and impartial investigation. your administration's engagement has served to whitewash sharina, killing, and perpetuate impunity. shuree novel aqua was fatally wounded on may 11th, while reporting on an israeli army rate on a palestinian refugee camp in the west bank. she was shot dead in the middle of armed clashes despite openly wearing a blue press. vest un human rights office. probe concluded that she'd been killed by the idea fs fire. however, the u. s. and it's is really allies claim. there's no reason to believe that the killing was intentional. tel aviv has not held any one accountable, but to get more on this, we're going across live now to journalist and middle east analyst robert in la cash . robert, thanks a lot for joining us on the program. first of all, i just want to ask you, what's your take on why the u. s. continues to deny that israeli forces killed the journalist intentionally? i think the u. s. biden administration views, this incident is somewhat of

a nuisance, and that seems to be the way they're, they're treating it from the get go on the 1st day that it was announced that sherry and hadn't been to have the wherewithal to conduct a thorough investigation itself. it's clear that the israelis did not want to investigate it primarily for political reasons. and of course, you know, it's very rare that they hold their soldiers properly accountable when they kill palestinians and american citizens as well, to be honest with you. but then later on now they've conducted this investigation, essentially, according to that selim israel's talk, human rights organization. this was a whitewash wants, the united states state department said that it calls for accountability and justice. on the other hand, what it did is it gave israel a get out of free card by saying that there is no indication that they have to say that this was an intentional killing. when, for instance, an investigation by cnn suggests that it was perhaps intentional. all of the

evidence mount up against the israeli forces, but just that assessing intent was the u. s. was not able to conclude who actually committed the murder in the report shows you the u. s. by the ministrations. don't very serious about this issue, or if the u. s. won't hold, it says rarely allies accountable than who actually can do. thank. i don't believe in this case that there is really any one that can hold israel accountable if it is not the united states at this point for such a killing. this is not something new as well as you and your viewers will probably know that the israelis have killed since the or 2000, almost 50 palestinian journalists on the ground. and none of the stories we've heard about it, because sure enough, black that is such a prominent journalist with al jazeera for so many years, was

a household name for palestinians. and if somebody with the u. s. passport that we did hear about this. so in terms of accountability, the palestinian issue in general is not something that the biden administration is really interested in. at this point, there is no real push or desire to achieve a political solution. and therefore, even focusing on these little factoids as they view it, being an assassination of an american citizen, even though it's something that they don't really want to focus on, you'll see that the visit, which is scheduled for later this week, is going to include the visiting room alone, but there is no political solution that they're favoring, you know, putting as a top priority. it's more so a normalization of ties between television, riyadh and a defense act in the region in order to confront it on the palestinian 40 itself is not really a strong political force anymore. so the palestinian question has been undermined for the u. s. fight administration. there's just no urgency. while, as you said,

it is an unfortunate reality of that journalists reporting from places like the west bank and gaza have been killed before. but do you think that this killing is going to set some sort of precedent for journalists that want to do that in the future? it's an interesting case. definitely. people are feeling on edge in the west bank. i think the people are more encouraged to practise their journalism because of this killing. there's a culture in palestine of resistance to violence from the israeli side. so you'll see it only encourages more people to come journalists and to, of course, conduct their work in the field of in terms of the way the israelis get away with it. this is a green light from the united states to israel, that it can get away with this sort of action and that it's not going to do anything about it. the united states is far more interested in pursuing, you know, curry favor with different israeli political forces because of the ongoing sorts of

catastrophe and israeli politics at the moment. and also forming alliances in the region against iran than it is pursuing peace or protecting its own citizens. even. and journalists in general in the palestinian occupied territories, journalists and middle east analysts, robert in le cash. thanks a lot for joining us on the program. thank you. ah, i want to the ukraine conflict. it will now be easier for residents of ukraine and the done boss people's republics to get russian passports. that's after vladimir putin signed a new decree to speed up. the procedure as our team is eager, donna explains. the process of getting a russian passport has been streamlined for every citizen of ukraine. and it's the geographical nuance that is important here and the story. because initially these citizenship privileges they only applied to the residence of the den. that's and

lugens people's republics, well then, breaker we regents from ukraine, which have now proclaimed independence and have been recognized by russia. then this club has been expanded to include the southern regions of ukraine, some of them which are now under the control of the russian forces in a large part. so some could draw some conclusions. may be the saying that this could hint at russia's intentions in its special military operation. although officially, russia has not made any concrete territorial claims as to which regions it would like to will liberate as the se. apart from of course, the territories known as the de nets and la ganske people's republics. meanwhile, rushes defense ministry says its forces have destroyed an ammunition storage depot for us, supplied rocket launchers and howitzers in southeastern ukraine. moscow also says the russian military has eliminated a ukrainian weapons warehouse which stored more than $200.00 tons of foreign made

anti tank missile systems. earlier. moscow said it had destroyed almost 2000 western made rounds for howitzers and rocket launchers, inside ukraine. and going on to don boss, russian lead forces have reportedly taken control over 2 towns in the north of the dynastic people's republic. i made attempts to move the front line westwards to reach. major ukrainian held strong holds in the area according to soldiers operating their retreating ukrainian troops continue to use civilians as human shields. and in the will, ganske people's republic. russian lead forces are advancing after taking control of the last key towns there. as you can see on the map, russian troops are moving further to the west to reach ukrainian stronghold in the city of severest rushes. defense ministry says some ukrainian units operating in the area are in a bad state. after taking heavy losses or more, i guess the reports from the frontline, they're quite when we came here isn't so quiet

anymore. and artillery jewel between russian forces and ukrainian forces where quote bags, but in the me here. sure. the shell, whizzing over us and explosion, the other side and then return for good thing. where in these, these ukranian trenches bonkers and these are bunkers, the full sense. again, not much of a broad ukrainian troops abandoned their uniforms belonging scattered all over the place, but this is very far from the front blood. nevertheless, ukrainians from the front line when the conflicts began. nevertheless, you couldn't build these steel reinforced concrete bunkers over the place. huge doors inside areas where they slept

great in t shirts and limbs. these stretch of the front lines from the city of shaven asked to bach, move is arguably the most violent of the conflict. the thunder of artillery only ceases when the guns are destroyed. yet another foreign position where american am 777 houses. we're based here. you have a number of shells. these are powdered judge canisters all bund, by almost direct impacts. you have a number of craters here, multiple rocket georgia systems and try to buy the loop of them. but we have in direct evidence that at least one cabin was destroyed. these are the was from the ties. you can see the burn marks here and here. and this is a,

this is where the back part of the cabman as it far this is where it dug into the earth. ah, he, you have that the trenches gouged out by the supports and nevertheless, despite the fact that it was destroyed the ukrainians. somehow, dow, this out of here again perhaps to prevent russian voices and allied forces from capturing those in what would undoubtedly, undoubtedly have been a p our victory. this is the 2nd time in the span of a week that we have found, destroyed, artillery positions where american houses was stationed everywhere, our shelves and powder charge, canisters shipped from us arsenals and abandoned by ukrainian troops.

but that isn't all. in one bunker, we found a fool memory cod. with a number of videos we quoted by ukranian troops and left behind to be found. if something were to happen to them. gwyn personal simple bonaparte. when i got into position the 1st time was shooting, it was complete. shock to me so shocking that i didn't know what to do where to hide. nobody knew anything, nobody reported to anybody. nobody said anything. the hence was so irresponsible. nobody reported anything to anyone. i only heard about the dead, the wounded from the neighbors walkie talkies. why i don't understand it and there are hundreds of similar videos that have been posted on line. and they're often the same. the sad story of demoralized conscripts and drafted soldiers sent without any training into a brutal fight. the fates of these men are known as are the fates of thousands upon

thousands of soldiers, conscripts and foreign mercenaries whom ukraine has written off as missing in action. and in their stead, it has thrown others into the grinder. untrained and unwilling pharmacy teaches drivers, musicians, and programmers who are more and more aware that they are being used as cannon fodder. or, i guess the uh, 40 from the la guns people to republic. thanks for watching r t international will be around in just about 30 minutes with more world news stories. ah ah,

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