hello, this is a green tissue. who i am businessman victor booth is handed over by washington after more than a decade in american custody. exchange us basketball start out in russia. an e book making milestone for the multi polar world as the saudi crown prince house, china's president for a key summit, mid waning us influence in the middle east. we report from ria also this, our time magazine names ukraine's president zelinski as a person of the year. with the warning, the far right of movement has inspired a global ideology, has led to more terrorist attacks in the u. s. and he's like, extreme with

you're watching r t international, almost been another busy news day with one story dominates in the headlines. i'm peter scott. welcome to the broker. moscow and washington have carried out a high profile prisoner swap. russian businessman, victor boots, convicted on alms dealing charges in the u. s. has been handed over to moscow and exchange for american basketball star. brittany greiner, who was sentenced to 9 years in a russian prison for drug trafficking. both of them received presidential pardons from body. mir putin and jo bottom respectively, before they were both set free. moscow had been pushing for beach released for years. washington categorically rejected any cooperation with russia in the exchange came. nevertheless, we continued active efforts to rescue our citizen. as a result is became possible to organize the exchange with the american side. victor boot has returned to his homeland. well, we understand that the prisoner swap happened in our dobby. in the united arab emirates, the u. e. the individuals were exchanged and victor boot has returned home to

russia after being held since 2008, 2008. he was in thailand, he was set up in some kind of sting. ready operation conducted by us officials, us individuals operating and thailand, he was then taken to the united states. he stood trial and 2011 and was found guilty on conspiracy charges. he described the interview. the trial is essentially a sham trial where he wasn't really able to adequately defend himself. all the charges were conspiracy charges, no actual crime had been committed. it was all based on allegations that in some conversation, he hinted he might do something or something to that effect. and he'd been held in the united states in federal prison, sent that time. now brittany griner was detained in russia in february and convicted of having a candidate based substance in her bag. and she was convicted of drug trafficking,

drug charges. she's been, she'd been held in russia and we heard from biden, he spoke and he did not reference victor, danny points and his remarks that gave to the brassy simply reference brittany griner had relatives of brittany greiner with him. while he spoke to the press, he refused to answer any questions from the media about what exchanges had been made. but we understand at this point that victor boot is returned to russia, and this was a prisoner's swap, this place in abu dhabi in the united arab emirates. now, i had the opportunity to interview victor booth from u. s. federal prison when he was being held and he described to me the conditions in which he was being held, how he wasn't able to visit his family until donald trump was elected president. and the trump administration made arrangements so he could even visit is relatives

described being held in solitary confinement. and traditions that the united nations have described as torture. the highlighted, different cases of political prisoners in the united states. it was really a great opportunity to speak to victor booth when he was being held in the us prison on trumped up charges. basically being held, describe how he was forced and not for us but, but pressured rather to try and say negative things about the russian government and exchange for a better deal or exchange for release or the ability to see his family. all kinds of pressure was put on him to help feed into anti russia narrative. allie withheld, but yet he refused to make any deals. and now we understand that after years and years of being held and us federal facilities on trumped up charges that now victor boot is back home in russia. so this is from my interview with victor boot while he was being held in a u. s. federal prison based in colorado. this is the conversation that we had

a lord of war and a merchant of death. and that's how western media describes victor boot. for moscow, he's a political prisoner, rejecting his case as unfounded and biased from the start. at his trial, he pled not guilty, and he called the accusations against him, a bunch of alive the court decided otherwise and jailed him for 25 years. he's now served a 3rd of that sentence, and he's agreed to talk to me from prison. because your case is highly political, are you being treated differently? well, of course i've been through the different monthly because by some reason, be okay, deciding that online is special or is group or whatever. i'm a general population, but on the other very strict supervision and control, victor boot describes himself as a political prisoner. i asked him what that means. this is a 100 percent qualify as a political prisoner because if i'm off my nationality,

i deny to corporate side and i'm standing. they didn't do anything else. i know we'll fight for my innocence. i misstated bossman couple years ago. we have met a cab, gonna keep him, as example, as a model for the boys will whipping father russians would be more polite to corporate with us when they go off. they are up through z me. i asked him about deals that had been offered to him in the past and currently, well, they've been doing pre trial during the trial where they've been through a public defender and they approach and said, well, we're going to get to it all your primary green car conceptual you there, if you know, tell us some dirt about food, you know how car off this regime saw. and so, and i said, no, you can't do the person for all the deal. that's why i went to the trial. victor boot offered up a pretty strong and consistent critique of the us legal system and how he says it has been used against russian citizens boot points to what he calls conspiracy laws

as a method of imprisoning people. not for actually committing crimes, but for offhand comments made 2 undercover officers boot says he's not the only political prisoner being held and that the efforts of the russian embassy have definitely improved his circumstances. hayward mauppin r t new york. earlier i spoke with russian lawmaker maria brittany, who was released from american custom back in 2019 up to spending time in prison. the on charges of working as of russian agents. she should her take on victor boots, return on his treatments in your prison. i can see how difficult it was now in their geopolitical situation and their how the united states treats russia today in russian citizens. what i would have suffered through is unbelievable for so many years. however, he is why i just talked to her. she has the in, at the wonderful wine all these years. she has stayed next to her husband despite

of he is imprisonment. be corey's ortho, the russian position. ah, that we never give up our people. and we will all this i for every russian here is now kind of home brushes pushing and pushing hard all these days and years. and finally, are they negotiated a deal? and it's a great big thing for a russian to policy, despite relations between russia and the u. s. been at the lowest, they've been for decades that the 2 countries can still agree, even, you know, in a prison swap like this. oh, i wish i would say, but it's been both country, it's just our value human life. but i do believe it's russian position. the united states was saying that we don't want that one them just to show everybody

that we have the russians and look at them is horrible. it's look which one. well, joe biden has tried to whitewash brittany, grind his case claiming that she'd been wrongly detained in russia. despite the fact she had actually admitted bringing drugs into the country which landed her 9 year prison term is relieved to finally be heading home. and the fact remains that she's lost months of her life experience. and needless trauma, she deserve space, privacy and time with their loved ones to recover. and he'll from her time being wrong through detain. greiner was detained by moscow, pulled customs officers back in february this year after a police dog found the cannabis oil in her luggage. in july, she pleaded guilty in court to drug smuggling charges. the defense team said griner made the mission to show her bravery. and that a positive example for others. she was sentenced to 9 years and later found an appeal which was rejected by a russian court. well, let's not discuss this story with the legal and media unlist line. all right,

thanks for joining us this evening. lionel. thank you. now, 1st of all, what's the significance in your opinion of this business? well, well, the 1st question that i have, and a lot of people have, irrespective of the facts, irrespective of the parties, without any mention or review of the correctness of the laws, or whether a conviction would have been or should have been had. that's not what i want to address. the 1st thing which i find interesting is the notion of parity. you are having somebody here who cnn has described as being called the merchant of death, the merchant of death, right off the bat. this is what story after story has called and considered mr. boot find. the merchant of death has been re, i guess, swapped for a woman, a basketball player who was caught with cannabis vate,

being devices, allegedly, or what have you. now the 1st question people have is, is that any sense of parity? would you exchange a serial killer for someone who is a of caught with the of cannabis tools? so that's the 1st issue. that doesn't seem to make any sense. another thing which is interesting is the notion of how i guess around the world this kid. so a behavior as far as when laws are violated, some laws are ok. some laws are not. and also what one country consider to be important. others may not, but i have to add this in, this is what i think is most interesting as well. if we took exactly the same situation as we have right and changed it, is that a president biden? we had president trump same fax, same everything, merging of death, basketball, star, swamp. what do you think cnn would then have said about, and i, you see in an, as an example, not that they're the target of this,

but what would they have said to the swap? they would have said, this is proof positive of some kind of collusion or some type of something, illegal, same facts. but depending upon who the actors are, the media will skew it differently. now all of a sudden, and again i think for, for this, this young woman being released is wonderful. but we're going to see the apotheosis of this case into something that the i hate uses term. liberal media will now elevate her to some type of a hero status, which nobody will question. so again, looking at this, if, if you had you go to miss greiner and say, you were exchange who for somebody else who was charged with a drug offense, no, you were exchanged for the merchant of death. it just, it, it, it, it, it,

it begs analysis at best. yeah. certainly seems to be a problem with an equivalency the line. oh, yeah. now what, what do you make of the timing of this? so obviously the mid terms of happened, the dems of done much better than they expected and uniform. they would benefits from friend brittany. now, what do you make at the time in? well, it's interesting, we always have to ask that question. and there's 2, there's, there's 2 defaults here. one is, was his political. and 2nd of all, you always a, was this a distraction? and the 3rd is, does this poor 10, there's this presage, a good timing for perhaps a, a reproach. move the with you will, between the united states and russia. could there be, could, could this be a boating, a cooperation, which was always a great thing. so we're looking in this and what does this mean for, for other actors as well? but the thing that is the most interesting here is that we have an i,

am i a lawyer by profession? and i always ask, why is it that some particular cases get attention and others know, we have people in our country and i would venture to say other countries as well, who are being held for charges that are specious at best. that have almost been forgotten by systems. what do they have to do to garner this kind of attention? what do they have to do to garner this international entry to be elevated, to this apotheosis and, and be edification in canada, zation, and elevation to the status of, of, of, of star, of you know, that's the part which is very scary about when you try to implement criminal justice laws, but right now what's interesting to note, and this is what i always ask and look how quickly this is forgotten. i have a 3 day will. 3 they rules here. if a story is not resolved, or if it drags on for 3 days, you will hear none of it less because of the attention span aspect of it. so you

mentioned the timing, which is a fascinating question. that's all we speculation by paying particular attention as to how this changes and how other claims of people, perhaps improperly or disproportionately charged your sentence in other venues. how their claims are kind of not given the same amount of attention. that's what i find fascinating. what we'll have to wait and see of the next 3 days line. i'll see how much coverage it it does get indeed. now what do you take on biden's saying that greiner was a political prisoner and was wrongfully jailed. i mean, she did actually have cannabis oil. well, this is political prisoner is, is a very interesting claim. nobody has ever been charged. as far as i know with somebody that is called a political crock. it's never called that. so consequently it's, it's more of a diversion of interpretation,

or i do know that one of the things which is the most important is that depending upon your perspective, oftentimes crimes or are or charges of crimes, are a rorschach test tells me more about you. if i, you might say, well, right away a goes, you know, each country has their own particular laws, some laws or some countries are stronger than others. i guess the best thing to do is to do your research before you go to other countries and find out. or you could say, this is disproportionate. this is agreed years and had the actors been different or from similar place, it would have been different. that tells me about you, you will consider this to be a political crime, which in fact it may be, but this is not a black and white apple dig, dig issue. it depends upon your perspective. i have spent my adult life trying to explain to people the notion of charging people with crimes. and we love to think that there is this equity, this implied, no, there's

a human involvement. there's the, the, the human interchange. and there's also the amount of value that you put on things look personally speaking, i think the drug issues and drug crimes should be handled medically if you will, but i man in charge of the world. all i'm saying is that what we're going to see right now, the 1st issue that i am telling you that the, and i hate to use these terms, the liberal media will not be looking at is d, as you say, the proportionality or the parody. because let me just say this again an a, w, n b a, a basketball star possessing vape ink cartridges, allegedly, or more, whatever was exchanged for the merchant of death. that's it. that says it right there. i said it does when you put it live dots line all on the favor, going to have to leave it even though we could keep discussing it for hours to come legal media unless line a pleasure was always have in the program. thank you. thank you, sir. ukraine's president bought him as the lensky as be named time magazines

person of the year, while another western outlet politico has called him the most powerful person in europe. the next year 2023. now this comes just a year after some of the same media warned the kids for rights movement poses a huge threat to the western world and even helped inspire more terrorist attacks in the u. s. than islamic extremism. we'll discuss the story earlier in the studio with our correspondent rachel blevins. all time has made it official, they're calling him now and the person of the year, but also the most influential person in europe. and it's notable because there have been a number of people who have been quick to russia, social media calling out this decision saying that they don't agree with it. and also referring to the hypocrisy surrounding it. and that includes fox news host tucker carlson. take a listen to it, he had to say about it, the lens he has no interest in freedom and democracy. in fact, once he is far closer to lenin than to george washington, he is a dictator. he's

a dangerous authoritarian who has used a $100000000000.00 and us tax dollars to erect a one party police state in ukraine. and that's not an overstatement. over the past 2 years, lensky has banned opposition parties. he shut down critical media by force. he's arrested his political opponents. he has sent soldiers into churches. zelinski, secret police have rated monasteries across ukraine. even a convent full of nuns. and in the face of this, the bite administration has said nothing, not one word. so time magazine's glowing praise of zalinski in his article is really trying to overshadow the fact that the western media has openly acknowledge the ways in which he is targeted. anyone, he views as a threat and not includes everyone from officials within his own government to churches to entire media organizations. so there's a lot that is going on, sad with that title that he is now getting when talking about time magazine last

year they published an article warning about the apparent threat that's posed by the far as old battalion to, to european security. and that was under zelinski, so 10 years president was changed since then re and you know, it's interesting, that's another one of those things that they kind of quietly leave out, which is the ways in which those white nationalist extremists have really gain even more power under someone's skis, watch. now speaking of that article, that time magazine did publish back in 2021. let's take a look at what they had to say about the threat that was posed there. afore recruit is increasingly been linked to women's around the world. at the agency, he suppressed a desire to travel to crate him. mike, with military group with american he group also trained in ukraine, is off with

now that article was especially notable because it brought up the ways in which there were some figures at the time calling on the rest government to be aware of who it was funding with in the as on battalion, and also to pay attention to the fact that this militia has brought in around $17000.00 foreign fighters in 6 years from 50 countries. so that threat that they were warning of appears to be no more will sustain with the same topic. google's publishes list of most search for names and searches in ukraine itself. and it was as a zelinski has been named time person of the year. it appears that within ukraine itself, he's not one of the most wealth search for people on google. can we read anything for that? well, it certainly is a reminder of the ways in which time is basing this off, right? they're not going off of the most popular person necessarily, and they're also clearly not going on the streets of ukraine and asking them who they believe is their person of the year. instead, they are saying this is the person of the are based on how the western media views it. and this is very much an indicator as we see that title. in the news,

china's president is using ping has arrived in riyadh for some it's aimed at forging stronger ties between beijing and the gulf countries. saudi called prince mom had been so mon, welcome, the chinese presidents and according to unconfirmed reports, she visit is already bearing fruit. as 34 in agreement signed. this continues not turn in china. saudi trade, which has amounted to more than $300000000000.00 in 2017. she has been with it has already been compared to the us presence trip to react earlier this year, despite joe biden trying to friendly and even doing a fist bond with the saudi crown prince. they failed to reach any significance agreements just months later, the opec plus group of oil exports is which includes saudi arabia, agreed to flush the oil outputs with the move, sparking criticism from washington. with vote to c d. c. and correspondence. young changi who told us about the wide ranging areas of improving corporation. tony

present it in writing the yacht on wednesday. on his birthday here in to 1000 capital, he was the official building in sal monday and grounding mama can call me on an important operation document with the kingdom. now president, she is also sent to attend summit with leaders of golf. and why don't you, why don't the world after the bilateral meeting with the leader? let's look at some of the results so far. you said 1000 and chinese companies find 30 for investment agreement down covering a wide range of specter no green energy information technology. asportation, health care, housing and factory construction. there's yet to be solid evidence to support the claimed that a middle eastern country cooperating with its largest trading partner on economic and tech development. it's not abusive to international order. officials from both countries that reiterated unprecedented opportunity brought by the synergy between the 2 countries initiative named the china belt and wrote initiative. and the,

the valuation on the 30 w radio is on track to become, you know, technology and innovation up and chinese peters have made it very clear that the country is looking forward to working with we got reaction from dots mohammed, i'll sub bond who's a former senior adviser to saudi arabia's energy administer, and he says that the middle east and china are benefiting greatly from mutual ties . go away. we're trying long time ago. good jag, by our economic partners. we know better than china. so corporate little corporation, wisdom, especially that china, it's brand new worldwide. the when they, when they, when different confidence. however,

i think visually with the huge it is, they're not, it's not as they list laid china with the national economy. so i don't think that this is a expense of anybody. good african mclee our economy. we believe was going be our what does it mean that we're not be you know, we've been, i've seen that we cannot limit our one when ally when i lie and leave on the execute that we are

on the you has unveiled another package of sanctions against moscow including restrictions on 3 russian banks and jewel purpose tax, which is drones. the commission chief called the new package, which is the 9th, a biting one. the 8 packages of sanctions that we have issues so far, already biting heart. but today we are stepping up the pressure on russia with a 9th package of sanctions. so ursula vandalized as the european anti russian sanctions, are quote, already biting hard. yeah. here in europe for sure. but since the u economy still has a policy, i guess they are done with their sanctions yet. you know, it be nice if she actually qualified, the damage that she thinks the sanctions are doing to russia. because europeans can't quite see it behind the mountain of energy bills piling up as a result of all this. but brussel says that it's forging ahead anyway with yet another round of sanctions, even as some e u. countries like france,

germany and the netherlands are telling the bloss executives that you sanctions on russian food exports are backfiring, causing food destined for africa to get stuck in european ports. the current legal situation contributes to criticism that sanctions actually hinder trade in food and fertilizers. the african union has complained since may that the e u, as blocking shipments, leading some countries in the continent to warm to rushes diplomatic advances. yeah, the e u effectively starving africa might be a problem. since europe is running out of places to get resources which africa certainly has, having cut itself off from russia and now begging with the u. s. to please please pretty please not have to decouple from china. french president, a manual, michael routinely evokes frances military being kicked out of molly and blames russia for that rather than the ramp and insecurity that festered under frances um, security mission in africa leading to, to cruise in molly,

in as many years. so yeah, there are some bad juju between france and africa right now, particularly over all of that. so cutting off africa's food supply probably wouldn't help europe's cause too much at this point with africa. so these, you know, i want to tweak those sanctions now, which is kind of a quaint way of saying, oops, my bad, i screwed up, which the you never ever admits or does the sanctions announcements are always done with such major fan farrah while the many rollbacks tend to go, i noticed on everything from russian food and grain exports, oil to 3rd countries, maritime insurance, coal exports, and even the oil price cap, which by the way, is so watered down for the sake of achieving block white unity. the analysts are saying that it's virtually useless. so the rollbacks for that happened during the

negotiating process. and now international air transportation officials are describing the headache that the tit for tat paused by the use air space closure to russia has generated. we should be looking to reopen russian aerospace to have it accessible to all airlines to transit through the traditional siberian overflights so that europe can access asia in the most efficient way possible. the amount of traffic that's flowing through europe has increased over certain routes and that's not sustainable. so yeah, maybe that will be the next rollback. so here we go again. nonetheless, with another glorious sanctions announcement from the e u. that those of us here in europe are supposed to apparently cheer as we sit in front of the tv, keeping warm with lap animals and 3 turtle necks. as our overlords are advising us to do. and no doubt, this 9th round of sanctions will be yet another big win for european citizens.

while those, the main stories this our do head over to all websites, all t dot com, all social media pages for more. i p to scott on the buck again with all the latest on the top of the our thanks for watching ah ah with .