for me, even those of a new military reasons for it to russia, that's not a saki bombed who the bomb was not actually dropped on japan. it was dropped down the soviet union as a warning of what is going to have soviets, if they interfered with americans post war plan, ah ah, you'll top headlines right now here. we're not to you international with the 2nd day of voting underway. we continue with our special coverage of the ongoing referendums in going back to audrey and part of so are all voting on whether or not to join of russia. but the international observers now on location and monitoring the pool, complete the opposite to what they show us in the media of western countries. they

tell us about the terror that allegedly occurs here, but we see the opposite picture with our own eyes, back on home, soil, 55 capture to military personnel from russia and don bass republics, whatever, at least in a prison, i swap with you, pray recount their road deal with beat me with the chair kicked me and hit me with them off. they beat me because of a broken chair. they said your cattle, you broke our chair. they started hitting me on the head again. did you have me with all sorts of needles in my ear and my nose just to mock me and europe's energy across his toes into something of a cash cow with us. with ellen g price is surging. while european firms, again shifting production that with void is very good if you to join us for this saturday program live from moscow. this is our t international variable. welcome to you. it is day number 2 and voting as well

underway. the historic referendums being held in don bass and 2 other regions of ukraine on the big decision of this, whether or not to join the russian federation. here at r t, we are continuing our special coverage with as i'm sure you're aware of by now. the referendums are being held in full areas that don't yet can lugens people's republics and her son and 0,

she regions now it was back in 2014, but don't yet scan lugens. they both voted to declare themselves independent after they refused to recognize the qu in key f. despite reports of some shelling turnout has been modest. highest rate was in don't yet square 23 percent. no guns comes up at all. she was just over 20 percent, and in hops on 15, corresponded is our t romana casa, now reporting it from the hot dog bast in the dawn, yet square public. the 2nd day of the referendum continues here in the nest people's republic. now these up while groups are walking from district district to make sure, and i'd say everybody who wants to vote yet to do that. now the atmosphere, it is a pretty, a festive clarissa music. her people are smiling. this said, despite the fact that sounds of shelling our conference here in don't ask of the

last 3024 hours or 2 civilians were killed. and 2 people were wounded as well. never the less that people are still coming out and their voting and mass, at least a quarter of the population of the nest people's republic have voted on the 1st day, and that number will certainly grow on the 2nd day. of course, sir, we have spoken to some of the people to find out what they feel about this referendum college, but also the nurse toys, which i forgot some other, which of those whisky them will settle slower plus years of the her then at that institute we've been waiting for this for 30 years since 1991. i was 21 when i voted against the soviet union disillusion. i've been waiting for this minute for 30 years. i voted in 2014 for dynette st dependence and further joining up with russia. well, my parents, my wife, every one voted for it. it feels somewhat hard is this moment comes after 8 years.

we feel sorry because of children dying in these years because of elderly people dying in these years because of all those who died. but thank god, this moment has come. so thank god, lawful wish it's amira. what, what can i say? we want peace want water. we have had no would have a half of the year. we won't change. we want in this moment to come early, but thank god it has finally happened twice. now we just heard, sir, we just heard some sounds of her shelling as the lecture camecia committee are working here. they have asked all the people to run into the basement. so that no one gets hurt. i think we're going to do the same thing. and despite the fact that the shelling continues and the old people had to flee from outside and enter this building, the voting still continues in this apartment building. now, we are still waiting for other residents from nearby houses to come over and cast

their ballots. as the shelling continues, these are truly people made of steel because despite all the threats, despite daily tragedies, they're still coming out here to cast their ballad and vote to return to russia ledger the group brought in. good them. you know, this is kind of a holiday for us. we suffered for 8 years waiting for these days to come. i took up arms back in 2014. i did everything i could. i am old, but when they shelled almost every market and done at school, i realized that we needed to return 3 times this fire at them. otherwise, this would never end. we met up with another mobile group of election officials. as you can see, people are holding up to cast their ballots. and of course, just like an all the other places that we're we have visited. all these people are

in favor of done this people's republic to join by russia. the reason i know that is because the people here are very open about their wishes. now least people who are with the election commission committee and they are mostly teachers . and according to them, they've been receiving threats from anonymous people on the internet. despite all that. however, they are continuing their task and letting people know all around and ask that they can vote freely from uncle fred hearty. then his people's republic knows where to sign. a report say there was a strike by ukrainian armed forces on civilian errors of barnett city, or the attack certainly did cool some damage. if you look carefully, you can certainly see it. we understand, at least one woman was killed and one man injured how a number of international observers have been monitoring the voting. and one of them is italian gen franco fest total. he gave us his assessment. i believe i was

able to do it again on j very 1st thing that catches your eye is the situation that prevails at the polling stations, and it's completely opposite to what they show us in the media of western countries . they tell us about the terror that allegedly occurs here, but we see the opposite picture with our own eyes. i would like to emphasize that the historic referendum that's taking place here today will also be a good example for those european countries, such as catalonia and scotland, who several times tried to determine their own fate. but europe unfortunately suppresses their will. but here, russia welcomes this and from our point of view, what is happening here is a historical event for the whole world. where you might find this, i am awfully interesting in the arctic contributor rachel marston has been, well, we're viewing the years of a selectively applied policy by western professional partners towards the right of people to that of self determination. haven't listened to this. western officials clearly don't support these people in ukraine, having the opportunity to exercise their right to self determination is guaranteed

under international law. you as a master ukraine, bridget brink and nato secretary general gen spilt and berg, called them quote sham referendums. and the european union's chief diplomat user burrell dismissed them as quote, illegal referendums, which are quote, in violation of ukraine's independence sovereignty and territorial integrity and a blatant breach of international law. when territorial integrity comes in conflict with self determination, it's apparently the people's will. that matters most. at least that's what the position was. the western officials had towards post those independence. that is, after nato had bombed yugoslavia and carved out kosovo from russian allied serbia, under the pretext of protecting its ethnic minority sounds. a lot like the justification for the referendums now in these ukrainian regions whose people have suffered under kim's attack since 2014. but unlike with the current situation in ukraine, the international community at that time agreed that coast those minority shouldn't

have to live under systemic oppression. today our armed forces joined our nato allies and airstrikes against serbian forces, responsible for the brutality and kosovo. oh, i'm really proud of staff is what we did in class. so i really found it very difficult to watch when people were being killed. i pleasure to united states would continue to work with those nations that have not recognized an independent kosovo to convince them to do so as quickly as possible. so apparently the western position only favor self determination if it harms their enemy and benefits the west. another example, what about of taiwan decided to hold a referendum to succeed from china tomorrow? it's hard to imagine that the westwood, denounce it, and argue instead that the taiwanese have to respect the one china policy that the west supports all wall egging on tie, pe provoking, hang, and using taiwanese chinese relations and tensions as a pretext to rack up sales for the u. s. military industrial complex referendums

are all equal in the eyes of the west. the democracy exercise by catalonia, in its bid for independence in 2017 from spain, was denounced by most of the you, under the spanish constitution. yes. are these vote that got the lonia was not really go. countries like france, italy, germany and the u. k. were more interested at the time in what a vote in favor of independence for catalonia could mean for their own countries as they struggled to contain independence movements on their own territories. in other words, these people over here are fighting for their own democratic self determination. but how does that affect me? that's what they were doing. as for madrid, it came down to a question of revenue loss, as colonia, with just 16 percent of spain's population. also counts for 19 percent of its gdp, another a friend and may be looking on the horizon in scotland as separate as sent him at his festered since edinburgh voted to reject independence in 2014. but the u. case

. newest prime minister list trust isn't keen on permitting a 2nd round. perhaps she's concerned that the result won't be the same. if i am elected as prime minister, i will not allow another. independent trust brings up the notion of family, but apparently isn't interested in acknowledging similar family style bonds that link the rus of phone ukrainian regions to russia. the western hypocrisy and double standards of defending democratic principles to self determination only if and when it suits them, hasn't escaped the attention of the scottish leadership. if she governs as she has campaigned over the summer, she will be a disaster at no just for scotland. but for all of the you key, there's a tendency to denigrate or block referendums that don't suit the western agenda. but when the irish vote to ratify the lisbon treaty,

that is the use constitution establishing a centralized leadership and foreign policy failed the 1st time. while that didn't prevent them from being allowed to vote a 2nd time to secure the desired result. similarily, the dutch voted to enter a referendum in 2016 against the you having closer linked to ukraine. but that didn't prevent the country's parliament for voting against the people's will. a year later, apparently it was enough to say that, well, hey, they were asked. so given the tendency of western officials to cherry pick the referendums, they support or don't, in accordance with their political agendas, while they're hardly in a position of high moral authority to be telling anyone, seizing the opportunity for self determination, what is or isn't legitimate. i just spoke with how john left on the founder of don boston inside a crystal nail, who thinks the harder ukraine pressures that people have done bass, the more invigorated the locals become to join the russian federation. this morning

. the return gun was not so quiet like his to day. there was a shipping of the centre of the next was on the place i discussed with people who were there when the sales people said that high does not frighten them to work. on the contrary, pushing them to vote for the integration of the d p r into russia. so the more ukraine is churning the don't bus people, the more they want to join russia. so, 4 key feet, i think it's a very bad strategy. i've seen that many people are all the people i discussed with or for the integration of the dpr with the, with russia i've not met for the moment one person was against. so the moody is quite good. people are voting activity. now several events happening held all across russia to support the referendums and don bassett,

those pitches. this includes the south west of all the ground where hundreds of people gathered waving flags and banners, as well as the novelty of beatrice, where people unfurled a giant flag of russia under the national anthem. it was also raleigh in a cross, no yards. one of the largest cities in siberia where around 10000 people showed up to support the referendums of the event sobbing, attended by representatives of public associations of political parties. and of course, civil activists. while here with the international trust us, when we say it will keep you updated with the very latest saturday, does mark day number 2 of the referendum vote involving quite literally millions of people. ah yes. good to have you with us today. the former italian prime minister, we're stepping, conte has said this weekend's general election of the country is a choice between supporting ukraine or being able to pay energy.

why do you want peace or air conditioning? unfortunately, we all had to turn off. the air conditioning come, we don't know if we will be able to turn on the heating with these expensive bills . meanwhile, germany is also suffering quote, 8 severe energy crisis at aspire. germany's economy minister calling throughout the war to reject supplies from russia. he's now flagging the problems that's caused i mean, soonest. i think that by early summer we will have a largely reduced our dependence on coal from russia. and by autumn we will be able to do without rush and coal altogether. as for oil, i expect russian and ports to be cut in half by the summer does embargo shut his mouth off the embargo? i've said it several times and i'll repeat it. we're working towards independence from russian, coal, oil, and gas. we work every day to create the conditions and steps towards an embargo, and that in my opinion, and that of the federal government is the right way to go. and when that harms

putin, every day with you on this, we are experiencing the severe energy crisis triggered by the loss of energy production. russia has stopped gas deliveries in a volume of 55000000000 cubic meters of gas. and that is the amount that came via nor stream one new gas has to be procured on the world market in france. more than half of the nucular power plants have been shut down. this crease major problems with electric supply to the grid, which together drives up prices. these together have triggered an external shock that has hit the country hard, both consumers and companies in germany. and while the surging energy costs a bad news for the e. u, they're actually very good news for the u. s. which is c and number of european steel, fertilizer and chemical forums. now relocating there for cheapest supplies. washington's pledge to help europe through the crisis. also means there's some pretty big money to be made we are now in very active discussions with our european partners

about banning the, the import of russian oil. so we want as europeans, to diversify away from russia towards suppliers that we trust that our friends and that are reliable. and therefore the u. s. commitment to provide the european union with additional at least 15000000000 cubic meters of ellen g. not only will l n g supplies from america come at a very hefty price with brussels reportedly paying get this up to $200000000.00 for every tanker delivery experts of res concerns of whether or not america actually has the capacity and infrastructure to fulfill all of europe's energy needs. i mean, take oil, for example, america, strategic reserves have now hit a 40 year lo crossing life. now i can have an economist on geopolitical strata is

joining us live here on our t international a very good afternoon to you. so you've been hearing the reports, you know, the scoop. i mean, look, in very, very recent years, washington was telling europe, you're going to want to get off your russian energy. you're going to want to get on american l n g. don't worry that it's 3 times or more, the price, don't worry. we haven't got the infrastructure to set it up, but you will be happy, i can. what do you think? this is a dramatic situation for the german economy, especially the middle of that. if the energy is too expensive and we have the highest energy cost in germany at the minute in the world, then the german companies are not competitive anymore. we already had the for the highest labor costs per hour in the entire world, due to texas and other public expenses. we have an additional 2. this the highest energy cost is causing this dramatic downturn in the german

economy. we are already facing so many people wish that our minister of economics would have to start to write the children books instead of destroying the german economy. what he does, and this is exactly what they are facing. so many companies are going away, or are going bankrupt by john. this is exactly what you can read in those secret paper from the rand corporation who developed this as a plan to destroy european or german economy as a competitor for the us and to increase the revenues from europe to, to help us to succeed a little bit longer, and this is a dramatic situation, and by the end of the day, it's definitely me, goes to the situation that we have to call up and that the europeans will pace their eye again. east again towards rutter and give it another 4 to 5 years

maximum. and the, your age continent will be in harmony again and working together with roger and not with us anymore. because don't forget that even though was a lot on the line and described us as a reliable part. now this is the only reliable partner that may sanction on germany already. so don't forget this, this is no other part i had ever done that. and to call this a reliable apartment, it just hopes you talk. you talk about the energy crisis. yeah. i mean, cutting off russian energy into europe. i mean, you know, energy, russian energy is the, is part of that. well, germany is the industrial backbone of europe. when you're cutting off russian energy, i mean the future looks really, really bleak. when you go to america saying, look, we don't actually have all the time because for the l n g, yes, we don't even have all the ports or the infrastructure, but don't worry buddy. we'll get there. i wanted to, i wanted to ask you this. what do you make of this

u. s. strategic petroleum reserves in america a currently at the lowest? they've been in 40 years or more. what does that tell us? this tells us that the by the administration is selling the national reserve that has been built up for nearly nothing from but from administration and getting extra money, plus putting a list on the exceeding oil prices and the inflation. they are desperate to get inflation down because the world is throwing them the dollars to that piece. and this is causing the highest inflation, probably up to higher inflation in the us and destroying the us currency in total. and they are so afraid of this. but they're using the, the energy reserve may, using everything, interest rate high and so on and so on to somehow get the

inflation numbers down up to november when by and his regime tries to be reelected in the mid term elections. i could not have much time left, but i need you to give us a bit of before cost here. okay. because you know, you never really get a straight answer from western politicians when they talk about the world, the economy, they talk about she monetary and they talk about democracy, that liberty here. and then, i mean, actually, you know, if anyone at the time to listen to putin every now and again, putin speaks and measured sentences, very logical statements coming from the russian leda. here we have europe potentially being thrown under the bus with this all sanctions against russian energy, just very, very quickly. 20 seconds ica. what is the, the immediate short term future for europe right now? the media future is the highest, the biggest recession where ever see in the last 200 years, and many companies will either disappear or go very on the very, very low scale. europe will break it due to this because europe is nothing. the

european project is nothing else, then a plundering club, again, germany and if you can't plan the germany, it gets anymore because the industry is going down than the anti european projects doesn't make any sense anymore. and in the near term for the near term future, i expect the euro to go down the economy tank even though you wouldn't see it necessarily as the stock exchange. it's because they are rich, like health and to and b and b and we will surrender and we will go do was to get quite incredible comments. and these are certainly comments you will never hear ever in the western press, i get the economist and geo political strategist always great to see. and my friend, thanks very much. welcome. thank you. ah, now, after a long separation from relatives military personnel from russia and don batch republics, who had been in ukrainian captivity have now returned home. he is our correspondent

maria phenomena with some of vista, genuine. i am a happy day for what had been some very anxious families as 55 military personnel from russia and the dunbar. republics, sons and husbands, fathers and brothers who had long been held in ukrainian captivity have come back home, fight zebra storms, ain't you that he's in life that they returned my son to me. thanks everyone. god bless everyone. we are proud of him. we were afraid to lose it. not that we believed we knew that he would return to him. we prayed every morning and every evening the whole city was waiting for him. everyone was waiting for him. all the relatives, his wife was very boring. we were very worried. it's the latest and so far, the largest prisoners of war exchanged between moscow and key f since the beginning of the russian offensive in february, and both sides a hail and in a success summer. the most important thing is that they didn't leave us there. when

we were there, there was a sense that no one wanted us in our country, but you see how it turned out. our guys quickly took us away quickly, pulled a sound among the 215 key of prisoners. the allied forces traded for the men were 5 notorious as old battalion commanders. but it was a freedom at any price deal to them. they said that no one was worried about you and your country will not exchange your excess rest. but we believed that would be an exchange. we'd just believe you. of course, i'm happy that i am in russia. i'd like to thank those who were involved in the exchange that had happened when i hope that the rest of all people we taken out of that and they will also be at home at the most important thing for me now is to see my family friends wife, haven't seen her since january those to be signed our marriage certificate, and i just left rides away. sometimes i talked to her via video link, but basically i haven't seen her in almost a year. 10 of the many foreigners who've been fighting on kia side were also

released 5 bridge citizens to americans and fighters from the rocco, sweden and croatia. some of the release prisoners who spent months in captivity talk about torturing humiliation and also confirmed that more and more foreigners are fighting on ukraine's side. and thus the yellows, dubuque, yes, they stood armed with clubs from the very beginning. they began to beat me with a bass on unused electric shocks. then with every incorrect answer or action i said, or did they shocks me beat me with a baton on my legs until i had bruises. and i threw up, understood as to why that somebody up cuz they beat me with the chair, kicked me and hit me with the mark. they beat me because of a broken chair. they said your cattle, you broke our chair. they started hitting me on the head again as much as the jab me with all sorts of needles. my ear, my nose, just to mock me rush, but the more on the home on the road, they threatened me with a knife. then they threw me into a pickup truck and we drove off similar, another 15 people ran up there and they started taking pictures with me and they

might look there. they caught an orc and occupier took pictures and from the videos they lifted me by the head and took pictures of the what it was clear from their voices that there were not only ukrainian staircases, a foreign speech was heard arabic speech was heard somewhere after that they took pictures with me there while they continued to beat me to put a knife to my eyes. so they put a knife to my groin. he said we will cut everything off of you. now if you do not confess, phonemic with the holes. they also explain why capturing members of the russian military and he's such a desired trophy for those fighting for keys which thumbs thaw. and that's is what i'm line is that they are nancy's not the i'm for, he did not receive money for the military prison for surgeons. it's about $300.00 for officers after 1000 seeing all those former prisoners released during this recent exchange are currently being treated in various russian hospitals. if military dr. commissions decide the our feet, the service men may soon return to the front lines. river ocean on naughty moscow

region. on wednesday, president putin called up 300000 reserve, is to strengthen russia's military presence in ukraine, but hasn't entirely gone down well with everyone. protest tapping, taking place in a number of cities across the country with reports of a number of arrests being made. let's get more details. now. ortiz marina cause wherever, joining us here lie fair in the studio on a saturday afternoon. good to see you. marina, i saw one of these demonstrations of it in the past 2436 hours. i was driving home when past starting out about which is one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares. you know, the old market street here at moscow. live music people good at a party and have drinks now a really, really good time. it looked like a fairly normal demonstration to me. what else do we know about this and, and other ones. at the moment, we're here in that 50 people have been detained across russia. and what is happening is that these movements that are calling for people to guard on the streets, in particular, the city center,

across the country. this has been organized by the feminist, anti war resistance. it's been organized by that isna movement with what is vis narbey narbey in spring in russian, which of course alludes to the arab sprang mahalo revolution. although there's kind of some more so they're trying to add on people to head out on the streets and create as much noise as possible. and so far, this is the 2nd movement. the 1st one started when vladimir putin 1st announced the partial mobilization. and there we saw a protest taking place across 38 cities across the country, and there were over a 1000 people detained. today the turn out is quite weak, it's not what they expect that there were there were hoping to see a lot of people turn out, maybe it was the whatever i don't know. but said the turnout has been very we can, we can see from the videos in some cases you see that there is more press and more police presence than the actual protestors themselves. yeah. yeah. so the turn out is not exactly what they were hoping for. and now the movie.