committee, thank you so much for being with us. it's a pleasure and that is going to do it for this weeks episode of modus operandi there showed that dig deep into foreign affairs, i am your host manila chan. thank you for tuning and we'll see you again. next week to figure out the ammo in with moscow strikes t targets in several ukrainian cities, including in the countries capital, kiev, as a response to terrorist attacks. and russia is briana region. according to russia's defense ministry, o political

opposition and the republic of georgia refuse to end mass demonstrations despite the national parliament pulling the controversial legislation that ignited the protest, are corresponded. witnesses, the chaos in the nation capital protest was here, alarmingly organized. they know how to move as a unit, no one to retreat as a unit. they're playing basically like a rule of warfare with the police here it's, it's crazy. an assassination attempt in moldova has trans news to reject. targeting senior officials has been florida. that's according to local authorities who, se ukrainian agents were behind the plan with coming to you live from the russian capital. this is our t international. i'm rachel blevins here with the top stories of be our welcome to the program. and we begin with the latest from the conflict, a new crime where the russian armed forces have struck key targets and several

cities, including the countries capital key at the russian events. ministry says the operation was in response to key abs. terrorist acts inside of russia earlier this month or his own, if at all in response to the terrorist actions organized by the cube regime on march. second, this year in the brians region, the armed forces of the russian federation inflicts at a massive retaliation strike high precision, long range, air c, in land based weapons, including the dagger hypersonic missile system hit key elements of ukraine's military infrastructure enterprises of the military. industrial complex, as well as facilities that provide energy to them to target the strike has been achieved. all assigned objects have been hit. according to the defense ministry, russia launched a massive retaliatory strike using hypersonic missiles. officials say that some key elements of you crazy military infrastructure companies, or the military industrial complex, as well as energy facilities that supply them with power were hit. now apart from

that, defense ministry says that ukraine in attack drone vases were also destroyed. also, the strikes disrupt to the railway transfers of ukrainian army reserves and foreign weapons and destroyed maintenance and repair facilities of military equipment, as well as disabled the production of ammunition. ukraine claims that 11 people were killed. however, russia's defense ministries has said time. and again, that it own it's august critical, military infrastructure now on thursday afternoon. air rate alerts remained in place throughout ukraine earlier and thursday morning. online footage showed smoke rising and the one of the districts of the crate in capital mayor and form a professional boxer of italy clinical, confirmed explosions and emergency electricity blackouts were introduced. now, a desa harkell fall were also without energy, according to local authorities, his explosions were also recorded in the various places across ukraine. basically, the entire country is under air arrayed alerts. now several trains of the ukrainian

railways have been delayed for hours due to the absence of power. meanwhile, here in the next q crane used american maids, multiple launch rockets, systems called hi marcy and civilians. one person killed and 2 were wounded at a civilian bus depot near the net sca, according to officials, 6 high marsh rockets were launched. hor were intercepted and to reach the civilian target. outrage against her proposed law to require foreign influence to come out of the shadows. that's was set off the political opposition in the republic of georgia who say, mass protest won't end despite the parliament scrapping the controversial foreign agents bill. the legislation was cancelled after 2 nights of coordinated violence in the nation's capital with western partners condemning the theory that n g o z and the like need to show where the money's coming from. ortiz donald quarter is on the ground with more,

despite the george and parliament caving into the main demands of the, the, the main demand. rather of these protesters to draft that bill. the opposition has declared they are going to continue these protests that have seen riders carrying european union flags and even american flags here for 2 nights in a row. now now this draft bill in question of course, would have seen non governmental organizations in the country that receive over 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources to register as foreign agencies. it's important to understand that the united states has had a law like this long before it threatens organizations that fail to register with criminal penalties and jail time for its employees. so it is a bit ironic that it was the united states that actually threatened georgia with sanctions after the parliament tra, passed this draft law and threatened them with sanctions if they did not repeal that. so i've been here throughout the action space specifically last night, and as i said, you know, the protests have been anything but peaceful. we saw molotov cocktails and

fireworks shot at the police. we've seen a barricades being built. we've seen protesters to facing government buildings and businesses. we also saw them try to a storm the parliament building. this is, these are events that many have said are reminiscent of the euro. my don coup d'etat back and key of ukraine in 2014. so i was on the ground there, i saw it with my own eyes, and i was regularly caught in the crossfire between tear gas deployed by the police and the rocks and fireworks molotov cocktails that were thrown by by protesters. ah, i protest this, your alarming leave organized like they know how to move as a unit, the no one to retreat as a unit. they don't leave anyone behind the advances the unit. they're playing basically like guerrilla warfare with the police here it's, it's crazy. it's never like any sort of protests i've ever seen in my life.

oh, you can see here the front of the protest. they just picked up a bench is in or right scooters and great. it makes it barricade out of it. this is private, similar stuff that we've been seeing since these protest riots again last night. they're doing exactly the same thing with fire. fire with the police and the police are responding with water hoses on them that speaking you can hear on the loudspeaker is basically

warning all the protesters to leave. otherwise the laser going to run them down with you can see a number of people were just arrested, a tear gas back at the police with that a lot of with basically the entire street even where they're not shooting tear gas is all all ready filled with tear

gas being pulled by the wind. ah, and just a day before the protest rocked the george and capitol, the u. s. assistant secretary of international narcotics and law enforcement affairs arrived there to meet with local officials, addressing the media. todd robinson slammed the foreign agents law as a russian one, saying it was designed to drive georgia away from the west. this is a law based on russia's interest, not george's in truth. and we think it's in georgia in truth to work, work closely towards euro atlantic integration. this law doesn't do that. we don't think it's the right thing for georgia, more importantly, georgia. i don't think it's the right thing for georgia to go further in depth on this last cross live now to professor at the institute of european studies in

belgrade stephen guy. it stephen is great to have you on the program today. so we have this u. s. official, mr. todd robinson, and he happens to be in georgia's capital just a day before the riots break out. what do you make of the timing and also his comments on the now asked foreign agents law. i really think i find as condescending for an american official to comment on what is george's interests. and basically why see here is that the united states is not even trying to hide, that it has its finger involved in these protests the same way that they were involved back in 2004 in the cooler actually that happened in georgia. that also happened in here for the 1st, my don, and also the other, let's say a different science. we can see that that,

that the united states is heavily involved in these protests. george's president of gosh, really so mad she, why? she wasn't the united states. when the pro that started and she's supported the broadest by want to remind your viewers here. that was a really was my hand picked by president soccer really back in 2004 as she was big as a minister of foreign affairs. so and also she was do is a big james, keith. so this is a clear, i'd say i plan to assist part of the georgia political spectrum and it is heavily backed by the united states. but what the erie is that the law that they are supposedly fighting against is the foreign agencies registration act, a copy of the moral law that the united states has backed back in

1938. and it is still a law in the us. yeah. and now you mentioned this sort of a playbook because of the u. s. almost has that it is used and number of times when it comes to sort of some of the parallels that we're seeing being drawn is there an extent to which we can draw parallels between the 2014, might on unrest in ukraine and what's happening right now in georgia, and what do you make of that western world there even if it hasn't gotten quite to that point? absolutely, i mean, what is really even more dangerous compared to that time is the attempt that is more than obvious for from nato and the us to destabilize at the same time, south get caucasus, meaning, georgia, maybe even supporting of the bay john, or adventure against armenia, which i would not exclude, and at the same time it is,

it is the stabilizing will doevema that we've heard all these reports about, you know, ukraine being involved in the previous throne. there are tons of these, the region. there was also a stamped on the, on the life of the head of the region which, which was, which fortunately did not happen today because of the reaction of security forces. but what we do see is that after that, there is the fact that i'm, i talked about which the united states basically conducted on the north stream one and 2 pipelines which was directly against the german interest in the 1st row. and also again, the russian interest, author this, of course it is not surprising that the united states and nato as a whole,

are trying to destabilize countries that are in close proximity to russia. and maybe even perhaps to open our frontline, which, which can really escalate the conflict happening in ukraine to a whole different level. yeah, the u. s. a certainly no stranger to trying to come up with things for people to say, look over here, pay attention to this when there's something else going on that they want to take away from, i guess, to get put it that. let's also look at the parallel here. of the fact that when it comes to protest in certain other countries, the u. s. is very supportive. however, we have to remember that washington was quick to condemn the capitol hill. protesters who storm congress back in january of 2021. i know we're seeing exactly, they call it a mutiny or, or something like that. when, when similar bro does happen in other countries, and when the outcome is in the interest of the, you know,

the u. s. foreign policy than that is all great. and it's, you know, i times for democratic democratizing the societies. however, if somebody is a, you know, unhappy about what was happening in the united states with the, with the elections, a reminder yours, that it was, the protests were not happy with the elections. ok. and now you know, the result was by the victory i even people were killed in the capital building by the security forces. i can only imagine what a state of parking to say. i have to say if protesters were killed, god forbid, for instance, by georgia police or, or by police of any other governments that the u. s. a. has a garage or gas at that particular moment. i certainly have parkers need to be

found all around. will continue to follow this one. professor stephen guide, thank you so much for your time and insight. ah, and to the break lay, moldova region of trans nestor right along the ukrainian border, where authorities say they have stored it a terrorist attack, allegedly perpetrated by ukrainian national security agents targeting several senior local officials. multiple suspects have been detained. are cheese. marina coaster has more on the story. this saw terrorist attack, or some nation attempts was supposed to take place in the sensor of terrorists ball, which is of the capital of the breakaway region trans. mr. and it was targeting the leader all for trans mr. vadim accustomed sales ski that wanted to use a land or land rover, and that's where they had the explosives, 8th kilograms of hexagon, explosives, as well as wire screws, knots to basically maximize the impact. and the,

according to sources was spoken to the impact would have been the radius, hundreds of meters and it would have, would have seen dozens of casualties if in fact this happened. and it wasn't only the head of a trans nestor, but also other high level officials that there were targeting now has multiple arrests. had them made one of them in particular, 40 year old man who was already a local criminal, who moved to odessa some 12 years ago in ukraine. and apparently there he joined the ukraine security services. this is what he claims now, because the suspects are confessing from what we hear from the regional minister of defense. and they claim that it was ukraine security services who organized this and also coordinated this out. but of course, as we know, ah, it was a ford said, now let's hear some more from what the prosecutor of trans nicera, what he had to say about this attack. mr. deductible would solution the place where this terrorist attack was supposed to occur. show. so said it was meant to target

talk government officials and to no less extent in foot numerous civilian casualties. the terrorist attack was prepared to be conducted in the center of the city of to ross paul among a large number of our citizens. now, a criminal case has been opened and also we know that the head of a trends mr is back in his office with maximum security, as you can imagine. and they are planning for possible scenarios of a repeat to make sure that they are ready. they also want answers from ukraine based on what these suspects have told them, are in mainland moldova, the government there says they have no idea what has gone on. they, they've heard nothing about any terrorist attack in trans nisa. so this is where we're at right now. coronel teresa, a political analyst based in moldova, says that officials and keys are falsely claiming that trans mr is seeking to attack ukraine. movie dempsey book. so we see the trends. ne sir doesn't have any

mutual disposition, but keith says otherwise, they seen a certain thread. there, and they are afraid, or at least they see that the trans leister troops, which are still not so numerous, can launch a strike on a desk. but as we see the trans nister's forces are not that powerful. i think the trans mr. any turns out will maintain a cautious policy towards ukraine. we have been a special way toward them. perhaps a kind of protest note will be sent. explanations will be required, but nothing more. american tax dollars funded the research that led to the creation of the corona virus and the coven pandemic. that revelation came during the latest hearings in washington into the origins of kobe 19, and it flies in the face of the mainstream us narrative led by doctor anthony fancy, doctor robert redfield, former director of the us centers for disease control and prevention, testified before members of congress that the national institute of health could be

behind the creation of the deadly virus. do you think that doctor found she intentionally lied under oath to senator paul when he vehemently denied an age his funding of gain of function research? i think there's no doubt that n i h was funding gainer function research. is it likely that american tax dollars funded the gain of function research? i created this virus. i think it is on the only from in i age but from the state department usa ideas from dealing to get more details on leslie's cross live now to archie correspondent, caleb martin. caleb, it's good to see you. now were there any other revelations that have gone against the narrative that dr. valgy has pushed? well red field testified that early on he believed the virus had been engineered and he was excluded from later calls because he took that position. and he went on to talk about this paper that it appears was generated,

and while he couldn't speak to dr. valgy motivations for prompting this study. he said that it does appear that this study was, was intended to translate and prevent and circumvent the idea that coded was originated in a lab. that it was a man made virus. now essentially, he couldn't speak to found. she's motivation, but facts, they're adding up here that don't look good. here's some of what we heard. if you really want to be truthful, it's antithetical to science. this was a narrative that was decided that they were going to say this came from the market and they were going to do everything they could to support it and the gate, any discussion about the possibility that this came from 11 now doctor found to repeatedly denied that the national institute of hell had funded gain of rock function research in 2021. here's what he said. you didn't give

money to the woo hon lab to do gain of function research. that is correct. doctor vouching knowing that is a crime to lie to congress. do you wish to retract your statement of may 11th, where you claimed that the n i age never funded, gain of function research and woo on senator paul, i have never lied before the congress. you gave them money and you said don't do gain of function research, correct? and they said, we won't correct how you can say that is not gain a found. it is not, it's a dance and you're dancing around this because you're trying to obscure a responsibility for 4000000 people dying around the world from up and amick. and senator paul, you do not know what you are talking about quite frankly. and i want to say that officially, you do not know what you are talking about. now this all comes as revelations seem to indicate that in february of 2020 dr. foul g prompted

a study that was intended to show that the virus did not come from a lab. and that has raised a lot of outrage republicans or calling for dr. voucher to be put behind bars. and this comes as a way of the immunization of china from u. s. officials and u. s. media blame in china for the pandemic. now, china has pushed back and said the united states shouldn't be turning serious public health issues into political weapons. here's some what we've seen over the last few days. new reports anatomy, origins of coven, 19 the u. s. energy department, now differing from some other government agencies that of the f. b, i in the united states has said the corona virus pandemic is most likely to have emerged from a chinese laboratory, created deliberately for research, but leaked unintentionally into the world. china predictably is furious and pushing back the lack of cooperation from china has made it difficult to pinpoint the exact

cause of the pandemic. she and she allow bleak is extremely unlikely. this is an authoritative scientific conclusion that experts from china and the world health organization reached after visiting the relevant laboratory in blue hand and holding in debt exchanges with relevant researchers. the relevant policy should start playing up the loud league theory, stop smearing china, and stop politicizing the issue of origin tracing. now at this point, these new revelations about the national institute of health and dr. valgy and his statements and the studies that were commissioned all seem to indicate that u. s. officials have something to hide. they're trying to point a finger shina, but it looks like some of their own behavior as serious questions that could be res river r t. corresponding caleb mop and thanks so much for that update. strengthening

traditional ties between moscow and riata. that was the main agenda. i talks between rushes, top diplomat and his saudi counterpart here in the russian capital that you foreign ministers, discussed ukraine, yemen and syria. sir, gala overall praised riata as assistance in her recent prisoner exchange between moscow and kiev, and thank the saudis for their balance position on the conflict. opec was also on the agenda, recognizing a need for strengthening cooperation among the oil producing countries. let's take a look at some of the key points made at the meeting. so moving the manual to live particular attention was paid to the prospects for the development of traditionally friendly russians, saudi bilateral relations, down and what is caused the strengthening of relations between the 2 countries and exchange views on presentations. we understood, we touched on the situation in an around ukraine, and we are grateful to our saudi friends for their balance to position in their sincere interest in promoting

a political resolution to adam of america. then we have discussed the station ukraine with minister love rove, who had confirmed opposition on a political solution to the crisis. we was, of course, in your room. we appreciate the efforts that saudi arabia is making for a comprehensive solution to the conflict in yemen in the context of the continuing, but still fragile low in the situation on the ground. we've talked about the situation in and around syria. we share the same positions in favor of preserving the unity, the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of that country. only as i look been wet affiliate many, i also know the level of cooperation on the yemen, dosier and russia. support for decisions to establish a legitimate authority. yemen that i confirmed the kingdoms determination to continue corporation with russia and to strengthen relations in all areas to go further in depth and less less cross live now to award winning journalist martin j . martin is great to have you on the program today. now, given these latest talks between russia and saudi arabia,

what do you make of the significance of this meeting? slip good, particularly for tear plesco nerves such as myself, who are looking at this and looking at the situation ukraine. i'm putting that into context with context. we biden's election campaign which will kick off. so i think sometime in the summer, you look at the big picture. what's happening is, whichever way you interpret the ukraine war, america has on the west have less and less time on their side. the russia has much more time and its allies on their side, and for these 2 powerful countries, these regional powers to form a strong reliance, you know, that is really going to ruin job by mistake. yeah, and it certainly sends a message to biden, we know he's had some strong words for saudi arabia in the past, but didn't really follow through when it came to his actions. now we also know that the 2 ministers touched on multiple issues related to energy and trade. and of

course, when it comes to russia and saudi arabia, they are 2 major players, not just in opec plus, but in the energy producing world as a whole. so how might this partnership impact markets, especially during such turbulent time? but it already has, you know, if you go back to last year, one of the big accusations that you're buying through saudis was russia and saudi arabia had got together and made a secret deal. opec plus, i think there's not tobar last year to decrease production, which of course, when you do that in the global markets, that increases the price of all $1.00 exactly the opposite and you still want to see it. but it's just not in the interest of saudi arabia or russia to do the, the saudis break even price on oil is around $70.00. about at the moment today, rent price is around $80.00, and they would probably like it to be close to 1900. anyway, that was the happy level thought, but you know,

both of these countries worked very, very quickly that if they can control global energy prices, that is a major leverage against the west and america just what's happening with oil. you know, the big idea for you pins was that we would put in barkers put number sanctions against the russians. but in fact, that's not even working. many european countries are still buying oil directly or often, indirectly from 3rd parties. and it hasn't had any effect on the rushing price of crude on this side. if anything is actually kept it stable, is kept where it needs to be. so the implications, the impasse with saudi arabia and russia, or even stronger lives within or outside opec plus, it doesn't really matter. i mean, these 2 countries together, we shouldn't forget produce something like 25 percent of all the world's oil. that's a huge amount of leverage against americans and against you markets in general. so

there's a huge geological, 2 political force emerging there and i think will with a lot more from them in the future. and it'll be interesting to see if joe buying and try even harder to persuade them to produce more. now thinking of other topics that were mentioned during this meeting, you had syria, yemen and ukraine. what results could come from diplomatic talks for these countries affected by conflicts, and you see saudi arabia playing an even bigger role, especially when it comes to countries like ukraine and syria. well, i mean, syria is a tragic story and i don't think are any easy, quick fix solutions other than getting the american troops out something, something between a 1002015. we never know the exact number. there's something to 1000 troops. american troops in syria and they're, they're legally, it's against international rules. they weren't invited by, but the, by the, by the government, i'm so sure is always going to be difficult but, you know, wherever the americans look in the middle.