will moscow's will prevail in belarus all will people power ta ke belarus all will people power take the country in a new direction? president gitanas nauseda, welcome to hardtalk. good evening. mr president, how do you see the power dynamic in belarus right now? do you think president alexander lukashenko has written out the storm? yes, of course, alexander lukashenko tries to buy the time and tries to suppress the protests of peaceful people in the states. right now, the people are fighting for their fundamental rights to have free elections, to express their opinion about what is going wrong in belarus and unfortunately, we see a lot of violations and this continues and it brings very huge concern to all of us, not only for neighbouring countries, with the waimea, latvia, estonia and poland and the ukraine but also for the european union. this is the reason why we started to react and we propose the plan of the escalation of the situation. we consolidated our efforts of surrounding countries and u nfortu nately surrounding countries and unfortunately alexander lukashenko was not a

what will happen in belarus?henko, who's been in powerfor a quarter of a century, has been sworn in for a sixth term in office in a secret inauguration. there have been weeks of street protests against him following his disputed election victory in august. so far he has the support of russia's president putin but it is not clear how long that will last. that's global questions, the belarus crisis, trouble in putin's backyard. well, i am now in the studio and is always to bring you this edition of global questions our two panellists join via video link. svetlana tikhanovskaya is a leading opposition figure who stood as the main candidate against alexander lu kashenko in the election and her supporters believe that she was the real winner of that poll. she joined us for neighbouring lithuania where she has just gone into political exile. and nigel gould—davis was britain's ambassador to belarus until 2009. he is a leading authority on foreign policy, especially of post—soviet realities, and is now at the institute

how strategic is belarus to russia? nigel, could you a nswer belarus to russia?hat one? the kremlin wants to control space. this is a big part of its foreign policy generally. it seems belarus is a country it is tried in recent years to bring under its control and i think it worries that a three belarus may wish to have a good relationship with russia but does not want to be controlled by russia so it sees a threat to its projects of domination. the second worry, i think, projects of domination. the second worry, ithink, potentially projects of domination. the second worry, i think, potentially for russia is that belarus would set a threatening example to putin himself, so lukashenko has been in power for 26 years. when putin seeks we election in four years time, as everyone expects him to, he will have been in power for 24 years, just two years laughs. —— two years less. so i think it would be an unwelcome precedent for him to see ina neighbouring unwelcome precedent for him to see in a neighbouring country and other eastern slavic population being able to peace

you are the neighbour of belarus. most of the belarusian senior opposition figures who have been forced out of belarus have gathered, not least, svetla na kuznetsova, who was of course the candidate who ran against lukashenko and she claimed she had won the election, had it not been rigged. are you saying that svetla na ti kha novs kaya is actually the winner of the election and are you recognising her as the de facto leader of belarus, in exile? we can call her a de facto leader but the problem is that the elections of august 9th, they are spoiled, and we cannot prove that by giving the figures, giving the result and nobody can say what votes are the votes indeed and what votes are the fake votes because appearance rate in some districts of belarus during the election was more than 100%. so this is a problem to say what was the real result, we can guess that madam tikhanovskaya was the winner of those elections. we treat her as a national leader and she is the leader of the opposition at the moment right now. she is

the kremlin has long wa nted belarus. some sort of creeping annexation policy in belarus, starting with the upon —— the economy, single currency, defence policy and ultimately resulting in a union state, back to absorption of belarus by russia and now they see a moment to be able to do that, so you see co—ordinated torque from both minsk and moscow talking about new elections and constitutional changes and both of those are likely to be dressed up as giving more power to the people, perhaps, and a stronger belarus in parliament perhaps but in fact, they will give the kremlin the upper hand put in place kremlin puppet parties, and also to field a slate of kremlin vetted candidates from new elections. i think moscow realises that lukashenko has no more legitimacy, and have the plan to make sure they control all believers. that in is something lukashenko all believers. that in is something lu kashenko himself has resisted, and the outcome wouldn't be wall welcome to the protesters, the people at large. ina protesters, the pe

i'm for welcome to the program embattled belarus and president alexander lukashenko is holding talks with russian president vladimir putin in a russian city of sochi he's seeking support from the kremlin after more than 100000 people joined anti-government demonstrations in the paris and. minsk over the weekend once again security forces detained hundreds of protesters calling for president lukashenko to step down it's the leaders 1st of face to face meeting since the disputed ballots in the elections in august. we can go to d.w. correspondents union russia in moscow and nick connelly in minsk for more welcome both let's start with you you're in russia what's only agenda of these talks while there are obviously still 2 main aspects of both politicians have been talking about a political aspect and they cannot make one ask for politics the russian president putin spoke about that the constitutional reform that apparently will take place in belarus in the near future and which he subpoenaed would be the right approach he said that that was the proposal of local shanker to carry out of

-- significance of her having left belarus?lubs she is the wife of another popular blogger in belarus. kind of an equivalent to alexey navalny. she is due to this game. she is not a politician.n. she stood in because her husband's candidacy was ruled out back in may or june. trumped uped on charges and prohibited frorom running fofor president himimse. so she stepped up to the plate. effectively,very huge rallies. supposedly won just 10% of the vote, which is highly contested and almost certainly ridiculous. what she will be sent toto the united n nations i'm m sure is t the pressure needs to be kept up on lukashenko and the election should be rerun. amy: sadakat kadri,, thank you for being with us, human rights lawyer, writer. we will link to your piece for "the london review of books," called "the revolution will not be colourised." t toiden will be headed kekesha, wiscoconsin. we will speaeak with the congressman who grew up in kenosha. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quaranan

into belarus. these two leaders, did they discuss the possibility? >> actually, we don't know, because apart from this announcement of a new credidit extended, , nothing much came ot of it, but judging by the previous pronouncements by mr. prudent -- vladimir putin, he said a couple of weeks ago that at the request of lukashenko he asked preserved officers of police -- asked reserve officers to standby just in case lukashenko needs help. i think such things were discussed and are discussed. lukashenko seems too be pretty much already in debt to vladimir putin. to give one example. when belarusian state television workers went on strike, members, staff members of rt, russia's proper gamma network have e gone to minsk to consult. so help is being rendered and i think that vladimir putin will continue to stick by lukashenko. brent: our russia analyst. we appreciate your insights. thank you. let's have a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. doctors in berlin treating rus

there is a great deal of newfound national pride in belarus.s makes a lot of analysts believe any rapprochement with russia, in terms of going further with this union state between these two countries, would not be well received.d. especially poorly received if alexander lukashenko was the person putting it forward. always stressing that they are not a anti-russian not just because they would help to be able to continue to be allied with r russia on some level if they manage to get rid of lukashenko and take power, but as one of them confirmed last week, they are concecerned about alienating that part of belarusian society that sees itself as close to russia and is not keen on an opposition that would be seen as pro-european. host: thank you for breaking down what we know ahead of that meeting today between putin and lukashenko. when we get more on that meeting on "france 24," we will bring it to you. japan is on course for a new prime minister. became thegay sudha leader of japan's ruling party. the vote, taking the majority of ballots cast by

more say more about what's happening in belarus and the e.u. has said that it's now prepared to impose sanctions on $31.00 senior officials of lucre shankar's government and that includes an assets and a travel by apparently luka shank himself won't be sanctioned germany is not prepared to do that yet it wants to see more opportunity for talks before it considers sanctioning. himself. meanwhile according to the kremlin is off to moscow in a couple of days according to sources that a real change in approach really because before the election was casting russia as a threat to belorussia and saying that vote for me and i'll protect you from attempts by russia to influence what's going on since then. has turned to vladimir putin for help and there's lot of putin that is backing him and making it much more easier for him to stay in office without the kremlin's backing his position will be looking much more parents. let's bring in our guests in minsk yaroslav roman chuck a former presidential candidate in 2010 he's now president of the misses scienti

you know all the personal data of thousands of police officers elite in belarus and an online campaign about opposition leader says she supports demarest is showing no signs of easing 6 weeks on from the speed of presidential but. also this hour european countries introduce new restrictions amid a surge in coronavirus cases with both france and spain thing record numbers over the weekend. and the trump administration draws up new measures against iran after you know a lot of legal reimposing international sanctions on the country something world powers including washington's closest allies claim the move as a legally void. for watching r t international bring you your live news update from our studio here in moscow welcome to the program. the belorussian opposition leader has called for sanctions against top officials in her country over last month's disputed election so met with e.u. foreign ministers in brussels and urged them to end financial support for present government. i proceed to you my friends to help us with basic things to recognize mr illegitimate to release by the typica

from abroad in order to destabilize political and economical situation in belarus dissimilar we heard from russian minister of foreign affairs sergei lavrov who said that. the protests we can see are peaceful that there are elements and people in belarus that want this to turn into a violent protest and all were trolling of the government and he pointed the finger at ukraine saying that in ukraine there are both camps and he said that they have evidence of this in which extremists for belorussian oppositions are being prepared and that some $200.00 of them are already on the ferry to the territory of belarus but interesting enough what we heard today is emphasis on of the union state of us which exists only on paper for 20 years and has finalization never happened because of a look at shankar resisting fearing that with this russia would sort of engulf belarus now we heard things from both ministers like common border referring to the western border of belarus that the old saw russian minister said will be defended if threatened it was interesting and we should point out that sergey l

meanwhile the personal data of thousands of police officers is leaked in belarus and an online campaign of opposition leader nona taken off said she supports arrest itself shows no sign of easing 6 weeks on from that disputed presidential vote. also this hour european countries introduce new restrictions amid a surge in coronavirus cases with both france and spain seeing record numbers over the weekend. and thousands of files on leaks implicating some of the world's largest banks in vast money laundering scheme spanning 2 decades. of their lives and worldwide this is r.t. international from moscow monday evening as ace here in the russian capital on call in break with world news this hour 1st for you the e.u. has failed to agree on sanctions against 40 below russian officials including the president over last month's disputed election the plan was vetoed by cyprus at a meeting in brussels on monday despite a plea from the belle of russian opposition leaders spent on a taken off but the e.u.'s foreign policy chief says the bloc will continue to push for action against minsk. the minister

kremlin has long wa nted with belarus.nted to create some sort of a annexation policy with belarus, starting with the economy, single currency, moving to a foreign defence policy and ultimately resulting in a union state, de facto absorption of belarus by russia and now they see a moment to do it. so you see a moment to do it. so you see co—ordinated talks from both minsk and lost our talking about new elections and constitutional changes and both of those are likely to be dressed up as giving more people to the people, perhaps toa people to the people, perhaps to a stronger belarusian parliament but in fact they will give the kremlin the upper hand to put in place kremlin puppet parties in the parliament and also to field a slate of kremlin vetted candidates for new elections. i think moscow realises that president alexander lukashenko has no legitimacy and have to go so they are trying to create the plan to make sure they control the level. the plan to make sure they controlthe level. and the plan to make sure they contr

many would like to interfere in the situation in belarus. i don't want any interference in belarus.em based on dialogue. all right. if you express those words which have been expressed by others, don't you think that you need them underpinned by some kind of measure or actions? so the baltic states, lithuania, estonia and latvia, have now imposed sanctions on 30 belarus officials, including president lukashenko himself, because they feel that the european union is kind of dragging its feet a bit. would you be in favour of some kind of sanctions against leaders in belarus? i've always many questions about unilateral sanctions. we believe that sanctions should be decided at un level, as you know. but what matters here is my deep belief that we need to create the conditions for a democratic solution in belarus based on dialogue and any effort in this, that action will be welcome. but as i said, it should be the belarussians themselves to be able to solve their problem. all right. so when you make this plea for multilateralism, secretary—general, you know, you see that the polarisation

they have now strengthened the the bond between russia and belarus and you're getting the impression that out that the europeans are sensing the food supply. and have trying to draw back because i do think it's striking that. the whole of this propaganda to have. you come off and having all these attractive women around and over the propaganda to try to get oh this is the belarus that we want to recognize this is a legitimate government of belarus that's failed that's that's gone nowhere so it looks to me like we may be heading to was the pre-election policy of well let's try to foster division but i think that's extremely unlikely to fail i think that that train that left the station speaking about division and mean if you look at the reaction of the european union member states that they hold quite go scenario is it's really been given a cold shoulder because you know we're not going to go through this again i think we also have to point out is that the european union as a whole has ukraine i mean look at what the resources and. and time they put into ukraine and well they kind of

well live that is definitely being followed by analysts here in belarus and of all countries should be cyprus to block these sanctions that is something they are obviously. cyprus haven for dirty money not only from belarus russia ukraine the whole region here lots of suspicion as to why cyprus would want to put a damper on the sanctions but i think most people here believes actually following this diplomatic minutiae quite so carefully the new speech here in belarus are all about detentions people in government functions some quite high ranking leaving their jobs they don't want to stay with this regime so i think that domestic agenda is a bit more day to day less the big diplomatic picture and more of the of the basically incarceration and you have sanctions being put on people by the regime itself here in belarus i think most people are just waiting for a symbolic step this is all about the e.u. showing that it's an attention to you doesn't really have a very strong hand doesn't have very many leaves to put pressure on this regime this is a regime that has come under sanctions time

very soon, there may not be very many of us left in belarus. there is no outright refusal, just the same excuse over and over again. the commission in charge can't get -- becacause of covidid. >> the man in charge, alexander lukashenko downplays t t dangers of coronavirus. he said a visit to the sauna is the best treatment for the disease. as independent media vanishes, protesters fear a future in which there is no one left to document what the government does to its opponents. >> i am joined by liz. it is good to have you on the program. are we looking at the end of freedom of the press in belarus? >> one situation we are seeing in belarus is clearly very grgreat. we havave seen some ofof the descriptions of what has gone on there. following the election, we saw protests on the streets. that is what journalists were covering. use of violence against journalists. we saw journalists being arrested. now we have this new issue of accreditations. we have seen a problem with accredititations since before te election. we had issues with people applyi

thing the eu from imposing sanctions on belarus is a small island country known as cyprus. how is that possible? barbra: it is quite simple, actually -- it is something you would not expect to happen in foreign policy, but cyprus decided to blackmail the european union, they decided to simply take the whole eu council of foreign ministers hostage to their own wish that at the same time there are sanctions against belarus there must be sanctions against turkey. we know that for some months, cyprus has been complaining. of course they have a lot of support in the european union for that complaint, that turkey is showing aggression in the eastern editor in. there are drilling -- eastern mediterranean. there are drilling actions in the coast of cyprus, looking for gas and oil. all of this accompanied by rhetoric. cyprus that we need to put a stop to that, so if we have sanctions against belarus, we have to have sanctions against turkey at the same time. they have no connection, but this mall on the nation decided to make that connection, and in the end we have something in the

the government has filed criminal charges against the co—ordination council of belarus.ely outrageous and the authorities have to immediately freebies members of the co—ordination can. immediately freebies members of the co-ordination can. rachel, are you concerned for her safety a nd are you concerned for her safety and the personal safety of the others detained? human rights watch is alarmed and concerned for the safety of maria kolesnikova and the others. we can only assume the authorities are either threatening to use, either threatening to use, either threatening them or perhaps using some of the methods that they have used against the many hundreds of protesters, you know, beatings and the like, so we're very concerned about personal safety. the determination of the people staying on the streets is surely impressive. what do you make of the international reaction? the international reaction? the international reaction so far has been full of condemnation for lukashenko and for the crackdown. i think there needs to be more. look, there needs to be more. look, the in

this opens up crisis in belarus. this opens up an crisis in belarus.opens up an avenue crisis in belarus. this opens up an avenue for crisis in belarus. this opens up an avenue for a response crisis in belarus. this opens up an avenue for a response in a variety of ways. whatever the exact ci rcu msta nces a variety of ways. whatever the exact circumstances here and in the salisbury case, do you think it would seem likely we will see more use of novichok? if we are to assume that the russian authorities have gotten into the habit of using toxic agents to get rid of charismatic figures then, yes, the answer is yes. i think the russians will continue to deny any involvement and i think it would probably cause yet another political stir and it will all very much depend on the implications and the fallout from that particular crisis. what will come out of that. i think an expectation that. i think an expectation that the kremlin will come out and say we are sorry, you know, we messed this up and we promise never to do it again is highly unlikely so i think

i've been developing belarus for a quarter of a century.ow all that way. what's more, if i go, my supporters will be slaughtered." michael kennedy is a professor of sociology at brown university. he has spent a large part of his career looking at social movements in eastern europe and this has given him a large network of contacts in belarus. what do you make of what the president has been saying?m is not surprising to hear lukashenko talk like that. like many authoritarians, he equates himself with the nation but he is also perhaps more worried than he has ever been. he is going to see vladimir putin on friday and will probably make his case thereabout why vladimir putin needs him full up vladimir putin needs him full up he is smart and i think you will see that lukashenko is not exactly the best ally in these times. there is a suspicion that what russia is planning is a kind of soft annexation, something dressed up as change and there may indeed remove lukashenko but and there may indeed remove lu kashenko but it and there may indeed remo

be speaking he was sort of downplaying it that brought this on one hand in belarus saying that they're happening over the weekend that it's so hard no one crossed a red line and that belarus is living its ordinary life from monday to friday but at the same time he said there is an outside influence trying to incite violence in belarus and then he tried that with violence in the case that happens ok alexandra thank you very much well the u.n. high commissioner for human rights is now calling for an investigation into the police crackdown in belarus re stablish and social peace in the roof requires far reaching dialogue reforms and accountability for great human rights violations i encourage the council to focus and action on this we areas to prevent further escalation of violence grievances given the scale and number or allegations of torture on other forms of treatment by the security forces should be documented and investigated with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice. the u.k. parliament is to have a bill that is provoking strong condemnation from the european union the u.

back to belarus — we're a month into the protests there.he's looking good for the moment. mr putin offered belarus a 1.5 billion dollar loan and continued defence co—operation. here's some of what he said. translation: we see what kind of domestic political events have been happening regarding the election in belarus. you know where you stand. we are all for belarussian sorting out the situation for themselves without any help or pressure from outside. they should come to a calm decision in a calm way by engaging in dialogue, work out where to go from here. many of the opposition figures in belarus are either in detention or have been deported. opposition leader svetla na tikhan—ov—skaya is in lithuania. she's told reporters... and those people continue to make themselves heard. it's estimated that more than 100,000 people turned out in minsk on sunday. and these people know full well any of them could end up in detention — and 400 did. then these pictures are from saturday. a number of women protesters are met with force — and as you can s

many would like to interfere in the situation in belarus. i don't want any interference in belarus.lem based on dialogue. all right. if you express those words which have been expressed by others, don't you think that you need them underpinned by some kind of measure or actions? so the baltic states — lithuania, estonia and latvia — have now imposed sanctions on 30 belarus officials, including president lukashenko himself, because they feel that the european union is kind of dragging its feet a bit. would you be in favour of some kind of sanctions against leaders in belarus? i've always many questions about unilateral sanctions. we believe that sanctions should be decided at un level, as you know. but what matters here is my deep belief that we need to create the conditions for a democratic solution in belarus based on dialogue and any effort in this, that action will be welcome. but as i said, it should be the belarusians themselves to be able to solve their problem. all right. so when you make this plea for multilateralism, secretary—general, you know, you see that the polarisatio

a leading opposition figure in belarus is missing, amid more mass protests against president lukashenko. two dozen wildfires blaze across california as the heatwave sees los angeles county hits its highest—ever temperature. typhoon haishen has lashed south korea's east coast, causing landslides and bringing down power lines. hundreds of rohingya refugees land in indonesia after spending six months at sea. hello, peter. and pepper the "culturally aware" robot — the answer to the care home staff shortage? hello. one of the leading opposition figures in belarus has been abducted by unidentified men, according to local reports. witnesses say maria kalesnikava, one of the three women who joined forces to challenge president lukashenko in the recent election, was bundled into a vehicle in minsk and driven away. she had attended a mass demonstration in the capital on sunday. the interior ministry is saying it has no information about her being detained. the bbc‘s jonah fisher has this report. maria kolesnikova was, until today, pretty much a political survivor. pretty much the last belarus opp

website quite extraordinary belarus was leading the news on the b.b.c. and yet the day before we had a $35000.00 rally in protest in london in central london close to the b.b.c. didn't get a mention that was against the lockdown here so it's amazing that this belarusian issue is being elevated by the un by the western media etc into the biggest thing going on in the world at the moment quite clearly it is and of course there's the other paradox which i just need to mention briefly the great paradox is we're heading toward another lock down tonight as i speak we've been told they're likely to lock down the listed lock down so that's another irony the country even the didn't lock down along with sweden is a country that's been denounced and condemned everywhere there was more intriguing part of the address new she said settlement economic sky i were all standing up for democracy is not quote interference in internal affairs that remark opens up a lot of questions it certainly does because who defines democracy there's a lot of different models democracy do

our top stories: a leading opposition figure in belarus reportedly abducted by masked men, amid more mass protests against president lukashenko. two dozen wildfires blaze across california as the heatwave sees los angeles county hit its highest—ever temperature. two australian journalists fly home from china. typhoon haishen has lashed south korea's east coast causing landslides and bringing down power lines. and the marine creatures under threat from cruise ships in the bahamas. hello. one of the leading opposition figures in belarus has been abducted by unidentified men, according to local reports. witnesses say maria kalesnikava, one of the three women who joined forces to challenge president lukashenko in the recent election, was bundled into a vehicle in minsk and driven away. she had attended a mass demonstration in the capital on sunday. the interior ministry is saying it has no information about her being detained. the bbc‘sjonah fisher has this report. maria kolesnikova was, until today, a political survivor. pretty much the last belarus opposition leader who is not injailan

one of the leading opposition activists in belarus rips up her passport to avoid being expelled fromountry as the president insists he's not stepping down. as fears rise of another global spike in covid cases — the uk announces it will ban gatherings of more than six people. south african athlete caster semenya loses her court appeal against the restriction of testosterone levels in female runners. hello and welcome to bbc news. the entire senior police leadership for the city of rochester in new york state has resigned, in the aftermath of the death of a black man in police custody. rochester‘s police chief and other senior commanders have been under intense scrutiny since news of the death of daniel prude became public last week, sparking protests. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, explains the circumstances surrounding his death. this happened back in march. daniel prude was known to have mental health issues. he was arrested by police, he was naked in the street at the time. during the course of the arrest the police used what is known as a spit hood, a device, a hood

held inside belarus a camp not far from the ukrainian border.ill this have anmpact on the very large demonstrations we have seen in belarus over theou last and a half weeks since the election? i very much doubt it. the reason is these are very decentralized protestsnahat are coord through social messaging apps, through the telegram channel. if anything, i think it is likely this sort of thing further evithnce o brutality and the violence of president lukashenko's government will only s mve to motivae people onto the streets and more people to call for him to go. katty: we will try and keepabs on what is happening to maria kolesnikova, now bacustody in belarus. a quick look at other news. in new york, the chief of rochester police department and other senior staff have announced their rowirement follg criticism of the city's handling of theeleath of dani prude, the black man restrained by officers using a spit hood in march. his family released the footage last week and there have been days of protest ever since you are watching "bbc world news a

the police station and holding cells but it is sunday that is the big day of protests here in belarus where we can expect to see thousands upon thousands of people gathered together rallies and march down the streets of minsk against the government it is the traditional day of protests we will see how the numbers have would you know what sort of numbers turn out for that but while they have been they may have been a little effectivity few a few people coming out of the protest soufan this week there has been an uptick on the geopolitical fraud on the diplomatic front with the with an escalation in the relations between the european union and belarus. been invited to attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of european states which is which is you know certainly certainly shows how high a stock has risen in the ranks of in the minds of european politicians or indeed depending on who you ask how high they have elevated stock better as this come out here and said that you know the mosques all mosques around the european union has shown its true colors that they have meddling that this i

and the independence of belarus and russia has come out and said that the this meeting represents a u.-turn europe's but previously stated goals of staying out of it and respect in the dependence on the will of the better russian people we consider such contact if it takes place as more evidence of the european union's departure from statements that they made and their regard in the absence of geopolitics in the situation with . with regards to this diplomatic escalation that i mentioned the european parliament came out and voted on a non-binding resolution to see more of a recommendation but a very harsh one calling on the heads of states of the european union the leaders of the european union not to recognize president. as the legitimate leader of belarus once his official term is up moreover they are calling for sanctions for pressure on bellerose and russia for example has come out and said that this is counterproductive that this flies in the face of what the european union has called for that called on previously which is deescalation which is dialogue and which is to to leave

we start tonight in belarus.ome dramatic developments in the mystery about what has happened to the leading opposition figure. she went missing on monday, sparking intense speculation about her whereabouts. belarusian authorities released these pictures. they said they detained her while she was trying to escape across the border into ukraine. now, two opposition members who were with her in the same car have spoken out, providing some dramatic new details. for those details, i am joined by a journalist in the belarusian capital of minsk. she has more on that. so what did these associates of her -- what did t they say? whatat happened? >> well,l, the execucutive secry and the press secretary, they told the story of how they were forced to go to the ukraine and they told that maria was also forced to go. she resisted to go. on the border, she tore herr passport show -- so she could not be in another country and just walked away. after that, two men, they just went to the ukraine. they say she w was probably detain

is fair game law enforcement officers should remember the people of belarus who revealed the identity of those who carry out criminal orders you will have to look you people in the eye the same people you're supposed to protect and she doesn't seem to mind that these vigilantes are often wrong going after innocent people she doesn't seem to mind that not just them but also their families become the victims of cyber bullying and harassment and abuse and even attacks and it doesn't seem to concern her that it isn't just police or law enforcement that are targeted but also rescuers teachers and even journalists. in the midst of the dissidence of the sheen i have been forced to record this video because of harassment threats and insults towards me and my family as a result of fosse information on the internet please help me share this so that lies don't spread further and don't harm me and my family. to be. journalists to one of our road constantine but at the bala for example who has faced a tsunami of death threats at the behest of all position ija mistrust that of course it is frighten

let's go to belarus now.ain been held there, where protesters continue to call for the resignation of the man who's led the country for the last 26 years, alexander lu kashenko. the biggest protests have been in the capital, minsk, where more than 100,000 people are estimated to have turned out. there were scuffles in some places, as riot police and men in balaclavas tried — often violently — to snatch demonstrators. our correspondentjonah fisher sent this report from minsk. chanting with each passing week, belarus' protesters add something new to their long list of grievances. what began as a response to a disputed election now encompasses the police crackdown that followed, and the targeting of opposition politicians. this week, one of them, maria kolesnikova, was being celebrated, after she tore up her passport to stop herself being sent into exile. maria kolesnikova is a hero. i think we need to build a monument after we win this. do you think this will end with president lukashenko leaving? i think yes.

also coming up on the program with belarus still gripped in a political crisis following last month's election when the french president meets the country's. leader the media to negotiations. for donald trump and joe biden. in the 1st of 3 u.s. presidential debates. just after midnight in dar es salaam in amman you're in moscow my names you know me when you're welcome to our to international our top story. hostilities between armenia and azerbaijan have continued to a 3rd day in what's the worst flare up of an old territorial dispute since a truce was agreed a quarter of a century ago violence erupted between the nations on sunday but both laying claim to the. region that show you some exclusive pictures filmed by an r t crew in a car or bike you can see part of a drone done by armenian armed forces during the fighting our crew is so far the only media granted access to the area by the armenian authorities were shut down of sent us this report from the site filmed with a night vision come. right now we're between the positions of the armenian army which is over there and the as they a

the whole system would collapse and follow and everything would be put back years the president of belarus gives an interview to russian media including r.t. where he warns that the country will collapse if he leaves. me world dozens were arrested during rallies in support of the detained by there was some position figurehead maria kolesnik over. the news this morning the british government's handling of the pandemic forces many state health service doctors to consider quitting according to. brussels warns boris johnson he could be jeopardizing peace in northern ireland if the prime minister goes ahead with plans to tamper with last year's agreement that as divorce talks 8th round now. london's iconic natural history museum reviews its collection with branded offensive in the wake of black lives matter protests. i mean just you've got to claim it doesn't exist at the end of the day you can't keep it pretty neutral in this discussion. good morning for russia or 8 am here now this so wednesday the 9th of september money was kevin i would hear it r t h q moscow with a broadly round up for you