tatars the crimean khanate . when mongol had germany came to an end they dominated crimea and large parts of modern day ukraine. in fifteen seventy one crimean talked our warriors advanced as far as moscow and set fire to the city. the khan palace is a reminder of long gone power and glory she has good radiance he lets them the khan palace is a unique monument to history and architecture and it is the only palace of the crimean tars a pearl in the world's cultural heritage. but for us crimea tars from the palace is also a symbol our self-confidence and their identity are linked to this palace along with the rebirth of our ta-ta or spirit. like it seems today as if it were calling the crimean tars to return and to see new opportunities for themselves here. at the swiss this place is sacred to us it's a bridge to our roots and to our past it is his and she said i live as a business man. yeah forty seven kings ruled the empire of the crimean tatars today the grass or forgetfulness grows over their graves. but nothin

the fourth anniversary of russia and in crimea from ukraine let's go to our chalons who is in the crimean city of sevastopol standing by for us why is crimea so important in this election. well basically it's important because for the kremlin for that image putin. the central achievement of his last term in office to have brought crimea back russian orthorexic it's a source of immense national pride for many russians and so therefore it plays very well for vladimir putin so yes there is this supposed coincidence that the election is being held on exactly the same day as crimea was brought back to russia four years ago voters here are being given this little medal and sebastopol when they when they have done their deed in the in the in the voting booth and it says the on the back with russia forever and it's got on the front a little memorials basically for the sixty the march two thousand and fourteen that's the date of the referendum four years ago and tonight we're going to get a big concert on red square and that concert is called russia sevastopol crimea so it kind of shows really exa

peninsula to russia which is of course the legal an exaggeration of the crimean peninsula and putin may well turn up and of course that shows us that very much wants people to associate him and to associate his last term with an axe a sion which brought approval ratings of almost eighty percent we don't yet know whether he will turn up but people as you can see are waving flags behind me arriving here to watch the concert which is about to visit begin it's a real party atmosphere there i can see behind you and it's fair yet with the polls already have just been close any indication that reached the highest voter turnout that he was hoping for. well i saw that a state agency was reporting that the turnout was higher than in two thousand and twelve so higher than in the last presidential elections when it was sixty five percent it's not quite clear yet whether the kremlin reached its its mark of seventy percent which is what they were hoping for but they were very much trying to pull people to the polls there were a selfie competitions there were raffles were people good when when whe

crimean za voting again on sunday the first time they've ever done so in a russian presidential election and the peninsula has been made a central symbol in the putin campaign by the way putin is reminding people that he is the gatherer of russian lands it's very hard for him to boast of any meaningful economic progress so defense security and national pride are his campaigning aces. in crimea in tar tar towns like historical back she's a right the mood is different. mainly oppose the annexation intend to boycott the election but they say they're being pressured to vote. there were threats at all levels that people could lose their jobs for example in our local school the director says think again of local people don't go to the elections they might fire me therefore i think some of the teachers will go to. the national spotlight is on crimea fresh from an appearance on russia's main t.v. channel we spoke to crime is deputy prime minister and he denied any dirty tricks are being used for what it hopes the election is a completely free and democratic process there for crimean people go to

seven percent now it's very possible i think that perhaps the boycotts of the election which the crimean tarts our population here are a minority muslim population had called for the haps that brought the turnout figure down a little bit we'll have to see the final figures but what is true is that the official figures here point to ninety two percent of the people who did vote here voted for him a putin for a woman i spoke to this morning she said this is a very good day we can hear my report now from crimea as the home of russia's black sea fleet sevastopol has always felt like a russian city even in the years before crimea was annexed when this territory was leased off ukraine. so the polling stations here bustled with cadets the naval officers and military policemen and civilians most seemingly happy for crimea to be voting in its first russian presidential election and most seemingly happy to cast their ballot for one man. yes this is that of course we voted for the president of the russian federation for number one vladimir putin. if he didn't take civil stop all in the whole of cri

chalons is standing by for us in the crimean city of sebastopol we're talking about the election with him neve barker is in london for us first let's take it to john the whole who's in the russian capital so precisely exactly tit for tat london says twenty three go moscow says twenty three get out. yes tit for tat in terms of the diplomatic expulsions peter and that had largely been expected this precedent for it it's happened before twenty three as you say declared persona non grata here they've got to leave within a week it's exactly what the british did but there is there are further steps also being taken here a symmetrix steps as the russians would call them in response to the direction that the reason may went in terms of further n.t.s.b. measures further anti money laundering and corruption measures applied to british russian nationals rather in britain the russians here say and this is a statement from the foreign ministry taking into account the disparity of the number of consular offices in the two countries they've decided to close the british consulate general in some pete

community is increasing to relax sanctions on russia they were imposed after its anik sation of the crimean peninsula almost four years ago the german russian chamber of commerce is holding a conference here in berlin today as trade between the two countries is increasing again after having dropped significantly last year germany exported goods worth a total of nineteen point seven billion euros to russia some twenty five percent up on twenty sixty now russia was able to boost its exports to germany by twenty percent to twenty one billion euros mainly in raw materials the sanctions banned the sale of weapons to russia as well as the export of dual use technologies exports of energy related technologies and equipment to russia all subject to license and on top of that lenders are not allowed to give loans to russia's five largest state owned banks earlier i asked the tire from the association of german chambers of commerce why sanctions needed to be scaled back if businesses apparently had adapted to them. if we ask business so then they are not confident with the sanctions that that's for s

known here as the return of crimea to russia which is of course the illegal antics a sion of the crimean peninsula and there will be a concert there with various stars performing as well in the middle of moscow and on my way here to his vista hall i saw that there was also a large police presence in the middle of moscow perhaps the kremlin is afraid that there could be protests after all and not everyone is happy that as it seems there's only basically one choice as people have been telling me on the ballot today and people have been telling me you know what's the point of voting we know that what you're putin is going to win anyway as you say one choice. that president putin will take a fool's money so with this almost being a foregone conclusion what is this election really about. yes absolutely put in is currently polling at around seventy percent so the main thing to watch in the main goal of the kremlin really in these elections is to show that there are who legitimate elections and they're trying to do that by really having a high turnout the goal is to have seventy percent turnout

is increasing to relax sanctions on russia those sanctions were imposed after moscow annexed the crimean peninsula almost four years ago and trade between russia and germany suffered significantly at first meanwhile things picking up again now last year germany exported goods worth a total nineteen point seven billion euros to russia some twenty five percent up on twenty sixteen russia was able to boost its exports to germany by twenty percent to twenty one billion euros mainly in raw materials of the sanctions banned the sale of weapons to russia as well as the export of jewel use technologies exports of energy related technologies and equipment to russia are subject to license and on top of that you lend us are not allowed to give loans to russia's five largest state owned banks now for more on the german russian business relations and how they're affected by the economic sanctions i'm joined now by ina phil a told who is a d w business reporter in a ball and expect on russia of course that's world trade between germany and russia is actually looking good so those sanctions don't reall

to carry out the nerve agent attack let's listen to what he had to say all quarrel is with putin's crimean and with his decision and we think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the u.k. on the streets of europe for the first time since the second world war that is that is why we are at odds with russia. all right let's get more on this latest development we have our correspondent to emily sure when standing by for us in moscow and in london journalist josh bloom good to see you both josh let's start with you boris johnson saying it is overwhelmingly likely that vladimir putin himself ordered the use of a nerve agent what could his proof be here. i think is the likelihood of what this is and has come from it's incredibly rare it was in ninety six anywhere outside of nation states and the chances of someone acquiring the black market. and sharing a house it's without the knowledge of russia seems incredibly on why you know sometimes continuous months old and evidence can continues to kind of that most of the major nations of

and the quicker they get the bridge up relinquishing crimea with russia the better and i think the crimean people have voted with their feet for russia more than once the reaction to the russian election has been coming in from all around the world samir khan consolations from washington d.c. . fortunately the white house has not repeated the rhetoric of most american politicians as well as western media on precious presidential election which resulted in president putin winning a fourth term by a significant margin over seventy six percent and even though there was no congratulatory phone call from the white house spokesman good lee told reporters that the outcome came as no surprise i just as he was boarding air force one not only that but he commented somewhat positively on potentially developing relations with russia saying quote we will work to cultivate the relationship with russia and we will impose costs when russia threatens our interests but we also look for places to work together when it serves our interests now this is in stark contrast to other reactions we've seen upon recei

and the quicker they get the bridge up really linking crimea with russia the better and i think the crimean people have voted with their feet for russia more than once the reaction to the russian election has been coming in from all around the world america is from washington d.c. . fortunately the white house has not repeated the rhetoric of most american politicians as well as western media on russia's presidential election which resulted in president putin winning a fourth term by a significant margin over seventy six percent and even though there was no congratulatory phone call from the white house spokesman good lee told reporters that the outcome came as no surprise i just as he was boarding air force one not only that but he commented somewhat positively on potentially developing relations with russia saying quote we will work to cultivate the relationship with russia and we will impose costs on russia for and their interests but we also look for places to work together when it serves our interests now this is in stark contrast to other reactions we've seen upon receiving word of pr

on the crimean strikes to put them under the new political door but so close to. president putin but the bigger mandate to go through the next six years believe me we can come to know in nuclear and we will be the special coverage red square of the events of the last twenty four yes the russian presidential election the past be and one will be bringing you all the latest in terms of tibetan men sad of course to their reaction. so pulled off a huge win last night getting over three quarters of the vote it means he'll stay on as president and could remain in the kremlin pro-choice another six years is the headline tonight and a fifty six million russians chose him to leave that country his wife didn't even come close to be sworn in as president for the fourth time in may and did better in front of them and leave previous election peaceful check out these figures on your screens no you can see how you did in previous presidential races over fifty percent every time but this total on the sly call it what you like you can see came out at seventy six point six percent b

the crimean tatars were only allowed to return home after the end of communism. since twenty two teen rational thought is a bad image lease the tartar community's ruling body and close the tartar language t.v. channel. but this conflict is also about land instead of financial compensation for their deployed taishan under ukraine the tartars received a legal entitlement to plots of land to build homes these tatar families say russia north ortiz and now renee on that commitment. they're also pains to make clear that they don't want to talk politics just about their homes and their rights. when i was out there threatening that they'll bring in the bulldozers and pull down our homeless. people are in despair afraid of ending up on the street i mean you know we held hunger strikes but local media don't cover them you will show me to feel organized even a small protest with a few banners they put you in jail for ten days. now the head of our group here fatso he was arrested i thought i just don't know what that is them. as the evening cruising down town so vast bulk ru

years have seen putin's most or dayshift foreign policy maneuvers including as an extension of the crimean peninsula in two thousand and fourteen and intervention in syria the following year hillary mann leverett is a former white house national security official and she says it's dangerous to underestimate putin's strength and popularity. i think it's unquestionably a mandate that putin has won in russia i don't think he even his opponents really dispute that though he has his critics there is clearly a depth of popularity for vladimir putin in russia he is now the longest serving ruler of russia since stalin so it's quite an achievement and i think he was he will continue with the policies that he has pursued that has led to a resurgence of russia both within the country and overseas in fact this poisoning this alleged poisoning in the u.k. i think worked vantage domestically i think he was able to use it domestically to show that russia is is incredibly tough and will take on its adversaries anywhere around the world and so that whatever the u.s. or the west wants to do to russia russia

kind of shows really exactly how these two events are being linked to the presidential election the crimean referendum the annexation of crimea four years ago people here particularly in sevastopol where i am at the moment are by and large ethnically russian and very much supportive of the president's policies and most of the people we spoke with everyone we've spoken to here today has said that they have only voted for one man guess who it is. well let's update you on those first exit polls for all of the candidates who ten is projected to take between seventy three point nine percent of the vote according to the exit poll is nervous rival is communist candidate al gore didn't he was sitting on eleven point two percent good and he's a multimillionaire strong he's been critical of the government but not too soon personally just behind him on six point seven percent is nationalist i'm glad i'm a ski former reality t.v. star and the sub jack has been one of the most high profile candidates in this election but she came in fourth with just two point five percent of the vote. russia's ambassado

a few days ago making one of the last big appearances before the election in sevastopol he thanks crimean so voting in the referendum later on this evening after all the voicing is finished we are going to get a big celebration in red square in moscow and that celebration is coles russia sevastopol crimea for the kremlin the reunification as they call it of crimea with russia is one of the the main campaigning advantages that they have in this. and from where you are rory i'm just wondering whether exactly the same issue resonate says as did live jenner in moscow and that is legitimacy and that president putin needs the annexation of crimea four years ago to now be legitimized . it does in a certain way but it's a little bit different here i mean where i am in sevastopol this is a russian city it is full of ethnic russians it's been the home of the russian black sea fleet for centuries so the hostilities here i'm not going to find it difficult to have a high turnout because generally people here are enthusiastic about coming along and voting they see it as a separation and that's a kind o

iron maiden's hit song trooper looks at the crimean war of the nineteenth century the lyrics describe the battlefield as a place where no one wins. a trooper is also the name of dickinson's very own brand of beer it's got a good reputation. the iron maiden front man has proved to be a successful entrepreneur and he's found another line of work as a motivational speaker for managers. and in his latest gig his company in wales has invested in three simulators to train other pilots. here too eddy is on board in fact iron maiden is everywhere. of course we had to give the simulator a try. there's no autopilot here everything is done manually bruce dickinson life is like multiple dreams come true so it's no surprise that his autobiography is highly entertaining. he wrote the manuscript entirely by hand beginning the book after beating cancer the experience has given him a renewed zest for life he turns sixty this year but it seems his life is only just getting started. let's get a quick round up of what's happening across europe with express bus stop we're off to the french port city of mu

it's only question of protecting its own to tory and but what is important in my opinion including crimean so it's mean that's no this is ation of the russian territory including creamy is protected business with with very high technology called hypersonic weapons survey appreciate your time and your opinion mauro is my guest military expert former french paratrooper officer thank you. now perhaps unsurprisingly to many of you in the west there's been a degree of skepticism about vladimir putin's weaponry claims let's go live to london and speak to our. say you've been gauging reaction there just how cynical and skeptical has it been. well this is an annual speech as you know it doesn't normally get many column inches hair in the u.k. and across the pond but obviously vladimir putin's talk of new nuclear warheads piqued the interest of the world's media headlines chose to focus on descriptions of a hawkish putin boasting about is doomsday nuclear weapon talk of an arms race talk of the cold war as well and the general narrative suggesting that this was a speech to fire under the my nuclear

years have seen putin's most all day shows foreign policy maneuvers including the attic sation of the crimean peninsula in two thousand and fourteen and intervention in syria the following year let's get more on this now we're joined by mark david a nonresident senior fellow at the atlantic council's deno patris you're asia center and he's joining us live from washington d.c. very good to have you with us on al-jazeera so we'll start with what what will another term of putin mean for russia do you think. another term with putin is more putin for russia and i think we know what both his credentials are as well as his claim successes you're going to have a continued aggressive russian foreign policy that is in line in direct opposition to the west you're going to have a claim that the president is going to increase russia's economic stability despite western sanctions and also you're going to likely have a preparation for the future and that's i think the biggest question is will president putin will this be his last term who is he going to prepare for a succession i think you're going to see s

the past six years have seen putin's most audacious foreign policy including is an extension of the crimean peninsula in two thousand and fourteen and intervention in syria the following year russia has been repeatedly accused of interfering in the us presidential election in two thousand and sixteen which he denies. journalist michael binyon joins me in the studio now he is a former moscow correspondent for the times newspaper thanks very much for coming in to speak to us so great deal to discuss but let's just first focus on the turnout this was crucial for the kremlin for president putin but it was less than he hopes yes it was disappointing very hoped for at least seventy percent and it's looking as around sixty five all thereabouts which is not particularly good and it's a suggestion that a lot of younger russians have listened to the call from the opposition leader who was barred from standing alexei navalny who said well just don't to go to boycott the election because it's manifestly unfair and it looks as though quite a number of younger people probably have done that and so what d

they get that bridge up relinquishing crimea with the motherland russia the better and i think the crimean people have voted with their feet for russia and more than once. just turning half past the hour here in moscow we are back with. i'm pissed my dream. probably. intended to be. a fairy no over the shock when i was three years old so it's a long story of shots for me the most difficult in the pursuit was when i did so my first bitch up for the post but ordered to only vote because i didn't see shot dead before so it was a fluke a miss which was only going to make my motivation was stronger off to the because i knew that i wanted to be there i didn't and continue to go to the most with. our career and just leave him there. to see. what i wanted to do with how do you know that you're helping the world be a bit better so i would say that that would mean to me one of the things that i was impressed with the most is how you get the editor from where we need to get to but . i wanted to know something more earth when i came on board it was my first time at sea it was my first time in the gall

crimean za voting again on sunday the first time they've ever done so in a russian presidential election and the peninsula has been made a central symbol in the putin campaign by the way putin is reminding people that he is the gatherer of russian lands it's very hard for him to boast of any meaningful economic progress so defense security and national pride are his campaigning aces. in crimea in tar tar towns like historical back she's a right the mood is different. mainly oppose the annexation intend to boycott the election but they say they're being pressured to vote was appalled. if there were threats at all levels that people could lose their jobs for example in our local school the director says think again of local people don't go to the elections they might fire me therefore i think some of the teachers will go to. the national spotlight is on crimea fresh from an appearance on russia's main t.v. channel we spoke to crime is deputy prime minister and he denied any dirty tricks of being used before but it ups the election is a completely free and democratic process therefore crime

as he looks at the cruise to victory it was on the same day four years ago that russia annexed the crimean peninsula from ukraine all but a handful of countries have declared that annexation illegal for president putin it's a symbol of russian identity and national strength or ukraine correspondent nicholas connelly went to crimea to find out how people there feel about their antics ation anniversary and how they're likely to vote. at forty meters the soldier in salem ornament towers about sebastopol a potent reminder of the city's place in soviet and russian military history. even when sebastopol became part of independent ukraine russia's black sea fleet stayed put. when russia annexed crimea and twenty fourteen not even russia's closest allies recognize the move but the locals like activist or good drama all of that doesn't matter. crimea and russia she says sharon i didn't see we didn't we all greet just die of relief it was about returning home before i didn't have a country i could be proud of when the olympics were on i always supported russia when it came to reading my child bedtim

this is a slightly forces to show that there is systemic and non-systemic opposition because the crimean allows it so there is a game being played out unwritten rules and. russia does still desire respect and you can't get total respect if you are out to now talk you see this all played there a democracy put out a puzzle the one what one has to ask the question how putin manages to remain so popular when you look at russia the economy is flagging it is in a great as state of isolation that it has been for many many years and yet people genuinely do still support him. well why there's no real alternative for our kind in the russian mass psyche if you're for putin your for russia if you're against putin you're against russia he's a kind of like a monarch in that medieval empire he's a personalize ation of the russian state and that puts him in a very very special position and a lot of people just go there to kind of show their loyalty in general general loyalty to the russian state i mean actually even in soviet times in times of to to a terran rule there were always also very very importa

last months is the european consensus on the sanction towards russia came into fact after after the crimean accession started to fall apart so what we may see said the essential will be uphold it in the upcoming months and that's all the you would do or europe would do to help out britain so so far it's speculation but i guess yes because there is no final evidence and i think states like germany will be a little luck tend to impose measures as long as there's no final evidence but it also will depend on the answer of the russians and also what they're stating on. the likeliness or and what they gonna do to investigate this case you know the us is back in britain as we've been reporting nato the mil to. realignments is calling the poisoning quote the first offense of use of a nerve agent in europe or north america since the alliance was founded that's a very strong are we seeing a return to the type of tensions and divisions we last saw in the cold war. you know so it's not a new cold war because we have big differences here during the cold war time you had a really structured country based

sanctions that were imposed on russia most almost four years ago after it's an exaggeration of the crimean peninsula now the issue will be topping the agenda at a conference that the german. russian chamber of commerce is organizing in berlin today with high level political and business representatives in attendance trade between russia and germany is increasing sharply again after having dropped significantly last year germany exported goods worth a total of nineteen point seven billion euros to russia some twenty five percent up on twenty sixteen russia in return was able to goose its exports to germany by twenty percent to twenty one billion euros mainly in raw materials now the sanctions banned the sale of weapons to russia as well as the export of dual use technologies exports of energy related technologies and equipment to russia are subject to license and on top of that e.u. lenders are not allowed to give loans to russia's five largest state owned banks now a short while ago i asked from the association of german chambers of commerce why sanctions needed to be scaled back if busine

seen security council resolutions being voted against we have seen with the un exception of crude crimean or the support that's going on for rebels in eastern ukraine with the movement of a carrier battle group down into the mediterranean to fly jets against the rebels that we're fighting in syria what president putin is doing is showing to the world that russia is not going to be messed around with and that is sending a very clear statement domestically that russia is by. on the world's superpower market you said there's a message into the world was the domestic messaging and surprise surprise this happened two weeks before the president's election and president putin is a character is a strong character and wanted a greater percentage of the vote than they got in the last election so the final part of the message i think this was the primary reason for using a very nasty chemical and using it in such a public way was to send a clear message out to those dissenters that could actually hurt him were every you are in the world just watch out because they didn't get you they didn't know bef

and the quicker they get the bridge up relinquishing crimea with russia the better and i think the crimean people have voted with their feet for russia more than once the reaction to the russian election has been coming in from all around the world samir khan has relations from washington d.c. . fortunately the white house has not repeated the rhetoric of most american politicians as well as western media on russia's presidential election which resulted in president putin winning a fourth term by a significant margin over seventy six percent and even though there was no congratulatory phone call from the white house spokesman good lee told reporters that the outcome came as no surprise just as he was boarding air force one not only that but he commented somewhat positively on potentially developing relations with russia saying quote we will work to cultivate the relationship with russia and we will impose costs when russia threatens our interests but we also look for places to work together when it serves our interests now this is in stark contrast to other reactions we've seen upon receiv

the crimean bridge will be open for a tama builds traffic and then will open for railway traffic in twenty nine scene this will provide an impetus. and i for the crimea to develop an entire black sea coast so we have. our roads and we need to move on to regional roads now that federal roads. are actually much better now the situation is a little worse with regional roads local roads of course. i would like to appeal to mayors and governors you need to be focused on and with rude quality of your roads all the time you need to use new technology new solution us infrastructure mortgage loans. cycle contracts and so on and. and of course we need to increase safety on our roads we need to reduce issues she said he might tell us we're in for traffic accidents over the next few years so we need to double our. might be on a road construction and mates in the us and russia i know that but i'd need to. do you know earmark over eleven trillion or rubles from different sources for this purpose this is a lot considering that in twenty one thousand two hundred seventeen away spending six point four tril

of american diplomats and it shows that the crimean is not really interested in a dialogue with the u.s. you may hear of course here in russia different opinions they say well all this diplomatic war was started by the americans by president obama in the last weeks of his administration. law school is demanding access to u.s. keep she's the daughter of the former russian double agent said get scared you know is reportedly conscious and talking about she's a russian citizen why would the camera want to talk to her. well russia is acting like of it them their attitude is we have nothing to do with the poisoning of st paul and his daughter you have the daughter has as you just mentioned the russian citizenship and she's being hurt seriously so a representative of the russian embassy in london said you know i have to do my my duty is just to take care of her to see what's happening with her and of course london says no moscow is not a victim and they actually did all this unfold therefore they just refuse to give moscow any for further information and any access to the daughter right and th

precisely because it sounds as familiar as it does to russia's justification for and axing the crime crimean peninsula in two thousand and fourteen when it said russian speakers where under the threat of prosecution feeling disenfranchised by life in society does not necessarily mean that those populations are prepared to take up arms for russia so what do you make of his point this isn't exactly the same issue that we saw in ukraine or crimea. and in fact that has been a research into that. after the onyx ation of crimea there was huge social sorry there was funded by government applied mia and there is old was that russians . want to keep their russian identity but they don't want question any russian tanks in latvia and they feel quite comfortable with their european lifestyle and they wouldn't want to slap it or living in russia living standards there is there and. i see that it is a huge problem that russians in estonia and latvia seen all the as sort of extension of the kremlin and they are denied the agency or they own and they identity all their own whereas in fact when i go to mosco